Tui Chub

It's nice to have a compass that works when you're not moving, as for being worth 50$ more, that depends on you and what you're using it for. I use mine for work where I may have several hundred sampling sites and I'm carrying alot of gear. It's nice to be able to stop and get a reading then proceed to the site. I've also got a Dakota 20 with a 3-axis compass and don't necessarily find it better than the Vista HCX 2-axis compass.

You're right the MAHA 204GT charges in pairs. If you're only charging 2 batteries at a time you can put them in every other slot. I personally have the MH-C401FS which can charge 4 batteries independently but cost over twice as much. http://www.thomasdistributing.com/mhc401fs_buy.php3

You need to use BaseCamp to download the waypoints. You can them copy them and paste them into Mapsource.

I recommend the MAHA IMEDION AA 2100 MAH ULTRA LOW DISCHARGE http://www.thomasdistributing.com/shop/mah...nrsllit8gi3gna7 with MAHA 204GT AA - AAA SMART BATTERY CHARGER http://www.thomasdistributing.com/shop/mah...nrsllit8gi3gna7

I second the Dakota 20.

I'll be looking forward to your tests.

Just got done updating my 765t to CN2010.4 from the original CN2010.1. I had 6 days left before the 60 days was up. Garmin's 60 day policy worked well for me.

I don't know about you but my 765t was heavily discounted when I bought it in mid Dec '09. It was a couple day sell at Best Buy for $149, it then went up to $199. Both prices are well under the list of $349. I haven't registed the unit yet. First I was waiting for the 30 day return policy of Best Buy to see if I liked it. And now it looks like with a recent map update it would be a good time to do so. It currently has 2010.1. I admit I was waiting for the 60 days.

From my limited testing it appears that the Dakota 20 is a little more accurate than my Vista HCX. Dakota 20 test Pete

Roger that, HUGE 2¢! I have friends in this organization which owns a Globalstar satellite phone which the members may borrow. http://www.desertexplorers.org/ Which one had with him when he broke down south of Mexicali on dirt road in a remote area. It was the club members which bought the required front suspension part at a Toyota dealer in the LA area, brought it down to Mexico, picked up a local mechanic in a nearby small town with his welding stuff and got them out to the breakdown. Took several days and all ended well without the involvement of any governmental or formal rescue agencies. Satellite phones are great but there are limitations. I'm going to speak about my experience with Globalstar (I'm not familiar with Iridium). I have a Globalstar sat phone at work. We typically pay for 500 mins for a year. The phone does not receive a signal under heavy tree cover. You need direct line of sight to the satellite so if you're in a slot or deep canyon you may not get a signal (this is not like gps where you have 30 or more satellites, generally there's only one). This is a problem with Globalstar, they are having satellite problems and are leasing time off of other satellites and thus do not have 24 hour coverage. You need to go to their website and enter the lat lon of where you'll be and the time window you want to talk and it'll post the available times. I recommend a minimun of a 15 min window, I found that the satellite may not appear untill 5 mins after the stated begin time though it did disappear at the end time. http://calltimes.globalstarusa.com/ You can only get a little over two days of times starting from when you enter the info on the internet. It'd be nice if you can say from when to when. If you're aware of these limitations then the sat phone is a great tool. If I were to do this again I'd take a look at Iridium, they're more pricey but I believe more reliable. If it weren't for the price of a new phone ($1500) we'd probably switch to them.

Looks like a great tool. When I have time I'll try it out on some NAIP imagery for Nevada.

Imagery maybe easier than you think (at least in the US). The NAIP program by the Dept of Agriculture has 1:12,000 Color Imagery for most of the US. You just need to find it. Here's for Nevada. Nevada NAIP Here's California. California NAIP These are very large files.

How's performance, screen refresh? Any differences between color depth (24 bit vs 8 bit)? This looks really interesting. I already have a few projects in mind.

I had 6.15.6 installed which was the newest version. I went and reinstalled it and now I can see both Topo U.S. 24K Southwest and West.

I have the same problem. See if you can find it in the BaseCamp program. Mine shows up (both 24k West and Southwest) in BaseCamp but not in Mapsource. Anybody know how to get them to show up in Mapsource?

No, you can only view the 24k West topos that come on DVD.

I've found the same with the 24k West. Many more trails with the 24k than the 100k 2008. Here's an example. Below is the 100k 2008 topo. You can see the Pacific Crest Trail going through Castle Peak. Below is the same area with the 24k West. Again you can see the PCT through Castle Peak but just to the left you can also see the Hole In The Ground Trail. If anyone has any other areas that they want to contrast between the 24k west and 100k 2008 I'd be glad to show them providing you give me the coordinates. I also just recieved the 24k southwest but I'm not too familiar with it.

I would disagree with that. Just did a quick check. Used Mapsource with 24K west and then changed to CN 2009. Did a find nearest features and the first 15 (that's as long as the list is) were exactly the same. Nothing is missing from the 24K maps. You're right, in Mapsource checking both City Nav v9 and Topo 24k West provided the same POIs. The only thing I can say is that when I used my eTrex Vista HCX with Topo 24k West in Monterey Ca, I got less POIs then my StreetPilot 2610 with City Nav 2009 at the same location. Maybe it's a gps thing. I have both maps on my Dakota 20. When I get a chance I'll test it out. I left it at work and it's being used out in the field this week so it may be a while.

The GPS in the HTC Touch Pro works fine. I have the Verizon version. One problem is it drains the battery fast.

The auto-routing is similiar for roads but you can also auto-route on the trails that are included with Topo 24k. The POIs are different. There are many more POIs for stores, restaurants, etc on the City Nav maps. I have all the Topo 24k west with City Nav v9, Topo 2008 (except those cover by the 24k Topos), Inland Lakes and Blue Charts for the wesern U.S on an 8GB card in my Dakota 20.

How did you set up waypoints in your yard? Really, the only way to measure accuracy is to use a know benchmark. You can find one in your area (in the USA) by using the NGS datasheet. NGS Datasheet Link I have found the Dakota 20 to be very accurate. My NGS Test

What maps do you have installed in mapsource?

I don't have a 60csx available but on my eTrex Vista HCX I can delete all waypoints or only those with a specific symbol. I'm sure if the Vista can do it the 60 can. Here's what I do on the Vista you'll have to figure it out on the 60. Go to the Main Menu Select Find Select Waypoints Press the Menu Button Select Delete You should then see All Symbols followed by the different Symbols being used on your GPS, you can then delete All or by Symbol

It is curious that all three zeroed out. Looking at the tracklogs and waypoints I wouldn't expect the Vista and Edge to, they seemed to be off. Only thing I can think is there's some filtering going on i.e. if the unit is within so many feet then show the distance as zero.