sli23sli
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Posts posted by sli23sli
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They mentioned updating to software version 2.2. Has anyone found out what the GPS chipset software version is? That may indicate if a different GPS chip is being used? Sli23sli
Yes, Garmin has an update for the Oregon, available via WebUpdater.
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4051
Take that, everyone (like me) who's waiting for fixes/features to the Colorado.
And for those of you having trouble with the AC in your 2007 Golf, VW has a fix -- for the 2010 model.
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I checked the specs out on both the Etrex Legend HCX and the Etrex Vista HCX on the Garmin site and they appear to be identical. Do they have the same chipsets or are there other differences? The Legend is less expensive. Sli23sli
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I use Cachemate on a Dell Axim 51v and loading caches is very fast. I have a database for each group of caches for various parts of cities or various areas I travel to. I load the unzipped pocket queries directly to the Axim internal memory in a cache folder and then import it into a new database I've created in cachemate. I then delete the pocket query in the internal memory folder. I usually upload a 100 caches at a time - up to 500 but never tried 1900. I have over a thousand caches total in 10 or so databases. What I like about cachemate is its database structure and database management. Maybe the higher number of waypoints would slow it down but it only takes 20 secs or so to upload 100 caches with all of the cache descriptions etc. into a database. Smittyware monitors the forums I think and may be able to explain the slowness you are experiencing. They have been very responsive to my inquaries. Sli23sli
I'm very very disapointed with Cachemate for pocket pc. After fresh installation I imported one gpx file with 1900 waypoints in it. It takes more than 27 minutes! What is it!? Who programmed it? Some child?? Smittyware must knows about this, that's why they offer a trial with 10 waypoints limitation. Very frustrating! And deleting ALL records, i.e. clearing whole database, takes more then 12 minutes!!! That's the end! Btw. importing of the same gpx file into BeelineGPS takes only one minute. (sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language)
iPAQ with 400MHz processor and 35MB available RAM.
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I am considering purchasing a 60CSX for geocaching and was wondering how most people who have one use it to find a cache. I've looked in the FAQ's and was not able to find a discussion on this. Do you use the electronic compass to point to it and follow it , or do you turn the electronic compass off and use the compass page with a regular compass and the "bearing in degrees", or do you use the map page with the electronic compass off and follow the line. Thanks. Sli23sli
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When you call Garmin to report a problem or issue, as someone mentioned - get a name and number and also make sure they write down the problem/issue under your name and unit. I recently spoke to 2 Garmin persons when trying to report this same problem. I got cut off from the first person and got another person when I called back. Both told me they had never heard the problem reported before although I had read at least 5 or so people had reported it to Garmin in this forum. I asked the second person whether this problem/issue would be written down under my name and unit, he said it would be. So my suggestion is that make sure they write the problem/issue down for other Garmin techs to see. Sli23sli
I can confirm this bug:
Two days ago, I was standing on a known position (Waypoint) with good satelitte reception and the device was already on for 30 Min. The Colorado 300 (FW 2.51, GPS-SW: 2.6) has shown > 600 m distance to the waypoint! Restarting the device, correct distance shown: 4..6 m
Please, please, please call Garmin tech support and report the problem. I think Garmin is still in need of convincing. The more people who report the problem, the more likely it is to get recognized and fixed.
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When you call Garmin to report a problem or issue, as someone mentioned - get a name and number and also make sure they write down the problem/issue under your name and unit. I recently spoke to 2 Garmin persons when trying to report this same problem. I got cut off from the first person and got another person when I called back. Both told me they had never heard the problem reported before although I had read at least 5 or so people had reported it to Garmin in this forum. The second person wrote it down and I asked him whether this problem/issue would be written down under my name and unit , he said it would be. So my suggestion is that make sure they write the problem/issue down for other Garmin techs to see. Sli23sli
I can confirm this bug:
Two days ago, I was standing on a known position (Waypoint) with good satelitte reception and the device was already on for 30 Min. The Colorado 300 (FW 2.51, GPS-SW: 2.6) has shown > 600 m distance to the waypoint! Restarting the device, correct distance shown: 4..6 m
Please, please, please call Garmin tech support and report the problem. I think Garmin is still in need of convincing. The more people who report the problem, the more likely it is to get recognized and fixed.
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(1) Fix the accuracy bug reported in other threads i.e jumping to high numbers for accuracy, track logs being way off etc.
(2) Fix the GPS instability when near the cache, Maybe averaging woiuld help this
(2) Improve screen legibility (brighter screen or lighter color scheme)
(3) Being able to delete archived tracks (waypoints, etc) on the Colorado itself
(4) Waypoint averaging
(5) Going to a location on a regular map screen using Whereto, and having access to 3D view, etc. i.e to inspect the layout of a location you may want to travel to (I have not figured out how to do this yet on the Colorado)
The GPS accuracy and GPS instability issues are most important to me. Sli23sli
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Garmin probably already does this based on contact to customer support, but I though it would be a good idea to do some polling on this site of the most requested features and fixes to the Colorado. I invite everyone to submit their Top 10 lists.
g-o-cashers - this would be some interesting data to add to your excellent wiki.
To try to keep this focused, please limit your feature requests to features that already exist on other units (such as the 60csx) that can be implemented to the Colorado via firmware. This thread is not intended to be a wish list for future capabilities (touch screen, etc.) which Garmin has not developed yet.
I'll start:
(1) Fix the accuracy bug reported in other threads
(2) Improve screen legibility (brighter screen or lighter color scheme)
(3) Improve battery life
(4) Custom waypoint symbols
(5) Waypoint averaging
(6) Search on map from cursor location
(7) Night mode
(8) List all waypoints
There's lots of other features that could be integrated from the 60csx, but the above is all that I really care about.
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I have recently run into similar problems on GPS accuracy. (I had posted in this same thread an earlier test that I had done under ideal GPS conditions on a football field and was frustrated at the compasses varibility when less than 35 feet from the cach under ideal conditions. GO$Rs had pointed out that that was probably not a GPS accuracy issue. I understand his point and now am reporting what recently happened to me regarding GPS accuracy.) On two occations while geocaching in the woods I ran into a situation where I was closing in on ground zero with a GPS accuracy of 25 to 30 feet and the cache distance about 40 to 50 feet away when my GPS accuracy suddenly went to 90 feet and the cache distance went to 150 to 200 feet away. I moved to a clearer spot and the GPS accuracy came back to the 25 to 30 feet range within a 10 minute period. I went back toward the cache and was able to ultimately find it. A similar occurance happened yesterday with similar results.
A different but GPS accuracy related issue happen this morning on a hike on a paved bicycle path where I had zeroed the track and trip computer before starting the hike in recreation mode. The trip computer and track measured similar mileage at the end of the walk which I think is close to being correct. I archived the track at the trailhead before leaving. I had walked on a paved path in the woods and was keeping an eye on the accuracy which was between 25 and 30 feet during the walk with the Colorado on a belt loop. The paved path was 8 feet wide and I walked on one side going and the other side comming back. I would estimate the difference between my tracks going and comming to be no more than 6 feet apart. When I got home I estimated the difference in the track between the going and comming track on the Colorado to be about 60 feet or so using the scale mark on the map screen. I downloaded the archived track onto Mapsource and measured it with the measutrement tool to be 50 feet between the going and comming tracks. This is an innacuracy of actual 6 feet vs 50 feet between the tracks or a factor of 8 or so. Given the GPS accuracy during the walk of (25 to 30 feet) , the resulting track separation of 50 to 60 feet seems high. You'd expect some of these inaccuracies to cancel each other out and not be at a max separation. I regularly walk that track and will record additional tracks for comparison. I guess I was a little surprised that the tracks were that far apart. Sli23sli
quote name='g-o-cashers' date='Feb 1 2008, 05:47 AM' post='3292867']
After using my CO 400t for the last two weeks I've been very pleased with the GPSr itself. I've seen no issues with grabbing and holding lock, EPE has always been sub 20', normally in the teens with a minimum of 5-6 satellites at good strength. I've been walking the same trail over and over since getting the CO and the track logs for each of these are right on top of each other (within 10-20'). So far so good, until this morning.
On the walk out everything looked fine. I went off onto some new trails and starting marking waypoints until I came back to the original trail. I noticed at that point my position didn't seem to match earlier walks but I went a little further to an intersection and I could see that my position on the map was way off based on the old tracks.
When I looked at the satellite page I was surprised to see the EPE in the 70-80' range. Based on my previous tracks I would estimate my position error was off by more than 300' ! At that point I stopped for a few minutes to see if things would settle out but there was no change. I had good strong lock on 7 satellites with one directly above, 3 at ~45 degrees and 2-3 closer to the horizon. I put the GPS in demo mode several times to see if that would bring it out of its funk but I got exactly the same results. Finally I power cycled the GPS and when it came back on I had EPE of 18 and the constellation/strength readings looked identical to me. My position on the map relative to previous tracks was exactly where I thought I should have been.
These issues will drive you nuts searching for a cache.
GO$Rs
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There seems to be a built in proximity alarm in the Colorado when you get close to a waypoint or geocache you are navigating to. A screen come up and says "You have arrived" or something like that and you have to click the screen off to see your navigation screen again. Can that be turned off or reset to a closer radius or is it not accessible. Sli23sli
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Maybe I'm missing something but it seems to me the GPS receiver in the Colorado is controlling the compass pointer to the waypoint so the intergrated accuracy of the compass/gps combination is the issue
In any event, I went back and redid the experiment with the compass turned off. I installed Distance and Heading in Degrees as my datafields on the map page. I used a compass to navigate to the waypoint and I stepped off the distance. I had even more confusing results than with the compass on. I occationally got to the waypoint by this method but most of the time it would take me around in random paths 30 to 50 feet away from the waypoint. Sometimes I was following the heading and the distance was increasing so I turned around and the heading would change and be in the correct direction. It seems to me the heading to the waypoint should be independent of what direction you are holding the Colorado. Another way to navigate to the waypoint is to try to follow the course line to the waypoint and turn so the position pointer is going directly toward the waypoint. That seemed to work better than using the heading and a compass but its slower since you have to turn the Colorado and wait for it to turn the screen to assure you are going in the right direction. The GPS accuracy was in the 15 foot range during this test.
I turned the compass back on and used it and was able to consistantly get close to the waypoint by stepping off distance in the direction of the compass when I was in the 40 to 60 feet range. I was hoping that the Colorado would give more consistant results than this. Sli23sli
Did you try the same experiment with the electronic compass turned off? The electronic compass introduces a entirely new set of potential issues. I would suggest turning it off to see how the unit behaves.
Most of the issues described in this thread are with the compass turned off, and while the stability of the compass in the Colorado may be an issue it shouldn't be confused with the accuracy of the GPS.
GO$Rs
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I've had my 400t for about two weeks and though I was able to find a few caches with it. I am not pleased with its accuracy for geocaching. In one case I was initially close to the cache but suddenly the compass pointed in another direction 30 feet away. I followed the compass and when I got to the other point after a while it pointed back to close to where I was originally. I eventually found the cache but it was not due to the Colorado's performance. This happened several times. Today I gathered up all my gps devices and went to the middle of a football field where I took 4 readings with the Colorado, a 350 Nuvi, A Dell Axim running CachNav with a Navibe Bluetooth GPSr, and a Garmin Forerunner 305. The non Colorado units all use the Sirf III chipset. All were reading about 12 to 15 feet accuracy except the CachNav which read about 26 feet. I marked a waypoint with all four units and averaged the coordinates. I then went to the four corners of the field with the Colorado and navigated to the averaged waypoint in Recreation mode using the compass which I calibrated. The compass was pointing in the right direction and the distance seemed to be about right at 150 ft or so. I then followed the compass pointer and walked toward the waypoint. In all four cases the compass went crazy when I got to about 30 feet or closer to ground zero. As I walked past the way point and away from it following the compass needle, at about 45 feet or further the bearing and compass begin pointing in the direction of the waypoint and the distance was also about right. The GPS accuracy was about 12 to 15 feet throught the test. I ran the same test with the CachNav and Bluetooth reciever. The bearing and distance got a little closer before the varibility started at about 15 to 20 feet. The instability of the Colorado compass when close in will drive you nuts. When I'm about 50 to 60 feet away, I now will try to pace off the distance and bearing when I can to see if that helps. I still am hoping that Garmin will fix the compass and heading instability issue in upcoming software revisions but this may be a hardware issue. I like the Colorado but the accuracy for geocaching needs Garmin's attention.
While at the football field, I zeroed the Trip Computer and cleared the current track of the Colorado. I also cleared the Forerunner 305 trip computer. I then walked around the footbball field at a slow pace. When I stopped the 305 and the Colorado trip computers read the same which seemed about right and the Colorado track was a little higher due to rounding. Thats pretty good news. However, I had noticed earlier that if you stopped and the Colorado was still on, the trip computer and the track continued to increase. I had stopped for 30 mins and the trip computer had gone up about 1 mile and the current track had gone up about 2 miles. I assume if you turn it off when you stop for a break or lunch, that it would start back up where it left off. I thought I'd report what I found recently.
After using my CO 400t for the last two weeks I've been very pleased with the GPSr itself. I've seen no issues with grabbing and holding lock, EPE has always been sub 20', normally in the teens with a minimum of 5-6 satellites at good strength. I've been walking the same trail over and over since getting the CO and the track logs for each of these are right on top of each other (within 10-20'). So far so good, until this morning.
On the walk out everything looked fine. I went off onto some new trails and starting marking waypoints until I came back to the original trail. I noticed at that point my position didn't seem to match earlier walks but I went a little further to an intersection and I could see that my position on the map was way off based on the old tracks.
When I looked at the satellite page I was surprised to see the EPE in the 70-80' range. Based on my previous tracks I would estimate my position error was off by more than 300' ! At that point I stopped for a few minutes to see if things would settle out but there was no change. I had good strong lock on 7 satellites with one directly above, 3 at ~45 degrees and 2-3 closer to the horizon. I put the GPS in demo mode several times to see if that would bring it out of its funk but I got exactly the same results. Finally I power cycled the GPS and when it came back on I had EPE of 18 and the constellation/strength readings looked identical to me. My position on the map relative to previous tracks was exactly where I thought I should have been.
These issues will drive you nuts searching for a cache. Sli23sli
GO$Rs
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I bought CN NA NT 2008 and received it about a week ago. I had contacted Garmin previous to ordering it and was told that I'd get a free 2009 upgrade. I installed the CN NT 2008 and registered it and about a day later when I opened "My Garmin" I had a message saying that I had a free upgrade that I could download or order a free upgrade 2009 CD which would take 4 to 6 weeks to get. I downloded the upgrade with a special program Garmin had also downloaded which allows you to download the upgrade in several steps if necessary. I down loaded it in one piece and it took about 1.5 hours. I followed the instructions and the 2008 was upgraded to CN NA NT 2009. I loaded the whole CN NA NT 2009 on an SD chip about (1.1 Gig) I think and it works fine on my 400t. Garmin told me also that the full CN NA NT 2009 CD would be comming out but they had no scheduled date for it. I think he mentioned several months as a guess. In any event , I'd call Garmin again and make sure about the free upgrade. Ask to talk to a supervisor if necessary. The person I talked to did this on his own before telling me it would be a free 2009 upgrade. Sli23sli
I contacted Garmin yesterday to inquire about the release of a full version of City Navigator 2009. I was told by the Garmin rep that, at this point, they really had no idea when the CN 2009 would by available for purchase. I then asked if I were to purchase an 08 version if I would receive the 2009 update for free. I was told I would not be able to receive the update for free. The reason I was given was because the price of the 2008 version had been significantly reduced and with price of the 2009 update added it would bring the total cost to the original cost of the 2008 disc. This person said that when the 2009 is eventually released, the price would be around $165. This is contrary to post I have read on this forum. I was under the impression that some had recently purchased the 2008 version and had then been given the 2009 update for free. Maybe this person had no idea what they were talking about, but I refuse to spend 165 on maps. With the info I was given, I will just be happy with CN 2008. Is this Garmin rep clueless or is me that does not have a clue?
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I called Garmin a few days ago and asked when the CN NA NT 2009 full DVD would be out since I could not find one for sale. They told me that it was not out yet and they, did not know when it would come out but the CN NA NT 2009 update was out. I told them that I needed a 2009 full version DVD. They told me to buy a CN NA NT 2008 version and when I went to "My Garmin" I would be able to download the CN NA NT 2009 update free of charge. Thats what they said a couple of days ago. Sli23sli
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How do most Colorado owners load caches to the Colorado? Do you need to use GSAK if you use pocket queries? I just ordered a 400t and I did a search in the forums but didn't find any info on this quickly. It seems I read somewhere that Geocaching.com had a special format for the Garmin Colorado. It would seem that GSAK would still be useful for sorting.,etc. Does the Colorado have the ability to keep the caches in seperate databases like Cachmate does? Thanks. Sli23sli
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For 400t owners, what city Navigator map version - NT or non NT routable maps are you using? or do both work equally well? In practice how are they used, I assume that they are not overlayed with Topo and that you have to select the map set you want to use. CN NT would be used to drive/navigate to the cache. Which mapset would be used when going to the cache? How difficult is it to switch between road/ non road and between different map sets on the CO 400t? Thanks. Sli23sli
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GeoNiche seems to be a Palm OS only software, is there anything similar for the WM5 OS?
Cachemate paperless software for PDA's includes a plugin called CacheNav that can be used with a PDA and GPSr (Bluetooth). I was wondering if anyone is using it for finding caches and how good is it. Sli23sli
I have it and have used it... However, I generally use GeoNiche instead for finding caches as it does a bunch of stuff CacheNav won't. But... I rarely use my palm for finding caches. Most of the time I use a real handheld GPS (and have my palm out with cachemate description info open instead).
BTW... if that bluetooth gps is tomtom's, you might as well give up now. It has a limitation that prevents you from doing much serious caching: if you drop below 2mph or so it stops updating the coordinates quickly (once every 30 seconds or so).
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Cachemate paperless software for PDA's includes a plugin called CacheNav that can be used with a PDA and GPSr (Bluetooth). I was wondering if anyone is using it for finding caches and how good is it. Sli23sli
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Were are the current best online deals on Colorado 300 and 400t? Any specials/rebates currently running? Sli23sli
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I talked to the Garmin Techs regarding this and here's what they said:
"The digital elevation is exclusive only to Nuvi 800 Series and Nuvi 5000 Series. To my knowledge this is a extra feature that is included only on the Nuvi 800 and Nuvi 5000 regardless of the mapping. Once you zoom in past 12 miles on a 2D map screen the digital elevation is then switched over to detailed street maps. "
They sent me a picture of the digital elevation map and its looks great. I'd attach or include it but I haven't figured out how to do it. I haven't found it on the internet yet. Its only good for low zoom levels , i.e 12 miles and up, If you go to higher zoom levels, 12 mi and below, it switches back to NT North America street map. It must be another map or overlay. I have not been able to find out if it will be made available to other series, i.e the Vista HCX, etc. If anyone has any additional info please chime in. Sli23sli
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Does anyone have any info on what the differences are between City Navigator North America 2008 NT, NT1, and NT2 maps. I read a Garmin press release for new car units and they mentioned map types NT1 and NT2. I didn't see them listed in the Garmin map info on their site. I assume that at least 1 of these has shading for 3D effect. Will Garmin be making these available on DVDs and how much storage space do they need? Sli23sli
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Of course, you are correct that the Colorado doesn't have a powered mount. However, the auto navigation kit for the Colorado consists of a mount and a power cable. This becomes virtually the same thing as a powered mount. Stick a speaker on the power cable (ala Quest) and update the firmware and you would have a perfectly good 'street' GPSr. It still wouldn't have all the silly extras like bluetooth cel support and mp3 player. If people want those features, Garmin has the unit for them, but not having those features doesn't mean that this unit wouldn't be an awesome combo unit.The current Colorado doesn't have a powered mount. The power cable powers the unit through the mini USB, which is the only connector there is. ...<It should be noted that making these small changes wouldn't affect the units usability on trail (or boat) at all. They would merely enhance it's 'streetability'.>
Sbell111, I totally agree with you on the speakers. They could be integral with the mount and powered by the power cable or even independently. That and a software revision to give it text to speech capability would make it a worthy road capable unit. A small portable speaker system would also make it a much richer Wherigo experience and not take away from its outdoor ruggedness. Listen up Garmin!! Sli23sli
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Okay. So .Net is already installed. You just have to install the player and that's where you're running into a problem.
The player will not be called download.html. You should have been able to (left) click on the player's "Download Player" button to download the file. It's a file called "PlayerInstall.CAB" and not "download.html". Try downloading the player again and seeing what happens.
Ranger Fox, thanks for the info. I switched browsers from MSN Premium to Internet Explorer and was easily able to get it downloaded and installed and working although I didn't finish the tutorial since I ran out of real estate but it seems to work - with exception that screen display was screwed up as Jeremy had indicated. Its was helpful to know what I was supposed to be looking for. Thanks. Sli23sli
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No, you do not have to do anything with the .Net Compact Framework after it is installed. It's not quite a program by itself, really, more like program parts that other programs use.
I checked the installation file. Yes, this is the type of application you must install from your computer. Run the installation file on your computer. It will then queue the .Net Framework for install the next time you connect your Axim to your computer. After this operation completes, plug your Axim to the computer and confirm the installation on your Axim.
After that, you can install the player .CAB file by installing it on your device through the SD card. Keep the .CAB file on your SD card, though. To upgrade properly to a new version of Wherigo, you'll need this old .CAB file to uninstall Wherigo before copying the new .CAB over to the card. If this is not done, Pocket PC has a way of acting up.
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I downloaded and installed the .net compact framework with no problem. I synced my Axim then downloaded the Wherigo player for pocket PC to my PC then transfered it to a folder on my Axim, opened File explore on my Axim then clicked on the downloaded file called download.html. It opened an internet explorer page and seemed to download something momentarily, then just stayed on that page. No error message and also nothing else. I did this with the Axim connected and with it not connected with the same result. What's the Wherigo player supposed to look like when its installed, is it a program, whats it named, and what's its size? Am I supposed to be connected to the PC when I clik on the downloaded file? Any help would be appreciated. I think I followed the directions correctly. Any help to get this running would be appreciated. Thanks Sli23sli
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It should be this one:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en
I think you'll have to attach your PDA to the computer to install the .Net Framework onto it.
I have it loaded on my Axim. The loading went well no error messages. I loaded it on my Axim sd drive. I can see the folder its in but it acts kinda funny when I click on it. Nothing happens. I check the program install/uninstall tool in the settings and it lists net compact FW as an installed program. Does it run in the background? Do you have to do anything to it for the Wherigo player to work? Sli23sli
iOS App - what version?
in Website
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Today, I upgraded to ver 5.1 for the iOS app. I tried to find some of the "new" items described and could not clearly find them so I decided to determine what my app version was and could not find it. I'm sure it's got to be in there somewhere but I could not find it. Any help would be appreciated. Also is there a tips document or a user guide for the iOS app? Thanks. Sli23sli