Thanks for making this video. I am hugely frustrated with this app update, feels like they took something that worked great and made everything worse and asked you to pay for it when it used to all be free. Their big claims to fame, the search and the course creator, are probably the two features I cared least about, especially search, so it kinda feels like a slap in the face to advertise them like they really did something for us. Also in their advertisements I noticed they make a point of saying that "you can stream high quality satellite imagery with a wifi or data connection" or something like that. Like yea, I used to be able to just download them and use them without a connection but yall took that away, expect me to pay a subscription fee now, and are waving it around like it's something amazing. I am very upset with this whole deal. The only thing I've heard back from garmin is "sorry you don't like it, here's a link to our customer support". Also my app lags pretty badly too and I have the same problem where the satellite imagery doesn't load correctly if even at all.
Yea I thought they might have learned a lesson on the Fenix 8 launch with all the bugs and upsells, but it looks like this might be business as usual moving forward. I was really confused about the "you can stream high quality satellite imagery with a wifi or data connection" point as well. I was trying to figure out if there was something I was missing, which is why I included the Footpath and OnX comparison in the video. Overall disappointing.
Absolutely agree with your comment on having to pay for the usgs topo maps. Ive spent well over a thousand dollars of their hardware. I emailed them and complained. I got a canned response saying how to download the topo maps, their crappy topo active maps. I complained again. No response. I already pay for satellite mini 2 subscription. I am not going to pay more money for what used to be free. I want you to imagine you had a trip all planned, then the day before your trip you find that your app updated and now you have to pay for the usgs maps. Not only that you now have to download all of your maps again. What a load of crap.
@@Hikingguy agreed, it kinda feels like using OnX without any of the features I like about onx. I also dislike the new method of downloading maps. Instead of being able to download a state at a time you just put a box around whatever you want to download which usually ends up being more than you want or cuts off parts you want. My faith in Garmin is a little shaken now tbh. I've been a customer for a while, spent a lot of money with them too, and I relied on the old explore for everything from recreation to emergencies at work and SAR. I really felt that as long as my phone had battery I was good bc that app was so solid. Anywhere in the country I went I had high quality offline maps ready to go. Now I don't even have faith that the app won't crash when I try and use it and they took away all the maps I liked. The USGS quads were my favorite for route planning bc the topo lines were fixed and didn't scale with zoom, it made it substantially easier to recognize topographic features at a quick glance.
@@golden_shadow_defense I'm confused as most us us are. US quad sheets was the most important map I used. They lowered inreach but made more from buying the important maps.
It also has another big bug: it often doesn’t recognize the differences in level. I planned a series of routes on the Dolomites with the app and it gives me differences in height of 27 meters when in reality they are 600 or 700 meters..... really reliable I would say 😂😂😂😂
There are lots of bugs still present.. Some of the most annoying ones for me: -Changing a course does not work as expected (changes to direct instead of following roads/tracks) -Shortest distance isn't shortest distance -I haven't yet found an easy way to remove activities from a collection by selecting them all at once (but keep them categorised like I did before) I live in Belgium so I didn't loose anything on the map, finally there is an update.. hopefully they will update these maps now. Maybe it is possible for you to show the options for outdoor+ for users in Europe, I live in Belgium and have less options on different maps. I'm in doubt because having offline satellite images would be nice on a regular basis. I'm also curious how much better the map is.
Thanks for posting that. The other one I found is that you can't set a waypoint at a location other than the one you are physically at, which is pretty crazy. I wish I could show European options. I tried changing my location on the phone a few years ago using a VPN but it didn't give me Euro options.
I’m in Japan and I don’t have the option to download any offline maps, except the outdoor maps plus subscription. Garmin support is working on it, but looks like a bit of a rush job. I love their hardware, but their software ecosystem is all over the show.
The new Explore app is a total mess here in British Columbia, Canada. Some new local hikes in our mountains that I plotted out show ZERO elevation gain or loss. The TopoActive maps show the correct contours, and the saved course has an elevation profile that shows you're hiking in the mountains but the gain or loss is zero (or NaN). Also, the distance and altitude axes quantities are missing one or two zeros in the numbers. This seems to be only in certain geographies as a look at my saved courses in Colorado have correct elevation gain / loss as do some in Alberta (Banff area) that I'm familiar with. I'm reluctant to try Maps+ in Canada as it isn't clear what, if anything, you will get.
Oh man, what a mess, thank you for sharing that. I found a new weird bug today, if you go to create a waypoint, it only allows me to do it at my current position. I wonder what happened at Garmin that products like this (and the Fenix 8) go out the door with all these issues. Really sloppy for products that people's well-being could depend on.
Thanks. Only reason why I would be interest in Map+ if the satelilte map would get updated on a weekly basis and the resolution would be better than Caltopo.
Absolutely considering the technology, sat can rean a license plate in 2024. @@Hikingguythanks for the video I've been waiting since the 14th when I got the update on Android one ui 6.1
I tried the maps plus when I got my Garmin Fenix, at that time you had to connect your watch to Wi-Fi and have it plugged in to download the maps, and it took hours. Completely unusable. Yeah, this feature is not worth the price. I also take issue with companies charging for USGS maps since they are freely available as we pay for them with our tax money.
Hello ! Just noticed that there are some new maps. I am based in Luxembourg and saw that the topo pro is non existant here wheras it is there in Germany. Could it be that it is a bug in thr software ???
Many thanks! I've been waiting for a review before updating my app. One question perhaps you can answer is, are the new USGS Topo maps (on the now-paid for plan) as detailed and as, well, familiar, as the older USGS Topo maps? I ask because this is really all that is keeping me from updating. I rely heavily on these maps for my job: no other previous map-type or layer comes close to the resolution of fine topographic features. Things like cliff bands, small spurs and draws, choosing the correct couloir to descend, and more, make USGS maps more essential to me than, say, a trail's accurate location or popularity. Hoping you can find time to reply. And thanks again for the review!
I think they are same 24k topos - here's what that Garmin website says: "High-quality 1:24,000 scale U.S. Geological Survey raster maps that display terrain contours, trailheads, camping areas, trails, points of interest, water sources, and more."
@@Hikingguy Are the USGS quads significantly more detailed than the topo-active maps, which seem pretty good to me. Also, I’m unclear as to whether the sat images are only available when you have a WiFi connection, or are they still present offline?
Thanks for this update it’s very valuable
Thanks for the update.
Thanks for making this video. I am hugely frustrated with this app update, feels like they took something that worked great and made everything worse and asked you to pay for it when it used to all be free. Their big claims to fame, the search and the course creator, are probably the two features I cared least about, especially search, so it kinda feels like a slap in the face to advertise them like they really did something for us. Also in their advertisements I noticed they make a point of saying that "you can stream high quality satellite imagery with a wifi or data connection" or something like that. Like yea, I used to be able to just download them and use them without a connection but yall took that away, expect me to pay a subscription fee now, and are waving it around like it's something amazing. I am very upset with this whole deal. The only thing I've heard back from garmin is "sorry you don't like it, here's a link to our customer support". Also my app lags pretty badly too and I have the same problem where the satellite imagery doesn't load correctly if even at all.
Yea I thought they might have learned a lesson on the Fenix 8 launch with all the bugs and upsells, but it looks like this might be business as usual moving forward. I was really confused about the "you can stream high quality satellite imagery with a wifi or data connection" point as well. I was trying to figure out if there was something I was missing, which is why I included the Footpath and OnX comparison in the video. Overall disappointing.
Absolutely agree with your comment on having to pay for the usgs topo maps. Ive spent well over a thousand dollars of their hardware. I emailed them and complained. I got a canned response saying how to download the topo maps, their crappy topo active maps. I complained again. No response. I already pay for satellite mini 2 subscription. I am not going to pay more money for what used to be free. I want you to imagine you had a trip all planned, then the day before your trip you find that your app updated and now you have to pay for the usgs maps. Not only that you now have to download all of your maps again. What a load of crap.
@@Hikingguy agreed, it kinda feels like using OnX without any of the features I like about onx. I also dislike the new method of downloading maps. Instead of being able to download a state at a time you just put a box around whatever you want to download which usually ends up being more than you want or cuts off parts you want. My faith in Garmin is a little shaken now tbh. I've been a customer for a while, spent a lot of money with them too, and I relied on the old explore for everything from recreation to emergencies at work and SAR. I really felt that as long as my phone had battery I was good bc that app was so solid. Anywhere in the country I went I had high quality offline maps ready to go. Now I don't even have faith that the app won't crash when I try and use it and they took away all the maps I liked. The USGS quads were my favorite for route planning bc the topo lines were fixed and didn't scale with zoom, it made it substantially easier to recognize topographic features at a quick glance.
@@Hikingguy "but it looks like this might be business as usual moving forward." That is the new normal with many products/apps.
@@golden_shadow_defense I'm confused as most us us are. US quad sheets was the most important map I used.
They lowered inreach but made more from buying the important maps.
Charging for previously free maps? Great idea, Garmin!
Yea pretty nuts given the maps are free to the public ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/
It also has another big bug: it often doesn’t recognize the differences in level. I planned a series of routes on the Dolomites with the app and it gives me differences in height of 27 meters when in reality they are 600 or 700 meters..... really reliable I would say 😂😂😂😂
I didn't know about the snap/off-trail feature, that's very helpful.
There are lots of bugs still present..
Some of the most annoying ones for me:
-Changing a course does not work as expected (changes to direct instead of following roads/tracks)
-Shortest distance isn't shortest distance
-I haven't yet found an easy way to remove activities from a collection by selecting them all at once (but keep them categorised like I did before)
I live in Belgium so I didn't loose anything on the map, finally there is an update.. hopefully they will update these maps now.
Maybe it is possible for you to show the options for outdoor+ for users in Europe, I live in Belgium and have less options on different maps. I'm in doubt because having offline satellite images would be nice on a regular basis. I'm also curious how much better the map is.
Thanks for posting that. The other one I found is that you can't set a waypoint at a location other than the one you are physically at, which is pretty crazy.
I wish I could show European options. I tried changing my location on the phone a few years ago using a VPN but it didn't give me Euro options.
Thanks Chris!
Thank you for your work!
I’m in Japan and I don’t have the option to download any offline maps, except the outdoor maps plus subscription. Garmin support is working on it, but looks like a bit of a rush job. I love their hardware, but their software ecosystem is all over the show.
The new Explore app is a total mess here in British Columbia, Canada. Some new local hikes in our mountains that I plotted out show ZERO elevation gain or loss. The TopoActive maps show the correct contours, and the saved course has an elevation profile that shows you're hiking in the mountains but the gain or loss is zero (or NaN). Also, the distance and altitude axes quantities are missing one or two zeros in the numbers. This seems to be only in certain geographies as a look at my saved courses in Colorado have correct elevation gain / loss as do some in Alberta (Banff area) that I'm familiar with. I'm reluctant to try Maps+ in Canada as it isn't clear what, if anything, you will get.
Oh man, what a mess, thank you for sharing that. I found a new weird bug today, if you go to create a waypoint, it only allows me to do it at my current position. I wonder what happened at Garmin that products like this (and the Fenix 8) go out the door with all these issues. Really sloppy for products that people's well-being could depend on.
I was in the middle of reading a good book. Had to put my kindle down to watch.
Thanks. Only reason why I would be interest in Map+ if the satelilte map would get updated on a weekly basis and the resolution would be better than Caltopo.
Yea I thought you might get some higher resolution sat imagery but you don't. Compared it to Google sat and doesn't come close.
@@Hikingguy bummer.
Absolutely considering the technology, sat can rean a license plate in 2024. @@Hikingguythanks for the video I've been waiting since the 14th when I got the update on Android one ui 6.1
Just wondering how it transfers and looks on my Fenix 7 pro. I’ll play with it a bit and see how it goes.
I tried the maps plus when I got my Garmin Fenix, at that time you had to connect your watch to Wi-Fi and have it plugged in to download the maps, and it took hours. Completely unusable. Yeah, this feature is not worth the price.
I also take issue with companies charging for USGS maps since they are freely available as we pay for them with our tax money.
Hello ! Just noticed that there are some new maps. I am based in Luxembourg and saw that the topo pro is non existant here wheras it is there in Germany. Could it be that it is a bug in thr software ???
Do you need a Garmin device to use this app?
Good question, you can use it without a device on it's own, but just to look at maps, you can't navigate on your phone.
Many thanks! I've been waiting for a review before updating my app. One question perhaps you can answer is, are the new USGS Topo maps (on the now-paid for plan) as detailed and as, well, familiar, as the older USGS Topo maps? I ask because this is really all that is keeping me from updating. I rely heavily on these maps for my job: no other previous map-type or layer comes close to the resolution of fine topographic features. Things like cliff bands, small spurs and draws, choosing the correct couloir to descend, and more, make USGS maps more essential to me than, say, a trail's accurate location or popularity. Hoping you can find time to reply. And thanks again for the review!
I think they are same 24k topos - here's what that Garmin website says: "High-quality 1:24,000 scale U.S. Geological Survey raster maps that display terrain contours, trailheads, camping areas, trails, points of interest, water sources, and more."
@@BrianGaschler do not update your app, the new version is substantially worse
@@Hikingguy Are the USGS quads significantly more detailed than the topo-active maps, which seem pretty good to me. Also, I’m unclear as to whether the sat images are only available when you have a WiFi connection, or are they still present offline?
@@golden_shadow_defense the topos or the app?
@@albertharting4094 It's just a different map, topo active are still good and you can download all map types over cell/wifi
Thanks for saving me $50.
Garmin gps, garmin watch, now if they don't get the bugs fixed, I'm going gaia not sure mu OCD can handle that.
Seems like a bust and money grab by Garmin.
Not on Android yet...
Yea strange
thanks! I'll be backing up the current app on my android phone to prevent the maps from going away.
I got mine on the 14th on samsung s23 ultra v6.1. @@NatendoSwitch
Garmin is so 1980s