Customer Reviews

Garmin MapSource Inland Lakes Continental United States Freshwater Map DVD (Windows)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this software for my Garmin Etrex Vista HCx GPS mainly for use while kayaking in Minnesota and Wisconsin. After checking the maps of lakes that are among the more fully detailed, however, I find them not up to par for my mapping needs, and I don't have the option of using another company's map program with my Garmin GPS since the format is proprietary.

I knew ahead of time that only about 8% of Minnesota's 15,000 lakes were represented, and not all 1200 lakes included in the software were shown in great detail. I wasn't happy about that, but at least I knew about it up front.

The most glaring omissions in Inland Lakes is where the map fails to show connections between some lakes in a chain, such as where Lake Calhoun connects with Lake of the Isles via canal in Minneapolis, rivers that connect to lakes but not on the map, such as where the Sauk River connects to Kraus Lake near Cold Spring MN, and rivers that are missing sections on the map where in reality they are contiguous, like the Sauk River again, between Cold Spring and the Mississippi River. If you are exploring inland lakes and rivers with these maps in your GPS, you would likely also need other maps that fill in the gaps in the electronic map. To me, if Garmin is going to charge as much as they do for a map, the lakes and rivers they include should at least be accurate. If I get in trouble in the wilderness while kayaking, an accurate map is a must. At the very least it is expected. Paper maps have less errors.

Because of these issues I am thinking of buying a Delorme PN-40 GPS which comes STANDARD with Topo USA including topographic, lake and street maps, and comes with a $100 credit toward their USGS Quad maps, aerial and satellite maps for about the same cost as my Garmin Vista HCx and one set of flawed optional maps. That way if one map isn't 100% accurate, I can check another one to fill in the blanks, and I'm quite sure that between Delorme's standard topographic and lake maps, I'll be able to find more than 1200 lakes in Minnesota. I'll have an even better chance of finding those hidden lakes with USGS Quad, aerial and satellite maps at my fingertips.

So in summation, I've found Garmin's Inland Lakes maps to be useful, but it's not as precise as I need it to be. That's too bad, because I like my Garmin Vista HCx GPS. Yet if I'd known about the flaws I found ahead of time, I never would have bought the maps or the GPS from Garmin. I'm still using the two for now, but I'll be checking Google Maps or Google Earth first, before I leave on a trip.

I've got a Garmin 478 w/ all the coast charts included. US Inland Lakes completes the charts for all US and coastal waters. It's a great product with much detail.

The first concern is that not all lakes are represented on the CD. It's best to check the Garmin site to see if your lakes are included.

The other concern is that the US Inland Lakes data is so big, that it does not fit on one 512Meg data card...

Even with these two concerns, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I bought this product for use on my boat with my GPSMap60CSx. The first time I used it, it showed my boat traveling on land near the water. This didn't happen with TOPO US. I compared the two programs and found that US Inland Lakes had a lot of location errors in my area. I have found places where it shows roads running "in" the water. I sent an error report to Garmin. Even if they correct the problem on future versions, people who bought this disc are stuck with the errors. It can't be depended on for navigation in my area , at least. You could easily run aground believing you were in deeper water. If the reviews had an option to insert photos, I would add a couple screen shots of the errors.

This lake software is not the best. Garmin has a 5.0 version (I don't know what they call it, I saw it at Bass Pro Shop yesterday 2-26-10 while I was checking out new Garmin GPS/fishfinders; it was installed on a display model which I was checking out) that has more detail. This works on my Nuvi 780. I put an img file from my Topo 2008 on a SanDisk Ultra II 4 GB SDHC, and put the img file from this lake software on the Nuvi internal memory. Can't have two img files in same location. Also if you put a Garmin gdb file on the internal memory or a SD card, Nuvi won't see them. Need to use the MapSource program to create the image files (img). I have one topo and one lake image files saved in different folders on my computer; could make several different ones, and then just put whatever you need at the time into your Nuvi. I also bought a waterproof RAM case for my Nuvi for use in the boat next summer. The case has a flexable front, so you can still use the touch screen. UPDATE - after trying NUVI on the lake; had trouble seeing the maps while on the lake; may have had brightness turned down a little to extend battery life; also this dvd doesn't have very good contour detail - on this dvd there is one or two contour lines on Grand lake above 10 bridge; the 5.0 version has maybe the correct contour topo data in the same area. Probably a Lowrance model for $800-1500 would be better; but Nuvi and this is better than nothing. I already had a NUVI and use as a MP3 player in my truck, which works great for driving ; so it's not a total loss.

I bought this product with fishing in mind, but.... it has serious accuracy problems. Depth contours are off by as far as a couple of hundred yards. It does not show connecting channels between lakes, and some state boat launches are omitted. If you buy this product for a general overview it will be fine for your needs. If you buy this product as a TOOL that you are going to implement on a day to day regiment, save your money.

The company was great, offering the brand name product at a competitive price and delivering the product in a timely fashion. I am hoping that competition decreases the cost of these software products. At about $100+ per program, it is almost cheaper to use a navigator that comes with your cellphone for city and purchase a product for marine use that is installed in the boat rather trying to buy software to load that is sometimes incomplete and may need updating in the near future.

My Garmin 545 comes with preloaded costal maps. They work as advertised.
But the $99.99 inland maps card lakes needed detail. On Lake George, NY, it does not show marker or warning devices. Only the 1890 survery (free from the US Government) depth and shoreline information shows on the device. Other makes provide the needed detail. This is a very poor showing for Garmin.

I called Garmin to verify the buoy information for Lake Hartwell in GA/SC was on this database, and was told it was. What a disappointment! After installing the expensive Garmin data card loaded with the pricey little datacard reader, I found there is very little added information over the regular database on my GPSmap396. This is one time Garmin dropped the ball, then badly train personnel lied about it. Don't waste your money on this one.

Garmin Mapsource Inland Lakes is Outstanding, it's so much easier to Manage Lakes and Topo Maps Electronically than with the Paper system and I can also Make WayPoints and Notes all in one Place.
The Only Draw Back is Making Sure I do Backups!!!!!!!!!!

If you are interested in the details roads for your GPS along with rivers, lakes & streams this is the software to get. Best price also.