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michaelnel

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Everything posted by michaelnel

  1. REI's 100% satisfaction guarantee doesn't have any restrictions about UPC codes. You don't even have to return the item in its original packaging. This is the return policy: http://www.rei.com/help/returns-and-exchanges
  2. If you are talking about the Garmin GPSMap 62st, then it has the typically crappy 100K Garmin topos built in. They are missing lots of trails, and do not do autorouting. They don't have nearly the roads and POIs that the City Navigator maps have though. You'd be better off just getting the GPSMap 62s (not the st) and then loading topo maps from gpsfiledepot.com and routeable streetmaps from garmin.openstreetmaps.nl.
  3. An Android smartphone such as the HTC Inspire 4G with a Qstarz BT-Q818XT external bluetooth GPS meets all of your requirements. NO dedicated handheld GPSR from Garmin, Delorme, Magellan or Lowrance has any built-in internet connection ability. With those you can download from the website, but only while tethered via USB connection to a computer that has an internet connection. If you have preloaded "bulk caches" to your smartphone you don't need a data connection in the field any more than a dedicated GPSR needs one. The big difference is that with a dedicated GPSR if you have not preloaded cache data before going into the field there is no way to do so when you are out there. With a smartphone, if you are in an area where you have a data connection, you CAN connect to geocaching.com and download cache data.
  4. Download it from Android Market again. As long as your Google account is still the same, you don't have to buy it again.
  5. Did they ever fix the issue of the compass display being extremely erratic while routing is in any mode but DIRECT?
  6. The rooting of the phone and the new ROM have no bearing on the geocaching performance, since I use an external bluetooth GPS and not the internal chip. Nor does the presence of bloatware have anything whatsoever to do with the geocaching performance of the device. You brought up the part about the bloatware, and I am saying there's a way around it. I agree though, rooting a phone is not for the technically timid. For me though it's sure worth it. It's a much more enjoyable and better-performing device now than when it was stock.
  7. The GPSMap 62S is my favorite of all the dedicated GPSRs I have owned. I think it's by far the best one Garmin currently manufactures.
  8. I have rooted my HTC Inspire 4G and installed a different ROM operating system, and it has zero AT&T bloatware on it.
  9. When Garmin claims to have not even heard of the problem, I dunno how anyone can think the replacement unit they send out won't develop the problem either. Sending out a replacement is the easiest way for them to get you out of their hair for a month or so while they fumble around with the issue internally.
  10. Some of the stuff I had problems with has undoubtedly been fixed by firmware upgrades in the interim, but I still don't want another one.
  11. What's the issues you have with the 450? I knew you were unhappy with the Montana. This is what I wrote at the time (March 2011): 1) The high resolution display is extremely difficult to read in sunlight. Since I didn't buy it to use indoors, that's a real problem. If you hold it at just the right angle to the sun it looks good, but if you have it on a bicycle mount it is almost never at that angle, which means you can almost never read it. 2) Battery consumption is terrible. I use 2700 mah NiMH Powercell batteries in it and have to carry extras if I am going to be out for a full day. 3) It loses sat sync easily and won't regain it no matter how long I wait unless I power cycle it 4) The "paperless" caching will bite you if you do any caches where pictures are important clues, as it won't download the pics and display them unless you do it all manually (download the pics from geocaching.com to your computer, then transfer them to the gps like any other photo. Unless you think this through before you leave the house, you won't have access to the picturs in the field. 5) It comes with that stupid carabiner clip but no lanyard. If you like to walk with the GPS in your hand, the carabiner clip makes that uncomfortable and you don't have the security against dropping it that a simple lanyard would provide. 6) The Birdseye imagery is a joke. It looks good in the Basecamp application on the computer but on the tiny screen of the Oregon 450 it just clutters stuff up. Downloading enough of it to be useful can be an exercise in futility, I kept on running into "you have exceeded the server limit", even though I had paid the $25 for a year's subscription. 7) The built-in map is useless. If you geocache in the city as I do, you need a detailed auto-routing map, which means buying City Navigator for about $75. 8) The WAAS accuracy enhancement is a joke. It seldom locks on to WAAS signals and even when it does, the accuracy bounces around all over the place. It's TERRIBLE for geocaching. I sent it back to Amazon for a refund.
  12. After my experience with a $369.00 Oregon 450, I still wouldn't buy one for $199, but many will.
  13. The "official" geocaching.com app has serious bugs since version 2.04 came out that make it almost unusable, the worst of which is a compass that goes nuts and points the wrong way randomly and shows distance to the cache that is off by about 1/2 mile much of the time. If you are on an Android phone, check out NeonGeo instead.
  14. That's true of non-T model Garmins, but Delorme PN-60 and most of the Magellan eXplorist models come with very good maps already built-in.
  15. The Qualcomm website page for the GPSOne chip doesn't mention WAAS. Don't you think it would if they had such a significant accuracy enhancement feature in their chip? http://www.qualcomm....location/gpsone Also see: http://www.qualcomm....html?query=waas It is, however, entirely possible your Oregon 450 sucked. Mine sure did... it almost NEVER got a WAAS lock.
  16. I would gladly skip the barometric altimeter to save money before I'd skip the electronic compass. Unfortunately, usually to get one you have to buy both.
  17. For those of us caching in urban areas, CN is quite useful, although the free OSM stuff is adequate too at a major savings in money. Topo maps don't do much for you when you are walking around the city and need street names and routing.
  18. I forgot to mention that the Qstarz BT-Q818XT external bluetooh gps brings something else to the table... WAAS / EGNOS support. That's how it gets < 3 meter estimated position error. I don't believe that *any* of the internal gps chips in smartphones offer that accuracy enhancement.
  19. My 450 used to do that too sometimes, and the Montana 600 did it all of the time when auto-routing was in use. Does it work right if you have it in direct routing?
  20. Neither would I. Fortunately most recent smartphones have one built-in.
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