VizualBusiness: Garmin BirdsEye Satellite Imagery

Garmin BirdsEye Satellite Imagery: "

Note to regular readers: This isn’t particularly "newsy," but I wanted to put together a resource page about BirdsEye that I could link to from reviews of compatible units. If you have comments about your experience with BirdsEye, etc., please add them below to help other folks who are considering ponying up for it. This intro will self-destruct in a few days!

Garmin BirdsEye Satellite Imagery is a $29.99 annual subscription plan that allows you to transfer satellite imagery to compatible Garmin devices. At this point, the following series are compatible:

Astro 320

Colorado series

Dakota series

Edge 800

eTrex 20 and 30

GPSMAP 62 series

GPSMAP 78 series

Montana series

Oregon series

Rino 6xx series

Is BirdsEye right for you?

IMHO, BirdsEye is most helpful for folks using it in urban/suburban areas (geocachers), other open landscapes (parts of the western US), and on lakes and rivers. I find it less useful in my area, under the dense canopy of the Southern Appalachians.

Things to know

BirdsEye imagery is downloaded and transferred to your device using Garmin’s free BaseCamp program

These are large files and downloads can be slow, especially at peak times (like the start of the weekend)

If you have vector maps loaded, some features such as roads and contour lines will show as an overlay on top of the BirdsEye imagery (seen above, at right)

BirdsEye subscriptions are sold on a per device basis; imagery cannot be transferred to another unit

Imagery can be loaded to internal memory or a micro-SD card

You can try BirdsEye imagery out before buying a subscription

Imagery downloaded to your device or a micro-SD card does not expire if your subscription lapses

You can adjust the brightness level (see screenshot above at right); on my 62s this is found under Setup > Map > Map Information/Select Map > BirdsEye Satellite Imagery