EU Maps in AU on a Garmin 530

[vosadrian]

Hi All,

I just got a good deal on a Garmin 530. I didn't really think about the maps, and it came with EU maps and not Australian maps. I had a 520 previously without mapping features (but upgrading due to poor battery life when used with Varia radar). I know I can purchase Australian maps. Is it worth me going to the effort and cost to get the Australian maps? I mostly ride where I know my way around in Australia, and usually have a phone with me if I am desperate for navigation. I have ridden in Europe before and I could have used EU maps when I did that!! Is there any real benefit in getting local maps if I am unlikely to need navigation riding locally? Maybe there is some use case or feature I have not considered that makes it really worthwhile?

Cheers!

[LateStarter]

I do a lot of Audax rides in unfamiliar areas and having a map is perfect for me even though I don't use navigation ("turn guidance") , I just follow the course route line on the map

The AU maps from Garmin don't cost a lot and will likely fit on the 530 with the EU ones or you can copy the EU ones to backup on a computer for future use?

You can also download (for free*) maps from a few OSM extract sites , as you know OSM is the source of the Garmin maps which they do some minimal playing with and sell to you.

Best site currently is extract.bbbike.org, it shows you a map (somewhere in Germany I think) and you can reposition it to AU, (zoom out, relocate, zoom in). You can then create a boundary box (rectangle or more complex polygon shape) to enclose the area you want to extract, pick the Garmin OSM "Latin" format , it creates your extract and tells you when it is ready to download, usually only a few minutes.

You unzip the map, place it in the 530 Garmin directory, go to Menu>Settings>Activity Profile>[Pick a Profile]>Navigation>Map>Map Information> Enable your new Map.......and away you go

On rainy days I do rides I dream anout in Europe using my "smart" trainer and having the EU maps and following the routes is great, during the first Covid lockdowns I did the entire 1220km PBP 2019 route (over a month)

*actually free which is unusual in this "no such thing as a free lunch" world, but these sites will only continue to exist if people who use them throw a few crumbs as a donation so they can cover their costs,

[trailgumby]

When we did it the other way around, and took my AU Garmin 810 to London, Germany and Italy I downloaded map tiles from Open Street Maps.

I was able to set destination addresses and get working turn-by-turn routes, which we unintentionally discovered also took into account street direction when we got off the train in Florence and it sent us the long way around the block on cobbled streets, trying to walk our wheeled luggage to the lovely 15th century house we had rented for the week.

Out suitcases survived, and then we discovered that they didn't have elevators in the 15th century and it took a few trips to get all our suitcases up the five floors to our rooftop apartment.

[CaffeineAU]

Could you copy the appropriate files off an Australian 530 or 830?

[vosadrian]

Thanks for the tips guys!!

That is an interesting question about copying Australian maps... if you can backup the EU maps to a PC, does that mean you can do the same with AU maps and copy them to another device? Surely they have some sort of security on that?

Thanks for the tip on the OSM download. I did that for Australia, and it seems to work. It was quite small at 389MB. I don't expect to use it much, but always good to have it just in case!

Thinking through it now, it is probably better for me to have the EU maps pre-installed. I hope to be cycling there again one day. Last time I did, it was a bit of a pain having to get the phone out to work out where to go. I almost made a costly mistake when descending the Stelvio intending to do a loop back to where I started and just saw an off beat turn off that I needed to take (overshot by a couple hundred metres before I thought to check it out better). If I missed it, I would have been doing the Stelvio both ways in one ride.... The Garmin maps would have helped!

[CaffeineAU]

Hang on a sec, just saw your username. You don't happen to work for a large medical manufacturer in Sydney Hills District by any chance?

[vosadrian]

Hang on a sec, just saw your username. You don't happen to work for a large medical manufacturer in Sydney Hills District by any chance?

Yep!

[vosadrian]

Had my first ride on the 530 yesterday. It worked much the same as my 520 did... but used much less battery which was the main think I needed. I did not use the maps, but noticed it kept alerting me of sharp bends coming up. I guess that was from the maps it had as it was traking my progress on the road. At one time it did this at an intersection where I might have gone straight but I did happen to be turning. Not sure how it knew that! I was in the turning lane, so maybe it worked that out?

Good to have a larger screen though as I like lots of data on it! Speaking of which, it did seem to have more data in connect... like breath rate which I never got with the 520. Not sure where it got that from?

[am50em]

Part of the FirstBeat analytics
https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=2 ... DqUH7q4WC6

[LateStarter]

, but noticed it kept alerting me of sharp bends coming up.

Menu>Settings>Activity Profile>[Pick a Profile]>Navigation>Map>Sharp Bend Warnings>Enable/Disable

PS With the recommended battery saving settings (mostly) I get 40 - 45 hours from a battery charge but that is probably at the higher end of saving configurations

[vosadrian]

Part of the FirstBeat analytics
https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=2 ... DqUH7q4WC6

Interesting.... pretty sure my HRM is part of an Edge 500 kit I got back in 2012 and not on the supported HRM straps list!

[am50em]

As long as it can accurately detect heart rate I would expect any chest HRM will work. My HRM is fairly old too but works with my 830.