GPS question

[omurphy]

I know I'm a little late to the game, but I'm about to buy a Garmin Etrex 20 or 30 and wanted to know what else is needed for bikepacking adventures. Should I purchase the Garmin Topo GPS bundle or can I purchase Topofusion Pro instead? Thanks in advance for any recommendations. -Owen

[Done]

Topofusion is terrific, and should include almost everything that you'd want to help plan trips, edit GPX files, etc. My only complaint with it is that its projection vertically compresses maps, especially when looking at northern areas--which can make eyeballing distances difficult. But other than that, it's probably the best app out there for bikepacking. I also use National Geographic Topo (now discontinued) and Delorme Topo North America.

[Done]

One more thing: get a lanyard, and make sure that the GPS is attached to your bike. Seems that people are always losing their GPS units!

[omurphy]

Great, thank you Toby!

[ScottM]

Appreciate the good words about the software, Toby -- really glad you like it and put it to good use, especially in publishing highly useful GPX files for fellow bikepackers.

I do want to clarify that while TF can upload custom maps (raster images... topo, aerial, etc) to the eTrex 20/30 (and many others) it doesn't deal with the vector basemaps like Garmin's Topo USA set does.  Luckily there are free options for most states available, but the Garmin set is kind of nice if you want to upload a huge area and be done with it.

Here's a good collection of the free stuff:

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/state/all