The nice thing about this site is that theyve bundled the maps up into large regions.And in most cases, the free maps are much better than the expensive Garmin maps.
Im a big fan of Garmin GPS devices, but I always found it disappointing that they charged extra for maps. Garmin doesnt publicize it, but most of their GPS units are setup to take any maps in the correct format. ![]() In retrospect, I think the price for Garmin maps is too high. There are some as good, or better, alternatives available at no cost online. Jm Garmin Maps Free Maps SoGarmin Map Review on Amazon Why These Free Maps So let me start by saying there are a lot of ways to get free Garmin GPS maps, and a lot of different methods to install them. You could create whole websites devoted to the subject, and people have (see below). This article focuses on installing my favorite free Garmin GPS maps for hiking in the USA, using OpenStreetMaps. If these dont work for you, try exploring the other map services that I have listed below. Jm Garmin Maps Download Them ToYou can also create your own highly-customized maps and download them to your Garmin device. The public contributes to, confirms, and edits the data on the map. The maps are regularly updated, and over the last few years have seemed the most accurate in my experience. Heres a side by side comparison of the Garmin Basecamp with these free topo maps. The free hiking maps that Im recommending are great because: They are good topographic maps with elevation contours. They are routable, which means that you can use free tools like Garmin Basecamp to automatically create routes and tracks that you can follow (without having to plot each point of the trail yourself). This screenshot gives you an idea of the level of the detail in these free maps. Video Instructions If you have a newer GPS device like a Garmin Fenix 5x Plus or are on Windows, there are some special instructions below. New Guide Notifications Quarterly Newsletter - Instagram - YouTube - Facebook Which Garmin GPS devices do the maps work with First off, the Garmin unit you have might have maps already. You probably know this, but if youre shopping for a GPS, go to the Garmin website page for the unit. If it maps come with the unit, it will say it has preloaded topo maps. If you already have a unit and want to find out if these free maps work, go to the units page on the Garmin website, and then check out the specs section. There is a line for ability to add maps, if you have a check there, youre good to go. Downloading the Free Garmin GPS Maps The first thing youre going to want to do is visit the GMapTool website, specifically the USA OSM Topo Routable page.
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