user13371
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Posts posted by user13371
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Which leads us back to my idea about someday finding a new car in a cache.
I used to leave cars, new and used, as swag.
At least back in the days when caches near me were large enough to hold a Matchbox or similar sized vehicle. Micro and nano caches put a stop to that.
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Price drop:
$130 including shipping within lower 48 US.
$120 for a cash sale to a local buyer.
And... oops, I forgot to mention this in the original listing... it also includes a copy of City Navigator NT, North America 2008 edition.
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This is factually incorrect in some ways, and philosophically unsatisfying in others.I use my Delorme with my Mac all the time. Works great. Getting maps requires a PC but once the maps are on everything else works fine with a Mac.You DON'T need a PC to load DeLorme maps on a Mac. Detailed regional maps are included on DVDs in the package, and you can download subscription/purchase maps directly from DeLorme without needing the Topo software. And you can copy waypoints, geocaches, and tracks to and from the PN directly.
But: Neither Topo nor XMap run in the Mac OS. Without Topo, you can't customize your maps; no custome draw layers, and you're limited to details and zoom levels on the pre-cut ones on DVD or as downloaded from data.delorme.com. You also cannot create or transfer routes to/from the GPS. Without XMap you can't create maps of your own from your own data sources. Those features require a PC (or a Mac running Windows) -- something a lot of Mac users are not willing or able to do.
Further, DeLorme typically releases firmware updates for the PN through the update mechanism in the Topo software and/or a Windows executable. This is strange in itself because all that's needed to update the firmware is to put a file on the SD card and start up the GPS. What has happened with several previous updates is that Mac users were "left out" for weeks or months, until someone convinces DeLorme to post the update in a usable format.
And most recently -- DeLorme's geocaching software (Cache Register) seems to have stopped working for at least some Mac users. And anyone who upgrades to the latest Mac OS (10.7, Lion) might find their PN won't connect to their Mac at all. Discussion of both problems ongoing at DeLorme's forums right now.
So ... having the subset of feature YOU might want is great, but that's nothing like feature parity.
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DeLorme GPSs will only recharge rechargeable batteries that they recognize.
Curious. What happens if you pop in a non-rechargable CRV3 battery? Does it correctly auto-detect the type? I thought it detected this form factor by the fact that bottom of the battery pack had no contacts, so it could mistake a CRV3 for an RCRV3.
I seem to recall some warnings on DeLorme's forums website to be careful about that.
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Thankfully, there are multiple options available and you aren't stuck with only the plan(s) locking you to a single device.
Do you mean specifically with DeLorme, or just that between Garmin and DeLorme you have multiple options?
The ironic fact is that while DeLorme is primarily a mapping company, there are more mapping choices (both for-pay and for-free) for Garmin users. DeLorme is a good price & convenient choice for the US-centric maps bundled with the GPS -- but as soon as you want international maps, or any kind of custom mapping/imagery that didn't come in the box, there really are more options available for Garmin users.
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Yes, but that's not the same things as suggesting they expire.Aren't Garmin's Birdseye maps locked to a single device?Aren't DeLorme's hi-res international imagery and worldwide basemap subscriptions each separate, extra cost items (not the same as the USA map pack), and locked to a single device?
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That's because when a DeLorme GPS bursts into flames, there are no survivors within a 100 meter radius, and mysterious men in cowboy hats are dispatched to clean up the mess and make sure none of the witnesses talk....for those two of the four options that are not autoselectable, the worst that can happen is an incorrect projection of remaining charge. ... googling will not reveal any failures due to user mis-specification of battery typeUm, just kidding.
On the other hand - while I haven't seen any reports of a DeLorme bursting an overcharged battery, various power related problems are among the most frequent themes over on DeLorme's own discussion forums. Have been for years.
Misdetecting battery type and prematurely shutting down. Devices that won't power up unless you pull the batteries out and re-insert -- or not at all. The ones that won't power up at all have to go back to the factory for repair. The power/data cable itself is failure prone -- best thing that can be said there is DeLorme is good about replacing broken ones for free. But smart money says shell out $15 for a spare ahead of time, just in case.
Stu, when you say "hundreds if not thousands" are using that battery type, it sounds like you're guessing. Wanna venture a guess at how many PN-series power cables DeLorme has had to replace? Or how many PN-30/40 units had to be RMA'd for power-on problems?
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...I use the Cab Bats for my Delorme; they are considerably better than the stock rechargables. But the main feature of the Delorme is that you can recharge the batteries while you are using the device. Using a standard USB connector. Big win there.
Maybe I'm just being overly literal here, but I gotta call you out on this one too.
I give DeLorme points for battery FLEXIBILITY -- the ability to use alkaline, NIMH, primary or rechargeable lithium, and the ability to charge an RCRV3 while in the device. BUT -- the OP mentioned more than once that he's on a budget, and even a $150 is a bit of a stretch. You made a claim (initially unqualified) that DeLorme's have better battery life... but here it turns out you only get the claimed battery life with a special, custom made $50 battery.
And I'm not sure being able to charge while using is such a big deal for an outdoor device. If I'm in a car or someplace where I have access to external power, I can RUN any GPS without draining the battery. If I'm in the field, I can't charge it anyhow. So your "big win" means... what, that you don't have to open the back of the GPS once in a while to swap batteries? You still have to come back to the jeep to charge it, don't you?
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... But in the US Delorme offers an all-you-can-eat option for detailed topo and imagery for $30 a year. And the maps don't expire.
More quibbles when you present this as a unique DeLorme advantage:
1) Garmin also offers an annual $30/yr imagery subscription. Do Garmin's Birdseye maps expire?
2) Garmin's subscription imagery coverage is worldwide. DeLorme offers a couple of different ways to download worldwide imagery and maps, but they're all priced separately and in addition to the $30/annual, US-only offering you mentioned.
You could also build your own custom maps for either Garmin or DeLorme if you wanted to. Tools for doing it on the Garmin are free. DeLorme's XMap starts at $99.
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Full specs here: Garmin's Product Info
Also includes:
- 1GB data card
- Belt-case
- Bicycle handlebar mount
- Automobile suction-cup mount (with dashboard-disk also)
- Automobile 12v power adapter
- USB Cable
No problems with device -- I just have too many gadgets!
Not interested in trades or parting out the bundle.
$140 including shipping within lower 48 US.
PayPal, money order, or personal check okay.
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Edit to add: I can go down to $130 for a local buyer in metro Portland, Oregon (saving me time, shipping, and paypal fees). Will probably post on local Craigslist later this evening.
- 1GB data card
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Ancient wisdom.....make sure you right click on recycle bin and tell it not to move the files there or it will take another 6 hours to empty your recycle bin.Click; Start -> Run
Type: CMD (hit enter)
At C:\> prompt, assuming "whatever" is the directory you want to empty, type...
CD whatever
RD /q/s .
This will delete the contents of directory "whatever" (including all subfolders) but leave the directory itself in place -- way faster dragging to trash, unless all of your typing fingers have atrophied from mousing around.
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Indeed.Nice? Debatable!Whenever I find one of these, I wonder how long it can last before someone mistakes it for trash and throws it away. And if that's really a mistake.
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Fizzy:
It might be academic now as the OP seems to have decided on a used Garmin of the eTrex family, but I have some minor quibbles and head scratchers out of your last comments. I'm gonna slice and dice your to get to the stuff I'd like to clarify; if I yank anything unfairly out of context just smack me
This also goes back to what the specific user wants. If all you you want is vendor supported maps for North America (excellent US coverage, so-so in Mexico and Canada), DeLorme has the clear advantage -- because they include these in the box. BUT -- while this is a great convenience, it's a bit misleading to say DeLorme's maps cost "a LOT less." There's are huge amount of high quality maps (topo, routable roads, special interest) for most of the populated world available for Garmin, for free.Maps for (some) Garmin units are more widely available, but tend to be more expensive. Delorme has excellent mapping choices available for a LOT less.This comes back to what a specific buyer needs. YOU might not need a detailed maps of East Sussex, UK; but I do. I can get those for free for my Garmin. If you can even get them for the DeLorme, how can they be "a LOT less" expensive than free?
Depends on what you want to buy....I don't see more models as a reason to go with one manufacturer over another. Chrysler has more models available than Mazda. Does that make its cars better?My needs, yours, the OP might all have a different ideal. More models gives better chance of finding a closer fit to your needs. If you're in the market for a small-screen handheld GPS with buttons rather than a touchscreen, then "more models" doesn't favor Garmin over DeLorme -- they both have that form factor covered. Want a touchscreen? A bigger screen? A smaller screen? Something you can wear on your wrist? Connect to a heart rate monitor? Track yer huntin dog? Advantage Garmin. Want a connection to a SPOT satellite communicator? Advantage DeLorme. It all depends on what you're after.
It's notoriously difficult to get an apples-to-apples battery life comparison. I often use Energizer Lithium Ultimates in my eTrex HCX -- and I kid you not, I literally go MONTHS between changing batteries. But my usage profile probably does not match yours.My Delorme has considerably better battery life than my friends' Garmin units. I can get over 30 hours without recharging, which they cannot.I would want to know what batteries you are using, and how you use your device, and what model & battery & usage combination your Garmin friends have, otherwise "Your batteries last 30 hours" or "Mine last months" is really not a useful comparison.
I would not hold up any manufacturer's most recent model as an example of how the rest of their product line (old models and new) worksAs for hardware reliability: given the problems with the Montana, I would not hold Garmin up in that regard.
But yeah, I think the Montana is probably a real stinker. I predicted it would be when I saw the original specs. Big and clumsy. I'd be surprised if they can iron out all the new-product issues even in a year or two. Which is why I won't be buying one!
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PM sent.To me? Didn't get anything.
Yup. I have an eTrex Legend HCx that I was thinking of listing in the Garage Sale forum here or my local Craigslist. Nothin wrong with it, I just have too much gear laying around unused at the moment. PM me if you're interested; if I haven't heard from you by enf of week it'll be in the Garage Sale forum...
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Yum! Peeled Eyeballs!.going to keep my eyes peeled for a ..Legend ... HC or HCx ... used ...$150 or lessPM sent.
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... As for DeLorme... its one of those you don't hear about enough and could be better then Garmin if more people would give them a second look.
This doesn't make sense. No matter how many people "give them a second look" it's not going to make their GPS any better (or worse) in any meaningful way.
On DeLorme, I'd more echo what FizzyMagic said -- great package for the price. IF you have a limited amount of money to spend up front, want to buy brand new rather than used, and need to get GPS & map software in one box from the manufacturer, THEN it's easy to be tempted by DeLorme.
But in a longer view, Garmin impresses me as a better value for several reasons: Wider availability of maps (both from the vendor and other sources); more hardware choices; better battery life; better hardware reliability. And while I started this message by saying it didn't really matter how many people "gave DeLorme a second look" -- enough people use Garmin to reach a kind of important critical mass: Popularity translates into tons of third-party, user-forums, and open-sourced resources that smaller vendors just cannot match.
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Or you could buy a Garmin.
Some few folks will surely wander in shortly and tell you why you should buy a DeLorme, Magellan, or Lowrance. But as the Santa Barbarian already pointed out, there's a lot more support for Garmin and they pretty much own the market space and mind share you're looking in now. I've owned a few of each of those other brands, keep coming back to Garmin.
The products work.
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Posted for $200 or less here or on Craigslist would probably bring a fast sale. You might be able to get $230-$250 from an eager, not too miserly or well-informed buyer. For reference, search eBay for completed auctions; gives a good idea of street price for used ones. CamelCamelCamel focuses on Amazon.com historical pricing, but is also good for comparison pricing from reputable vendors.
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I was kinda wondering that myself. It would be fair to exclude unreleased software like GSAK 8 and one or two others I expect are coming out RSN. But I'm surprised there isn't more on that Live list, and that the "geocachings software" list I linked earlier (also visible on GC.com's main page) seems to far out of date.
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GSAK 8 beta is using the new API. Some iPhone and Android apps do. I think it's "coming soon" to iCaching on the Mac.
But is there a definitive list of apps on various platforms that have or will soon be updated to use the new API? The "Geocaching Software" page atwww.geocaching.com/software seem incomplete and out of date.
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This looks promising -- GSAK 8 looks like it will do what I really WANT without having to build an ignore list -- the "get caches" interface supports excluding caches hidden by users.
Now to find out if it'll run in Crossover or WineBottler on the Mac
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Getting the software on the PC to use the card was no problem, it was always when the big card went into the GPS -- the lockup you're describing sounds familiar. Which wasn't too worrisome to me at the time, because 6-7 years ago, the 1GB cards were still the most "reasaonably" priced
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... As far as conflict resolution with another cacher goes, if they are near home, I would rather find them, call it TFTC and move on ...
I don't see it as a matter of conflict resolution; I'm a firm believer that anyone should be able to hide and/or seek as many or whatever cache type they want. More is better -- so if you don't like a given cache type or a given user's placements, you can skip those and go look for others.
It only becomes a problem if the number of the those you'd skip overwhelms what you can get in a PQ. I have a set of four PQs to give me all of the caches I'm interested in, and I like to download the full set daily. If/when this power hider has thousands (rather than hundreds) of placements, I'll need to spread my PQs out over a few days to get everything I do want within the 5 PQ per day limit.
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* Four definitions, starting with "traditional, active, not found by me, within 15 miles of home" then further divided as:
1) Micros, difficulty 1.5 or easier;
2) All other sizes, difficulty 1.5 or easier;
3) All sizes, difficulty 2;
4) All sizes, difficulty 2.5 or harder.
Each of those returns 600-800 caches, so there's room to grow.
eTrex Legend HCx with some extras
in GPS technology and devices
Posted · Edited by Portland Cyclist
I'll cover pack & ship costs by whatever seem the best way, but only within that geographic range. I've got that much figured in to my asking price. What I've found in the past is that shipping anyplace else often runs into extra costs. So if someone from Alaska, Hawaii, or further away is interested I'd have to check the costs and negotiate them with the buyer.
But in this case it's academic - unit has been sold as of this evening.