Maxine&Me

Thanks for all of the great replies. It looks like my best bet is to load the coords of the various NavAids and use those as waypoints. I'll still rely on the old sectional for Specal Use Airspace, Airport frequencies etc. I like the idea of modifying a MapSorce Map, I'll look into that as a long term option. As I have had an on and off love affair with aviation, I want to ensure that I will stick with it before plunking down the $600-$1,000 for an Avitaion Unit. I have seen navigation software for laptops that look pretty cool. Has anyone had experince interfacing their GPS with a laptop and using that in the cockpit. I am concerned with spending too much time staring in the right seat with that option?

I have a handheld Garmin Vista. I am back into flying after a long layoff. GPS's were not on the scene the last time I flew. I would like to use my handheld in my new hobby but it seems that all aviation product (Jeppesen etc.) require "Avitaion" GPS's. Is there really a difference or is this just marketing tatics at work. I hate to buy another GPS. Has anyone used a general purpose GPS in aviation. Particular to track VORs etc? It would be nice to have airports and their associated communication frequencies pop up on the moving map. Are there any software products that I can load to support this?

I received my shiney Oregon Coin today. It is coool!! Thanks Nurse Dave!

I just posted a note on the cache page. Thanks for the suggestion!

My elderly father has recently begun to enjoy Geocaching, especially watching the exploits of his first Travel Bug Sammy Eagle. Sammy has been making great progress towards his goal, especially making it to Alasaka, however Sammy has been placed in a desolate cache and could be out of commision for the Fall and Winter months if not rescued soon. He is in a Alyeska Outlook. I would really appreciate the resue of Sammy. If that's not asking enough, I would really like to see a pic of the cache location, it sounds pretty cool . Since this is a tough out of the way cache, I will gladly send the rescuer a Kentucky GeoCoin for their collection and rescue efforts.

Sounds like fun. I'll swap with you if you are still looking for a Kentucky Geocoin

I have had to return two units because of problems. Both times I tried emailing first. I waited over a week both times with no reply. My phone call however was handle quickly and professionaly.

I use to be able to use some HTML tags in my logs to create bold headings (ie. <B> my text </B> ) This no longer seems to work. I would also like to creat a external link within a log. Is this possible?

I am on my second Garmin Vista soon to be 3rd for the same reason. Can you squeeze on the sides or the face and get the video to come back. If so, from what I understand there is a ribbon cable that causes the problem. If the unit is under a year old Garmin will replace it. I believe there maybe an out of warranty end user fix available. If so, I am sure someone will post it.

I have a Vista and bought MetroGuide for it. I was more concerned about navigating streets when caching in different cities. It works great however I find that the screen sizes forces me to do a lot of panning and zooming and thats not real fun to do. I have resorted to using a laptop and interfacing the GPS to that so that I have a large screen with moving map. I have been able to use the Vista/MetroGuide when I really got turned around to get me back on a main road.

I have had issues with USB to serial adapters not working in other situations (non-GPS). You may want to look in device manager (assuming Windows) and ensure that the Operating System sees the adapter. Is there an option to select the COM: port you want it to emulate? Try selecting different ones. To interface with Easy GPS ensure the interface on the GPS is set to GARMIN format. If you are wanting to interface with MAPSource you need to change this seeting to NEMA. Hope this helps

Well darn, I was hoping I could download the map and maintain the zoom and pan features that I have on my PC. Looks like I am buying yet another package to do that . Thanks for the comments.

Does anyone know how I can download a map from Garmin's Mapsource into a Palm Pilot. It saves it's Maps as an .mps file. Thanks.

I recently assisted in placing a cache in a State Park. Kentucky State Parks require permission from the manager of that park. I expected to be shot down actually. The managers response was "It's a State Park and meant to be used, where do you want to put it?". WOW, what a breath of fresh air that was. There is some common sense out there still. I am so glad I took the time to ask now.

I recently received a replacement eTrex Vista from Garmin (the 1st one went bad). With this unit, when I travel at slow speeds (walking) the bearing pointer will sometimes disappear. Nothing I do brings it back except to get in the car and travel faster. Is this a defect or is there a setting somewhere that could cause this?

I recently received a replacement eTrex Vista from Garmin (My 1st one had a bad display). Whenever I am traveling a low speeds (walking) the bearing pointer will periodically disappear. Nothing I do brings it back except geting in the car and travelling at a higher speed. Is this a defect or a setting somewhere. Thanks in advance.

WOW ! Mission accomplished, thanks to Gaurq for getting out and taking the pics. Thanks to all of the others for the great ideas on how best to approach this one.

I would imagine for safety reasons. In a race situation it would get crazy people rushing around to be first.

"The most popular is www.geocache.com" Sounds like another correction is necessary. [This message was edited by Maxine&Me on August 25, 2003 at 01:33 PM.]

Thats Awesome! If you can snap an interesting pic along the latitude of N62.47.6xx you pick the longitude. Then submit the Pic to the cache log and mention my name in your log, we've got it!

I just received a new Vista and have found it to be somewhat awkward compared to my older Garmin 12XL. The 12XL had a goto button on it that would immediately bring up the waypoint page. It also had a mark button that would create a waypoint instantly. These functions on the Vista take several keystrokes. Is there a way to make hot keys for the functions I want to use the most?

I just received MapSource and want to import waypoints that I generated via pocket queries. It appears that some conversion must take place. I searched some older posts that mentions other utilities. Is there a way to streamline this process?

The Official Response Thank you for contacting Garmin Cartography. Yes, you can install the CD to as many computers as you'd like. The MetroGuide product is not "locked", so no unlock code will be necessary on either computer. Thank you for your interest in Garmin GPS. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Please include all previous correspondence when replying to this message. Best Regards, Matt cartography@garmin.com GARMIN International 1200 E. 151st Street Olathe, KS 66062

I actually did email them and received an auto response that they will respond in 3-5 business days. Geez! I have the software and I am just dying to install it but if I can only use it one place I'll wait to I get home.

quote:Now if you want maps on your computer that's another ball of wax. You can do a lot better on the computer than the Mapsource stuff. I just purchased MapSource MetroGuide. I haven't even opened it. Are there better options?