GPS for Central America Question

[astr]

I've been considering purchasing a gps, preferable an in-dash unit like the Pioneer AVIC unit, but can't find a source of maps for Central America. Does anyone know if gps maps of Central America are available for this or any other gps unit? Thanks in advance.

[LandCruisers4Life]

If I were you, I would contact both Lowrance, and Garmin and see what you can find out.

[astr]

Neither Lowrance or Garmin offer Central American maps and I've not found a 3rd party source that offers them. I know in Costa Rica, the rental car companies offer a Garmin GPS with Costa Rican maps but the company that produces these maps only offers them as part of a rental package where you rent the GPS with maps along with the car rental.

[LandCruisers4Life]

That's ridiculous... world travellers need that stuff. What were the excuses made by Lowrance and Garmin?

[Grolar]

You might ask Dave Connors (dmc) how he worked around it. He drove from SLC to Ushuaia last winter and spring with a 80 and an in-dash unit.

[Otterav]

Hello,
I have the Baja 540, frickkin' awesome unit. The unit only does straight line nav, point to point. It is not a road following like the Garmin C330 units. I like it 10X more than the Garmin, I use the Garmin for craigslist chasing, and the Baja off road and exploring. The Baja has so many different feature, it takes a while to get up to spead, once there quick to use! Here is your World mapping linky:
LEI Extras - FreedomMaps World Reference Map
Hola
eric

[astr]

Originally Posted by Grolar

You might ask Dave Connors (dmc) how he worked around it. He drove from SLC to Ushuaia last winter and spring with a 80 and an in-dash unit.

Great tip. I'll contact him.

Originally Posted by Otterav

Hello,
I have the Baja 540, frickkin' awesome unit. The unit only does straight line nav, point to point. It is not a road following like the Garmin C330 units. I like it 10X more than the Garmin, I use the Garmin for craigslist chasing, and the Baja off road and exploring. The Baja has so many different feature, it takes a while to get up to spead, once there quick to use! Here is your World mapping linky:
LEI Extras - FreedomMaps World Reference Map
Hola
eric

Thanks for the link. I'll take a look at the Baja 540 but I'm leaning towards the Garmin Nuvi 880 at this point. If I understand correctly, I may be able to load in scanned paper maps into this unit. Need to do more research.