Most helpful client reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Am I the only one that thinks Inland Lakes is flawed?
By Sloper Dude
I purchased this software for my Garmin Etrex Vista HCx GPS primarily for use while kayaking in Minnesota and Wisconsin. After checking the maps of lakes that are among the more to the full or entire extent 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 in front of time that only in regards to 8% of Minnesota's 15,000 lakes were represented, and not all 1200 lakes included in the software were shown in outstanding detail. I wasn't happy in regards to that, but at least I knew when it comes to it up front.
The most glaring omissions in Inland Lakes is where the map fails to show connections amongst galore lakes in a chain, such as where Lake Calhoun connects with Lake of the Isles by way of 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 sectionalizations on the map where in reality they are contiguous, like the Sauk River again, amidst 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 ought to at least be accurate. If I get in disturb in the wilderness while kayaking, an precise 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 when it comes to 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 may check another one to fill in the blanks, and I'm rather sure that amidst Delorme's standard topographic and lake maps, I'll be capable to find more than 1200 lakes in Minnesota. I'll have an even better chance of finding those concealed 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 with regards to the flaws I found in front of time, I never would have purchased 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.
14 of 16 humans found the following review helpful.
Great Product
By Jeffrey A. Nicholas
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 outstanding product with much detail.
The initial concern is that not all lakes are represented on the CD. It's best to check the Garmin internetlocation 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 info card...
Even with these two concerns, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
2 of 2 humans found the following review helpful.
Many errors in Central New York
By Peter Crannell
I purchased this product for use on my boat with my GPSMap60CSx. The firstborn time I used it, it showed my boat journeying on land near the water. This didn't take place with TOPO US. I equated the two programs and found that US Inland Lakes had a lot of emplacement 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 rectify the problem on future versions, humans who purchased this disc are stuck with the errors. It can't be depended on for navigation in my area , at least. You could without apparent effort 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.
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