Almost a Technocrat in Draft

From this part of the world (Malaysia), a carabiner clip costs me at about RM50. I felt that it was a bit expensive for a simple accessory to invest in. By using a cheap made in China normal carabiner clip (i got it from ACE hardware at Queensbay Mall) with 2 small cable ties, i am able to make my own Garmin eTrex20 carabinar clip. Below are my snapshots of my poor man Garmin eTrex20 carabiner clip.

A comprehensive guide on how to manually convert OpenStreetMaps to Garmin IMG map format with different methods. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin

This website provides free Garmin routable maps of the world. Select your desired map region and direct download the IMG file. The maps are generated from OpenStreetMap. http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

A comprehensive list of websites to download free Garmin maps of the world generated by OpenStreetMaps. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download

This is a very good review on Garmin eTrek 20 that really covers every aspect of the GPS device. This is definitely a recommended read before you buy this. http://gpstracklog.com/2011/10/garmin-etrex-20-review.html

This is a good step by step instructions on how you can create a Garmin custom map using MobAC written by thebikegeek.blogspot.com . Garmin custom map is a feature where you can use a normal JPEG image map captured from camera or scanned paper map as the map overlay on your Garmin devices. http://thebikegeek.blogspot.com/2011/06/downloading-open-source-maps-for-garmin.html References or Credits: Garmin Custom Maps

A good collection of tips and tricks for Garmin eTrex GPS unit. This is a must read website before you start to use your etrex unit. http://www.aukadia.net/gps/

A list of eTrex 20 user manuals for downloads. http://support.garmin.com/support/manuals/manuals.htm?partNo=010-00970-10&language=en&country=US

This post will guide you on how to download the SRTM3 data to create a topographic contour map to complement your existing Garmin street maps in your Garmin eTrex 20 GPS device. You will use it like an extra layer of map on top of your existing Garmin street map. If you have not got a street map and you are interested in getting the street map for your Garmin eTrex 20 device, please refer to  How to get free routable maps into Garmin eTrex 20 .  If you are interested to get street maps for Malaysia and Singapore, please refer to  How to install malfreemaps into Garmin eTrex 20 . Malfreemaps provides a very comprehensive map of Malaysia and Singapore, more comprehensive map than the free OpenStreetMaps. Note: The steps below only applicable for Windows OS and make sure you have Java installed into your system. Steps Download  OSM2GarminTopo . This is a zip package that i have packed with mkgmap , srtm2osm and my custom batch script to automate the creation of the to...

This post will guide you how to get routable OpenStreetMap(OSM) maps into your Garmin eTrex 20 GPS unit. OSM maps are not comprehensive compare to other Garmin maps that you can purchase from Garmin but never the less they are free and you have the whole world to select for download. Note: I have tested this on my Garmin eTrex 20 and i am sure that this method also works for Garmin eTrex 30 units as well. Before you start, download mkgmap and make sure you have java installed into your system because mkgmap is a java based command program. Steps Goto  Free routable maps for Garmin GPS devices  and download the Garmin map (IMG format) of the region you need. Using mkgmap, give a description ID to your map so that you can identify the map from your Garmin eTrex 20 GPS device. You can disable it if you want to. The command is: java -Xmx512m -enableassertions -jar mkgmap.jar --draw-priority=10000 --transparent --gmapsupp --description=<your map name> <downloaded map f...

Malaysia and ASEAN Free Maps Project Forum (malfreemaps) provides a very comprehensive free Garmin map of Malaysia and Singapore for Garmin GPS devices. Malfreemaps works perfectly well on Garmin eTrex 20. I am sure this also applies on the Garmin eTrex 30 unit as well. Steps: Download the map package from malfreemaps forum site. Refer to their installation guide provided on the download thread on how to install and copy the IMG map file into your Garmin eTrex 20. Note: You can rename the gmapsupp.img file to your name of your choice because Garmin eTrex 20 supports multiple map files (IMG) with different filenames. References or Credits: Malaysia and ASEAN Free Maps Project Forum