sanramonhunter

You got me interested in one of these for my mountain bike. Went to mountguys.com to order and I saw this underneath their description. Note: We do not recommend these for motorcycle use. So looks like I won't be getting one for my bike. From the looks of it should be fine in the car though.

The RAM mount for my explorist is just 2 parts. The cradle for the unit and the diamond pattern part that attaches to the handlebar, no Arm. Call RAM up and ask them.

Well one downside to the RAM mounts, and guys that own correct me if I'm wrong, Is they have a tendency to chew up the rubber on the bottom of the 60csx. I've never owned, just read a few posts about that and seen a few pictures with the rubber worn off the bottom and the person stated it was from removing from the RAM mount. The Garmin mount didn't do that to mine. The RAM mount for my explorist seems to have a REALLY tight fit, so I'd imagine the one for the 60csx would be similar. The upside of this is that the unit is more secure.

Topo 2008 doesn't require an unlock. Once it's loaded on your PC you can put maps on as many GPSr's as you want.

Can't blame you for your frustration. Quick question though. Did you register the unit on the website? You can't download any firmware without first setting up an account. Once the account is setup and the unit registered you should be able to download the files easily.

I have the 2200T, not upgraded to crossover, but should work the same for you. Here's how I do it. Get a pocket query from GC.com. I then take the gpx file with 100 to 200 caches in it and load it into GSAK. You can skip the GSAK step I just do it so the cache name not GC34DI5 shows up. I then export the caches from GSAK into a .GPX file. From this point forward you could just take the .GPX file you get from GC.com and it would work fine. Open up POI editor and drag and drop the file into the left hand side. This will populate all the caches into the editor. Then save the file as WHATEVER.MGLN (I think MGLN is the extension, just use the default). Then I open Magellan tools and drop the POI (whatever.mgln) file into the unit. Make sure you update to the newest version on Magellan Tools I think it's 3.50.09. Once the file is on the unit go into POI selector and select the new file and you are good to go. Also update the unit to the newest firmware if you haven't already. It makes the maps look MUCH better.

Yes you can by using either Magellan's Geocache manager or Vantagepoint, or GSAK. You will get the following info: Cache Type, Difficutly, Terrain, Cache name, Cache Owner, and Hint. The hint is limited to some number of character I'll say 30 off the top of my head. You won't get Description or past logs. For that you'll need a PDA or a Triton.(or Colorado or PN-20)

I use an old Palm Vx I got for $20 on ebay. The only downside to this unit is speed of transfer (serial vs. USB) and speed of sorting. I had the Vx for another purpose. If I were buying for cachemate I'd go with the ones Miragee mentioned.

That's pretty much what you use cachemate for. With a pocket query gpx file output from GSAK you will get the following. Info, Description, Hint, and past 5 logs. Basically everything you see on a cache's webpage will be in cachemate. That's why it's cool. No pictures or graphics from the cache site will be uploaded, just the text.

No the mount that Garmin sells has a hole on one end that connects to the "bolt" that is attached to the 60csx. The other end then cups the bottom part of the 60csx. That cradle then snaps into the adapter connected to your handlebars. The cradle will also snap into the autoholder that garmin sells. I used it for awhile and never had any problems. I don't do any extreme riding anymore so I can't attest to how well it will work in real bumpy terrain. The most I jar my unit is when I'm hopping a curb.

Don't Rub it in. They have had my Explorist 600 for over three weeks. They haven't even touched it yet. I finally got one of the reps to admit they don't have parts for it. And their standard turnaround is 21 business days to get repaired, and 6 business days to get it out the door. So basically I have to wait 4 weeks and one day before they will "officially" tell me they can't fix it, then they will probably try to sell me a triton for $5 less than I can get online (which they have already tried to do). Anyways you can tell if your unit is a refurb by looking around the screw in spot for the battery door cover. It will be branded or etched with a RF if it's a refurb.

GSAK actually has a export as cachemate option. So you'd just do what you do now and export to your PDA then when that's finished select export to cachemate. It will create a palm database file that will update cachemate on your pda next time you hotsysnc. Couldn't be easier.

Unless the unit has a built in electonic compass it won't know which way you are facing. All the handheld units will have a compass screen, but you will be required to be moving to get a heading if it doesn't have a built in electonic compass. That being said if you should borrow somebodies handheld without an electronic compass and see how you like it. You can always bring a real compass and orientate the unit that way.

ROFLHSPP

My 500 came with one maybe the 400's didn't It's basically a little square piece of plastic that will hold 3 AAA batteries. Picture here. Alternatively try to find someone nearby with a battery and try theirs.

Does it see all 16 GB of it or just a portion of it? What Brand card is it?

Sounds good. Also me typing battery reminded me that someone had a problem with their battery that screwed up their receiver. Have you tried it with the AAA battery adapter?

How much would you want for it? I have an explorist 600 missing a door, battery and cables and could use all those parts for my 600. The door won't match the rest, but at least I can use it.

Call Magellan tech support on Monday. Be prepared to be on the phone for awhile though. I would guess about an hour, and they probably won't be of much help, but who knows.

could also try this: Press Menu, then select preferences hit enter. Then select Reset Defaults and enter. Then select ALL confirm and enter through the rest of the prompts. This will delete all your info so your tracks, settings and everything else will need to be set up again. After the reset put the unit outside to acquire signal.

I just saw a new button on google maps. The terrain button. It gives a nice 3d topographical look.

Don't know if you were aware but right now Magellan will update your unit to a Crossover for free when you buy the new Version 2 maps for the unit. So for about $100 after shipping and taxes you get the newest maps plus the crossover upgrade.

Read this post, should answer most of your questions.

To me it just looks like google earth using NG maps. The interface is powered by google. May just be a free way to view and print NG maps. I don't see anything about loading to gps in there.

Then what you need is City Navigator 2008 (although if you wait a month or so City Navigator 2009 will be out). That will get autorouting for any of the Garmin units. The three Garmin units you should look for (in no particular order) at are. 1.) 60csx- larger unit that has some "hard" buttons on it that people seem to like for autorouting. Buttons like goto, esc, ect.. 2.) Etrex Vista HCx - Smaller, lighter and less expensive than the 60csx. Screen is dimensionally smaller, but has higher resolution. 3.) Colorado 300 or 400t - Latest and greatest handheld from Garmin. The Autorouting will probably look best on this unit due to the larger screen and 3D graphics it will allow. It is not a tried and true as the other two. Most of the bugs have been worked out and Garmin is pretty good about firmware updates, so the rest of the bugs should be worked out in the next few months. I think most people would agree that as far as autorouting is concerned Garmin is the best one right now for handhelds. You'll also want to buy an auto mounting kit and an SD card. You should really go out and put your hands on these three units to see which one you like as far as ergonomics. Everyone has their own preference as to which one of these 3 they like, but most agree that they are all pretty good units.