ibdman

Just searched this forum for the Explorist XL and got zero results. Is there an old thread for this unit or has the whole world gone Garmin?

SporTrak Color w/TOPO and case for $205

Check this out: GPS? (or go to ebay and search for item #5787551147) What the heck? Look's like a PlaySchool GPS or something.

Amazon has the Garmin eTrex Legend 8 MB GPS with PC Cable priced at $132 with free shipping. Is that a good deal?

My friend has a Color and I have a Pro; I cannot read his screen in bright sunlight no matter how much I mess with the dadgum contrast. I'd skip the Color and check out the Explorist. Or switch sides to Garmin; those screens look great.

Downloading from Sportrak Pro to computer using MapSend; transfer stops & fails after 14 waypoints have made it; downloading worked fine for several years until now; Tried EasyGPS too but got same results; assumed the problem was with my computer so I took the GPS to a different computer and got exact same results. Tried all the different baud rates too - even down to 1200 but no lucky; NMEA is off. Also, just for testing I tried transferring to Sportrak Color and everything works fine. Anybody got any ideas how I can get these waypoints off this thing? I feel I need to clear the memory and try a firmware upgrade or something but must salvage these waypoints.

I told a friend that the topo maps you can load onto a GPS (in this case, Mapsource for Garmin; Mapsend for Magellan) are of equal value but on further investigation it appears to me the Mapsend maps have more contour lines (or more contour intervals) than Mapsource. Can someone who uses both help clarify? Thanks.

Look in the SporTrak manual under "Projecting A Waypoint" (page 35?) -- I believe this routine will solve your problem.

TigerGPS.com has the SporTrak COLOR for $349.81 (minus the $50 rebate = $299.81 net). Has anyone purchased from this company? Was service okay? I noticed they have a 20-30% restocking fee for opened items that are returned for credit. Otherwise, the site looks clean.

Looking to buy a $100-$300 GPS unit (as a gift for a friend) that will be used primarily while traveling on Amtrak and not in the woods. A good detailed base map would be a big plus. Any suggestions as to what make & model would fit nicely with this type of usage? Also, is a GPS manufacturer's proprietary mapping software necessary for a decent map while traveling on a train?