GPS Newbie - Need Some Advice

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I may pick up the Topo maps from Garmin a bit later down the track, but for now I'll use Memory Map for non urban route planning. Do the maps downloaded in Memory Map get updated automatically

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I bought a 1390T just prior to my trip to Cape York three months ago.
I am very happy with the "turn by turn" and traffic congestion and speed cameras on it.( I bought a subscription after using the free trial)
However I also have Garmin Topo version 2 and it leaves a lot to be desired, and seems to cause the Garmin to just stop ( black out) from time to time, often at the worst time. whether this is from tree coverage I do not know but it doesn't do that in a tunnel or whatever on the normal map. It does this without warning and has to be restarted.

Also the maps seems very old . So much so that I have been considering Oztopo , but at $229 it is quite expensive but seems better than the Garmin Topo.
Regard sPhilip A

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

I bought a 1390T just prior to my trip to Cape York three months ago.
I am very happy with the "turn by turn" and traffic congestion and speed cameras on it.( I bought a subscription after using the free trial)
However I also have Garmin Topo version 2 and it leaves a lot to be desired, and seems to cause the Garmin to just stop ( black out) from time to time, often at the worst time. whether this is from tree coverage I do not know but it doesn't do that in a tunnel or whatever on the normal map. It does this without warning and has to be restarted.

Also the maps seems very old . So much so that I have been considering Oztopo , but at $229 it is quite expensive but seems better than the Garmin Topo.
Regard sPhilip A

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I will second the Garmin FREEZE, i had mine go out at the most inoportune time while off road in an area i was unfamiliar with, i had SWMBO with me (very rare) we could not get it up and running for love nor money. If we had taken the wrong track we would have been waylaid for hours. After initially thinking V3 maps were good and along with the GPS having other issues i only rate it a 6/10.
A tablet or Ipad looks to be the go with hindsight.

what ever you decide to do keep away from garmin the maps are useless and expensive I have a garmin/kenwood knag431 intergrated unit in my freelander2 and it is a total waste of space

When I went away in September, I ended up using the Garmin (and got the lifetime updates) is used that for highway travel & round town but it's useless when you get off bitumen.

Memory Maps is/has worked well for me. It's reasonably accurate however i noticed it shows many peoples driveways as 4x4 tracks and is missing some actual roads. As i mentioned earlier, it's a bit clunky with the PC to iOS interface.
Unfortunately I can't use my laptop for memory maps while driving as the battery life is abysmal, and it's unwieldy in size, however if a had an iPad, I would definitely load Memory Maps on to that & use it.

One thing i do recommend is the TomTom 12v usb adapter thing. It plugs into the 12v socket and has 2 usb power outlets & a 12v socket in the end. Handy for running multiple devices on long trips, and I'm yet to blow any fuses with it.

I've been using Memory Maps on an iPhone which works very well with larger scale maps like the Hema maps. On a two week flinders ranges trip it was a flawless set up even when out of mobile coverage.

On the other hand the VicMap topo maps (1:25,000) are difficult to use due to the iPhone's screen size. I'd second funkyfedaykin's comment that an iPad plus Memory Maps would be a better combination, especially with topo maps.