kowtow

If you go to www.shopper.com and search for eTrex Garmin you will find some various prices around the Internet for what you'll pay. I did it just before I bought mine two weeks ago and I just did it now and the best price available that I've found is $295 before the $50 rebate. While the most expensive is $350. That tells me there isn't a whole lot of margin to sell these at right now. Since all the best prices I could find on the Internet weren't that much better than me running down to the local outdoor store, I went to the local store and bought it. (Don't forget about the shipping and handling you'll pay over the internet also.) I'd be curious to know where Alan could find it on the Internet for $275 before the rebate. I haven't seen anything cheaper than $295 before the rebate and I've been searchin' for awhile.

Yes, that's it true. Garmin's rebate form says explicitly that it will NOT recognize the $50 mail-in rebate from any online auction. I just bought my Vista... paid $350 retail and will be getting the refund in awhile. I checked into the online auction thing, but when I read Garmin's rebate form I changed my mind.....then I wondered how many people are getting ripped off on the auctions, thinking they're getting a rebate. Since you have to provide a receipt the online auction will basically be leavin' you hangin' because Garmin explicitly states they won't pay it.

I must say travisl makes the case for basically squelching the whines and moans of the morons <excuse me> persons who must argue the case of whether or not to pack while geocaching. I would sure feel better knowing I was cachin' with someone packing heat <like martmann> in case of an emergency rather than someone <no names divulged> carrying exclusively a cell phone and GPS. If it's an activity protected by the constitution and local laws, don't argue the merits if it doesn't suit your fancy. Just suck it up and find a new discussion to post on. I must say though it's entertaining to me, growing up in the Northwest, watching, reading and listening to the liberal thought processes that tend to be very shallow in "thought" area and extremely based on the "emotions of the day." Next thing you know people will start saying that you're supporting terrorism not only because you drive an SUV, but also because you pack a weapon. <sigh> Glad there's those of us in the world who can fight for "their" right to have freedom of speech. [This message was edited by kowtow on June 23, 2003 at 06:45 AM.]

I uploaded a pic to use as my avatar and it didn't display. I then chose the same pic to be my picture and again...nothing displayed. I have my own forum board and it works fine there. I'm not sure what I'm missing here. This pic is a .jpg that it only 12k and I've already sized it to 75 pixels in width.... Anyone have any ideas?

this is a test

I have one suggestion about using the car power adapter and the display stating that it was going to turn off in "xx seconds." Background: I just recently bought a combo sync/power adapter cable(eCombo_i38), so that I can sync between my iPAQ and my Vista. This cable also plugs into the cigarette lighter. I was getting those same messages on my Vista about it going to power off in "xx seconds." Solution: What I discovered as the problem was, when my Vista was plugged into the cable the voltage to the Vista was dropping down to 2.8 volts. This isn't sufficient to power the Vista. I had to remove a diode in the cable assy. This allowed the power to remain at over 3 volts while under load. As for the power spontaneously shutting off, this appears to be a common problem. Mine has done it once in the two weeks I've had it. The majority of the people I know have seen this occur when there is a sudden shock to the unit. It happened to me and to my uncle during a bike ride, when the unit was attached to our handlebars and we hit something that jarred the bike.

jjf, You could be correct about the size of the area being smaller than what the GPS can handle. I'm sure that with a much larger area the EPE would probably have much less impact. Additionally I can see how reception could grossly affect a smaller measurement area as well. It's still strange that it worked the first time I used it on an area 8'x40' but every subsequent time I tried to measure the same area it turned up zeros. Maybe I got lucky the first time and all the planets were in alignment, reception was great, solar flares were at a minimum and it was a minus tide. I just wish that such limitations were noted up front. I'm going to generalize, but I think people would want this tool to provide a rough estimate of a lot size, or some other type of boundary measurement. If this is beyond the repeatable capability of the Vista, stating it with a brief disclaimer up front would suffice. Thanks for your reply it definitely shines a little more light on some of the general limitations that I was taking for granted.

I just bought an eTrex Vista and I've been pretty happy with it, but I must say the 'Area Calculation' feature is essentially worthless. Out of nearly 100 calculation attempts and two calls to Garmin customer service it has worked twice. Symptoms: After pressing 'Start' for the Area Calculation, walking the area, then clicking 'Stop' it returns 0.00000 for the area (regardless of the selected units). Garmin Solution: #1 Do a master reset and let it sit out turned on for 30 min. acquiring satellites and try again. #2 Ensure that you have no other tracks active on the map screen, because they will be taken into the area calculation. Make sure when you complete walking the area, you cross over the exact 'Start' point, by overlapping it by at least 3-4 feet. Regardless of trying either solution the area calculation program fails to function even in a remotely useful way. Again, I'm really happy with the Vista and I wouldn't have bought another brand of GPS even if the Vista didn't have the Area Calculation feature. It fits perfect on my road bike and on the dash. It's as small as my cell phone, which makes it easy to drop into my pocket. I'm impressed with how much you can tweak the look of the screens to suit your taste. That said, I wish they would have left the 'Area Calculation' feature off the unit. It is frustrating to me (coming from a product design and development background) to understand how they could even incorporate such a poorly functioning feature such as the 'Area Calculator' into their product. It detracts from my image of Garmin being the quintessential leader of the consumer GPS market, because it shows a lack of design discipline, and/or a product that has been hastily brought to market. These factors are inclusive of some important design "tollgates" that have missed in this product development.