You can buy an 8GB SD card for under £4 online – it doesn’t need to be a digital video, high speed SD etc card. The good news is that maps are easily available: options include purchasing maps on an SD card or via download, from Garmin for £35 (as of November 2018) or Ordinance Survey 1:50k Full Country SD Card for £109.99! The Free map option…Īlternatively, if you have a microSD card with a capacity of 1GB or larger (I found one in an old phone), you can install the incredible and free OpenStreetMap map Newer devices including the 820, 10 have a navigable Europe map factory installed. If you zoom in to the map you see very few details apart from some main A-roads and rivers (compare the images)! On those devices apart from the 520 you can add a detailed map via a micro SD card (see image below). However, if you want to use your Garmin to navigate a route (there are plenty to download from the DV web site!) you’re going to need a better map one with road names and more details! BasemapĪs shipped, the above Garmin units come with a “basemap” installed. If all you ever want to do is record an activity – where you have been, speed and other statistics – then it’s absolutely fine and you can stop reading now!

If you’re a Garmin user (see list above), it’s likely you’re using the device with it’s very basic map. In three years of Garmin ownership, she admitted that she had never seen a decent map with road names on her Garmin!

Whilst there, she intended to explore unknown countryside and hills. I recently helped out one Dittons Velo rider to install a map on her Garmin 810 before a trip to Mallorca. This applies to the Garmin Edge 520/705/800/810 GPS devices Maximise the functionality of your Garmin for navigation

Free garmin base maps download