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39_Steps

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Everything posted by 39_Steps

  1. Two or three years ago I ordered four(4) of the $9.99 DROK meters for USB 2.0 connectors only. Gave away two for Xmas stocking stuffers. Great little units, particularly in pairs because they were consistent enough to determine voltage drop on longer or smaller gauge cables. As mentioned above, there are many more options today, but including one of the original DROKs in a purchase can come in very handy. FWIW. The DROKs can disable two of the four USB data pins thru a separate 2 pin connector.
  2. Pre-charged Panasonic Eneloop NiMh AA cells are not necessarily fully charged, as Solar Energy may be rationed at the factory. Fully charged NiMH may have a useful range of 1.35 down to 0.9 volts, but may be limited by device hardware (and thus software) to a somewhat higher low cutoff voltage to protect the circuitry. Lithium Primary AA cells may have a useful range of 1.7v down to less than 1.4v, but go sort of wonky below 1.4v. So do not try to stretch the Lithium setting by changing to Alkaline or NiMH settings. (Unless lost in the woods after dark).
  3. When I unboxed my new Map 64s almost two years ago I made no attempt to update the firmware. Yesterday I updated the firmware to version 5.1 in spite of the above perceived issues with that version. The device has not exhibited 0,0 coordinate shift issues so far in very limited waypoint coordinate saving tests.
  4. By not switching to the Hiking activity. Switch to Direct.
  5. One of the confused here is in agreement. I did go back to edit out some previous comments and to suggest that use of DEMO MODE (GPS satellites disabled on device(s)) may enable the OP and others to move off of 0,0 coordinates on "Null Island.
  6. With my 64s, your location issues can be replicated in Demo mode. If you are not somehow stuck in Demo mode with external power always on, a major reset may be in order however. Perhaps the battery charger circuitry and switch could contribute to the Null location crash. For those unfamiliar with Demo Mode, it basically disables the use of GPS or GPS+Glonass live coordinating locating feature and turns the device into a static map. Demo Mode allows the user to easily move the focus point of the map to a different set of coordinates anywhere on the globe, even while moving. This feature may permit a user to MOVE FOCUS OFF OF NULL ISLAND if the device has no other serious firmware glitches. As to Garmin's Basecamp mapping app, if you are unfamiliar with it try to get the handheld device working properly before trying to use it. Good luck.
  7. I just happen to have a basically unused Oregon 600 with free OSM New Mexico road maps installed. With some effort (learning curve) in Demo Mode I managed to move the focus point across state lines to a street in downtown Santa Fe. From there it was possible to route to the searchable Harry's Roadhouse POI !! Direct interpolated street address number routing is not (may not be) possible with this Oregon 600 or with the Garmin 64s and OSM maps, although there may be intermediate reference street numbers available. There are several aargh moments in starting over in the same city. The newish Garmin Drive 51 or better automotive devices with full USA maps are a pleasure to use in comparison, and they are cheap and talk to you. But then I'm not much into geocaching, except for the toys.
  8. I setup the Delorme Street Atlas as well as Topo9 apps on a cheapo "RCA" 10 inch Tablet several months ago. Two issues stood out: 1) If you have to supply a USB gps data location stream, you will need to provide external or internal power to the gps device. It worked with both an internally 2xAA cell powered Delorme PN-60 and an external unpowered puck. 2) Older Windows apps tend to be designed for larger screen computers and require a hand operated mouse to achieve enough precision to properly use the app. Fat Finger Touch screen mode just doesn't work for a pro-active user. Might be OK for just watching the cache icons pop up as you drive by, but I wouldn't bother.
  9. Dear OPIE: Perhaps you should give up on amateur surveying, as your JOKBUS was spotted on the West Coast, not the East, close to our boundary line last night just before the basketball game. I would also point out that the missus just bought a new chain saw. Have a good trip home. 39_Steps
  10. Depends on whether the table location is such that it can receive a "good" gps signal. Indoors is typically less than the best for reception. Therefore the device may record a spaghetti nest of random reflected and attenuated points, and then tack on the distance between those random points. Try experimenting with your hiking starts and stops outdoors under a clear sky to see "optimum" performance for your device. A quick glance at the track screen may tell the answer, although it is possible that internal algorithm filtering may reduce the total errors in recorded distance. (I think you already stated that outdoor usage was OK).
  11. Hmm. So its better to always eat outdoors and set the gadget to not record track points unless we have moved more than 10 or 20 feet from previous point?
  12. A 10,000mAh (10Ah)@5.0v Anker external LiIon battery will run a functioning Nuvi/Drive gps for many hours inside or outside the automobile - without worrying about cigarette lighter shutdown by the ignition switch.
  13. This is not true at all. Agreed. I should not have speculated about other users' reported experiences on this and other threads. Update: I now have a new Garmin 64S, so the first time I got out to an open field with a clear sky I calibrated the magnetic compass and marked a waypoint over a stick in the ground. This 64S device repeatedly brought me back to the marked coordinates at within 5-12 feet from various angles and distances up to 250 feet for 15 minutes or so. Note that this reported test was not necessarily set to Geocache activity profile as I selected a newby setting that did not immediately terminate the search upon reaching a certain proximity to the target.
  14. Thank you for the reminder to test the recently unboxed Garmin 64S as a USB receiver for Delorme Topo mapping and road routing on a Win 10 laptop. It took a few trial clicks here and there to get it set up, but it is so comforting to see road routing on a big screen with Delorme maps. Now back to my regularly scheduled Nuvi for serious road use. As to selling a "full featured", but non road routable out of the box device, combined with InReach capabilities for novice emergency situation use in the wild, that may be a little bit of overkill. But it sure could be handy in a pinch.
  15. Point(s) taken on the nearly ten year old PN-40. FWIW though, the slug adapter for the two piece PN-PN20/40 cable was a mini, not micro, USB connector design. As to active geocaching and use of this forum, it is time for me to put something in the tip jar again, even if I only intend to use the new Garmin 64s with 250,000 zipped caches once just to see how well it works. I did notice that the G64s device may support 36 characters per field header instead of the 31 of the old Delorme devices. Cache name field length truncation of long cache names was a big issue for some long winded "Event caching" naming styles. West Virginia_yadayadayada... 'Club" comes to mind. Issue was fixed after Delorme switched firmware to manage and filter waypoints with on-device gpx file saving. Cheers.
  16. The PN-40 should not be "useless" solely because it lacks a proprietary cable, but it will require a firmware upgrade to 2.8 or 2.9 (deprecated Mac support) version by SDHC card for limited geocaching purposes. The recent 2017 Java deprecation may have further impacted option of loading caches by wire though. Be aware that adding a "gpx" folder on the SD card may permit importing both waypoints and tracks from Garmin combo files in one operation. PN-40 road/trail routes created on the computer cannot be transferred without a cable.
  17. If I knew where my wife dropped my PN-60 on the way to some mountaintop or other, I would look at it and suggest changing the viewable info fields display. We must have been in Tennessee or Colorado, or someplace like that looking for Davy Crocket's or some President's birthplace. Can't remember 'zactly.
  18. FWIW the Delorme PN-40/60 pressure gauge also had an issue of needing "just one more adjustment field" to make the user feel that he really understood the process. Drove me nuts for a while, not that I ever intended to use it or start watching TV weather reports regularly either.
  19. If you have no objections to using the Nuvi2555 Trip Planner, that is probably the most user friendly way to road route to(near) max of 29 waypoints - sequentially or randomly.
  20. It does sound like a software bug, particularly if the Garmin 300 has a "Snap-to-Route" feature. (Like the Nuvis.) I would check to see if there is a snap-to feature that can be disabled to better understand drift characteristics of the device in canyons or trees. Is it real or is it Memorex? Is it a drift or a shift?
  21. I recently bought a new bundle of Eneloop AA and AAA NiMH cells w/charger. Cells were made in Japan, and looked exactly like the Sanyo white ones of ten years ago, except with the newer Panasonic branding instead of Sanyo. I may now phase the oldest ones out of my rotation, since the new ones do seem to last longer. Manufacturing dates are stamped along the wrapper seams, just like the originals. Pre-charged seems to mean partially charged to about 70% if I remember correctly, so I would just use the normal NiMH setting if I had a Garmin 64s.
  22. Procedure for loading PQs onto an SD card folder is similar for both Delorme and Garmin devices: Download, unzip, and copy the entire file.
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