Did I make a mistake buying this?

[Mil T]

So I bought a Lowrance elite 5m Baja GPS to put in my truck. Then I start trying to set it up. I find out that Lowrance doesn't support this GPS any longer but this is the GPS that everyone says to get. Outlaw sells it. SDHQ sells it. The last software mapping that I can find is 2007. But hey I hear it's great off-road. Cool so where do I get the maps. I'm not a dummy to GPS. I've used them for a long time. Why did I get the lowrance? Because that seemed to be the most used but now I'm thinking it is just for Raptor Expeditins etc.
Anyone else have this problem. How do I get a topo software that will work with this. Anyone have much experience with using this in your trucks or jeeps or whatever?
Mil T

 

[BigJ]

I had one and gave up on it.

Nothing beats it when it comes to on the fly waypoint/coursemarker creation, and nothing beats it when following a precreated trail.

But that's all I found it good for. As you discovered, there are no maps, no topos, no nav, no support... I need more from my GPS than what the Lowrance could offer.

Here's the thread that sort of chronicles my efforts since moving on from the Lowrance: http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f5/my-off-road-online-offline-gps-solution-finally-12126/ (make sure you read the whole thing.)

 

[treypal]

Pci sells Topo maps for a bunch of us states and Baja. You can find tons of trails online that can be loaded into it too.

I really love mine. I have every 4x4 road in Colorado loaded into it. Along with every road, trail, goat trail in Baja on it too.

They still do firmware updates on it too.

 

[BigJ]

Now you tell me

;P

 

[Mil T]

Pci sells Topo maps for a bunch of us states and Baja. You can find tons of trails online that can be loaded into it too.

I really love mine. I have every 4x4 road in Colorado loaded into it. Along with every road, trail, goat trail in Baja on it too.

They still do firmware updates on it too.

Would you care to elaborate? did you do the downloads your self from a mapping program? I'd just like to have a decent map on it to be able to follow offroad.
How would I download a google earth map with out waypoints or tracks? Just the map.
Did you use the PCI info? Are they on SD cards?
Mil T

 

[shooterAMG]

Check out this site. Not sure if they'll work for yours, but they worked for my Garmin.

GPSFileDepot - Free Custom Garmin Maps, Ximage hosting, tutorials, articles and more for your GPSr

 

[treypal]

Would you care to elaborate? did you do the downloads your self from a mapping program? I'd just like to have a decent map on it to be able to follow offroad.
How would I download a google earth map with out waypoints or tracks? Just the map.
Did you use the PCI info? Are they on SD cards?
Mil T

Pci sells a card with 4 states loaded on it made with the unavailable lowrance software. You can load .usr tracks on top of this basemap. You can covert google kml. GPx and just about every other format to usr using gpsbabel.