zpyder

I'm curious, not really found many comparison websites, those I have found mostly just list specs, as opposed to actual user experience, but how does the Oregon 650 compare to the 62SC? Obviously the 62sc doesn't have the touch screen, or "dual battery" but beside those points it doesn't seem like there's much in it? I use my 62SC for both geocaching and field surveying. Touch screen interfaces, as swanky as they are, I haven't found are necessary for what I do, and with a unit that can go all day on a single set of batteries, and not really doing massive trips, I don't really see the need (for me at least) of the dual batteries. I did try an Explorist 710 for a while but that was way to glitchy. Maybe I'm associating the touch screen and shape of the Oregon with my bad experience of the explorist, and feel favourably towards to the 62 series due to their heritage from the 60CSX line...? (I did originally have a 62S, which was an early unit, and I had no end of issues with it mind)

My experience around here has been as I stated, but this again goes with how accessible geocaching is, something for everyone, from dead easy caches, to pulling out your hair in frustration caches. I still say it goes with common sense and judgement. I've not encountered many difficult caches in my limited travels, but the ones at the upper end of the spectrum would need some extra care regarding photos, whereas a cache that is a plain tupperware box that is obvious and is barely "hidden" in the cache description obviously has a bit more leeway in terms of what you show in the photo, excluding the actual hiding place.

That is you, but many cachers look at everything to make the find as easy as possible. If that's what they want to do then so be it. The good thing about geocaching is how accessible it (usually) is. Difficult caches usually have a couple of easy hints if they're required. I think most hiders would rather people find their cache than ultimately give up in frustration. The same is with the pictures, if someone wants to make it as easy as possible for themselves, that's their choice to look at the photos. It's optional, it's not mandatory to look at the pictures beforehand, and if someone is concerned about seeing spoilers, I imagine like me they'll just leave the photos till after.

Generally I don't look at cache photos until after I've found a cache, helps prevent spoilers!

I've seen photos of cachers at the cache site, with and without the cache. I'd say use your judgement. Most of the photos I've seen have been reasonably safe, usually when the cache isn't camouflaged, and usually offset by 10-20m. Any photos of caches that have been camouflaged usually come with a spoiler warning.

Thanks for that, useful to know the memory and battery differences. The comparison doesn't mention though whether there is different hardware in the background, just features. I guess if the battery life is a couple of hours shorter though it might suggest that there are some unmentioned background changes to things like the processor etc?

Please forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere, I've had a quick look and not found an answer. I know that the 62 series models with a "C" at the end signify they're the 2nd generation that now includes the camera. However, I'm curious, is that the only difference? I'm wondering whether a 62SC is exactly the same as the 62S, just with a camera attached (and camera related software changes),or whether to accommodate the added camera, things like the device processor have been upgraded too? As such I'd be interested to hear whether a 62SC performs differently in general non-camera use?

Hello all To free up funds for travelling I am selling my fieldwork/outdoor watch, which is a titanium Casio Pro Trek analogue+digital watch. The links below are to some pictures, I've not shrunk them down as I felt people might want to see as much detail as possible: Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Picture 4 Watch features: Altimeter Barometer Compass Thermometer Atomic Radio controlled timekeeping Solar powered World times 5 Alarms + hourly chime LED light Rugged design As you can see from the pictures, I've replaced the titanium strap with a ballistic nylon strap, but still have the original titanium strap in the original wooden gift box that the watch came in (along with the manual). The watch glass is in excellent condition, the bezel has some scuff marks, but nothing major given that the watch is 2 years old. These watches retail for £400, so I am looking for £200, but am open to offers. If you have any questions, please do ask!

Hello all I'm selling my Magellan Explorist 710 with the MicroSD it came with (containing OS UK 1:50 000 scale maps). It's less than a year old, and has had a screen protector on it since day one. As such the screen is in perfect condition. The rest of the body is in excellent condition too, there are a few minor marks scattered around, but for the most part its just a little bit of mud. The 710 has been used this summer for fieldwork and a bit of geocaching. I only bought it to replace a really buggy 62S. I bought this for £450 at the start of the year, and now am looking for £300 (am open to offers too). Sadly I don't think I will be able to locate the box/manual/cd, but the manual and vantage point should be downloadable from the internet. Any questions, please do ask! Links to pictures below. They're big files, which is why I haven't embedded them in this listing. Picture 1 Picture 1 Picture 1 Picture 1 I should also add, that I am based in Dorset, UK, and would prefer to sell to within the UK only.

Thanks for that. I ended up taking the plunge earlier when I found out that Cotswolds outdoor bundles in the OS 50k maps. Then I remembered that I get 15% off there, making the 710 only £425 instead of £500, with £100 of maps included. I'm liking the unit. It certainly seems a little more complex than the Garmins, but this may not be a bad thing, I'm sure I'm only scratching the surface of the menus and configurations. The only issue I've run into so far was getting the 50k maps on the device. They came on a memory card, but weren't installed/listed when I put the card in. Tried a few things, thought the card was blank so put it in a card reader and the maps were there. Put the card back in the gps and suddenly they were all ok. I guess I didn't seat it properly. Updating the firmware was problem free, and I quite like the Vantagepoint software, much better than basecamp, though it'd be nice to have a few more coordinate systems to choose from! I'll write a better review and comparison once I've had a proper play with it.

I used to have a 60CSX. Loved it. Got suckered by the fancy tech in the 62 series. Got a 62S. Hate it. Bad build quality. Switches off when knocked. Garmin customer support is non-existent. So I'm thinking I'll give another brand a go. I like the look of the Magellans, but am finding it difficult to find out decent information from your typical person who might be using or have used them. Having a solid, reliable GPS is important for me, not only for geocaching, but as I am an ecologist, I use a GPSr a lot in the field to record survey locations. I like the idea of being able to geotag photos, but this isn't essential. A touch screen would be nice if it facilitates quicker entry of waypoints. The one thing (other than price) holding me back is the map support. How good are the maps that come with the 610 and 710, and how easy is it to add custom maps to the device. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Apologies for what could end up being a rant and long winded post. I've got a few questions regarding non-garmin units. But first a bit of back story. I'm an environmental researcher at a University in England. Garmin being the market leader, is what I have used when doing fieldwork and needing to log survey points etc. My first GPS unit was actually a bluetooth gps unit for my Pda, soon followed by a 60CSx, which I loved. Annoyingly last year I got suckered by the old "New-improved!" marketing regarding the 62. I thought it would be an upgrade from the 60, and really looked forward to the prospect of birdseye imagery, especially for when I was going to the lake district later in the year. However I've pretty much hated the unit since I got it, and have grown to not trust Garmin at all. The list of issues I have had so far: Birds eye imagery for the lake district, when I needed it, was just blanket cloud, seriously, one of the UK's most popular walking/hiking destinations, and the satellite imagery was one massive cloud. I asked garmin for a refund as it wasn't fit for purpose, and they refused. The material the unit is made from just isn't as rugged as the 60 series. I managed to get a massive scratch in the screen the first week I had the unit, the 60 series units weren't scratch proof either, but the material was far tougher and scratches didn't show as much. Garmin wouldn't replace the screen and instead wanted £130 to replace the whole unit :/ The unit will shut down if knocked "moderately". If it's clipped onto a bag, dropping the bag on the ground is enough to turn it off, so is it swinging into your chest if on a chest strap. I assumed it was a loose battery connection but on further investigation I think it's actually a fault with the unit. Garmin wanted proof of purchase to repair/replace the unit, despite it being listed as in warranty on their website, and COMING FROM GARMIN (as it was a replacement unit) anyway. It should have been on their system as being supplied by them, but sadly now the unit is out of warranty and I don't want to pay Garmin to fix the unit which was faulty when they originally sent it out Ok so the gripes with Garmins customer service could have maybe been sorted if I was a bit more proactive earlier on (maybe), but it's still rather annoying… lately I've had some dealings with examples of excellent customer service from other "leading" outdoor/tool brands - Leatherman and Lowe Alpine. Leatherman has a 25 year warranty on it's products, which I didn't know about. I've had a Leatherman tool in my drawer for years as it was broken about 7 years ago. When I found out about the warranty, I sent it in, and less than a week later I had a brand new replacement in the post. Not only that, but as my tool was discontinued, I received the newer titanium version. This didn't cost me anything, and I didn't even have to provide proof of purchase. With Lowe Alpine, I emailed them as part of my chest strap on my bag had fallen off, the next day they'd sent a replacement strap out for free. All the while any communications I received from the companies was polite and helpful, which is more than can be said of Garmin, who just weren't interested. Ok, so rant over. I wish I’d kept my 60 CSx, but given the lack of support from Garmin, I’m not tempted to just downgrade back from the 62 to the 60. I’ve been looking at the Magellans, and was wondering whether anyone out there has had the chance to use both the 62 and the 610 and/or 710 “in the field” (rather than just in a shop?) What they felt about the units etc. What are the other main contenders to Garmin at the moment? I'm liking the idea of a touch screen unit, as it might make marking locations in the field a bit easier if I have some form of keyboard, rather than having to use a directional pad to select each individual character, but how do the magellans fair in terms of signal and position accuracy?

More fool me, I've had the GPS for over a year, so I'm guessing it's out of warranty

I'm curious if anyone else has this issue with their Garmin 62 model GPS unit. Basically, if you knock the unit, it loses power and turns off. I've found frequently that when I've been out on walks, I'll go to check my GPS and it's turned off. I've finally got round to checking my suspicions, but it literally just takes a short sharp knock to the side of the unit and it'll turn off. And apparently it's enough to turn off if it's clipped on my bag and I drop my bag to the ground. I'm sure there is no way it'd stay turned on for more than 100m if it was mounted to my bike. This is pretty poor for a "rugged" device. I've tried bending the battery power clips out a bit, but this hasn't helped. The batteries are in so tight I'm wondering if it's something loose within the device itself. I've searched the forums and seen one mention of this happening on a 60CSx model, but that was solved by bending the battery clips out. I'm guessing it might be a case to return to Garmin...

I'm a little more intrigued about the google alternatives, still, rather than the satellite/aerial debate... Sorry, could you explain this again? For some reason I'm not quite following you. Basically the geo guidelines are saying unless you want to pay for the Enterprise product, you are not allowed to import/scrape any data from google earth/maps. And how many people using the tools posted earlier are going to have such a licence? My interest in this stems not only from the situation with birdseye, but the fact I work in a university and one of my main interests is in GIS, a result of which is frequently coming up against various copyright and usage restrictions on different data. One of the lecturers is a proponent of open source GIS applications and has started to use an application with an extension which allows for the google scraping. Obviously this is a bit of a tricky situation until we're absolutely certain on the legality of the situation, as we don't want to be teaching students how to illegally obtain aerial imagery. Maybe it's a good enough reason to finally get Google Enterprise?!

i don't know why you are surprised, it rains in UK 90% of the time, and rain happens to come out of clouds True, I think I just got used to the near 0 cloud cover coverage that google provides in earth/maps. This is the equivalent of having clouds covering all of London, pointless.

This was bugging me a little, as I remembered reading something on the Google TOS when I was developing something using their API. From: http://www.google.com/permissions/geoguidelines.html So basically all these applications that are pulling out google imagery (and of which there is an increasing number), as far as I understand it, are breaking the rules set out by google. I'd love to be corrected as I think it's a very cool and useful feature but it's a bit iffy if you're breaking the law if you do it.

Well just heard back from Garmin, I guess it's buyer beware: It would have been helpful at the time to actually have the preview service working. I kinda assumed that they'd have coverage of the UK, and not just massive amounts of cloud in places.

Because I like to discuss interesting topics on discussion boards? Maybe this and the fact I'd like to add an extra hit to any google searches regarding birdseye and cumbria / the lake district (assuming these forums are crawled by google - if not it's still searchable by other cachers if they're deciding upon buying a subscription prior to a trip there) Don't get me wrong, an email to Garmin is in order, but I would also like to know the views of others who either have found themselves in a similar situation or at least have an interest in the subject. I mean, should you expect a mapping product to have 100% usable coverage, or is it reasonable to expect a small margin of error, and if so, do you just chalk it up to bad luck if that margin of error is smack bang in the middle of the area you most need the coverage? This isn't a subjective problem like the squeaky 62 case. This is a pretty major problem, I'd post a screenshot of the large area in question if it wouldn't contravene copyright law. We're not talking patches of cloud covering a large area, we're talking a solid white mass that obscures any sign of land covering the inner 50% (and possibly the most popular 50%) of one of Britains major national parks. I find myself with a weird stance on the subject...I accept that you can't expect high quality coverage of the globe. But I also feel that National parks should be prioritised as highly as major cities are in terms of being the first to have the best imagery, especially given Garmins targetted marketing for off road trail users, special map products just of national parks etc.

So I upgraded to a 62S and have taken out the subscription to make use of the Birdseye service. Annoyances aside on the limitations of how much you can download at a time and the speed of the download, I decided to pre-empt a trip to the Lake District next year and download the imagery now (who knows, it might actually finish downloading the tiles by then!) Imagine my surprise to discover the central lake district tiles to be 100% under cloud cover, making the imagery useless if you want to use it for anywhere between Keswick and Windemere, which is a pretty large area of the Lake District. Given how it's a national park and a prime location for people to be using their GPS, you'd have thought Garmin/Birdseye would have sourced imagery not under cloud cover for the area. Do you think it's grounds for a refund if you buy the subscription only to find out that the imagery gives you less detail than the stock basemap, for the areas you want to use it for? The basemap is fine for my usual home use, I only really wanted it for the lakes!

Thanks. They may not be the cheapest I've seen, but sometimes it pays off paying a little more for reliable service. I'll be sure to forward that suggestion on to the equipment officer!

I'm guessing this has been asked a few times before, but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for GPS suppliers in the UK that are cheap and possibly do bulk buy discounts. I know in the scheme of things 5 units isn't really bulk, but it's still 5x as many units as Joe Bloggs would normally order. I think work (A university) is looking into probably either the Garmin 60CSx or the 62S(t). I want to recommend the 62s, but without seeing a 62 IRL I can't in good conscience on the grounds of the reports of the squeaking, as the units need to be durable, so I get the impression the 60's might be a bit more well built! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for those suggestions guys. As I've hardly done anything before (bar Scafell, Helm and Aira last year) it's all pretty much new to me and I hope to do them all eventually! Some of those suggestions look promising, I'll hopefully have some more time to look into them more tomorrow!

I'm off to the lake district for my 2nd time, for a week on a saturday. I went this time last year with an old school friend who had twisted his ankle a few weeks prior, so long/challenging walks weren't an option, though we still managed scafell somehow! This year I think karma has gone full circle, and I'm going with a colleague from work who is...active to say the least. He's taking his running kit, and has said he wants to do "all the big ones/good ones". Seeing as Scafell took a lot out of me last year, I think I'll be the one lagging behind this year! Anyway, I'm just after suggestions for peaks/places and the routes to take for the trip. I think Scafell and Helvellyn are mandatory, provided there isn't too much snow on the peak (I don't fancy striding/swirral edges if there's snow and ice up there!). This really leaves us with only 3 other days to walk. I have no problem with low/easy/short stuff, but selling it to my friend might be another matter. So if anyone can recommend their top 5 places in the lakes it'd be appreciated, hopefully I can figure out some places that aren't going to be too bad after doing Scaf/Helv which are equally as spectacular! Caches aren't a priority, but it'd be nice to grab some on the way!

I am off to the lakes next week, and my colleague who I have convinced to come is a bit of an "active" person...so he wants to do Scafell, Helvelyn..."all the big ones" :S. I would offer to place a cache for you if you got permission, but as I live on the south coast of England I wouldn't be able to maintain it!