John S
Chicago, IL
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Joined: 08/05/2001
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We are travelling with a Garmin 200W and it works great for our general camping. Have not tried it in Canada but the maps are supposed to cover North America - so I figure we should be OK. How have others found the Garmin maps and directions and points of interest to be?
John S.
John & Peg S.
99 Coachman Class C - 24ft
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explorenorth
Whitehorse, Yukon
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Joined: 02/21/2004
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They're not something that Garmin should be proud of. The services are incomplete and years out of date, and the geographical information (ie lakes & rivers) is near zero. But they are good enough to tell you how far you are from a community, which can be very useful.
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crouseman41
Blanchard ok
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Joined: 09/21/2004
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We have used our Garmin nuvi 255W through Alberta, the lower part of the Yukon, and British Columbia this year. It's good for town-to-town highway and street directions, but the points-of-interest feature does not work as well as in the United States. We have tried that feature for fuel and campgrounds, mostly. It will find fuel stops but almost never a campground. This might be different near a large city.
Paulette
Dale & paulette Crouse
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sue.t
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
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Joined: 08/05/2004
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I purchased Garmin's Topo Canada to supplement the standard maps preloaded in our Garmin. Generally, these maps are okay for knowing where the road goes or how far it is to a landmark.
Not too good for services though ... don't count on it to tell you where a campground is or the next service station.
I've also noted that "Gravel Gerty" as we fondly call her, prefers gravel backroads regardless of the settings. In BC, there are backroads everywhere ... Gerty is constantly telling DH off as he drives by her preferred routes.
sue t.
Pictures from our many RV Adventures to Yukon & Alaska
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goldendagger
moving
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Joined: 08/21/2003
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the poi's should be able to be updated, if not no one has reported or added input on them, contact garmin, or check w/some of the other providers.
who left the light on? is it me or are we leaning downhill. where did the dog run off to
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horacebcupp
Johnson City, TN
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Joined: 07/05/2004
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John S. Happy to hear that Garmin has included Canada in the 200 model. I bought a 250W because at the time that was the difference (200 US, 250 North America). I have used this GPS thru the Canadian Rockies, back down to Vancouver Island and all over that island and found it as good there as elsewhere. Worked for me
2003 Foretravel, U 320
2003 Honda CR-V
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John S
Chicago, IL
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OOOOOooooooooppppppppppssssssssssss!!!!!
Horace you are right. The 200 model is only the 48 states.... I assumed wrong.... Will swap units with my daughter who has the 260W with North America maps... Thanks so much for pointing that out to me. I would have been VERY upset with myself when entering Canada and finding that Ruthless Ruthie was dumbfounded!!!! :=))
Thanks again... John S.
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driveby
Vancouver BC Canada
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Joined: 01/07/2005
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been my experience the farther from people you get the worse the detail. US and Canada. Unfortunately that is exactly where I want the most help! I can read a sign for goodness sakes 
You should program it to avoid gravel and u turns, that can cut down the stupid routing. Use a paper map to double check before you start, that can help.
2008 Itasca Sunova 35J Class A
1997 TJ Sahara, hard and soft tops and AC
Held together via Roadmaster Falcon 2 tow bar and stopped by US Gear Unified Brake system.
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conger
Edmonton
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Joined: 03/09/2007
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We're heading to BC near Robson next Saturday for a couple of weeks. I've been trying to download the 2010 update, without success so far. I've got an email in to Garmin support to fix the problem, but it seems they don't work weekends.
We found last year a trip to Meadow lake Sask was mapped fairly well. It brought us right to the front gate. That said, last week it couldn't find Franchere Bay, AB near Moose lake near Bonneville. So it seems to be hit and miss.
But if not Garmin, is there a better one? I don't think it's Tomtom.
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paulj
Seattle
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Joined: 06/11/2007
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It is possible that the digital road databases for many parts of Canada do not have notations as to the road surface, whether paved or gravel. In that case, the routing software may end up choosing a gravel road if it is the shortest way.
However, in my experience, most through paved roads in rural British Columbia have provincial highway numbers. Forestry roads, which are more likely than not gravel, have names like '... main' or '... FSR'. Local roads servicing ranches and farms, may or might not be paved, and have descriptive names like Westsyde Road (on the west side the N Thompson River north of Kamloops).
I am aware of a couple of numbered provincial roads which are not paved - part of 20 to Bella Coola, 31 past Trout Lake north of Kaslo in the Kootenays, and 40 in Alberta south of Highwood Pass to 3 (Crowsnest).
If venturing off numbered provincial highways in BC, it is a good idea of have Musio Backroad Mapbooks. Even with those, it is unclear sometimes whether a road is paved or gravel.
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