Garmin Edge 810: Are the free maps as good as paid for ones?

dubcat

Hi, I want to buy a Garmin edge 810 for the mapping features as much as for heart rate, cadence, etc. For road riding is there any point in buying the paid for maps? Are the free ones (open street map for example) just as good? If I should buy a map which one do you recommend?
Cheers,
Dub

p.s. I will ask this same thing in the mtb forum as i figure the answer may be different for trail maps vs road maps - but do feel free to comment on both in here

slowbike

For on the road the OSM maps are fine. They also do a contours version so you can preview the road ahead and see when your climb ends ...

freezing77

Paid for maps and free map comparison, same area, same zoom level. You decide

freezing77

This is what you get when you zoom in on the garmin ordnance survey maps.



Massive pixellation rendering them less than useful.

freezing77

This site has some very good side by side comparisons.

http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/2012/02/osm-maps/

wongataa

OSM based maps are great because they are free and if you spot errors you can correct the error yourself and when you next update the map the error will be gone.

fsman

and with talktoaster the OSM maps are easy to install with regular updates too.

marcusjb

A very happy OSM user here.