gallet

What would you consider acceptable min spec? Thanks.

Thanks for the offer mtn hermit but I think the shipping to Australia would be the deal breaker, <chortle>. I'm on an imac so I can't share the monitor. I considered the desktop option but I think laptop would be more useful. I know what you mean about last second biddding in this case though a lot of people will be put off by this seller. First thing is that he calls his pc a 'toshiba pc ibook mac' has no photos published, won't accept paypal and has not sold anything before and mentions that 'it turns on'. Looks very dodgy and will put most people off, which is why I'll be collecting (and paying) in person.

ebay, where else ;¬) it may go for more but the owner doesn't think so. http://tinyurl.com/2v7887 yeah, I did see that it was a mac toshiba laptop but I'll just put that down to the seller not having a clue.

OK thanks for that.

I've had enough of garmin's (lack of) mac support and need to get a cheap crap PC (if that's not a tautology) that will run mapsource, upload and download maps. Naturally I'll be expecting bottom level specs for what I am willing to spend. All it needs to do is run mapsource nothing else. I don't mind if it takes a while to chug along as long as it doesn't get ridiculous. My 10m contour maps are 1.3GB. First question is, is ram important, will 512mb cause me problems? What is the slowest pentium that would not be ridiculously slow. Are there any 'gotchas' I should be aware of. edit: just found this for under $200, will this process maps at a reasonable speed? * 15.4¨ WXGA screen (1280 x 800), with TruBrite * 1.8 GHz Pentium M 715 CPU (1Mb L2 cache) * 1Gb DDR PC2700 ram (1x1Gb), expandable to 2Gb. * 80 GB 4200 rpm HDD (Toshiba MK8025GAS) * 64Mb DDR NVIDIA GeForce FX GO 5200 * Intel 2200bg wireless, 100/10 built-in wireless and internal V.92 data/fax modem * Super-Multi drive (MAT****A DVD-RAM UJ-820S) * Harmon/Kardon speakers * Windows XP Home Edition

@julianh Amusing and accurate. They say that misunderstanding something is worse than not understanding because, if one does not understand at least one can make an effort to learn. But if one *thinks* one understands then one will blithely go around disseminating misinformation. Interesting to know about the improved algorithms because I have been noticing that my HCx baro altimeter is even more accurate these days. I haven't calibrated it for a long time yet every morning it is reading within 2 metres of my correct altitude, that's before it gets a gps fix.

@'Team CowboyPapa Please excuse me for wasting your time. What makes you think you've wasted my time? It is my complete misunderstanding of the physics of the atmosphere which has led to that result. It's not a misunderstanding of physics, just a misunderstanding of how to use a barometric altimeter. And there's nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, such subject matter is beyond my mental capabilities. Nah, it's easy to understand that a barometric altimeter is meant to be calibrated regularly, once you realise how it works and is meant to be used.

Well in that case I have to assume that I did not send the tide table when I thought I did, I will resend the infomation and see if it shows up. But thanks for confirming that it is supposed to be there.

@Team CowboyPapa, Just because you do not know how to use a barometric altimeter does not make it useless.

I'm using BC pacific and I've sent the tide table with the maps, they are on a separate drop down menu in mapsource. But there is not Menu>Find>Marine there is only Menu>Find>Marine Points. Under marine points there is navaids and anchorage but no tide tables.

@whitneymvp Yes, you found out the hard (and expensive way) what I'm trying to explain. The only correction I'd make to your post is that the real world difference between the bottom range Yellow etrex (the only model left that doesn't have the pick stick) and the absolute top range HCx is $100

I have BC loaded for my location with tide tables. At first I thought they could not be displayed on an HCx then I discovered the marine points. With bluechart enabled there are extra things under marine points but no tide tables. I've seen posts that suggest that tide tables can be displayed but I can't see where.

@'RRLove I'll neither condemn nor defend other's perceptions of transgression- A wise position to take. ...without getting some you may not need... Aye, there's the rub. The difference in price between a top range model car and a bottom range model is a lot, same for cable tv's. But the OP is asking about gpsR's which I suppose is to be expected on a gps forum. Which takes me back to my original point, the difference between a crippled etrex and the top range is really just small change for most people. Some people suggest that the HCx has so many features that it would just be confusing to the newbie cacher. I find this to be a condescending attitude. The extra functions are in the software which one can use or not, it's not like there are lots of extra buttons or anything. No one is going to complain after purchase that they wish they didn't get a unit that had auto routing because it's an invisible feature until maps are installed. But plenty of people have bought gps for geocaching with no intention of installing road maps but later regret this and end up upgrading. So I suggest that one should always seriously consider the small extra cost of an HCx as opposed to say the VentureHC, because that "may" may end up being rather expensive down the track. Another example, why would anyone want to buy a LegendHCx as opposed to a VistHCx just to save $20? The argument goes something along the lines of "I'd never go bush without a Silva compass, what if my gps croaks" Yes it is most wise to take a back up, but remember that the compass on the gps is also a back up for a manual compass. No one is ever going to regret spending $20 on the Altimeter and Compass. The Altimeter is for many people useless but fun and it's basically free because the fluxgate compass is worth the $20. So what's wrong with getting a free Altimeter, it doesn't weigh more, you don't have to use it, it costs no battery power.

My take was that it was illogical nonsense. I also take exception to the paps's post when a quote was taken from my post and was then truncated with his own conclusion added, namely that the barometric altimeter is 'useless'. The way to do this is just to state a contrary opinion not to put words into someone elses mouth. I do wryly note that TCP also states he has the 'useless' barometric altimeter. Which reminded me of a thread I started about the fluxgate compass. One person came on there to wax about the uselessness of this feature and stated that he tells all his students not to get that feature, he also admitted to having it himself. If there's one thing that is annoying on forums it's when someone deliberately gives bad advice that one would not follow oneself in order to make a non existent point.

<slaps head> doh. I thought I'd explored every possible option on every menu page but I never saw that little checkbox. That will do for what I need, thanks. @Miragee, If I had better access to a Windoze PC I'd use the Mapsource route which would be nice because I could get some elevation data but this will do.

ergo, I'm not sure you understand my problem but I think you've solved it anyway. I'm not familar with mapsource as I only use it to load maps as I'm on a mac and it's difficult for me to get to a Windoze PC. What I'm doing is that I'm walking around all the myriad paths, many of which are loops. After walking around for a few hours, I'll save the track. What I was hoping to do on the unit without any other software stuff was to be able to load my saved track so I could see it on the map as if I had just walked it so that I can continue to walk all the trails without unnecessarily going over tracks I've already done. But when I load the track instead of being on a normal map page I'm in the mode where the coordinates show up at the top like when you move the cursor when you are on a map page. I guess an ideal solution would somehow to be able to load my saved track as a trasparent overlay on my topo map. The final goal is to construct a scale map of all the trails and tracks. If you can suggest a good efficient way to do this, I'm all ears.

gcpd957, I sell 60CSx's I have 6 sitting on the shelf right now. I use a Vista HCx because I personally find the 60CSx laughably clunky to use. Whereas the Vista feels fantastic in the hand. The button on the 60CSx are very badly designed with regards to ergonomics and the rocker button itself is even worse due to the crazy decision to give it no tactile 'click' feedback unlike the 76CSx which is similar but does have a bit of tactile feedback. The buttons on the HCx are far easier to operate two handed or one handed. Your fingers naturally fall on the buttons unlike the 60CSx. The 60CSx has no functional advantage over the HCx except a serial port and an external antenna port. Both of which I wager you don't need. You must realise that up until july last year the 60CSx was the best due only to it's SirfstarIII chipset, this is no longer the case as the new H chipsets are at least as good and maybe even better. Once upon a time the 60CSx was the dog's bollocks, but that was way back when.

It's an HCx

Is there some way to do this, maybe via mapsource or another app. I'm mapping out an area with unmapped labyrinthine tracks. What I want to do is load a saved track and have it stay on the screen so that I can see my current track with it at the same time. So far when I load the track I'm in the special scroll mode when I click the map page my loaded track is there but there's still the white pointing arrow on the screen and it's not registering the current track. If I page through to the map page again the saved track is gone and the current one is back.

You don't appear to have thought this one through very well. Actually, it's exquisitley well thought out. However, it's a very well understated thought reversal expressed in a tongue in cheek fashion. Mull it over for a bit, a week will do. And if it doesn't come through, post back and I'll offer some examples for purposes of elucidation. Very generous of you to offer to explain it to me, I'll take you up on that. OK, so with luxuries one needs to spend whatever it takes, but on necessities one needs to spend whatever it takes. Looking forward to the explanation.

You don't appear to have thought this one through very well.

You have illustrated my point. Unless one is desperately short of $70 which is basically the difference between an OK to use crippled model and the so called 'bells and whistles' model, there's no reason to not get the best. The ability to add auto routing maps at a later stage does not add any weight or size or complication to the unit. Easy to use? they are all as easy to use as each other. Too complicated to work out the barometric altimeter? Don't worry it's not compulsory to use and it will prove to be amusing one day. Having a proximity alarm does not make it more difficult to mark a waypoint. etc. regarding the 60CSx vs VistaHCx, do a forum search, it's been done to death.

Not if the route contained a one way street. Lots of other reasons why a reverse trip would be different.

Garmin appears to be the unit of choice due to their excellent support. (mac users are probably rolling around laughing hysterically and choking on bits of their own vomit) It has to be a model with and H (high sensitivity, different chip but same performance as the 60CSx) An x in the name is also good, means unlimited data storage with removable micro sd cards, this is a very good thing. The difference in price between the crippled models and the top of the range etrex, the VistaHCx is so small that you need not bother with the others unless you are really super strapped for cache (cash). The VistaHCx will set you back about $220 and it does everything, in a solid compact package. HCx, nice ergonomics, not any larger than it needs to be. Great battery life, bright screen, takes auto routing maps. Plenty of geocaching tools. Believe me you can do all the research again but we've already done it for you, which is why you are asking I suppose. Performance is the same as the long in the tooth formerly top dog 60CSx which appears laughably oversized by comparison.

beta already? I can hardly wait till this project is finished. Looks like I might be able to work natively in Macs, within my lifetime. Yay.