GPS question

[IA4PATS]

I am getting a handheld GPS (Garmin Oregon 450t) for my birthday in a couple weeks and needs some advice. I want to use it for marking spots fishing as well a hiking. We fish the Madison lake area and wondered what lake program would be best? And as for hiking, do I need to buy a bunch of maps or will the topo program that comes with it be sufficiant? We hike all over. This summer we are going to Jasper and Banff, but go anywhere the wind takes us. Just starting with the GPS so any info will be a help. Right now I just hope to be able to turn it on

[MN Mike]

Garmin makes the Upper Midwest Fishing Guide data card for your 450t, you can actually ' test drive ' the data on this card at Garmin's site and see how it covers the area you fish, just remember it's a taste of what this card offers and it's limited on what you find on their site, it's also displayed in meters on their site even though the card will let you do feet.

You might find the topo map on the 450t to be enough for what you want it to do, otherwise there are free maps to be downloaded from the internet, gpsfiledepot is a good one, usually these downnloads are more detailed than whats built into your Garmin from the factory, Garmin also makes many different topo data cards as well.

You'll want to sign up for a free account at Garmin's site and register your product, you can update firmware in the device from their site and also download Basecamp which will allow you to transfer waypoints and routes from your 450t to the computer for backup. With Basecamp, you can also create waypoints and upload them to your GPS too.

The last time I tried to load a free map from gpsfiledepot thru Basecamp, I could not do it on a Windows 7 computer, there was a known glitch in that, maybe they have it solved now, it's been a while since I have tried it.

Birdseye is another neat product from Garmin, you'll probably get a discount price on that once you register your Garmin, Birdseye allows you to download satelitte images to your device, retail price is $30 per year.

Your going to have to by the good batteries, regular AA Energizers or Duracell's don't last long, you'll need the Energizer Lithium's or rechargables.

Good luck!

Mike

[IA4PATS]

Thanks MN Mike. I did see Garmin's maps. and thought they were pretty bland. Good to know they would get better if you get the real thing.

[MN Mike]

Garmin has 2 different map products for lakes, Bluechart has been around for a while, it does have some nice features but doesn't carry a lot of high def lakes yet, for your Oregon 450t, I would go with the Upper Midwest Fishing Guide. I have both Lakemaster and Garmins' UMWFG data cards and so far I have found the contour lines identical between the 2 for the area I fish.

Mike