kb9nvh
-
Posts
456 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by kb9nvh
-
-
I've noticed no differences with the new updates. I'm sure they're there but the fit and feel are the same to me.
Anyone else have this update and find it made an big difference in the way they use/like there GPS?
-
I'm a 60csx owner and I dont do alot of geocaching so I could loose the compass very easily. I would miss the real pressure/altimeter but its a blessing and a curse and you have no way of displaying the GPS elevation (without going deep into menus each time). Sucks for pressurezed airplane cabins.
If I had it to do over agian I would choose to loose the sensors since I actaully lost my ability to see elevations while flying.
If I was an avid outdoorsman hiking the wilderness then I would probably choose the keep the sensors.
-
Beter look on ebay. They are selling used for between 80 and the highest was 120 bucks. (plus shipping).
For the money its a good unit and was the best for a while.
My gps60csx is arguably better in every way and I would never go back. Some one here still love their V's so to each his own.
If you dont know how good a 60csx is then the V will be a great unit for you.
Hello! A friend of mine is selling a garmin gps v. on the big button on the face it says gps III but when you turn it on it says gps V that is weird but anyway he is selling it for $125.00 with car adapter and computer cable w/usb adapter, I am only going to use it for caching is it worth the price? Is it really a gps V? Oh the map software comes with also.
The GPS V came with a serial cable connection to the PC, not a USB connection. Generally this should not be a problem, but the transfer rates are much slower via serial cable.
Make sure you get the CitySelect software for autorouting. The maps are unlocked to the unit so you will continue to be able to download maps to the GPS once you install the software on your PC.
For reference, these units were selling second hand for $125 a year ago and the technology is even more dated now. It is odd that the face plate says GPS III and the start up screen says GPS V. Another good reason to expect a lower price.
I have owned a GPS V since 2000 and it has performed very well for me. I use a 60CSX for hiking and autorouting now, but the ol' V is still my first choice when kayaking.
-
These things are really limited by thier poor built in antenna. I know FRS does not allow antenna modifications but maybe the GMRS version does? Does the Garmin allow external antenna?
With the poor built in antenna and low power line of sight is about as good as it gets. We're talking at best a mile. Also, if these radio are "hearing' CB and other transisions from strong nearby "off band" traffic then they front ends of the radios are poorly designed and get leakage those strong signals.
If you could add an external 5/8 wave antenna to both vehicals you could probably get 5 or more miles unless the terrain is too mountainous.
I carry around an icom just for the simple reason that other "bubble pack" radios suck. Yes it's another thing to haul around but the payoff is worth it IMO. I guess you can't see your buddies position though......
-
I have had good luck with my sextant and pendulum system. I think it was made by Galileo.
Magellan, whos that?
:-)
I have both Magellans and Garmins.
All are buggy, and they have limits
The best GPS units:
Electronic Compass - Meridian Platinum
Big Screen - eXplorist XL
Versitility with Memory cards - eXplorists
Autorouting - LINK
Good handheld - GPSMap60Cx
Compact GPS - eTrex Vista Cx or Legend Cx
For autorouting, the Handheld GPS units with 1000 waypoint memories are terrible autorouters, the best ones tend to be limited to 500 waypoints, or the better ones come with a price.
All advanced Firmwares, Softwares, Operating systems, and electronic hardwares, are all buggy.
As technology gets more advanced so do the buggyness of them.
I have gotten less Materialistic lately, due to the limitations of manmade things in this world.
-
I agree on the powerEX's. They are gerat. Also, energizers from walmart so suck. Not all batteries are created equal and the mainstream rechargeables suck as far as I can tell.
I use my Garmin GPSmap 60CSX all the time and am constantly on the search for the best batteries for it. I had started using Energizer rechargables, but that was a disaster. Right out of the charger they did well, but more than a few days on the shelf and they lasted less than 3 hours. On recommendations in this forum I then bought the MAHA Powerex 2700s and have been very happy with them - good shelf life and run for a very long time. Then I saw people here recommending the Sanyo eneloop 2000s so decided to give them a try. Also a good battery with very respectable run-time. Out of curiosity, I decided to test the batteries. Here are the results:
Powerex 2700 straight out of the charger - lasted 22hours, 13 Minutes
Powerex 2700 after sitting on the shelf for a month - lasted 18 hours, 15 minutes
eneloop 2000 straight out of the charger - lasted 17 hours, 53 minutes
eneloop 2000 after sitting on the shelf for a month - lasted 15 hours, 7 minutes
(this was done in Normal GPS mode, WAAS off and compass on, although the unit was vertical most of the time so the compass was probably disabled automatically.)
As you can see, the Powerex beats the eneloop, both have respectible times both off the shelf and out of the charger. As far as I can tell, the only real difference is that the eneloop is only 2000 mAh and the Powerex is 2700 mAh. If Sanyo makes a 2700 mAh eneloop, it will give powerex a run for its money.
Either way, both are good batteries and the advantage of the eneloop is that you can find them in most stores, I have only been able to get Powerex through mail order.
Brian
P.S. In addition to Energizers, I have also tried Duracell and Sony rechargables, with similar results to the energizers.
-
I think alleged would have a negative connotation here since what he is saying is that "I would have to check out what you said before I agree with it". Its not overtly derogatory but I can see where one might feel slighted. I use alleged in a humorous way sometimes.
In any case I think this one should slide on by.
Alleged isn't a dirty word. We took you at your word, but it's still alleged by him because it wasn't worth the time to look it up. He was simply quoting you without verification.
There are many overly-sensitive folks on this board.
I see. Thank you for your clarification.
-
Yes, its a known fact that Magellan is a strong supporter of SATAN.
Thats why we hate Magellan because we hate SATAN.
Well since nobody else will mention it, I will.
Magellan Inc. supports the Church of Satan. The CEO of the company admitted this on Oprah Winfrey last year. They have given millions to the Satanists.
The Magellan logo is a rendition of the Muslim symbol for Satan and as of that isn't enough proof, if you take the names of the most popular Magellan models of recent years, the Sportrak, eXplorist and Meridian you will see Sportrak, eXplorist and Meridian.
Also, its a known fact that the vast majority of Magellan owners are serial killers (or was it the vast majority of serial killers are Magellan owners?).
-
Can you point us to the hate messages? I dont remember anyone bashing magellan around here.
I know Garmin has a much larger following on here but that doesn't mean we hate the other units.
I used to own a lowrance..it was fine for what it did.
I've had the 200 & 210 and soon the 500LE. I like them so why all the hate?
-
I own a 60csx and love it. I would like the ability to mark anothers position as the Rino's do, however.
I would have to have an actual rrequirement for the rino gps location marking feature for me to consider it.
I would not want to give my my sensitive SIRF chipset of the 60csx.
Police radios operate in the higher frequencies (as do gmrs and frs) and the line of sight thing is true but is overcome by raw power which is something a handheld will never have much of because of size constraints. What I'm saying is that the gmrs and FRS frequency band is not inherantly bad and that the only real solution to the "line of sight" problem is increasing the power. Police and emergency radio use something called repeaters (a fixed tower that recieves and rebroadcasts the signal) to ensure reliable communication. There are many reasons that FRS and GMRS is a better choice for personal communication and the limited range is really a feature since it eliminates noise and interference from far away stations taht can actually limit your range when trying to communicate locally.
CB radio operates in the longer wavelenghts (27Mhz) and it goes farther, in fact it goes so far that it is just about unuseable in the US because of the noise level. CB can skip off the atmosphere where a signal from ohio can reach me in IL.
Muddy and Amused; Welcome to the forum!
After much research, when I upgraded I went with the 60CSx, therefore I am partial to it. I've been very well pleased with mine. I believe Crazyon2wheels and Red90 covered about all the differences in the 2 units. One thing I don't know and would want to know in considering both units is; is the Rhino waterproof to the same standards as the 60CSx? That would be of importance to me.
Since you are already familiar with FRS and GMRS and probably their inherent inability to effectively communicate in enviroments with obstacles such as hills, mountains, buildings, heavy tree cover, etc (in the line of sight of communications) I fully expect in the near future we'll begin to see communication devices that are more affordable for the average outdoors person that will communciate on a different frequency band that will not be dependent upon line of sight communications, thereby rendering FRS and GMRS more as kids toys. These radios have been available for a long time but technology is going to bring their prices down to the average outdoorsman affordabiltiy level. Due to the frequency that GMRS operates on it really isn't suited well for the outdoorsman. Fine for keeping up with the kids in the mall, talking over water, or any other situation where nothing blocks the line of sight of communicatons; this isn't normally the case in the real world. Regardless what the manufacturers hype is about being able to communicate 14, 16, or even 18 miles as some suggest, that is under ideal conditions (open water). I've experienced situations with some of the best GMRS made that won't talk to one another even when they were only 200 yards apart, around a hill in trees. So with all of this said I think you'll have an outdated radio on a good GPS in just a couple of years if you go with the Rhino. If your friends have Rhinos which would allow you to instantly see where they are then that might be an advantage, but that will only work if the GMRS radios are in an enviroment that doesn't have the line of sight of communications blocked significantly, so back to the problem with the frequency the GMRS operates on. I'd go with the 60CSx and get a good radio as new technology give us something more meaningful for the backwoods.
Oh, One other thought came to mind. The SirfIII chip is great. It will keep a satellite lock in dense tree canopy cover. I'm speculating now, but my guess is that if you are in very dense tree canopy cover the Rhino may not hold a satellite lock very well and the GMRS radio probably isn't going to communicate any meaningful distance either. Another reason to go with the 60CSx for the best possible GPS sensitivity.
Sorry this got so long, wasn't intended.
-
I guess it depends on your situation. For work I travel to sunnyvale CA, Clearwater FL, Boston, Joplin, MO. Dallas TX, Huntville AL, White Sands NM, and other surprise places. I like to have the whole US in my GPS just in case. I suppose I can live with just putting in the KNOWN places I go to (thats what I do now) but I would just as soon have the whole thing in there and not have to worry about it.
Sometimes I go to weird airports in transit and might get stuck there and need maps for that area.
I'll get a 2 gig when they get cheap enough and load my whole City select ver 6.
If you think about it how often will you travel the entire usa? Just my 2 cents worth...
What a true statement - in fact, it is not like I am going to wake up one day and randomly decide to travel to some far off state so I can always adjust accordingly. I think we will start with the 1 gig and then expand from there if we end up wanting more maps (i.e. topo) or if we are taking a cross country trip.
Thanks for all of the advice.
-
Hi All..........
I live around Boise, Idaho and ride off road motercycles. Desert, Foothills, and Mountains. I am considering a purchase of either the 60csx or perferably the Rino 530. The reason I say Rino perfered is that a ridding buddy has one.
Question 1....using the "polling" feature. Does the rino use 5 watts or 1/2 watt.........
Question 2....If you are seperated by a timbered ridge and 1/2 to 1 mile apart will it make contact?
Question 3....Would I be beeter off with the 60csx and a cheap radio?
My buying a gps is about 75% usage of the compass and mapping features. I really could care less for the talking part of the radio. It is the contact or Polling feature I would be using..............
Another question....How does the 56 meg memory work? When it gets full can you erase and "load" again?
Thank You all.................
I love the idea of a Rino and marking others locations on your gps but no VHF/UHF radio will go very far on 5 watts unless its line of sight. (you can get through trees and buildings to some extent but ground terrain will kill you). Police and community service radio uses something called a "repeater" to get huge distance. A repeater is a radio on a tower (as tall as possible) to recieve the mobile/handheld signal and retransmit it. Everyone is line of sight to the tower so this works very well (50miles still depending on terrain). Most vehical mounted radios put out 50 watts. Most handhelds put out 5 watts. 50watts gives you only 2X the coverage of 5 watts (not 10X as my might think).
Now that Rino is transmitting the corrdinates on GMRS you are allowed to set up a repeater on the GMRS radio but the repeater would be fixed so your operating area would be fixed also.
Some emergency folks set up portible repeaters out of their vehicals for temporary emergency use. This works well for limited search areas where the terrain is hilly.
-
Yea, as a member of ski patrol I wouldn't use the Rhino radios because they just can't go far enough. I would use regular high frequency radios and carry a cx or csx unit. That is what I do for backcountry stuff. Not to mention, using those radios means you can call a bird and they can talk to you.
I do use 2 rhino 120s for dirt biking though and they're awesome. We play with them skiing too.
For you SAR guys,
I'm surprised that there's not a more powerful version of the Rino's. I would think that having position automatically marked for everyone would be such a great advantage and time saver.
Last I looked Garmin is now allowed to use the GMRS frequencies (previously just FRS I believe) which means that you can now set up GMRS repeaters.
The truth is, with handy talkies, if your in the hills and hollars you ALWAYS need a repeater for reliable communication over miles. The fact is that VHF/UHF equipment is pretty much ""line of sight" and no matter what power your are pumping from your tiny handheld your going to be limited onrange..
I was thinking of getting my kids the rinos for when we take vactions in the mountains. I've seen too many horror stories of kids getting lost.
If you kid had a rino and was transitting and someone in a chopper or aircraft had one I think your kid would be found in short order.
I would like to entertain this topic so may start a new thread on this. Any comments are appreciated and welcomed.
-
I just ordered a 2gb microsd for my new smartphone. It's an A-DATA brand (seems to be the cheapest, I got it for 49.99 on newegg. I'll put it into my GPS to test it out and let you know how it works when it arrives in a few days.
I just posted this but I see you bought an ADATA. I purchased a 1gig ADATA transflash for my wifes cellphone and it would not work (her phone is a samsung D807) ...so I pulled the 1gig sandisk out of my garmin and tried it in her cellphone and it worked like a charm.
I then put the maps on the ADATA card but not all the maps that fit on the sandisk card would fit on the ADATA card. I lost about 50megs as far as I can tell. BUT the card did and does work in the 60csx.
I dont know if my Adata card was just a funky one or all Adata cards are slightly smaller than sandisk?????
Anyone have any ideas on this..
-
I have a comment.
My sandisk 1gig held at least 50meg more than a 1gig ADATA microSD card that I recently purchased.
Stick with Sandisk it seems is the best plan.
-
I'm interested in getting rhinos for my kids when hiking. Can I set up a rhino radio to always transmit location AND lock that function in so the kids cant accidentally turn it off?
-
I'm interested in getting rhinos for my kids when hiking. Can I set up a rhino radio to always transmit location AND lock that function in so the kids cant accidentally turn it off?
Hi,
I know there are some units out there that are specific to dogs... the appear to be an "all in one" thing, that is radio for the master and transmitter/radio for the pet.
My question to anyone is... do you know of an "inexpensive" GPS transmitter that could be fastened to a dog collar so that one could track their dog. I have a Rhino 120 right now. The Rhino 120 cost me about $249. It is able to transmit a signal to another Rhino GPS to acknowledge where it is.
It seems to me for the dog, I would not need the display, speaker but only a way to transmit a location at regular time intervals.
I wonder if there are "off the shelf parts" available to build one of these things...
Thanks much for any ideas.
T
-
For what its worth, I find that for short time periods (1/2hour) if in poor sat reception conditions the auto calibration should be OFF as it will cause variation that would not be there normally.
Also, yes you have to keep in mind the inaccuracies and what can cause them (pressure change by opening car windows, weather patterns and so fourth). Even the altimiters on airplans have to deal with this. You set them before you go and reset them when you get where your going. You reset all the time for barometric pressure.
Anyway, for best accuracy when I run I set autocalibrate to OFF, set the track to update as fast as possible and turn off lock on road.
quote name='Hertzog' date='Jan 4 2007, 12:24 AM' post='2644678']
cm, I wonder which units do that? I set my gps around noon today (using ATIS - this time one mile from the airport with flat land the entire distance between me and the airport) with a reading of 29.76 Hg. By the time 19:00 came around, the display on the calibration screen had not changed from that number. I don't know if that means anything or not.
Yours for one
Look for an "Auto Calibration" selection somewhere. On the 60/76 series it's on the Altimeter Setup page, but on my old (pre Cx) Vista it's on the System Setup page, under "Altimeter"; so it may still be there on the newer Vista models. -
If you go into the "Fixed Elevation" mode on the 60CSx, it now uses the GPS altitude for tracks and waypoints instead of the barometric altitude!!
I should also mention that the various display fields where "elevation" can be displayed still show the barometric elevation, and on the Altimeter page the elevation displayed at the bottom of the page when the elevation profile is selected is still the barometric elevation; however, the elevation profile shown on the Altimeter page will be the GPS elevation, and if you use the toggle switch to move the cursor on the profile the elevation at the bottom of the page will will switch to the GPS elevation. So viewing the GPS elevation during a flight will still be pretty limited; but at least you can end up with a track log that shows the GPS elevation.
Thanks, I'll give this a try..
-
I upgraded from a V to the 60csx. I love it
Advantages:
enough memory to hold all the maps you need for a whole route
pick up sats INSIDE
Fast reroute calculations that are actually ready before the next turn (no way on the V)
Finding POI's is actually usable (allows search on parts of names) This still sucks, just not as bad.
USB connectivity so maps can upload fast if you ever need to upload new maps which you wont since you will have a 1 or 2 gig card installed.
Last's longer on only two AA batteries.
I'll add more if I can think of other stuff............
Disadvantages:
You loose the "add via" feature with the 60csx....(crazy ommision IMO)
You loose the reorienting screen.
Dont get the "S" model if you hope to use your gps in pressurized airplanes.
I have owned my GPS V since it came on the mnarket and realy love this unit. I wanted to down load a new European map and saw that my unit was out dated, and was also wondering if there is still softwear compatabilty? Thanks for any help.
-
Gonna get expensive renting that plane just to test out your GPS... :-)
(or did you buy your plane?)
I'm gonna try hiding all maps next time and just use the basemap. I'll report my findings upon my return.
-
Congratulations!! I dont know why you had such poor performance before (older firmware) because I didnt see that as a common issue. You must have had a unique situation. Glad your back running with the big dogs again!!
I was one of the first to get my 60CSX so I have seen my share of upgrades to firmware in a short time. I was annoyed each time to see that with each upgrade always came a degradation to performance. When I bought the unit I constantly got 6 to 12 feet of accuracy and always around 9 satelites this dropped gradually with each upgrade until 2.70 was giving me an absolute maximum accurancy of 60 feet and always 3 or 4 satelites and never WAAS.
So I found by accident that 2.90 was out the other day as it listed the last update as July on Garmins website so I had over looked it until I read this forum. Anyway the unit had become almost unusable by the time I got to version 2.70 so I figured what the hell I may as well upgrade as I have nothing to loose. I read on the forums that many people didn't notice much of an improvement if any with this update so I was sceptical.
Well I have to say within a minute of turning it on I was amazed the changes for my unit personally were huge. Immediately inside a brick house during a snow storm I got 20 ft of accuracy, better than I have seen since my first upgrade way back. I braved the storm and went outside and got 12 ft of accuracy and better before running back inside. I am now even able to keep reception in the concrete basement.
The biggest improvement is that now the unit looks for 6 or 7 satelites to lock onto at the same time instead of wasting 2 minutes at a time trying to find groups of 3.
Accuracy is hugely improved and I can now get WAAS and the never before seen satelite 51 whatever that is.
I am happy this upgrade finally gives me the unit I payed a fortune for.
-
Was autocalibrate on or off for this hike?
For short term (1 or 2 hour) walks I turn mine off for the most accurate elevation. Seems like yours was off by quite a bit though...
Thats some hike! I did San Jacinto as a day hike from Idlewild (Humber Park) once, and that was when I was much younger and in a lot better shape!
People have reported problems with the total ascent in the past, but I thought it had been corrected in the latest software; perhaps not. For it to work properly you would need to have it on and getting a good track continuously, so that might be your problem.
Oops; when I wrote the above I was remembering problems in getting reliable milage readings in the trip computer under marginal track conditions. Since the altimeter is primarily barometer based, I wouldn't think good GPS tracking would be necessary for good altitude readings, but turning it on and off during the hike might have affected the results.
-
One sat enables the gps to know how far away it is from that one satellite (valid points are on a sphere of that distance). Two Sats define a second distance away from that sat so now the only valid places the GPS could be is the intersection of the two spheres (this is a circle, 2 dimensions). The third satellites sphere now will intersect that circle in two points and so with three sats there are two possible points the GPS could be. Usually one point is non-sensical (like 30 miles below the surface of the earth) leaving only one that can be the true position. A fourth satelite eliminates the ambiguity of the two points.
My 60csx seems to always require 4 to get a good lock. I think my older units did it with three.
In THEORY you only need 3 points to get a fix in ANY type of navigation. More is better so I suspect that the microprocessor is programmed to use a min of 4.
Look for an "Auto Calibration" selection somewhere. On the 60/76 series it's on the Altimeter Setup page, but on my old (pre Cx) Vista it's on the System Setup page, under "Altimeter"; so it may still be there on the newer Vista models.
GPSMap60CSx Version 3.5
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
The 60csx needs to be able to show "gps elevation" and ignore the barometer for the times when you are flying in pressurized cabins (or anytime you would rathers see, on a updated basis, the GPS elevation).
You set your gps to barometer mode you you get the pressure of the cabin, not altitude.