Rubberhead

You should also be able to use a cheap powered USB hub and the Vista C's USB cable to power the unit. This is the one feature I wish the 60CS series had - power over USB.

I have LCD and color TFT screens. In almost all light conditions, the TFT screens have better contrast and are easier to see. The built-in compass is a real advantage over a magnetic compass. I only turn it on when I get close to a cache so the extra battery drain is minimal. I change batteries while it is plugged into my cigarette lighter so I don't have to continually recalibrate the compass. 32 MB of memory is a lot. 24 MB of Mapsource maps takes up 24MB of memory in a B&W and 24 MB of memory in a color unit. It's cheaper to buy the color unit now than to upgrade later especially if you unlock City Select on the B&W unit.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/store...roductId=160900 West Marine is marketing an upgraded version of the GPSmap 76CS called the GPSmap 76CS Plus. - Dedicated navigation modes for powerboating, sailboating, automotive and off-road - Select from 24 brilliant pages for true customization - Marine logbook stores your location every 30 minutes to 8 hours - Start-up status displays settings that might impact receiver accuracy (variation, selected charts) - Easy route editing on chart: move, add or delete waypoints quickly

Try turning off all maps except for the basemap, then retry autorouting. If it works, then its the mapset that you've got loaded that's causing the problems.

I've been leaving WAAS on, but I have seen times when it actually hurt accuracy.

On a small-screened GPS without Autorouting, I would say that you may enjoy the greater detail of the maps but they won't help you get there any easier than you are now. You can, however, plan your routes ahead of time by using the PC software that comes with the detailed mapping programs. Once you have your routes planned you can download them into your Legend. Metroguide may be just want you need.

Garmin's Mapsource will do it. You just have to open a second instance of Mapsource. In the first instance, load the file containing the tracks you've been saving. Use the second to download the tracks from your GPS. Cut and paste the tracks from the second instance into the first and then save the first instance.

I would suggest looking seriously at the Garmin GPSmap 60CS and the RINO 130. The 60CS provides driving directions (whether or not you need them it's fun to let the GPS route you to the next geocache) and a barometric pressure altimeter. The altimeter acts as a good weather indicator as long at you are not changing altitude (like when you camp for the evening). It also has a nifty geocaching mode. The RINO doesn't offer the driving directions or the geocaching mode, but it does have the barometric pressure altimeter and a NOAA radio. I have a 60CS so I have to carry a seperate NOAA radio, but I wouldn't be without it. (The weather channel is hard to get when your camping or geocaching).

OK. My map datum was set to ND27. I changed it to WGS 84. My coordinates are set to hddd.mm.mmm. Do I need to change any of the other settings? My "Units" is set to "Statute." "North Ref." is set to "Magnetic." "Variance" is set to "11 degress W" Changing datums should fix your problem. I agree with Neo Geo, go with True North.

It should be less than $400. I paid $400 for a 60CS.

Save a few extra dollars and get a Garmin 60C. Everybody that has one is impressed with the unit.

I may be wrong but I don't think HotSync works automatically when you cradle like ActiveSync does. You might be able to adjust a setting on the Palm device itself and make it sync when cradled. I'll check when I get home.

I really like the idea of AA batteries whether standard alkaline, NiMH, or the newer titanium or lithums. I really like being able to pop-in a set of titaniums or lithums if the weather gets really cold.

Is a Garmin-quality data cable, high resolution screen, 24 MB of memory, WAAS, mapping, Jump Master, Calculator, Area Calculator, Calendaring functions, best hunting/fishing times, 500 more waypoints and 7000 more tracklog points worth paying a $35 premium for? I'd say heck yes... A better question is do you consider getting a GPSmap 60CS or 76CS so you won't have to upgrade again in the near future?

You can erase all the .img files under the NACSV5 subdirectory. Leave the NACSv5.img , nacsv5.tdb files that are under the Mapsource directory. If you do this and select City Navigator 5.0 from the product pulldown menu it will show blank maps.

I have a Palm M130 and an HP iPAQ 4150. If it were me and I were buying a PDA from scratch I'd want built-in WiFi for fast websurfing and downloading of big .gpx files. I'd also want Bluetooth just in case I ever got a GPS 10. I'd also want a CF slot just in case I ever got a CF Que. I'd want an SDIO slot capable of addressing at least a 1G SD card. My 4150 does everything above except for the CF slot.

I have a Vista and have used it with Freshwater (Fishing Hotspots) and Saltwater (Bleucharts) contour applications. The LCD screens do not do justice to contours. Roads are fine. The 4-level gray of the eTrex units does not offer enough contrast for mapping programs that have shaded areas. I would recommend Metroguide. This is one man's opinion. I'm sure other will weigh in.

You'd be better off getting Metroguide V4.0 only if you think you might upgrade to a autorouting unit like a Legend C, Vista C, 60 series or 76C or 76CS. Otherwise, you should get the newest version of Metroguide V6.0.

I wasn't checking up on you - Sorry. I have Metroguide 4.0x and have to remember to check or uncheck the route calculation data depending if I'm loading it into my 60CS (checked) or my Vista (unchecked). I can load data into the Vista with route calc. checked but it uses about 35% more memory. I can load unchecked into the 60CS but it won't autoroute. Sorry.

That was MetroGuide 5 Neo Geo, Did you have "include route calculation data" unchecked when you tested the map size for SmittyMX5?

I have a 1MB Mariner. I got the Points of Interest CD about 4 years ago and still love it. In my opinion it is well worth getting. The only problem is the once you get a glimpse of how powerful mapping can be you will get the upgrade urge. I think that it's worth getting but I'd try to find it on ebay first rather than pay the full retail price. FYI - I used my Mariner for boating in saltwater. The Marine Points of Interest were very accurate. The Marine POI also has Tide Stations that can be used by your GPS 72. The thing that really impress me was the Businesses POI. I can find any kind of restaurant, get the phone number and point right to it. At the time, I really thought that was cool. The City POI map segments are very big and, in many cases, take up too much of the 1MB of memory so I seldom loaded any Cities. The Landmarks POI are fairly efficient and somewhat useful when geocaching, but they only provide limited find features.

If I were the software developer, I would have called it the "Desired Soft Landing Point".

So does this mean if I load 60CS firmware into my 60C it could unlock the sensors. I can't imagine Garmin having to production line to make GPSr's that are only slightly different. So this would indicate to me that the 60C firmware "locks" the sensors? Any input appreciated I imagine that the PC boards are identical and that the boards for the C have places for the compass and barometric pressure sensors but that the sensors are not physically there. The software is smart enough to either detect the sensors or to detect some model number information burned into ROM. I tried to turn a Venture into a 1 MB Legend but the download program won't let me. I'm too scared to try anything more intrusive.

You can with Garmin but I don't know about the others. If you get City Select (or City Navigator) from Garmin you can download n-Route for free. You can then hook your GPS to the serial port on the laptop and use n-Route to display you positions on the full-sized laptop screen. You can also autoroute with this set-up.

I purchased a copy of Metroguide 4.0x from ebay.com for use with my 60CS. I paid less that $50 including shipping. It is, of course, older than the new releases of City Select or Metroguide for that matter, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the accruacy. The thing about Metroguide 4.0x is that it does autoroute on the PC and the GPRs. In addition, since it doesn't require an unlock code, you can load it on to more than one GPSr if you have a backup or if you better-half decides to get one. In addition, if you decide later that you want to upgrade to City Select, you can uninstall Metroguide and sell it an ebay for about what you paid for it. (you might even make a little money). I went with Metroguide because I'm always selling, buying and upgrading GPS units and City Select will only allow you to unlock two GPS units. If you sell one or both you've got to buy a new unlock code for around $75.