FREE Topos

I picked up a new GPS this season and wasn’t very impressed with the topos that came with it (Garmin 100K). After doing some poking around on “the Google” I stumbled upon a website that offers free downloadable topos that offer amazing detail – far better than the Garmin 25K even. All you need is Basecamp software (which comes with most Garmins or can be easily downloaded).

Here’s the link to the website:

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/153/

That’s the site for MN maps – they offer maps for all of the states.

I am anything but an IT guru and yet I was able to get the maps successfully downloaded and installed on my unit. Very, very impressed by this resource and thought I’d pass it on.

One thing I will note about the maps – although they offer much better relief (many more elevation/contour lines) they did not have as many of the trails (old logging roads and such) displayed as the Garmin maps. That’s a trade off I’m willing to make though. FYI.

Thanks for the info!

Thank you, just loaded in to my Rhino 530 for next weekend up north.

I have to respectfully disagree with this. Although I cannot make my compariosn to MN, only WI. Yet from my experience the Garmin topo usa 2008 is far superior. Yes the maps on file depot have more contours. They are the 24k vs the 100k. You can get the 24k for garmin. Thing I don’t like about the 24k is all the extra clutter. No real need to see all the extra contours. There is enough to know there is a hill or valley there. The detail on the rest of the stuff with Garmin makes a huge difference. More roads/logging trails. More detail when it comes to seeing swamps and lakes. The shaded areas showing the public lands is nice as well. I was real disappointed to not see simple things like a major power line, and some larger creeks.

Also tried the snowmobile trails. That really stunk the place up. Since it does not overylay to anything else was a pain. Some of the trails were also not there.

No map is perfect. There is just to many changes for the USGS to keep up. The cat’s [censored] would be to have the topo overlayed on the satellite views from google earth. A lot of old logging trails and such then show up.

For and from my professional use of these maps. I go with the Garmin maps hands down.