Hrethgir

True, you've got a god point there, but according to many who have bought and used the PN-40's, auto-routing is definately not the units strong point. I'm not buying the PN-40 for it's autorouting (who does?) Actually, part of the reason I got the PN-40 was I was hoping to use it for autorouting on my motorcycle. I don't have a mount for it yet, and the weather here is bollocks, so I haven't really tried it yet, but if it can get me from point A to point B (point A being home and point B being Las Vegas!), then I'll be happy. Still haven't decided which mount to get yet, the u-bolt one that clamps on anywhere, or the one that hooks on to the clutch or break resevoir. Also gotta see if I can add a cig lighter power outlet so it won't have to run on batteries for the high-speed burn I have planned.

I'm sure you'll love the PN-40 and all it can do. I'm ordering one myself next payday. One thing I'd like to point out and one thing the Delorme cheerleaders don't usually mention is the huge volume of free maps available for your GARMIN units. Yes, even for Canada, currently being ignored by Delorme. Free, as in no cost, no licensing, nothing to buy. Free, download them and easily load them through MapSource. Check out FREE GARMIN MAPS And yes, aerial imagery on your Garmin is possible through third party software. BUT... You're decision is made and it was a good one! Enjoy! The problem with those free maps you can get for the Garmins is that they aren't routable on the unit or in MapSource. I have the Ibycus maps on my Legend HCx, and I like them because it gives me a better idea of what street are around me and stuff like that, but if I want to go to a certain place, all I can get is the straight-line direct route. The Canadian maps are nice for our Neighborinos to the North, better than anything you can get for the DeLormes, but still not routable.

A fried of mine has a set up that uses a Garmin handheld with NMEA output that is connected to a Ham radio transmitter, and he uses it on weatherballoons for real-time tracking of them, which makes recovery much easier. Last time he had a launch, he sent me the tracking link, and I was able to see exactly where the balloon was going in real-time from my sofa. It hit around 110,000 foot altitude, by the way!

I've never seen a WAAS lock on my PN-40, either, but it seems to have great accuracy regardless, it's always showing me on the aerial imagery exactly where I am. I almost wonder if the issue isn't so much that it isn't getting WAAS lock, bu that it is getting the lock, just no showing that it has the lock. Either way, I'm not going to sweat it, DeLorme has always been good about dealing with little issues, and it seems to have greaqt accuracy regardless, although I haven't gone looking for any benchmarks yet, I'll have to do that.

Garmin Streetpilot c510 for navigating in the car. Garmin eTrex Legend HCx that used to be my main geocaching unit, and will be my backup unit. DeLorme Earthmate PN-40 that is my new cache machine, and will also try to use it for navigation on my motorcycle.

eTrex H: Track log: 10,000 points, 10 saved tracks venture HC: Track log: 10,000 points, 10 saved tracks I beleive all the current Garmin handhelds record tracks that you can upload to the computer, and even view on Google Earth from MapSource (the Garmin software). All you need to do is turn on the automatic track recording, tell it how often to save a point (certain distance, certain time intervals, or automatically), and you're good to go. I brought my Garmin Legend HCx to Disneyland this past summer and just walked around with it in my hip pack, and I have tracks going all over the place! I use the "automatic" setting with "more often" for the frequency, seems to make a pretty nice track.

When he says "topo doesn't have it", he's talking about the base Topo USA 7.0 maps and software that come with the unit. As for what the 1:24k USGS Quads you can download have on them, I'm really not sure, I've only downloaded one little section of it so far, and I don't even really know how to read it. Here's a screenshot of what little bit I did download, though, maybe see if what you want is there. I'm guessing it is, since these are scanned maps, should be the same.

Just did my part. And since it's after midnight and officially December 30th, I'm now 35 years old, hooray me!

Being able to use the DVD on the computer means you can make routes and other things on your computer then upload them to the GPSr, where with the SD card, you can only make a route on the GPSr itself.

I have a Garmin Legend HCx, and when I first heard about the Oregon, I was thinking about getting one, but then I heard about the PN-40, too, and that sounded cool, too. So I bought a refurbed PN-20 to give DeLorme a test drive, and I sold it about a month later so I could upgrade to a PN-40. After reading about the problems people were having with the Oregon, I was glad too, especially since it seemed like a lot of the problems were carry-over issues from the Colorado, and that didn't seem right. And while Topo 7.0 was a bit harder to learn than Mapsource, it's fine once you learn it, which didn't really take that long. It's also MUCH more powerful in terms of what it can do, and not having to spend more money on street-level maps for auto-routing is an added bonus. And if you have a problem, search or ask over on forum.delorme.com , and you'll find an answer. Try that on Garmins forums. It's not that I have anything against Garmin, I still like and plan on keeping my Legend HCx, but I prefer the control layout, functionality, and customer care of DeLorme better than Garmin. I've never actually used a CO or OR, though, so I can't speak directly about them, just the general state of complacency that I seem to be seeing from Garmin because they have such a large market share... for now. There are a lot of people going from Garmin to the PN-40, and I think Garmin is going to start feeling that pretty soon. Hey, Totem, pass the Kool-Aid!

Also, make sure you have WAAS turned on, that could help. And also remember that the cache coordinates are only as good as the hiders GPSr. If the hider had an older unit that wasn't as accurate, say +/-30ft, and your accuracy is at +/-15ft, that means you could be up to 45 feet away even though you are showing as right on it. But don't put too much stock in your pointer on the map versus where you actually are, the map could just be a little off.

I had a DeLorme PN-20 that I like, but I sold it so I could get a PN-40, I really like the DeLorme products. The aerial imagery is sweet, it comes with street-level detail that can autoroute in the box, and it can also do paperless caching, which was what I missed the most after I sold my PN-20 and "had" to use my Garmin eTrex Legend HCx again. Both the -20 and -40 can do all the above stuff, but the -20 is a little slow with screen redraws, which was addressed with the -40 with a double CPU for extra speed, plus it adds an electronic compass and barometric altimeter, neither of which the -20 has. Don't get me wrong, the -20 is nice, and a little bit cheaper, but the -40 is pretty sweet, I'm loving mine. Also, don't read into my post that the eTrex Legend HCx sucks, it's a really nice unit, too (about the same as the PN-20 minus the imagery and paperless capability), and then there is also the eTrex Vista HCx, which has most of the same things as the PN-40, minus the imagery and paperless capability. Really, can't go wrong with any of those. Oh, and the Garmin 60CSx seems to be the workhorse or geocaching, although I'm not a fan of the form-factor of it, not as compact as I'd like with that antenna sticking up from it, although I've also never owned or used one, either. DeLorme Earthmate PN-20 and PN-40 Garmin eTrex Legend and Vista HCx Garmin GPSMap 60CSx

I got myself a DeLorme PN-40, but I'm hoping to get a little subsidization help from the rest of the family! We're doing our family Christmas Saturday, so I'll find out then. Don't worry, though, I already opened the PN-40 (the wife said it was OK!).

That and Garmin has something about it on their website http://www8.garmin.com/nuvifone/ I've never actually heard of that, and I am about due for a new phone.... Nah, I just bought a PN-40, I don't think I could justify that to the wife!

I don't see the "funny" in that for anyone but you, don't do it. And why did you give example cache links to two caches that are unpublished?

But considering that Garmin charges for street-level map details, how much do you think they would charge for aerial and satellite imagery? And how many models would even be able to support it? I'm sure most screens could display the imagery, but what about the processing power to process and display it? I'm thinking that the Oregons and Colorados might be the only models that could show imagery, and I really doubt Garmin is going to do it affordably even if they can do it. Sure, DeLorme isn't giving it away either, but almost, as you can download a LOT of imagery over the course of a year for just $30; I've downloaded 16GB worth so far, and I'm not done yet! Not that I would mind being able to have imagery on my Legend HCx, too, but I don't see it happening. And even if it does, I don't want to buy a huge MicroSD card (16GB is about $57 on Amazon) to hold it anyways. Not hugely more than a similarly sized SDHC card (~$40), but it would be needed.

Take it back and get a garmin. I don't think they even have turn by turn street maps for the tritons yet. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that. I don't know about the Tritons, but even for the Garmins, to get turn-by-turn directions and street-level map detail, you have to buy City Navigator software for around $100 on top of the price of the unit. Have you looked into the Delorme handhelds? The PN-20 (about $180 online) and PN-40 (about $300 online) are nice units, cost about the same as the similar Garmins, and come with street-level map details and turn-by-turn ability out of the box, plus they can show aerial imagery on the screen, which is just sweet! Should come in very handy for caching, too, since you'll be able to see which tree or building the cache is near, and not just follow an arrow around, not to mention any paths you might not be able to see from where you are, but could make it much easier to get to the cache.

We're having one of those once-in-a-decade storms here in Oregon, it's 30 degrees outside where I am, with several inches of snow topped with about a quarter inch of ice on top of it, it's crazy. I'm not going out caching, but this is giving me time to play with my brand-new DeLorme PN-40 and get maps and imagery loaded up in it!

Vinyl wrap is a good idea, but also look into powder coating, they can do metallic colors (I've see chrome-looking powder coating), and powder coating is very tough and will hold up to a lot. Not sure how much it would cost, but if you want durable, you're going to be paying one way or another.

My 3 cats have never bothered my Garmin GPSr, but it's a Legend, so it doesn't have that goofy antenna sticking up off of it; maybe that thing offends cats somehow, and your cat is just trying to remove it for you.

DeLorme PN-40 (~$320) DeLorme PN-20 (~$180) Garmin Legend (~$180) or Vista (~$220) HCx Garmin Map60CSx ($330) Garmin Oregon (~$400-500)

Actually, the DeLorme Topo software exchange dialogue allows for connection and exchange with other GPS brands (Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance/Eagle, and Brunton). I haven't tried it with my Garmin Legend HCx, so I don't know how well it works or what you can even transfer, but the ability is built into the DeLorme Topo USA 7.0 software.

Excellent, good to see I was wrong. I just went to Garmins website for info, and none of the screenshots really had anything like a navigation-looking display, and didn't see anything in the description about that either, but hearing from people who have them means a lot more.

Yep, that will probably be the ultimate to get me to sign up for the map downloads. Oh, you'll sign up for the subscription, trust me! It's an awesome deal, too. I bought color aerial imagery of Disneyland last summer before making a trip there with my PN-20, and just covering Disneyland cost me $6. Now, for $30, I have so far downloaded almost 13GB of imagery, which covers all of the Salem/Keizer area where I live (color aerial), the Beaverton/Hillsboro area where I work and my parents live (hi-res color aerial), the majority of Portland (hi-res), down the Columbia gorge out towards my grandparents (color aerial), and the entire Oregon coast and Mt Hood (color aerial). Oh, and Detroit Lake, Bend, and Sun River (color aerial), and I'm pretty sure I'll keep downoading more and more because, well, I can! Might have to start looking at getting a 32GB SD card, though, I'm going to pass up the capacity of a 16GB pretty soon!

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=270# I really don't think it has any kind of navigation use at all. It uses the GPS signal to keep track of speed and distance covered, and it saves a track you can download and put on a map, but I don't think it has anything like a map display or even coordinates even, don't think it would work at all for what you want.