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swales

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Everything posted by swales

  1. Return it for a Delorme PN-40... that's what I did... what a difference!
  2. AFAIK, the rebates are valid for purchases at walk-in, brick and mortar stores. The rebate is a good question... Many have stated that it does not apply to online stores... however if you look at the rebate form it says NOTHING about that restriction. I will give it a shot... if they deny it I plan to argue the fact. As far as ordering from TigerGPS... everything was flawless.. they shipped the order the next day (I ordered at night), it did take the full estimated 7 days to arrive (might have been worth the extra $13 to get it 2nd day...
  3. Did you see Delorme has a $50 rebate until the end of the year? I just purchased mine... when all said and done.. it will cost me only $280 for the PN-40.... good deal. TigerGPS w/ 5%off (add to shopping card, then try to leave site.. they give you 5% off).
  4. Here the update on what I decided to do... I was thinking of getting either the Etrex Vista HCx or 60Csx... After reading all the issues with the Colorado's and Oregon's... I figured I would stay away from them. Plus the low battery life just wasn't for me. Then I starting reading about the Delorme models... people seemed pretty happy with them... and their employees ACTUALLY read and respond to these forums... sounds like good customer support to me... So I went ahead and ordered a Delorme PN-40. I hope it is as good as it reviews. Also I just discovered there is a $50 rebate going on... so that put it cheaper than the Garmins.. around $280 shipped... The other thing that really helped make my decision was that it came with Topo maps and Street maps.... nobody else is doing that right now... and I was intrigued to see I could download aerial photo maps to it... You can bet I will run the Delorme through the same types of tests I ran the Triton through... Guess I will need to start a new thread for that one. Thanks for all the help and listening to my complaints.. This is a great forum and the user community is a big help.
  5. Sent my 300 back last week... too many problems... some you can deal with.. like the odometer never being right on the unit... but the track log is right when you put in on the computer... the killer for me was when the unit locked up and was not recoverable... I believe this was because the memory got full... unfortunately using VantagePoint when you do a Sync it copies everything from the unit.. and everything TO the unit... so be careful not to fill the memory... maybe the 400 won't have this problem as it has a SD card. Hopefully Magellan will some day get the unit working right... looked to be a killer deal for the price.. but I guess you get what you pay for
  6. I'm in the same boat... trying to decide which of these units to get... I noticed that the Vista has not had a firmware update since Feb 07, but the 60CSx has had one this Feb 08... not sure what to make of that..
  7. Once I decide on which unit (Garmin 60CSx or Vista HCx) I would like to find a protective case for it... the plan is to mount it on my ATV.. handlebar mount would work to mount on the front rack... I would like a hard plastic (clear) case. My other concern is leaving it in the sun... how well do these unit handle direct sunlight. If mounted on my ATV.. it would be in the sun all the time... Thanks.
  8. Not sure I want to spend the $$$ on a Colorado... Garmin seems to be VERY proud of that unit... that was one reason I bought the Triton... unfortunately it just didn't hold up.... I would like to stay under $300... I see the 60CSx and Vista HCx are in that ballpark.
  9. Well... no more Triton 300... luckily the store I purchased it from allowed me to return it for a full refund. Disapointing as I had high hopes for this unit... but it just isn't ready for production yet... So.... what to purchase now??? hmmm been thinking of the Garmin 60Csx... I have figured I want an expandable unit (unlike the Triton 300).. I was always running it out of memory... I like the color screen.. I need a high sensative receiver as I use in the mountains and trees alot. Any recommendations? Thanks.
  10. Yes, and I still do not know why. NO. Besides the post about the CAS, there were no questions asked. If there were, he would have answers, possibly even a direct contact with Maggie for a swift resolution. It does seem a little funny, doesn't it? Very true. Anything can happen. Besides an equipment failure, what if you drop it? I always have a backup, no matter how far I venture. Oh, I log my finds too. MiniWhip... why do you spend your time on here if you are running THE premier triton site? Go back and read my posts.. I have probably provided more information about the Triton in one thread than you have on most of your site.... but I will answer the questions above to clear the air... Q. Did I contact Magellan?. A. Yep... spent alot of time on the phone talking to someone with very broken english... no help... then was transferred to someone for an RMA. Q. Did I post questions on TritonForum? A. Nope. Read all the threads.. discovered there was little to no information there that wasn't here... but some users here were saying that is where to go... so I figured I would put a post out there about a CAS and see what kind of response it got... Unfortunately the moderator... you... decided not to let your users voice their opinions. Too bad... it has caused your site to lose alot of credibility. Q. The unit worked for 3 months then BAM... A. The unit has NEVER worked correctly. Take a look at my First Impressions thread as well as the threads from others. Don't even try to sell that this unit works reliably. ... again a credibility issue for you. Q. The life threatening experience... A. I did not buy a television... a blender... or a household appliance... I bought a navigation device. I did not indicate I was lost for days in the desert.. I stated it 'could have been bad' if I was lost and my GPS was locked up... as it was.... still is... I understand.. you are upset because you made a mistake by censoring your users. Mistakes happen.. let bygons be bygons. My beef was with Magellan.. unfortunately you involved yourself and made it your battle... don't see the point in continuing that. I hope your site can provide help to the users.. they need it. As for I.. I will continue my GPS adventures and post my true, honest findings for those who chose to benefit.
  11. So, if you know that an "experienced traveler should know not to rely on it [their GPS] completely" then why did you? And how do manufacturers sell GPSr's with the claim that they can be relied upon completely? I've owned 5 GPSr's. Before each purchase I thoroughly reacquainted myself with the market. In all that research, I never once read "Still hanging on to those old-fashioned paper maps? Buy our GPS and use those old maps for kindling!" Look, it's okay to have buyer's remorse. But you can let your rant get just so far out onto a limb before you start to look bad. It's a known industry standard that GPSr's are beta tested by the early adopters, and that issues are subsequently resolved with a string of firmware updates. If you don't want to be a part of that process, then wait until the bugs are all worked out before you buy. But bandying about terms like "class action" about a piece of equipment that has only been out for a couple of months is going to get you nowhere. Happy caching. (Oh, and don't be bashful about logging those caches. Logging is not all about the stats. It helps those who are hunting but not finding to know that the guy who was here yesterday found it or didn't. It helps the custodian of the cache to know that the log book is missing, or that the cache is constantly wet, or in disrepair. It's just common courtesy to log your finds. And one more thing, it buys you just a little credibility on a Geocaching Forum if you actually geocache. You indicate that you geocache by logging.) You can't be serious... so you say that it is ok for companies to put out faulty products and take no responsibility? That is what the lawsuits are all about. How about next time Ford or Chevrolet forego doing any crash testing on their vehicles and let YOU do it in the field? Not acceptable! BTW.. I don't recall any statements from Magellan indicating I was being employed as a beta tester for their products. However I did spend the last 4 months doing exactly that. I guess I finally had enough. I can handle the little quirks... but once I had a COMPLETE failure of the unit... that was it. But yes... I can send back to Magellan... AT MY COST and they will see about sending me a replacement. I see I am not alone... it looks like many of the suppliers have pulled the units off the shelf. So what have we learned here... first... don't rely on this unit.. it needs alot of work to be a solid unit. Don't rely on TritonForum as they edit their users posts... do they work for Magellan... who knows.. who cares... there are other reputable places to get your information. It is just me being a Magellan basher... you decide... I tried for 4 months to help make this product solid... I also told people to just wait... it will get better... but I was like many of these guys defending a defective product... I wasn't using it for real... just as a toy.. a new gadget that looked cool... once I used it for real... I found it to be unreliable and possibly dangerous.. yeah these guys are right... everyone should carry maps and a compass and a telescope and a cell phone and one of those water finding sticks.... just to be safe.... but does that mean we should all just roll over and accept defective products... nope... return them...
  12. BTW.. the odometer is not fixed... it is still off... took a 50 mile trip... Triton said 37 miles..... it seemed close on short trip... couple miles.. but that was too short to really tell.
  13. Were you able to reset your unit yet? Nope its dead... tried everything. Vantage Point wont connect and trying a firmware install also wont connect... says it cant identify unit... the unit flashes the computer symbol... but it never connects. Magellan said to send it back... I think that is a great idea... send back to the store I bought it and buy something else.
  14. Were you able to reset your unit yet? Nope its dead... tried everything. Vantage Point wont connect and trying a firmware install also wont connect... says it cant identify unit... the unit flashes the computer symbol... but it never connects. Magellan said to send it back... I think that is a great idea... send back to the store I bought it and buy something else. The frustrating part is I know it is just a software issue... If I could get the darn thing to flash I could probably resurrect it... at least for the time being... wonder how Magellan will fix it when it get returned? They need to post the low-level formatting tool so we can fix our own.
  15. Wow, I'm impressed! You have not been able to find a single cache or benchmark since you joined GC, but you were able to find your way out of the desert. Were you on foot, a dirt bike, or in a 4X4? What part of the desert were you in when this life threatening event occurred? Hopefully you were fully prepared to be in such a hostile environment, plenty of water, paper maps, compass, extra food & supplies. Were you lost with no roads around and you had to find your way out on your own? Let's hear the details of how bad it really was. John Sorry, I am not in the habbit of updating my cache findings.. don't really do it for the stats... but the Triton has been so unreliable... I doubt it could find the trash can even after I threw it in... and thats where its heading. As for the specifics... I was on an ATV.. had water and food.. all the necessities... I was not on a road... a river bottom.. otherwise I could have used my Maestro right? it's supposed to know the roads... well at least some of the time , but thats another story... Point is it is very easy to get lost.. especially in a river bottom... lots of turns and tributaries.. do you turn back.. or are you almost to the next road? thats where the GPS should help... let you know where you are and how far you have traveled... it is a vital piece of equipment.. however an experienced traveler should know not to rely on it completely... but many people ARE relying on this equipment... the manufacturers sell it this way. Was my experience life threatening... could have been... but luckily wasn't. But it is a very bad feeling when you look at your GPS and it is locked up... there are a couple minutes of.. oh SH*^ how do I get back? Maybe you have been lucky with your unit so far... I was for about 3 months... but once it happens to you... your tune will change.... mine did.
  16. I'll try I'm assuming you have installed VantagePoint which came with the unit. Then connect your Triton unit, upgrade to the newest firmware. Hopefully you've done that... then..... Then you can download geocache coordinates as a loc file. Just remember to change it from geocaching.loc to something else like GCxxxxx.loc Once you do that, open VantagePoint, go to library, waypoints, import the loc to VantagePoint, then synch it up to your Triton unit. (you might have to read instructions for more details). If you decide to spring for Premium member, you can download the geocache coordinates as a gpx file, then import into the Triton as a Geocache... which will also put all the information about the cache into your Triton unit as well as the coordinates. If you create the waypoints yourself on the unit, make sure you click the green check box when you are done, you might have to scroll down to find it. A really good support forum for the Triton is at www.tritonforum.com Good luck and if you need more help, just holler!!! Don't waste your time at www.tritonforum.com... they either work for Magellan and are trying to hide the problems... or they simply won't let you post your issue there.. without editing it.
  17. Unfortunately it appears www.tritonforum.com was supposed to be the 'place' to go for Triton help. Well expect that the moderator will remove any posts that refer to the failures on the triton series... I suspect it is being run by Magellan. I posted a message recommending the users investigate a Class Action Lawsuit for all the issues experienced with the unit. I am more concerned that someone may get hurt... or there be a fatality because of the unit. My experience was one that I was in the desert 30 miles out.. and the unit locked up on me... fortunately I was able to get back... but it could have been bad. This cannot be allowed to happen.. BTW... it only took www.tritonforum.com about 10 minutes until they deleted my account there because of my comments toward Magellan.
  18. OK... it's official... the Triton 300 is a Piece of SHI$.. I discovered that if you fill the memory... the unit will freeze and you will NOT get it back... at least with the latest firmware. Earlier firmwares you could 'play' with it and get it back... now all I get is a blank screen... I see the battery bar and no sat signals... everything else is blank. Does anybody know how to 'clear' the memory.. the Select-ESC-Power On only resets it (like removing batteries), but does not clear memory...
  19. I was able to test the Odometer.. and it now seems right on...
  20. New firware is available... 1.45... download through VantagePoint. After update unit says: Firmware Version, Date 1,45,0,129, 2008/02/29 Shell version,Date 1.14, Feb 14 2008 Sirf Version,Date GSW3.2.4 What appears to be fixed... 1. Finally the altimeter will read in Feet instead of Miles... Before when you got above 4000ft the unit switched to displaying in Miles. Only way to see Feet was to create a Waypoint. 2. There is now a circular progress meter that displays when you are waiting for something to load. 3. When selecting a point.. or Waypoint displayed on the main map there is an option to GOTO that will draw a route to the waypoint. Don't remember if this was in earlier firmware. 4. When cycling through Page/GoTo screens the Current Location is displayed at the top.. so you don't have to use one of your user selectable fields to see Long/Lat. 5. On the GoTo - WayPoint the options for Select Waypoint now seem to work... Nearest, Date Added, Name, and Search. 6. Create Waypoint can now be done in 6 clicks. They moved the OK (check button) to the top when you create a WayPoint so you don't have to arrow down to the bottom... hey it saves 3 or 4 clicks!!! What doesn't appear to be fixed... 1. On the GoTo - Places the option to Search for a place never returns anything. 2. Still cannot delete a Trail or Track individually. You have to clear the units memory. Trails and Tracks consume alot of memory.. so this would be a nice option to have. 3. When you went into a screen to rename an item it used to default to the delete (backspace) button.. which was REALLY nice... now you have to arrow down to get to it.... hope they change this back. Other 1. Be sure to set your Owner information (Settings- About - Owner) after the firmware upgrade... it gets wiped when you update. 2. Backlight levels... There are 9 of them.. the original firmware had about 5 levels... wish they would go back to that. There is no need for 9 levels... a Off, Low, Med, High would be enough. Untested - Things I haven't tested yet. 1. Odometer... did they finally fix this... will have to take a ride to find out. Thats it for now...
  21. Did some Power usage testing on the 300. I connected a ammeter between the batteries to see what power usage the unit took under the different backlight conditions... Here are the results. Please note that my ammeter only shows to tens place... so as you see in Level 5 to 6 it shows same... but 6 took more... just un-measureable by my meter. Also the numbers would bounce between say 220 and 230 on Level 9... so these are just good estimates. No Backlight 90 - 100 ma Level 1 - 150 ma Level 2 - 170 ma Level 3 - 180 ma Level 4 - 190 ma Level 5 - 200 ma Level 6 - 200 ma Level 7 - 210 ma Level 8 - 220 ma Level 9 - 230 ma So with a good set of 2650 batteries you should get 10 hours at highest backlight... if you could use all of juice in battery... but we all know that don't happen.. If no backlight you could get 24 hours or so... I have gotten close to 24 hours with unit on and no backlight...
  22. You know the battery issue would be easier to determine if you simply run through an ammeter to determine how many watts the unit is pulling. That way you could determine what versions of chip pull what power. BTW... It seems that the new Garmin Colorado is having as many issues as the new Magellan Triton series... should be interesting to see who actually gets their units working first. Many have switched from the Triton, in assumption that Garmin would get it right... interesting to see the results.
  23. Took my 300 on an airplane ride the other day... that was fun... I was unable to get a signal (green), until I held it up to the window for about 30 seconds... then she locked in... As long as I was 6 inches or so from the window I got constant data. It was neat to see that I was flying at 552 mpg... at a height of 37000 ft. I could tell when we started decending... and could see it was at a rate of 1000 ft per minute. Also because I set a waypoint at the airport we were returning to I could see how far out we were... and the included map has enough data so I could see what city the light out the window were. Also I just upgraded batteries to 2650 mah... what a difference they make over 2500 mah... What have I learned recently on the 300..... 1. Save your current data... BEFORE replacing the batteries. If you have not saved your current track.. it is lost... makes sense... but stinks when you forget. 2. If you save Trails there doesn't seem to be a way to delete them in the unit... you have to clear all memory. Trails can take up alot of memory... so I cleared memory, then connected to computer to put my waypoints and routes back on. Hope they fix this in future. 3. Now have 10 levels of backlight... what a waste... only really need about 3... you have to click alot to turn it off... better just to set settings to auto off in 60 seconds or so. 4. Sometimes unit is fast... sometimes slow as far as the menu's go... not sure why. I thought maybe it had to do with most of the RAM being consume... but still unpredictable when memory cleared... 5. Still hate the Altimeter changing to Miles when above 4000ft... however if you want the current altitude... just click to create a waypoint... you can see your altitude in feet... just abort the save... so you don't end up with a bunch of useless waypoints. 6. Odometer is better with 1.28 firmware... but still WAY off. however I think it still gets you to your destination when geocaching, or to a waypoint pretty well. Just don't rely on odometer to figure out how far you traveled that day... transfer data to VantagePoint and it will be correct there.
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