On Friday we spent the day with Garmin (and 53 degrees North) playing with their new topographic mapping for Ireland, Garmin Eire Discoverer. Prior to now GPS was limited to basic maps with no topographic features but this all changes now with full OSi (Ordance Survey of Ireland) maps with great points of interest and details.

The Garmin Oregon 300

These revolutionary new maps bring outdoor enthusiasts the opportunity to view a wider variety of highly detailed mapping, whilst navigating with turn-by-turn accuracy on the road network.  Garmin’s new mapping offers all the benefits of traditional paper maps with the added bonus of intelligent street map routing and interactive points of interest. Use the Garmin touchscreen GPS to search, select and navigate to street addresses and attractions, follow routes on foot, in car or by bike.

Users can now benefit from full 1:50K scale Ordnance Survey of Ireland map coverage for the whole of the Republic of Ireland. Garmin Eire Discoverer is available in four regions - North West, North East, South West and South East.  Garmin Eire Discoverer allows users of the Dakota^TM, Oregon® and Colorado® handhelds to experience using raster mapping with the underlying intelligence of vector cartography, providing navigation with ease and accuracy.

Providing an extensive database of points of interest (POIs) and available either via download or on a convenient microSD^TM/SD^TM card from the Garmin website, you can simply insert the maps into Dakota, Oregon and Colorado devices and go.

We tested the new maps in the Wicklow mountains for the day and will be giving it a full test over the next few months along with some touch screen units.  Initial impressions were very very good with crystal clear detail, even on steep terrain where contours are very close together the screens were easy to read.  Points of interest were easily identified and the detail good.

The only obvious drawback is that Ireland is divided into four sections with the dividing line for the East coast sections just below Dublin.  In fact it is a line stretching through Johnny Foxs, just the South side of 3Rock.  This was the only drawback, we would like to have seen more of an overlap.  You can download additional maps to the unit though so perhaps this is the answer.

Garmin Eire Discoverer is expected to be available from mid November 2009. For more information on Garmin Eire Discoverer mapping and the Garmin range of handheld GPs products visit www.garmin.co.uk

Eire Discoverer microSD/SD card RRP inc. VAT
North West €159.99/ £129.99
North East €159.99/ £129.99
South West €159.99/ £129.99
South East €159.99/ £129.99
* Purchase price applies to in-store only.