Outdor gadgets, GPS, Leatherman in Vietnam

When I was looking for a bluetooth GPS receiver, a friend connected me with Tabalo, a shop in Phu Nuan District.
Adress: 220/10A NGUYỄN TRỌNG TUYỂN, PHƯỜNG 8, QUẬN PHÚ NHUẬN TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH
ĐT: 84.8.216.9588
It's a quite small office, but check out the website for the range of products. They not only have the GPS receiver I was looking for, but also a lot of other GPS devices like car tracking tools. They also sell leatherman, the popular and high quality multi-tool, and also aquabags, waterproof bags for your gadgets.
The service was really good, I was able to try the device (which was pre-charged), got also free GPS software transfered to my Phone (a Nokia 3720 classic, good for outdoor use).
For any reason they sell also the Razor computer mouse, pad and keyboard, also high quality devices.
Check the shop during common business hours or visit the website. I can really recommend it if you are a outdoor guy (or girl).

Vietnam and Saigon map for GPS and Nokia E71

So its seems to be a challenge: I have my brand new Nokia E71 and one of the reasons to buy it was the GPS feature. I think Location Based Services are the next big thing in the net, so I want to be at least technically be prepared.
The problem is: There is Vietmap available, what I did not manage to install yet. You can buy this software for 70 USD, sometimes the reduce it to 35 USD if you buy it with a new phone.

So I searched around and found Free Garmin. Someone said they might have the best maps for Vietnam. Might be, but when it comes to the cities, look at that list:
Hoi An
Can Tho
Hanoi (with Street names)
Hue
Vinh
Danang
Vung Tau
Mai Chau

No Ho Chi MinhCity ????

Ok, next search result leads me to http://www.gps-navigation.at.tf/. again Garmin based, with now downloads to offer and not one single word about City Maps.

Lonely planet has a discussion about GPS and maps in Vietnam.
I found a nice workaround there:

I have a PDA based GPS but to get maps I've been scanning paper maps then using the Pathaway software:
http://www.pathaway.com/
to calibrate them and give me a moving map.

There are some maps on http://www.sjvietnam.org/map/, free for volunteers and internationl organizaions, made with a mapscanner. You need the www.oziexplorer.com software for this.

so, it seems only Vietmap is a sufficient solution. As their website is only in Vietnamese, I need offline help to go through. Will post my further experiences here...


.. to be continued