Customer Reviews

Garmin MetroGuide 2001 U.S.A. Street Map CD-ROM (Windows)

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

 

 

I'm using this with a Garmin eTrex Vista. Been quite useful so far, especially just to keep track of where you are (just about every road, big and small, in the US is in the map) or when you're in a new place and you just want to find the closest Italian restaurant with the GPS of yours. (Of course it probably only works with selected Garmin GPSs)

Maps in this CD are about 2 or 3 years old so some new roads will probably be missing. Each city map takes about 7Mb and with the eTrex's serial connection to the PC, it takes ages to upload.

Once you finally get over the uploading time, its a bliss. Like you're in control of everything.

It has great detail, but the maps are memory hogs and rarely does a single one coincide with the area in which I'm traveling. The coverage of each map is not logical. For instance, the Knoxville [TN] map reaches nearly to Atlanta, but not to Morristown [TN] less than 45 miles away. I have yet to find a single map that covers the area in which I'm traveling; therefore, I need a 16 meg memory chip so I can download at least two maps to get complete coverage.

Note that although v5 is now out, it's really more of a map data vendor change than an "update". The interface is identical, and much of the map data is, too. The main differences will be in Alaska and Hawaii. You can use the map viewer at Garmin's web site to check out what the v5 maps look like.

Also, MetroGuide v5 can only be used to create routes on a PC. You cannot use its maps to create routes on a StreetPilot or other GPS that does its own routes. You can use the City Select CDs to do this.

Finally, if you're wondering what the difference between this and Roads & Recreation, that is intended for older and low memory (1MB or less) units. If you have 8MB or more, get MetroGuide.

This product appears to improve the accuracy of the GPS by putting the pointer almost on the centerline of the road. The mapping is generallly good, however the maps are about 3 to 5 years behind. The locations of some of the restaurants ect. are off by up to 1 to 3 miles. It will show the address on streets but they are sumetimes off. We use this product both in the auto and aircraft.

I got this for my eTrex Legend. Like the other reviewers have said, the maps are pretty badly out of date. If you're in a relatively new area, don't expect this CD to have any streets listed.

If you are navigating in an established area that's been around for more than three or four years, you'll find the maps to be pretty helpful. They are very detailed, and I've found that even if a restaurant isn't properly located on the map, the marker is usually within walking distance of where it should be. Note though, that because this map data is rapidly aging, a lot of these restaurants have gone out of business and no longer exist.

I live in Los Angeles, and the area is so big that Garmin split it up into two maps on this CD. One covers just about everything west of the 710 freeway, and another covers everything from the 710 east out to Palm Desert and Orange County. The problem is that these two maps are like 7 megs EACH.

If you live in the Los Angeles area and require full coverage, the 8 MB of the eTrex Legend just isn't enough to hold it all at once. That's not a big deal for me, but it would have been nice to know that beforehand.

If you have a need for coverage of the entire LA/OC area, you'd be much better off with an eTrex Vista which has 24 megs of memory (and costs more than twice as much as the Legend!)

While Garmin makes some of the worlds best GPS hardware, I can't say the same for their software. I read a number of reviews cautioning that their maps were out of date before purchasing this product. I then called Garmin directly and was told that all of the maps had been updated in 8/2001. I don't know what they updated, but it wasn't their maps. I have never seen maps so out of date or a search engine that was so worthless. The only advantage that Garmin's software has over MS Streets and Trips or DeLorme's Street Atlas Deluxe is the ability to upload maps into the GPS, but what good is that if the maps aren't current? If you need to get to an address, don't expect Garmin's software to get you there. Ask a cop first. It's cheaper and more reliable.

I purchased the MetroGuide for use with my StreetPilot (original version). With a large slab of memory (I bought 64mb) I can load the entire state of Oregon easily, or the I5 corridor from Canada to Mexico. This gives me street-level mapping with "you are here" capabilites, lists of restaurants and other businesses (obviously not completely up to date but pretty good), and as an unexpected bonus, all of the forest service, private, and logging roads that I have been on, which makes this more than a "metro" guide. It also has navigational markers (who knew there were so many in the Columbia River?), mountain peaks with elevations. It is also updated regularly by Garmin to address bugs (but not to change actual content).

Cons: the "find" command is clunky and hard to use (works better on the GPS). Apparently could be used for trip planning but has minimal functionality in that department. No way to get updated content. No campgrounds, monuments, historical sites or markers.

When I bought my GPS, the dealer recommended buying the MetroGuide as the best product for the StreetPilot (I was looking at Roads and Rec but he said MG was way better). Looking at comparision maps on the Garmin site, I'd agree, the MG has it hands down over Roads and Rec. Not a perfect product but a heck of a lot of mapping that can get stuffed into a handheld device.

Much has been written in these Amazon.com reviews about the problems with this product. And, I find it hard to disagree with much of what has been said. However, when I load it into my GPS Map 76S it is a beautiful thing. It looks better on the GPS than on the computer. I also like the ability to build, and save, routes on my computer and then load them in the GPS as needed. It is much easier to use a full computer screen and a mouse to click the waypoints, rather than using the much smaller GPS screen and controls. Probably my biggest gripe is the pre-defined areas that can be loaded to the GPS. One corner of New York City is on the New Jersey map. So to get the as small part of the western side of the Island of Matthatten, you have to use valuable memory loading the top half of New Jersey. MapSource is not as nice a map as my DeLorme, which I use all the time on my computer. However, this is the only game in town for use with the Garmin GPS. If you want a map to use on your computer get DeLorme or the Microsoft product, both of which are cheaper that MapSource. If you have a Garmin GPS this is a product, despite some flaws, does work very well.

Version five is out, just ordered and got version four -- ouch!

Much has been written in these Amazon.com reviews about the problems with this product. And, I find it hard to disagree with much of what has been said. However, when I load it into my GPS Map 76S it is a beautiful thing. It looks better on the GPS than on the computer. I also like the ability to build, and save, routes on my computer and then load them in the GPS as needed. It is much easier to use a full computer screen and a mouse to click the waypoints, rather than using the much smaller GPS screen and controls. Probably my biggest gripe is the pre-defined areas that can be loaded to the GPS. One corner of New York City is on the New Jersey map. So to get the as small part of the western side of the Island of Matthatten, you have to use valuable memory loading the top half of New Jersey. MapSource is not as nice a map as my DeLorme, which I use all the time on my computer. However, this is the only game in town for use with the Garmin GPS. If you want a map to use on your computer get DeLorme or the Microsoft product, both of which are cheaper that MapSource. If you have a Garmin GPS this is a product, despite some flaws, does work very well.