spyder40

Why not just buy a GPS 18 Deluxe which comes with City Select as well as a GPS for a PC? TigerGPS has the package for $109 and it can be had elsewhere for $119. http://www.garmin.com/products/gps18/ http://www.tigergps.com/gagps18sefor.html

Rubicon-1, What accessories did your 530 come with? Car charger, PC interface cable, etc or is everything extra? Will the 120 cables work with the 530 (I have the car/PC combo cables)?

Almost looks like the one on the right has the backlight on.

Try Topofusion. www.topofusion.com

Greetings, Just got back from a dive trip to Cozumel Mexico with my son and have all our entry/exit points saved as waypoints in my GPS. I was hoping to map them on a satelite photo (like TopoFusion) but after searching it appears all the photos are the US. Anyone know of any mapping/photo sites of the Caribean? TIA spyer40

Greetings, I went through the same research earlier this summer and ended up buying a Maha 201/Maha401/Maha Powerex 2000mah AA's. So far they have worked out great. There are quite a few posts regarding Rayovac chargers with most of them bad (very hot batteries and sometimes blown batteries). I get the same/better runtime in my Rino 120's as alkalines (Duracell, hate Energizers from my caving days). The real killer was when I started using them in the flash/strobe for my Nikonos underwater camera. Alkalines would take several seconds to recycle the strobe after the first couple of flashes, the NiMh's recycle in under a second for at least 36 exposures. Try the following forum, tons of good information on batteries, flashlights, etc. www.candlepowerforums.com

Try Topofusion. It will do sat or topo maps from your tracks. Pretty slick package.

runor49, Got a response back from Samsung stating they don't release their API's or have an SDK at this time. Major bummer since this sounds like a neat project. I'll keep nosing around... spyder40

runor49, Just purchased a Samsung VGA 1000 for SprintPCS and was wondering how your project is going? I sent an email to Samsung requesting information. spyder40

Thanks for the info, I didn't think I was too off base. From reading all the different threads it almost sounds like I need both the new version and the old version depending on what I doing/where I'm going. Played with find a little more and some street names don't show up in the drop down box yet I've found them on the map. It's somewhat irritating that I have to use MapPoint to find where my destination is so that I can "find" it in Metroguide.

I currently use the following: Rino 120 3.20 firmware MapPoint 2002 Street Atlas 2003 MapPoint 2002 works great but will not upload routes to a GPS so I've used SA 2003 (lousy interface) for that function. Last weekend I made a trip from the northside of Indianapolis to Bowling Green Ky with a stop at Six Flags/KY Kingdom. The first two legs were uploaded to the GPS without problems but the last long leg (Bowling Green back to Indy) truncated at the Ohio River. I split it into two sections and it worked. On the way down I think I figured out the truncation since it was constantly alerting me to upcoming overpasses/ramps/etc. that didn't have anything to do with my destination. It also showed each one as a leg which was annoying. A buddy has Metroguide and I'm checking it out to see if it works better before I make another purchase but have a few questions. 1) The box says 4.01 but after installing and doing the Mapsource upgrade (5.0 english) when I click on the help->about box it states Mapsource is 5.0 and product info shows Metroguide 3.00. Are there any updates to this? All I can find in stores now is a 5.0 version of Metroguide. What are the version numbers internally to it? 2) I've been playing with the routes function and it seems to work like I expect it to work. It appears to only upload the points where I need to turn which allowed me to get a complete route for the last trip. I would assume since it knows the roads (as tracks?) it doesn't need intermediate waypoints like SA 2003 but is this the case or do I need to load the maps? Is the basemap enough (don't care about the roads it doesn't have as long as the turns are there)? If I need to load the maps, is there a way to only load the roads it needs? 3) The find function seems sketchy. I've entered my home address but it can't find it. However, if I zoom in on the map my road exists and as I mouse over it my address appears. Same for the the destination address. I right clicked and entered both which created a route (mighty easy actually) but if I don't know where these are to start with I'd be lost. Is this a function of Mapsource and as such will be the same in Metrogude 5.0? 4) From reading, am I correct in the assumption that really the only difference between the 4.01 box and 5.0 box is the actual data and nothing else? Or is the data organized differently and makes the interface more useful? 5) The uploaded routes use numbers for the intermediate turns, is there a way to force it to use the street names? SA 2003 would alert and the message would be "approaching I-65". Approaching "182" is somewhat meaningless. 6) Is there a way to adjust when the alert pops up? It seems I'm almost on top of the turn before the alert happens. On the highway I'm literally next to the ramp before I know to take it. Any help will be appreciated!

Update 2 Just made a trip from the northside of Indianapolis to the Corvette museum in Bowling Green KY with a stop at Six Flags/Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville Ky. I used Street Atlas 2003 to create the routes and load them into my Rino's Street Atlas 2003 I created a route to KY Kingdom no problem as well as the route from KY Kingdom to the Corvette museum. Creating the route from the Corvette museum to home however was problematic. Too many points and the route was truncated at Louisville so I broke it up into two segments. While driving it appears to have loaded every ramp/overpass/? and alerted me when approaching them which must be why I couldn't get the full return route. It also broke the route up into a ton of "legs" which were meaningless (65S from Indy to Louisville I would have expected to be one leg). I also noticed on the basemap that the route didn't follow the road (bearing track?). I'm now curious how Metroguide works. Does it utilize the base map/uploaded map and treat roads as tracks? It would seem that would be more accurate since it already knows them exactly. Does it also alert on every ramp/overpass/? that it comes across? How are legs handled? I would hope each leg would be from one turn to the next turn. Routes Final ETA was incredibly accurate, four minutes on one, 1 minute on another, and right on for the last. Must be doing some type of averaging as you go since speeding up and slowing down didn't change the ETA as often as I would have expected. Quirks I did have another lockup on the trip when selecting the route coming out of Louisville. SAT fix was 7-8 and accuracy was in the low teens. Chose the route, hit navigate, and nothing. Went to the map and it said drawing. Finally powered it down then back up and everything was fine. I also had several instances of lost SAT from Louisville to Bowling Green. Looking at the SAT screen it seemed that I should several in view but the only way to get them back was to power it down then back on. Coming back north a couple of hours later everything was fine. I wish I had left one Rino on the old firmware so I could have compared the two. Battery contact lost I finally jiggled the battery's loose even after the upgrade. Not too concerned though, it was on the T2 roller coaster (bat type, hanging underneath the rails). I was a little jostled myself... Unfortunately I got stuck under the metal roof of the platform for too long and lost SAT reception before take off so I didn't get a good track log anyway.

Greetings, Just completed a week at Cub Scout day camp with my son and thought I'd share a little info. Powerex 2000mah NIMH rechargeables I invested in 16 batteries a while back and a Maha MH-C401FS charger. All batteries have now been cycled more than 5 times so they should be at their optimum. Utilizing the GPS's and radio for position reporting each day we got 12 hours out of the batteries with a bar still showing on each unit. Usage was fairly heavy both talking and polling just to see how far they would last. From a radio standpoint we only got about .3 of a mile apart with trees and ravines in between but the radio clarity was fine. Position reporting worked fine. Firmware 3.20 I upgraded midweek to the new firmware and had one quirk afterwards. My son was probably 100 yards away from me and I polled him which worked. I then talked to him and he tried to respond but his wouldn't transmit. Tried turning off then back on to no avail. Finally turned it off for a couple minutes then back on and it worked. Tried to recreate the problem but haven't been able to so far. Still pretty happy with my Rino's! Next real test will be in Brown County State Park 8/8-8/10 at another Cub Scout camp out.

I only own two GPS's and they're both Rinos. Purchased this spring and they were in the "recall" range so I had to send them in a week after purchasing. While that might sound like a complaint (and some would say they should have done better QC), I actually appreciate that they recognized a problem and provided a solution. Who knows, maybe it was a change that happened due to production and not in the original engineering. My whole experience was handled very professionally, quickly, and to my satisfaction without any prodding. When on the phone with them the CS rep explained what I needed to do and asked what he could do for me to "make me happy" due to the problem. A free data/power cable was my response and he cheerfully added it to the ticket. As to the units themselves, I am 100% happy with them. Accuracy is very good (even under trees), the radios work fine for the range I use them in, and position reporting is really neat since my son is a Cub Scout (makes it easy to keep an eye on him when in the woods). As to the waterproof part, I just spent the day at Cub Scout camp in a daylong downpour without any hiccups. The only issue was having to wipe the water/mud off the screen to see it. Yea, that's it, my complaint! Garmin should put a little windshield wiper on the units so I wouldn't have to wipe. And another shameless plug for another vendor, my Strong Engineering display shields worked great as well. Sorry, no Garmin complaints here, just compliments all the way around.

I think neo_geo hit it on the head, lawsuits lawsuits lawsuits. Even though they're inevitable (see McDonalds, etc.) keeping the number to a minimum is the goal. Trial lawyers are the scourge of the earth...

DustyJacket/Theole34, What kind of solar panels? How well does it work with the Maha and how many/size will it do in a day?

What kind of batteries? If NiMh try the Maha CF-401FS. www.thomas-distributing.com

NiMh rechargeables are the way to go. I use Powerex 2000mah (they now have 2200mah) and get the same run time in my Rino 120 as Duracells. Don't skimp on the charger, cheap ones will burn the batteries up prematurely. My charger is a Maha MH-C401FS. A few sites for further research: Lots of info www.candlepowerforums.com Battery review http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM battery/charger source www.thomas-distributing.com

Thanks for the Target hint, did a little shopping last night. Couldn't find the one with the suction cup mount but did find a silver one (Cobb's) in the same area that mounts to the vent. Works great in the center vent, antennes stick up above the dash but don't obstruct the windshield. The sides squeeze/rachet together to clamp on to it. As an added bonus (due to the triangular back) it clamps at a 45 degree angle so it faces the driver perfectly. All for $6... I'll try and post some pics tonight.

I've owned two for a couple of months now and love 'em. Accuracy is usually in the single digits and constant. People have been complaining about the radio range but for me it's fine. Haven't tested the extremes yet but did get .3 of a mile in the woods which is fine for what I'm using them for. Position reporting has worked well also. I also like the triangular shape, fits well in my hand. Don't have a bash guard but did buy screen protectors from Strong. Garmin service (sent in for the radio upgrade) is outstanding.

Labtek, Gave it a quick whirl and didn't work. I don't think it's your problem though, probably me. I was in a hurry and only tried once. If I get a chance tonight I'll take a little better stab at it. My laptop has been a little tired lately and is giving me fits. Thanks Bill G for all the wonderful time savings you've given me!

Best place/price for screen protectors in general is : http://www.strongengineering.com/ They have protectors for about any kind of device imaginable and can make what they don't have. Price is right to

Nincehelser, Is this the one that the Rino is going up in? Wonder if we could get some of the Hollywood wackos who keep saying they're going to leave in it....

Another compoooter expert...kind of amused at the boycott the french but buy a Magellan, aren't they owned by a french company? Need to give Garmin Customer Service a lesson but hadn't even called. Why am I even responding?...where's the ignore button? I think it's the weather, raining and don't feel like cacheing in a downpour. Ignore me, I'm bored...

Crusso, I've been playing with Topofusion and it seems to do the same things. Topofusion automatically downloads the topos or aerials on the fly though and is very fast. Been playing with the replay capability and it's pretty wild seeing the icon replay my drive into work. It doesn't have some of the legal restrictions either. I've traded some email with Scott and he seems pretty open to suggestions as well. www.topofusion.com