Refreshing a Garmin 1000 with decent maps for navigation - possibly off road too

[Dan Lotus]

Evening all,

I have a Garmin 1000 which came with stock maps, I used this guide ages ago:
https://dcrainmaker.com/2019/08/how-to-install-free-maps-on-your-garmin-edge.html

And put maps on there for France, Italy, Spain and Mauritius, but I am aware that the ones for the UK are likely now massively out of date.

Additionally, I have very recently taken delivery of a 2nd 1000 which will be for my partner, and I want to be able to gift it to her with all the maps updated, and preferably in the most ready state it can be, so thought I may as well blitz both at the same time.

I sometimes lead rides for our club, so a reliable mapping system is key - my partner would like to have that potential as well, hence the new 2nd hand device.

Looking on a facebook post I saw this place mentioned as well, though it looks like the basic UK ones are free, more detailed ones cost more, and European ones are all chargable - wondering if the more detailed ones might be useful when venturing off road.

https://shop.talkytoaster.me.uk/

Be interested to hear what other people use, this must be a fairly common train of thought and process presumably?

Thanks

Dan

 

[fossyant]

OpenMTB maps worth installing,, if still available

 

[andrew_s]

There are a whole load of places to download OpenStreetMap data for Garmin GPSs listed here:
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download

In principle, anyone with sufficient IT savvy can download the data from openstreetmap.org and reformat it into Garmin map files themselves (see https://www.mkgmap.org.uk/), but in practice most people can't be bothered and download the processed .img files from one of the regular download sites.
Running the downoad sites costs money, and if there isn't enough income, the site will go defunct in due course.

As for which download to use, it's largely down to preference. The raw data is all the same, but maps from different sources will show different amounts of detail, and handle routing differently.
I've currently got OpenFietsMap on the old Garmin, and Talkytoaster free UK on the newer model. Of the two, I prefer the Talkytoaster - it's got less detail to clutter up the display, and I find it easier to see the differences between small roads, tracks/paths and streams. That might be because the display on the newer Garmin is larger and higher resolution.

 

[gom]

I've currently got OpenFietsMap on the old Garmin, and Talkytoaster free UK on the newer model. Of the two, I prefer the Talkytoaster - it's got less detail to clutter up the display

Strangely I find the opposite. I’ve considered openfietsmap the best since discovering it a good number of years ago. Mostly used on road, but I find more than OK off-road too.
I’ve looked at talky toaster a number of times as it is often recommended, but thought it was too cluttered.
My current garmins are Oregon 700 & GPSMAP 65S - so not cycling-specific units. Perhaps this makes a difference.

 

[Dogtrousers]

You'll probably get lots of suggestions for downloading garmin maps to SD card, see the list @andrew_s posted.

The one I've used successfully in the past is https://www.velomap.org/

 

[Dan Lotus]

Loads of replies - thankyou, I will take a look at these in detail over the weekend :-)