It's obviously a personal thing. But I don't get why people buy a dedicated GPS then pay an additional $200 for the same 250K topo map that's included free in other platforms. Eg on Memory Map the Hema map set comes with all Hema Maps plus the Aus Topo 250K thrown in. I'm pretty sure its the same map data. Plus you can run it on your phone tablet or PC or all.
I don't have a Garmin but would be interested as to why people like it.
You would still be paying for the maps in some way, it more than likely is part of the overall price of the unit.
Some Garmin products will also come preloaded with mapping software it just depends who & where you buy it from.
My last handheld I bought I bought from the USA way cheaper than I could get it here($100 cheaper) & knew because of that I'd have to add maps myself, its a 64cs.
So many people get stuff for free & then whinge that it doesnt do what stuff you pay for will.
I run Garmin V5 Topo maps (also have V6 Lite) and they have not cost me much very little to buy (if u know where to look) so for me I reckon they are great but like everything I've come across there are times where it may not show some tracks and this is where I rely on other mapping Apps. But the majority of the time the Garmin Topos are great... You can zoom in a long way without any pixilation (these are vector maps). I use them in conjunction with Garmin Basecamp for Trip planning and is brilliant for creating Routes and then have the ability to convert them to Tracks for uploading into your GPS or Mapping Apps. When using Basecamp - you can find other peoples Tracklogs from the internet and then import them into Basecamp, then manipulate them to suit your Trip Plans & then upload into your devices... I haven't found anything that works so well and is flexible but I have been using it for sometime. I have tried Ozi & that is good as well but I still find the Garmin Basecamp easier & more flexible to use & navigate through.
One thing I've found when using the V5 Garmin Topo is that u cannot always guarantee that the tracks that are shown on V5 are actually there. This is where I always confirm via GoogleEarth or Google Maps or Bing Maps that the tracks actually exist. This is fairly rare but I have been caught out in the past once which wasn't a big deal at the time - just something that I now do if I'm heading to a real remote location.
When I go on a trip, I usually like make sure that I run a dedicated GPS and also a Tablet. I always like to keep all my Tracklogs of where I travel and in the past I've had a few issues with Tablets playing up so now I ensure I run both and this usually guards me from having corrupted Tracklogs...
I'm sure everyone will have their own individual experiences but for me - using Garmin products has always been easier. I'm now also (thanks to a mate on here) are using a couple of Apps (Mapout and PocketEarth). To date I've used these with great success as well
I have V5 in my 64sc & I think the basecamp interface is great for planning trips, preloading waypoints & even printing larger paper maps, the only beef I have with Garmin is the maps you buy can only be licenced to just 1 unit & I dont even know if they will run in anything other than a Garmin unit like a tablet or phone??
I think if you buy mapping software you should be able to use it in multiple units, but then they would be losing money right
I also use avenza(still free??) as well on either tablet or phone which works offline, but of course you have to have a PDF of the map area installed.