EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

 Got it in yesterday. Got my collars linked up to it.Simple. Went to download birds eye maps. Pain in the butt. If you have a garmin topo sd card you will be good. If you have a map card that you got cheap then you are screwed. You need the real garmin topo map. You will need to download all sorts of programs off garmin.com onto your computer to use the map features. Basecamp for the most part. If you dont have a true garmin topo map on your sd card the map you will have on base camp is a very very un detailed map that you will never be able to pin point hunting locations on. I am in the process of down loading the garmin topo map right now on my sd card. 59.00 bucks. Again, if you have a map that was downloaded on a sd card from any other place then it will not up load to your base camp software. So if you paid under 90 bucks for your card be prepared to pay another 59  to garmin for the right topo map. You will need it to pin point locations.
   I am not impressed much with the birds eye. It is cool but it isnt great when you zoom in on it on the astro. Zoomed out it looks decent just not what I thought when you zoom all the way in. I am sure it is enough for hunting though.
  Unit is nice. Bright and easy to use it seems. Seems alittle more rugged then the 220. I will update this thread when my topo download is complete to see if it made it easier to find locations.
  -Mike-

Good Deal! Way to take one for the team and work out all the glitches for us ;D Thanks for the info, keep it coming

Keep us posted!!!

Yes thanks for the info I'm not so sure no more that I want one

?? I dont seem to have those issues.... I had a FREE TOPO map the one that came from this link:

http://www.easttexashogdoggers.com/forum/index.php?topic=7547.60

on my SD card and when I load it into basecamp I can still see all the lil roads and everything when you zoom all the way in that was on the topo map but obviously only for the SE region of the US since that was the area the free TOPO map covered.  I think if I had the whole US topo map it would do the same for the whole US.  I did not have to download or pay Garmin anything. Definitely not $90.

I haven't tried the birdeye yet because I dont want to give Garmin an extra dime (but I'm a cheapskate).  With my previous TOPO map loaded in my new 320 works just like my old one, except with better reception, range, and graphics.  I was even able to transfer over all my old waypoints, marked locations. and coveys.

I do have some computer skills but I don't remember having to do anything special to get my maps to pull up regularly on the new unit.  On the base camp software did you make sure you enabled the map, because it has maps setup like layers and you can turn each base map layer on or off, maybe you had the topo layer disabled and thats why you couldnt see it on the basecamp map.  Does anyone else want to share their experience with loading TOPO maps on the new Garmin?

DFW,

Glad to hear that.  I was worried.  Don't have mine yet.

Must of been my map then. I got the card from coonky I think.
     The birds eye is a pain. You will have to download each area you want. I would think a card with the whole state would be a huge seller. Will test out in the next days. I hope the birds eye impresses me because I don't see much reason to up grade right now.

Yeah, that would have been nice....

I plan on adding a new topo and birds eye on mine this evening, and plan on trying it out tonight.....

Hopefully it works good, the new compass and birdseye is the main reasons i updated....  :-[

Will the Astro 320 still work with DC30 collars?

Yes, it will work with any garmin collar  ;)

Just wanting to see if anyone got the kinks worked out and how did yall like the birds eye option.

ttt just seeing what people thought of them and if those having problems got them resolved

you must be doing something wrong,  i had no problem with downloading my birdseye view on my hand held.  i downloaded it direct on my 320.  then i popped the sd card i sell for $20 righ in and it overlays right over the birds eye view.  in some areas you can zoom in better than other.   in a couple areas i can zoom down to 15 yards before it gets blurry.  But in the national Forest where i coon hunt i can only zoom down to 60 yards.   

Also i didnt try to upload anything from my sd card to my computer. there is no need to.  the maps come from their site

I am upgrading hoping at some point in the future you will be able to buy a birds eye sd card for the state or at least a portion of the state.  Mine should be here in a few days so we will see I guess.  How big of an area can you down load onto your 320 for the birds eye view?  Can you put a county or two in it?

i beleive the handheld has 1.76gb. i know ihave 50,000 acres or more loaded on mine with room for more.

Were you able to choose the areas or do you only get to pick a 50K acre "block"?  Id like to put 10-12 4-5K acre areas on mine.

you choose the area.  but dont try too big and area. it will take forever to load!

So what's the verdict, i have a 220 now but i am supposed to upgrade tues to the 320. Is the 320 worth upgrading too?  How hard is it to load the bird's eye view and if you hunt different area's how hard would it be to swap area's on the 320 bird's eye view. Thanks for any info on this matter.