UKC

Have recently bought a garmin fenix 6 pro and would like more detailed maps for hiking than the one that came with the watch. Does anyone have any experience with the paid for maps with contours from talkytoaster. Can you for instance down load a course (route) to follow or navigate. Seem a OK company but any insight into how the maps perform on a garmin fenix 6 pro would be helpful. 

I've got a fenix 5+ and use Talkytoaster maps with contours.  The TT maps work well in my experience, especially when they have a route marked on them to follow (which works exactly as normal).  The contours are a big help for me.  They're certainly an improvement on whatever standard map the watch comes with.  I'd recommend TT.

I use the TT maps on a fenix 6 pro, and they are great. Much much better than the standard maps. If I want to create a route, and download it to the watch, my process (all on an iPhone):

1. Plot the route in a suitable app, I use Outdoor Active, export as a GPX
2. Import it into the Garmin Explore app
3. Sync the route onto the watch

Good luck! 

Cheers for the replys looks like this is what I'm after then, just wanted to get some independent advice. Cheers. Now I just have to get one of the children to set it up for me. 

I have not managed to stretch the budget to a Fenix 6 yet but the TT maps are great on a Fenix 5.

They will only get better if we all do our bit and correct any errors or missing paths that we spot on the open source base maps.

I literally just did this (we probably got a similar deal on the watch!).

I spoke to the guy a fair bit about the maps on whatsapp and he is very responsive and helpful.

I paid for the one off maps which were about £11, (the ones that include the elevation data, think they're called topo+ or something). I didn't think I'd benefit from the annual subscription.

They downloaded immediately, I plugged the watch in to PC, showed up as a USB device, I copied the map file over (after unzipping), then changed the map selection in the settings as instructed. Whole process took <10 minutes and was very easy.

The maps are amazing, basically look like OS maps, have street names etc. as well. 

I then went and did a 50km run/hike in the peak district and they worked faultlessly. You can see streams and bogs and contour lines and cliffs, paths, roads, summits - but also "location names" and summit names which is really helpful. I find them an absolute game-changer compared to the basic breadcrumb navigation line in a blank space on my old 735xt. Can't recommend them enough.

As an aside - stupid that the screen protector film that the new watch comes with shows the maps with contour lines and rivers when that's not what the watch actually includes. Just happy the TT maps are so cheap tbh.

For routes I use OS maps hugs online and just download the gpx file and then upload it to the Garmin connect website and then sync to watch, it shows up as a line on the map (in addition to your actual route taken line).

I use TT maps on my fenix 6 Pro. They're great and amazingly good value.  You can just do that and use other software to create gpx files of routes.  But I have also now got TT maps on my PC and I use Garmin Base Camp to plot routes and then I transfer these to the watch. I find in many areas local to me, TT map has more complete and accurate details of footpaths,  so using it to plot and follow routes means you're more likely to be on a path that actually exists on the ground. This might not be the case everywhere obviously.

Thanks for this thread, I knew about putting OSM maps on my Edge cycling head-unit, hadn't even considered there might be a better mapset for navigating on a Fenix (the maps have been fine to date but you do miss the contours and such, decided to punt out for the years sub, I like planning on basecamp so it worked out decent that way because you get both. Looking forward to giving it a go!

The OSM free maps you can download have contours.  Use them on my 945.

DCrainmaker guide here (it looks more complicated than it is):

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/08/how-to-installing-free-maps-on-your-gar...

The main place that DCR references for getting maps hasn't been working for a while

Yeah I tried that trying to save the money on the TT maps but was like 1,000000 in the queue (obvs been taken down). Tried a few of his links, then searched for some of my own. In the end I was like it's £500+ for the watch I'll stump up another £11 for the maps and I am very glad I did.

That's a shame, used it 'relatively' recently as well.

These look like these still work (from the forum comments below the main DCR article):

https://www.freizeitkarte-osm.de/garmin/en/index.html

http://frikart.no/

https://www.openfietsmap.nl/downloads

You would have thought Garmin could have included maps with-contours on £500 watches ...

I use the Freizekarte UK maps on an Garmin Etrex 20 and I prefer the look of them to Talky Toaster, I downloaded them for another device this week, so they should work ok.

The Talky Toaster bloke is super helpful. Maps are good and you can fine tune what you want from him too.