Woodstramp

Don't have the manual, but I looked at the 9 pin connector on the side of the laptop and I think it is a monitor output. It is right next to a HDMI output and the 9 pin port has a tiny symbol beside it. The symbol looks like a small rectangle inside another rectangle.

Eusty, To keep cost down, I was hoping to use my old homemade cable. (the Etrex I'm dealing with aint worth much.) It's actually a backup for my 60csx. Coggins, You may be right about that being a video port. I'm no computer expert. It looks exactly like the end of my Etrex cable. Both males with 9 pins. Peoria Bill, I'll investigate that thing.

I have an old Etrex that I like to load with a few maps from time to time. I used to use an old PC to do this. Originally I made a serial cord using a Pfrank connector and an old mouse cable that was connected to the old PC. Would like to use our newer laptop. Was thinking that I'd have to buy one of those USB to Serial adaptors, but I noticed the laptop has a 9 pin deal on the side. Only problem is that the serial cord I made and this port are both the same gender. Do I need a USB/serial adaptor or just a gender adaptor? I would just buy a USB adaptor, but I heard these can be a problem sometime. Thanks.

Did not know that....thanks. I'll study my daughter's 1350 some more.

Wasn't aware you could turn off text to speech. Also couldn't stand listening you my own recorded voice.....that'd be worse than the American lady voice. I reckon that my problem with the spoken street names is that even common names don't sound right. Like one local road is called "Blair". The Nuvi will say "Blah-irr". Vagabond, Thanks for that link. Will investigate.

sussamb, Like I mentioned above....I've bought a few newer Nuvis for gifts and I've also fiddled with others in stores or in friend's cars. All had text to speech and sounded "roboty" A buddy just bought a new a new Nuvi 40 and it sounds just like the 1350 I got my daughter at Chistmas.

"American Jill" is a nag. Know what you mean, Seldom. When I first got the 200 I couldn't hack the American lady's voice after the first week. Was hoping there'd be a sweet Irish lady hiding in there, but had to settle on the Brit.

I still use my first Nuvi 200. Battery only holds charge for 30 minutes, but it still works fine. (BTW, thanks Garmin, for making such a reliable piece of equipment) I'd like to upgrade to a larger Nuvi soon. Problem is that since I bought this first Nuvi 200 a few years ago, I have purchased other, newer models as gifts for folks since that original 200. All of these gifts had "text to speech" ability. The voices are robotic and very hard for me to understand at times. Guess that is why I've never upgraded. (also notice that the newer ones have jerky, hard to control screens when manually scrolling the maps.) Does Garmin make a larger screen Nuvi without the text to speech robot voices? I'd rather "hear" the British lady say "In .2 miles, turn right." than a garbled robot trying to pronounce a street name. Also, my old Nuvi's maps are fairly out of date....another reason to upgrade. Thanks.

1- Old cell phone pouch pinned on front left backpack shoulder strap. 2- I just touch Power button to intiate backlight function. Any keystroke after that. 3- Had mine exposed to rain before, but never a dunking.

I was able to load GPSfiledepot topo maps on a SD card and see them on three different Nuvis. The first was the old Nuvi 200 I still use today. All I had to do was turn off the original, stock CN in settings to see the topos. I'm sure this could also be done toggling between the CN version in internal memory and another version on the SD card.

Have you checked Garmin's published numbers? I've always found them to be quite accurate. I haven't. My Nuvi 200 (when new) only got about 2-3 hours. Published on that was 4. My 60csx (if I recall) has a published battery life of 18. It has always done better than that. One time, it got 24 hours out of regular batteries. Average has been about 20. I always have power management on default and actually use the backlight fairly bright. My old blue Legend does run about what published time listed.

Thanks...I have a Geko 101....it gets only about 8 hours per set of alkalines...was wondering how the 201 performed.

WB, The 60csx is not the latest and greatest for geocaching, it is an outstanding gps, though. I mainly love the screen, accuracy and the outstanding battery life...They will have to pry this one from my cold dead fingers. Mine is mainly used for outdoor pursuits other than geocaching, but I can cache, fish, hunt,hike and use it for autorouting on pavement. Offroad stuff is done with a card loaded with gpsfiedepot (free) topos....pavement routing with a CN card.

Can anyone tell me what the average battery life garmin 201 is? Thanks.

I have a prepaid plan from Virgin Mobile. Basic plan...$35/month for 300 talk minutes/unlimited text/unlimited data. The phone is an Optimus android. Have had zero issues with this phone. Using it with any GPS related app has been impressive. It gets a faster position fix from a cold start than any handheld GPS I own (that includes my Garmin 60csx). Not quite as accurate as the GPS after warm up, but not bad. Only used it with geocaching apps a few times, but I was impressed. Only drag is getting out of cell coverage because you loose map coverage. I've heard this can be remedied with SD card map/cache info storage, but I've not figured that out yet. BTW, was only suggesting "Androida and some apps" in the case that you already possessed a smart phone.

Android phone and a couple of apps.

If $250 is your upper budget you have some decent paperless options...one I'd suggest is the Etrex 20. If you have eyes that can handle the little screen. They sell for $180-200.

You are a new premium member. Why not aim for a newer paperless units if you can afford it? Don't know what your local CL sellers are askng for the units you mention. Personally, I wouldn't give $25 for the Explorist 200.....might go $40 on the older Meridian (only because I don't have one) and maybe $60 on the H. I think the 200 isn't even computer connectible. And the others use old serial cables. All will work, but you will love a paperless USB unit if you can spring for one.

Cowboy, A lawyer would just use the original version of "just saying...." "May I play the Devil's Advocate, here?"

Good one!

Portland, You ever think about a job in politics? Just saying....

I agree on the cable. I have a three year old PN-20. A year ago it started having problems (would not charge or communicate through the USB) I did a continuity check on the cable and that checked OK. Problem was a slight oxide build up on the metal contacts on the outside of the GPS.....I guess handling (sweat) had slightly gunked it up. Scrubbed the contacts with a clean pencil eraser. Had to do that twice this year.

You can use the european FW as an upgrade but make sure to copy your curent NA basemap and save it first. A good idea anyway with Explorists. After FW burn,you cam go in and swap basemaps. I did that a few years back to get WAAS functioning again. Search the forum archive for key words 'trainlove....WAAS...Explorist'.

The old Explorist line was basically abandoned by Magellan a long time ago. I too have Explorists and thier softwares and simply gave up trying to make them work with my Windows 7 PC. You may have some luck if you join Yahoo groups. They have an Explorist group there. Last time I checked that group it was basically all spammed up and abandoned too.

WOW! Quite a claim. Have any data or could you point to any reviews to validate your claim? I have a good many cons (sucky battery life, little screen) with the Delorme GPS units, but accuracy is not one of those cons, IMO. My old PN-20 had good accuracy, but the PN-40 I borrowed from a freind was an amazing critter. In my testing, it smokes my favorite 60csx. "Testing", meaning setting WP and then stepping off 100' and navigating back to the set point. Several times I set waypoints (didn't even average them) and the thing would say 2-8 feet when placing the GPS on the exact spot I set the WP. More often it would say 2-5 feet with a decent view of the sky. I even would take the GPS away 15' from the GZ and the unit would show distance to accordingly adjusted for the gap I'd added, +- that 2-5'. I even had a pic of that unit aquiring a heck of a lock inside our industrial plant (30' tall cinderblock walls and a fiberglass panel insulated roof.)