Tahoe Skier5000

If you have the cable hooked up and the GPS turned on, I see no reason why it shouldn't work. There is no special software for it, just plug and go. If you're asking, "Does the computer notify you that the device is connected, like it does when say a digital camera is connected", the answer is no. There is no notification or anything when its connected. It just is. To transfer, just make sure you have added the GPS in the easyGPS preferences menu and then send your waypoints to the GPS.

I violently disagree. I refuse to support companies by buying rechargeable battery packs for GPSrs. I don't want to see these guys getting carried away and making "one-time use" units like the iphone, or forcing us to buy proprietary battery pack designs. I absolutely HATE the idea of rechargable li-ion packs, especially in GPSrs. Common AA type batteries are the way to go and always will be. I don't care how much a company tries to convince me otherwise. I won't buy into the hype of better battery life with rechargeable packs.... I know they DO get better life, but the cost of being reliant on them is definitely not worth it. That is your choice. I just don't see the point in "supporting" companies like duracell, energizer, etc. by buying 30 packs of their batteries to geo-cache either. not to mention the detriment on our enviornment. I am, as a cacher, an avide outdoorsman, and would like to have the land to live in. If I have to dispose of 1 battery pack every 1-2 years, as opposed to 75-100 AA's I will do so. Plus, as an amateur photographer, I carry my SLR as well as my geo bag. Doing so, I am not a real big fan of lugging the extra batteries just so I don't have to cut my hike short. I know that with 1 fully charged battery pack I am good for the day. I'm not a pack mule. Don't believe the hype, and have a nice day. Happy caching. I wasn't talking specifically about one time use AA alkalines, I was talking about rechargeable NIMHs. Why would you prefer a proprietary, vendor specific battery over a universal variant you could use in a lot of your electronics? That just doesn't make any logical sense... Right now I have the flexibility of using three types or more of batteries... i can use one time use AA alkalines (if im in a pinch), rechargeable AA nimh, AA lithiums, or AA nizn... This is simply ideal no matter how you cut it! Why would I want to be restricted to one type of battery pack, which, if I forgot to bring with me, or found out their was a problem with it, I would not be able to use my GPSr as a result (say if I were on a trip). Rechargable proprietary battery packs are absolute garbage for use in GPSrs. I could care less about battery life... i could care less if they gave me twice the runtime on a single charge. I would much rather carry as many sets of AA batteries I wanted and have as much battery time as I needed, which subsequently is usually not more than 4 AA batteries for a full day or two of geocaching. Is it that hard to carry 4 AA batteries? Really...

10-4! I went to find this cache without a SPOT device; however, there were 3 other 4WDs in our party. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...7f-075d5cf1da81 A SPOT is an absolute requirement for going after a cache like this as the sole vehicle. Consequently, for those remote caches such as that linked above, the PN-60w with the SPOT Satellite Communicator is the perfect combination. I would advise against relying on SPOT for emergency purposes. Keep in mind, SPOT is a privately owned company with privately owned satellites. This isn't the PLB system which is government owned and operated... any messages you send using the system are sent to a private dispatch group, which then routes it to the appropriate govt rescue teams. Kinda like a home security system. There is a really good thread on this over at the delorme forums. SPOT vs PLB Delorme's intentions with SPOT were purely for casual communication purposes.

I'm truly surprised they haven't started implementing a way to charge for GPS usage as another TAX for the civilian side. Seems like it would be something pretty easy to work into the new satellites/upgrades. Require subscription type BS along the lines of XM radio. You shouldn't even think that way, it's like that kid in class who reminds the teacher he/she assigned no homework for the night! In all seriousness though, we already pay taxes on the system... civilian or not, we are all flipping the bill for it.

Edit : and like I mentioned above, typical of Garmin. No one GPS receiver that's obviously better than everything else in all specs. I'm sure that is all part of their business strategy... to keep us wanting more all the time.

The cable is definitely worth it! Punching in coordinates by hand using the thumb stick will get old, and quick. The good news is you don't need to go through Garmin to buy the cable as they are going to charge top dollar for it. Ebay has all sorts of knock off cables for cheap. Here is one for you: Etrex Legend Cable - $10.98 On the software side, all you will need is either EasyGPS or GSAK to transfer caches to the unit. Both are free and EasyGPS is easy to use. I believe another free program, GPSBabel also allows you to transfer custom waypoints to the unit. Another reason why you want a cable is to download and install the latest firmware for your etrex (it is free as well). PS. serial-usb converter - $1.26. All together you're looking at less than $20. It is still worth it in my opinion.

Amen to that!

I agree with you. For the price, I think garmin needs to include more stuff in their higher end packages, especially the owners manual for crying out loud. Unfortunately, the trend seems to be save money by packaging less stuff... or as they say "green packaging" to make you think its a good thing. FWIW, my pn-40 came with a good amount of stuff in the box. in fact i think Delorme got it perfect... a nice owners manual, lanyard, sticker, complete topo 7 cds, precut CDs, and even a 1gb sd card.

there could be a million factors at play here, but here are some suggestions... 1. make sure you get the latest firmware installed on it. some units can sit on the shelf for years and because of that you may have an older firmware version with more bugs. 2. let the gps sit out in the open (turned on of course) for about 15 minutes before you first start using it. I realize that even if you didnt do this, the gps may still work just fine and everything appear normal, however you need the GPS to download a full list of satellites and their positions (also called an "almanac") for better reliability. the reason this is important is that if say one satellite drops out while hiking, the gps immediately knows where to find another one to navigate with and so on... if you lose several satellites to the point where it can't keep a fix and it doesn't have a good almanac, it will have to search the sky for other satellites while hiking... which is slow and annoying. again, i'm not sure these suggestions will help you, but they are worth a shot. I don't think you have a defective GPS... I think it may just be the way you're using it (no offense).

original eTrex VistaC 1. 10 months 2. 10 months (before being replaced by Garmin) 3. "never" 1st replacement unit 1. 7 months 2. 7 months (before being replaced by Garmin) 3. "never" 2nd replacement unit 1. 10 months 2. 10 months (before being replaced by Garmin) 3. "never" 3rd replacement unit (which I currently still have) 1. 29 months 2. 16 months (before receiving do-it-yourself band repair ki) 3. "never" Why do I continue to use an eTrex? For my purposes (mostly use it in the field or water, and sometimes for on-road navigation), the size and weight is nice (pocketable), and the screen brightness is much better than in the similarly-sized new touch-screen models (although I have been thinking of "upgrading" to an Oregon lately). geez louise, you should try a different method if it keeps failing on you... This is why I don't send my GPS to garmin if the band comes unglued. I know that they will probably just use the same glueing method that they used when they built the thing. You know it will just come apart again... The band on my original etrex legend came off around the 8 month mark. After that I took it off, removed the sticky glue that was on still on the unit and band, and reglued it with high quality superglue (gorilla glue i think). 4 years later and its as solid as a rock. Not one sign of it coming off.

I think if you're looking for what the mainstream user's answer to "the best GPSr for geocaching" is, it would probably be the soon-to-be-released Garmin GPSMAP 62. For years, the 60csx has been considered the GPS for everyone. It is solid, accurate, stable and feature packed. The only thing lacking from it in order to make it the premier geocaching GPSr though is true paperless caching. That's it really. Yeah the mapping capability is a little dated, but it still works great even by today's standards. However in terms of geocaching, paperless caching is what's hot right now. I personally think the PN-40 is an excellent geocaching GPSr, but I can see how it might be too complicated for entry level cachers.

I recommend also checking out Delorme GPSr's. The PN-40 would be a great fit for you and offers excellent paperless caching. It has: - 3 axis digital compass - altimeter - full featured mapping ability (including topographic, satellite imagery, and hybrid viewing) - street routing - high quality mapping software included in the box (topographic maps that are also street routable) I own both a PN-40 and an Oregon 300 and I use the PN-40 much more often. Its simply a funner GPS in my opinion and offers better quality maps. Don't get me wrong though, Oregon's are excellent GPSrs, but in terms of the fun to use factor, I think the PN-40 has the edge. You should also check out the Lowrance Endura Safari and Sierra models if you're looking for something a little less mainstream.

Warren, I have been seriously contemplating getting the Geomate for my girlfriend who is very new to caching. I bought her an Etrex Legend last year, but she thinks it is too complicated for her and, therefore, never ends up using it. Anyway, my only major hesitation with the Geomate is its proprietary way of updating the database of caches. I don't like the idea of being forced to go through third party websites to update the cache list. Now I understand that you can't update 250,000 caches using the geocaching.com website, but it would be nice to be able to transfer waypoints to and from the unit via gpx or loc files. This would give everyone greater flexibility and make it more "open" architecture. I really want to buy it, but if I can't transfer waypoints to and from the unit manually, without the need of going through your website, I'm afraid its just not worth it to me. Aside from that though, your product sounds great.

I have Talkytoaster's OSM-based routable mapping installed. This seems to work well for on-road navigation to waypoints, with arrows overlaid on each turn to take. I guess that it's the mapping and not the GPSr that has the address information and that OSM doesn't provide this. Thanks for the reply. Geoff Yeah, you will need to buy the Garmin City Navigator maps in order to utilize the address lookup features. 3rd party map software such as the Talkytoaster maps you have are only useful in providing the visual maps themselves, not the address meta data. Sorry to break it to you. Good luck

Do you have mapping software installed on it? The Dakota 20 will not route to an address out of the box as the basemap that comes with the unit is not complex enough. You will need to buy separate mapping software for it, which will run you anywhere from $70-$100 US. Garmin Maps. You will need the City Navigator maps to be able to route to addresses.

Yep thats pretty much it. I use mine pretty often on some backcountry hiking trips in the sierras and it has always lasted me the entire day with time to spare. I usually bring a fresh set of alkalines and a set of AA rechargeables just in case. Using that setup you should have no problem lasting throughout the day with time to spare. Turn the compass off, backlight low, and keep power save on.

I violently disagree. I refuse to support companies by buying rechargeable battery packs for GPSrs. I don't want to see these guys getting carried away and making "one-time use" units like the iphone, or forcing us to buy proprietary battery pack designs. I absolutely HATE the idea of rechargable li-ion packs, especially in GPSrs. Common AA type batteries are the way to go and always will be. I don't care how much a company tries to convince me otherwise. I won't buy into the hype of better battery life with rechargeable packs.... I know they DO get better life, but the cost of being reliant on them is definitely not worth it.

Neither. Toyota

I'm not sure how advanced of a cacher bettrick is, but a lot of your cons related to the PN-30 are minor. 1. The pn-30 battery life is just fine, about 10 hours or so. With rechargeble batteries this is no big deal. 2. there is no need for a non proprietary cable... the one that comes with the unit works fine is durable enough 3. you can use a few programs now to transfer waypoints. and if you load a bunch of caches at once, you wont have to transfer often anyway. 4. I have about 100 caches max in my gps and i have more than enough for a few weeks of caching. I am a pretty casual cacher, but still... not many people would actually need room for 1000 caches. the small fraction that do are the uber cachers All things considered I think the PN-30 is a killer value and very recommendable for under $200. The maps alone that come with it are pretty much the selling point... full topo maps for the entire US... Plus its advanced enough so you can grow into it.

- Delorme PN-30 ($179) - Lowrance Endura Out & back ($185) If I had to pick a unit out of those two, I would go for the PN-30 since it includes all of the maps for the entire US. Very good value!

Personally, I think Garmin should have cut the Dakota if anything since the price point isn't all too attractive compared to the Oregon... and they are virtually the same GPSr. Who knows though... I'm just glad they are continuing the 60series lineup. I probably won't buy one, but its good to always have options

yeah i think im going to have to break down and get it

I'm actually kinda shocked they didn't do something like this ... I hate having to change the fields everytime i want to switch from driving to hiking or vice versa. Granted, I don't use the driving mode too often anyway, but I still think Delorme should add the ability to customize based on driving vs hiking. It just makes sense since you usually need different information depending on what you're doing. Oh well, maybe I'll write Delorme about it.

Wow man, that sucks... Sorry to hear about it. I tried looking for you, the only thing I could come up with was this page: System Not Supported - Manual Install Endura Sierra Read the instructions thoroughly. Maybe even try formatting the microSD card first, then try again. If there is an internal memory drive on those units (aside from the microsd card memory), check to see if the file is in there... if it is, delete it and start over. If that fails, call them up ASAP. Best of luck!

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