Rusty,

I don't have any real expectations from Garmin; what I have is pretty good; I do like the Birdseye.  Like you, I don't care for the topo lines, but one good thing about the topo map is that it does identify some interesting points such as mines.  I have also found websites that provide even more information about mines from the past.

I am sure plenty of people have made their own maps by making tracks on their GPS and then sharing the file with others.  I have seen it done by some groups for off-road use for a geographic area.

So far I haven't seen any groups that do that sort of thing for the areas that I'm interested it; maybe we should start one.

Colorado