ryguyMN

Speed limit data is provided by government agencies I believe, and as it stands right now, Navteq doesn't have access to it to incorporate into their maps.

Yep, those would be the steps! Ryan

Hey fireman121, I see you're from Minnesota, are you looking for Minnesota lakes? If you are, I would go with the LakeMaster Minnesota maps. I have them and they provide pretty good detail. Some of the bigger lakes have one-foot contour detail. It works with either microSD or SD (with adapter) expandable memory units.

Looks like Magellan is one step closer to it's grave.... http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/index.php?a...amp;numero=1022

Wow, Oregon has now received more non-beta firmware updates than the Colorado! I'm jealous! Perhaps Colorado owners will get the last laugh yet! ......... sigh

Lane assist (borrowed from Navigon units), plus the lifetime free traffic subscription are what stand out for me with these units. I can see the 3D buildings being a distraction or causing confusion while traveling to a downtown POI. It seems more gimmicky than helpful. Hopefully there's an option to turn it off.

I'll willing to bet dollars to donuts (glazed, please! LOL) the barometer bug is there. No one on these forums have ever proved they have working recorded barometer data when the unit is off.

Does the eXplorist 600 have an actual temp sensor point on the surface of its case somewhere that can actually read external ambient temperature accurately--once calibrated? That's cool--something Garmin didn't do with their temperature sensor attempt on the Colorado which only seems to read internal electronics temperature and is bogus for any real ambient sense. Thanks. I'm not sure where the sensor is located, but I can tell you the temp reading is a lot more accurate on the 600 than it is on my Colorado 400t. The Colorado seems to register 5-10 degrees too hot whereas a properly caliberated explorist is usually within 1-2 degrees. It's a shame Garmin units do not allow you to set a temperature. The barometers once caliberated I've found to be fairly accruate on both the Garmin and Magellan. Unless you caliberate the barometer standing right next to a weather station, it will be off a little bit because of the difference in elevation from your position to the weather station. I'm a weather enthusiast, so I like having an idea of what the weather is doing while outside. It's also a shame the pressure trending doesn't work properly on the Colorado because this would be a really cool feature to have. I also like to fish, so it would be nice to determine if fish are going to be more active on a particular day. Hopefully it's fixed in the next revision as others have posted it will be.

I don't think you could do it on the original firmware, but with the second firmware revision it allowed you to caliberate both the temperature and barometer from the menu. After caliberation, I've found the readings to be really accurate. There is some "secret" menu I recall that lets you do the caliberation also...I believe it's 05. It's been so long since I've been the in secret menus, but you should be able to perform a search in these forums or in a search engine to find the combination of button presses to gain access. Just be careful not to fool around with the other secret menus, you can mess up your unit.

Don't blame you for wanting to save the $$$. Just wanted to warn you that these toys can't get wet! I'll have to get back to you on the geocaching abilities of the 205. I have the 255, which is essentially a 205 with text-to-speech. The 205 does have microSD slot if you wanted to add Topo maps down the road. With the 205, I think you can enter coordinates, but I'll check it out. I strictly use mine for the road, but I believe others have had a positive experience using it off-road.

The issue with those nuvis you mentioned is that they are not waterproof. You risk damaging the units in the rain. The 205 and 360 weren't designed for geocaching, but you can use them out in the field using the off-road function. If you want a unit designed for both auto navigation and geocaching, and willing to spend a little bit more, then the nuvi 500 is what you are looking for.

I would highly recommend the Garmin Nuvi line. It is portable, comes in many price points, intuitive user interface, and readily available. I moved from Nuvi 350 to a 780 and have been very happy with both. I like the MSN features of the 780, mainly because I can wirelessy transfer an address from my microsoft maps to my nuvi, the traffic feature is so so, but hopefully it will get better. It's been a little off at times, but never have I not been able to find where I was going. I'm heading to Minneapolis this week for the first time, and will be driving to several locations. You can bet my Nuvi will be with me. You definitely want the MSN working when you head up here to Minneapolis. Lots of construction projects going on! Good luck! LOL. All kidding aside, enjoy your trip!

Couldn't agree more with the nuvi line. While the handhelds are another story, the auto navigation units have been pretty solid. Just picked up a 255 with MSN Direct (mostly for the MSN service not offered on my 350) and have been very satisfied. The updated user interface with next turn indicator, speed limit reminder, and smooth screen refresh, make it a very sleek unit. The only drawback is the text-to-speech engine, which is definitely a downgrade from previous generations of nuvis. The speech is more robotic as a result of high audio compression. The 350 is still a very regarded and one of the most (if not most) popular units in the nuvi line. It was recently retired by Garmin. You should be able to pick this up a very reasonable price online. It will get you from point A to B without any issues. A very stable and feature rich product. Ryan

Take a deep breath. The Triton is in worse shape. Try buying a Triton at REI and let me know how it goes. Yes, the Triton is in worse shape, but with Magellan's track record, that's expected. I feel bad for people who bought those units not knowing the company's rep. It's like walking into a trap. Magellan has been on the decline since the release of eXplorists, over three years ago. Their support is almost non-existent, not to mention the language barriers of trying to communicate with someone whose native language is not English. Software and hardware registeration issues are just the beginning, along with lack of firmware updates, and a small software selection making it difficult to find anything current outside of the National Geographic maps and the recently released AccuTerra topos. Garmin has always held itself to a high standard when it comes to product quality and support. That's what sold me coming over from Magellan products. Unfortunately, over the last year, Garmin has been on the decline. It's difficult to make an argument on the contrary. It's a shame really to see the complaints mounting up and buggy products that go unfixed. That's just not good business. When you purchase a product, you are also paying for support. The Colorado, and the Oregon for that matter, leave a lot to be desired as products that are supposed to be top-of-the-line.

Good work fellas with the contact information! Hopefully this will get the ball rolling at Garmin. Glad to hear another update is in the works according to what I read in another thread and hopefully it will be released before too long! Drifting and the barometer not recording properly when off seem to be the biggest issues, which I hope are finally laid to rest in the update.

It does seem like the end with this line and I'm pretty pissed with the short product lifespan. Why don't they just add it to the discontinued list put it out of it's misery already than to continue with the "will it or will it not be supported" game being played with all owners. It begs the question, why was the Colorado even released with the Oregon coming out soon after? Somebody in marketing made a pretty f***ed up decision here. Magellan is already on my s***list, I don't want to add Garmin too. My next handheld will be a Lowrence or DeLorme if Garmin doesn't start getting it's s*** together real quick.

The Triton base maps are inferior to Explorists. With Explorists you get some local roads, but with Triton, it's just major highways.

Garmin Bahamas *A bug-free unit....paradise!

Garmin Minnesota: (Here's what I have so far) *"Ok" is replaced with "You betcha'" *Only available with lake maps (400i) *Harness in the back is replaced with a bottle of mosquito repellant. *Built-in traffic receiver for the automotive profile during road construction season. *Features sonar for use with fishing to estimate lake depths.

That's correct. It should show something similar to the 60cs screenshots in this thread. Could it be something with the chipset that can be corrected via firmware?

It would be helpful if the screenshots of the various barometer reading of the different units could be sent over too. The generic "fill in the blank fields" page to send to support wouldn't allow that however.

Dyanmic pressure data should show something like this: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/wxStat...&showrain=1

Well, it looks like my unit is faulty. I replaced the batteries and played around with it for about 10 minutes before shutting off. In three hours, it hasn't recorded any readings yet. I verifed my settings and they are correct with "Save Always". There were no records when I shut it off, but that should be irrelevant if the Colorado is continuously taking readings. Looks like I'll be calling Garmin next week. I'll have to share a novel concept with them as well: quality over quantity. Pumping out new models while shipping out garbage isn't exactly a great business philosophy and will only alienate current customers. Should I try to upgrade to an Oregon when I talk to them or try another one of Garmin's red-headed stepchildren? I do like the touch screen like on the nuvi.

That my exact same phenomenon. There is some kind of refresh that takes place that corrects the trending downward plotting. I thought maybe it was because I played around with it, but now I've come to the conclusion it's just the refresh that occurs. The software needs to be fixed for faster refreshes.

Duplicate post.