gallet

FWIW, by starting my HCx in Test Mode (ie with the "enter" key held down) I can see a continious elevation readout with 0.1m reported accuracy.

Also when going for a bushwalk if the weather suddenly gets hot I can hide my extra clothing and mark it's position and pick it up on the way back.

I used my gps last week as a torch while walking up a long uneven dirt driveway, that's an HCx, the 60CSx would be pretty useless for that. heh heh. I'm also remapping all the trails on the local Radiata Plateau.

roybassist, has pretty well nailed it. It's a matter of setting the hand held up. Ironically the hh has more useful options in this regard. I either have the 'distance to next' datafield showing on the map page. Or I set the 'page' button to only display "Map" and the "Trip Computer", that way it toggles between the two. Then I set the TC to show 'big numbers' that gives me er.. big numbers, which are easier, (that's e-a-s-i-e-r) to see than my recently acquired Nüvi200. Then I get three big useful fields. I've had my nüvi for a week and it renders the roads in a nicer way but for my purposes I prefer navigating with my HCx. The nuvi feels like if I dropped it, it would be toast so I wouldn't be happy navigating around on foot. Not only that but it probably would not work very well in the city because to see the screen, the chip is pointing in the wrong direction. Operating the HCx on my motorbike with it around my neck where I glance at it occassionally suits me fine. And that's the same way I'd use it in a car. I can't imagine leaning forward to touch the screen in a particular spot in order to change the magnification level. I've heard people here say the 60CSx is better than the HCx for the car because of the buttons on the front, but IMHO, that is a nonsense. It's bad enough on a touch screen leaning forward and looking at the screen to touch the corner, looks pretty dangerous to me. Same with the 60CSx I mean, come off it no ones going to have it mounted on the dash and lean forward while eyeballing the miniscule and hard to press button the change the screen mag. On the HCx however I grab it as it sits around my neck and glance at it, if I need to change the magnification then I don't need to look at it, my left thumb falls naturally on the mag buttons, same with the light, I just need to gently apply some sideways pressure to illuminate the screen. So the moral of the story is to give a lot of thought to how you would really use it in practice rather than what looks pretty. The nuvi screen looks fantastic next to the HCx but after the novelty has worn off I prefer the HCx.

I think the extra $20 for the Vista HCx is worth it just for the better finish, never mind the fluxgate compass and amusing to use baro altimeter. Although I'm sure the Legend is made of the same material the finish looks like what it is, plastic, when you open the back the grey/blue plastic, without its texture, looks even worse. I was not too impressed with the mock silver grey finish of the Vista at first but compared to the Legend it looks much less plasticy. As I said I do not think there is any quality difference, it's just a perception.

OK thanks for confirming that. I'm using the last rev G5 iMac but I'm running 10.5 I suppose that could be the problem. Here's what it looks like. On the first link I opened mapinstall and I was presented with names without maps and it was all crocked. So I quit and deleted the map database and reopened it in the second link you can see the result. I can select maps up to a point. http://screencast.com/t/jntOdJc0n http://screencast.com/t/u5qIyIwH9

Thanks for checking that, I've been on to Garmin and I've been struggling with the crappy Mapinstall software (works occassionally) to try out various map combinations and it appears that the problem is being caused by a some other non garmin maps. Specifically, Shonky Logic Topo Maps for Australia. Not 100% sure yet.

I've finally got map install working but the behaviour is very flakey. I'm using 2.0.2 of Mapinstall which appears to be out of beta, (difficult to tell these days as even gamma releases are beta). G5 imac 1.9GHz 2.5GB ram. The problems I'm having is that the drop down menu with the maps stops working. I can select a set of tiles from a maps and maybe if I'm lucky I can do it from another maps. However that's about it, the drop down then will not change, not even back to maps that have be selected. Although occassionally it will. The only way I could proceed was to delete the database in the ~/Lib/ApplicationSupport/Garmin/Mapinstall folder (not the maps themselves which are in the 'Maps' folder. This unlblocked it but it quickly stopped working. I did this a couple of times, but the third time I did it my maps were no longer unlocked but the code was still there when I inspected the codes. Is everyone else having these sorts of probs, if not what mac are you using. thx

Well I thought it was a unit problem at first. When searching for Find>Cities it finds the closest towns which is fine, however if I then press the Menu and select Find by Name, then the screen goes into searching mode for 20-30 seconds and then fade out and needs to be switched on. However I have repeated this exactly on another 76 and another 60, so I must conclude that it is Firmware. The Maps are CN AUS and the problem may be specific to the maps. I know the map itself is fine because the situation does not happen on my Vista. On the Vista when I select Find by Name, it works normally with a list beginning with 100 Mile House BC. Here's a screenshot

Excellent thanks. I notice that when I plugged it in, it automatically connected as a flash drive. Unlike the eTrex that have to be put into usb mode. Is it possible to put it into normal mode to actually run it off the computer?

I notice that the Nüvi comes with a car charger that outputs 5V to the mini usb plug, does this mean that I can plug the nuvi into my computer usb port using an eTrex cable, and charge the Nüvi battery?

I'm not sure if the firmware is causing my problem but it is looking likely seeing as the problem is repeatable on a 60 and 76 (which use the same firmware) but not on an HCx using the same map software. Screen fadeout when searching for Find>Cities >> Find by Name

Hi Thanks for that, I had already found that website but I could not locate the firmware you linked to. I substituted 70 for 60, in the link hoping it would take me to a similar page of firmware for the 76, but it didn't. Now I need to decide which firmware to downgrade to. edit: OK found the 76CSx, it was listed under 7_x series whereas the 60CSx is listed under gps60/

I've done a google search and a forum search with no luck yet. The Garmin site appears to have only the current firmware. I was hoping to revert from 3.60/3.00 (60CSx) to an earlier version.

Press 'Find' then select 'Cities' then press the menu and select 'Find by Name'. On my Vista HCx I'm immediately presented with the Keyboard and the first listing of '100 Mile House BC' but on the 76CSx the current list remains for a few seconds then I'm presented with the Keyboard and instead of seeing a list of places there is only the search icon and then the screens fades out and switches off. This is a brand new 76CSx I've just checked it with another new 76CSx and it is behaving the same way, both units were bought off different people at different times which leads me to think this might be a problem with the firmware, I recently installed the latest 76CSx firmware. I've just checked with a 60CSx and it's the same. Edit, the problem may only show up using CityNav Australia 2008. More info. In my HCx which has a US basemap and CN, when I do a Find>City> Find by Name, "100 Mile House" is at the top of the list. Same as when I have no maps installed. However on the 60/76CSx with CN loaded "100 Mile House" does not show up in fact nothing shows up under "Find by Name" however if I remove CN then "100 Mile House" does show up and the screen does not fade away. If I remove the SD card from the 76 then a city search will bring up 100 Mile House, but with the HCx I do not need to remove the SD card for this address to show up. Does this sound like the new 76/60 firmware is not playing nicely with CN AUS?

That's a bit of a loaded question so I will give you my considered opinion. As you know prices of goods like this are set by factors other than cost of manufacture, which changes over the life of a product. First thing I'd point out is that Garmin themselves, just before the Colorado release, gave buyers of the 60CSx a $50 cash rebate. Up until July last year, the 60CSx had a far, superiour chip than the etrex range. Anyone serious about gps navigation would not have considered any of the etrex. The 60CSx was in a class of it's own and it had a premium price. Garmin saw the writing on the wall and knew they were not going to get away with old technology so they upgraded their eTrex range with the new H chips from Media Tek. While they are very different chipsets their ability to track under heavy canopys or city canyons the new Media Tek is as good or maybe even better than the SirfStar. Remember the 60CSx was already 18 months old when the HCx came out. What appears to be happening now is that the 60CSx is living off its past reputation as the gps with the top dog chipset. It was not important that the 60CSx was bulky or a bit flaky because it was all about the chipset. However once the H chips were released all this changed but a lot of people have an emotional attachment with their 60CSx's and give out a lot of misinformation with regards to functionality. Now that the chips are equal other factors come into consideration. Like unnecessary bulk, battery life, screen brightness etc. If you *need* a serial connection then you must get the 60CSx otherwise there is no advantage any longer and there are considerable disadvantages with the 60CSx. If both units were released today you'd probably be paying a premium for the smaller size of the etrex, which while being smaller, has *effectively* the same size screen.

Vista HCx = 60CSx Legend HCx = 60Cx Although they have different chips and aerials, both units get equally high quality reception in very difficult conditions. Some people think the H chips have a slight edge. Not only is the HCx cheaper it's also much nicer to use with better button placement. I'd still get a Vista HCx over a 60CSx even if the Vista was dearer.

What about one of those hats with a little propeller that could generate some power as well, like a mini breezemill, or maybe the external antenna could be attached to a helium balloon and floated about you.

Stretch to $260 AUD and buy a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx delivered to your door from US eBay. It has the important things you will want now or eventually, namely, hi sensitivity (gets a signal inside a car or city canyon), unlimited removable memory, ability to add auto-routing mapping. All gps should be OK for Australia, I know with the garmins that even an old second hand black and white one will have the Australian geodetic datums from Aus Geod '66, to the current GDA.

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=67511 http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=175&page=5 http://www.gpspassion.com/fr/articles.asp?id=175&page=7 http://gpstracklog.typepad.com/gps_tracklo...tek-gps-ch.html

It's pretty useless now, with Bobcat, Map Install, MapManager, MapConvert and with all new maps coming natively to Mac OS (including CN2008). Check here ! I've yet to get it to work. Garmin are utterly useless, if you follow the links and the links in the pdf it's very difficult to get the full picture, there are various map managers all with current links, there is also a map managager that comes with mapinstall in an installation package, (as opposed to the dmg drag and drop install method) but it appears to be 0 bytes!

Some maps are transparent like contour lines only and will display over other maps. But most maps are opaque and to see maps underneath them you need to turn off the top map. This is done from the mapsetup page, go to the " i " icon across the top and when there press the menu button to hide/show complete mapsets.

Yep, I can confirm that I've also located the tide screen. I've had a few cards lying around with different bits of maps on them, and I did indeed not have the tide charts in the particular one I was using. Now I know what BlueChart is listed twice in the map menu, once for the tide and once for bluechart.

Chill, XopherN71, there's nothing wrong with some robust discussion, we're all grown up people who can decide what to read or not. I for one was grateful for the explanation of the new altimeter algorithms. And I'm certain that there's more interest in this thread than oh say all the 'where's the cheapest place to get an hcx' threads. Plus lets be real, everyone enjoys a good thread argument as long as it doesn't get personal.

I'm on a G5 imac so that's out, but I did install parallels on a friend's macbookpro and Mapsource and CN loaded up fine but my BC maps kept returning an error message. I tried the CD in other pc's to check in case it was damaged and there were no probs but BC refuses to install in parallels even though CN does. I have no idea why but if truth be told I'm sick trying to work out why, I tried Vista and XP pro with no luck in parallels. Because CN works I persisted with BC but no matter what I do it always aborts the installation with an unknown error.