FulThrotl

i believe it works with the 60cxx series as well... it'll work with anything that uses a microSD size chip. the size of that one is about 3/8" x 1/2" randy

on 2 GB micro sd card, fits Oregon. $100 + tax new, 2 months old. $60 takes it, shipping included. paypal only please. private message if interested. randy

I just installed the NA maps last night, yes it's true, the topo maps will show you 'near' your house, add in the NA maps and upload your state to your device and it will place you spot on. plus some new nifty features are added specifically for navigation in a car. Not too shabby. but it should come preloaded for 600.00 device. or just preload and make it a 700.00 device. well, it isn't a $600 unit, it's a $700 unit by the time you get it to work. garmin could incorporate the accurate maps, but this way, you get to purchase it for $600, so you don't feel so bad. it's just part of the "new merchandising". if cars were sold this way, they would cost $1,187.00, but wouldn't have steering wheel or tires. be greatful you aren't buying festool woodworking stuff. EVERYTHING is ala carte, and it's breathtakingly expensive. unfortunately, the stuff works better than anything else on the market, and once you've used it, it's worse than drug addiction. if garmin stuff worked as well as my festool stuff, i could use my oregon as a total station in survey work. and if garmin stuff was priced like festool stuff, the oregon would be $5,875.00 FulThrotl

i had posted this elsewhere in the forums, but it seems appropriate here: something related to consumer electronics purchased on the web, is the proliferation of "brooklyn camera scams" in the discount camera category, and many of these stores sell all manner of electronics. for an eyeful, google "brooklyn camera scams" or "brooklyn camera scam photos" and see what's on the other end of some of those web sites.... especially memorable is http://donwiss.com/pictures/brooklynstores/ none of the gps vendors whose names i've seen here fall in this category, but most of these "brooklyn scams" can be found on the comparison shopping web sites.... as the saying goes, let the buyer beware..... FulThrotl

when i bought the colorado a couple months ago, after reading on here the fits and starts people were having with them, and the spotty quality, i bought from REI after assurances that if i didn't like it, i could return it, no questions asked, no time limit, within reason, whatever that means. 6 weeks later, the oregon is released. hmm. well, they did say.... back in the box it went, back i went, and REI didn't blink an eye, it took 2 days for the refund to be credited to my account. the oregon seems to work pretty well in it's place. something unrelated to the Oregon, but related to consumer electronics purchased on the web, is the proliferation of "brooklyn camera scams" in the discount camera category, and many of these stores sell all manner of electronics. for an eyeful, google "brooklyn camera scams" or "brooklyn camera scam photos" and see what's on the other end of some of those web sites.... none of the gps vendors whose names i've seen here fall in this category, but most of these "brooklyn scams" can be found on the comparison shopping web sites.... as the saying goes, let the buyer beware..... FulThrotl

well... now the garmin oregon is out, wait a couple weeks, and buy a used colorado from someone who's just moved closer to the bleeding edge of technology.... fulthrotl

Do you have it in automotive mode (i.e city nav maps selected and routing set to On Road). It works on mine. And the nice thing about the Oregon is when you arrive at parking you can hit WhereTo->Recalculate off road and you'll get the straight line to the cache. i played with it, and found you can toggle between on road navigation and off road navigation once you've selected the destination.. thanks for the help.

On the Colorado there is a 2000 cache and 200 gpx file limit. The new 2.6 Colorado software is supposed to warn you if you exceed either of these parameters. Not sure if the Oregon has this feature or not. GO$Rs for what it's worth, if you plug the oregon into GSAK, and run the colorado macro, it comes up as an oregon, and dumps the nearest 2000 caches to it, just like the colorado. i do have a question, however.... in the colorado, when you are selecting a cache, and you select "go to cache", and you are using CN 2008 NT, you get turn by turn directions to the cache. do the same thing on the oregon, and you just get a line of sight line going to the cache... how can you get the oregon to give turn by turn directions like the colorado does? FulThrotl

i have a dumb question about the oregon.... i have City Navigator NA NT 2008 on a sd card, (had to buy it that way as was unable to locate a copy for the PC anywhere) it works fine in the colorado, but alas, the card will not fit into the oregon, so i copied all the data to a micro card, installed it, and VOILA!!! nothing. i get an error message that says cannot initialize map. everything else works fine, but when i go to map setup and try to get oregon to see the map on the sd card, nothing is there.... any suggestions, anyone? FulThrotl

a small thought, but before y'all run off and play with your new toy, it might be a good idea to back up the coloregon, or oregado, in the odd chance that you manage to kill the database on it... when i'm done with that, and installing CN to the littlest 2 gig card i've ever seen, then we'll see how it navigates, infuriates, obtusificates, and perplexes. yeah, i went and bought one.... strike that... REI graciously lent me one to see if i like it, and just required a CC number as a security deposit.... first impressions? well, the purchase felt just like it did when i bought the same album on a CD that i had on tape....... fulthrotl

first off, this isn't a *specific* hardware issue, and the reason i am posting it here instead of the general off topic area is that people looking here are often looking for information regarding what to buy, where to buy, etc. if you google the phrase "brooklyn camera scam" you will get a wealth of information about scam artists selling cameras principally, and electronics in general from new york, specifically brooklyn and surrounding areas... bait & switch, CC fraud, the whole thing... used stuff, broken stuff, empty boxes shipped, etc. there is even a guy who has bicycled around and snapped photos of these places, most of which look a bit worse than your average crack house. sort of like geocaching, but looking for disreputable internet companies instead of tupperware yeah, everyone needs a hobby.... here is a link to his stuff... take a peek and you'll see what i mean... http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/ anyway, before buying online, be very cautious with your credit card information... paypal offers a one time CC number that is linked to your paypal account, and it is only good for the day it is issued for one purchase only... it's not a bad idea to consider using something like this.. it's inconvenient, but then so is CC fraud on your account... :-( anyway, hope this saves someone some grief in their online selection process.... FulThrotl

ok... i've been using the colorado for a little while now.... read all the stuff on here before i bought one, and bought it anyway. paid a bit more at REI than i'd of paid buying it online, but if i have a problem with it, REI is a mile away, and they'll exchange it, so that was worth the additional cost to me. i *would not* buy one online. some people have had to go thru 3 or 4 of the suckers to get a good one. how much frustration is $40 bucks saved worth? my initial thought on battery life have met the test of time, and while it seemed to be ok on battery life, upon reflection, the alkiline battery life sucks. it'll burn out in 4 hours or so. maybe lithium cells would be better, but i've just come to the conclusion that i need to put fresh batteries in before i go play with it, or bring a change of batteries with me. or both. truth be told, i am not thrifty on my backlight settings. that's my part in it, i accept it's a good size screen, and backlight is gonna do the electron suck. costco sells batteries cheaply. putting it in perspective, compared to the cost of fuel driving around geocaching, it's a bargain. :-( if i'm having a cow over 39 cents worth of battery loss, i obviously haven't filled my gas tank lately. it's a good day when you can find diesel fuel for the work truck around here for under $5.00 a gallon. as for the accuracy, it varies, but some of that is trees and whatnot. it'll jump from saying one distance to saying another, and hunt around. it's usually pretty good, however. as i am new to this hobby, i have no experience to compare it to. it's a hand held device, that has commercial constraints. if we look at a lietz total station, used in survey work, they will resolve to a quarter of an inch or so..... it's amazing. it's also 30 pounds, and takes 5-10 minutes to resolve that closely.... it also is $35,000 US. how accurate can you afford to be? i'd say buy one, from someplace like REI, and use it for a blit, and if you don't like it, bring it back for your refund. quality control on them seems a bit spotty, based on what i've read, but i'd say if you get a good one, you'll be happy... just my opinion. FulThrotl

yup... that's the one i was looking for.... tnx.... FulThrotl

i had seen some references made in one of the forums to a good mount for a colorado.... but i cannot find them now.. :-( i don't have a problem with modifying a dash mount, but i'd like the holder to be secure and easily removable.... well, duh, yeah... the "bicycle mount" from garmin looks pretty cheesy.... anybody using anything better? it's gonna go on my motorcycle.... thanks for the help... FulThrotl

i'm assuming you want to go caching as well... it's pricy, but the garmin colorado with the NT mapset loaded additionally works pretty well... it doesn't have voice output, but it's pretty good all around... it'll do turn by turn's excellently, and if you are caching, it'll give you turn by turns to the cache, at least until you run out of roads..... the US mapset is excellent for POI's. garmin makes some higher end units specifically for motorcycling, but they get a bit pricy.... the gps accessory that i'm having trouble justifiying is a 1 liter KTM gps mobility device :-)....... FulThrotl

took me about a minute and a half, after i pushed the "Pay" button.....

OK, I may be blind. Where is it? (What is it near?) I just can't find it. try looking here: N 33° 43.350 W 118° 00.104

i could be mistaken..... but i believe this is a game, and it's sorta like cheating at solitaire..... also, in a good hour, i can find more caches than i can create, hide, record, etc. in an hour. if someone wants to claim caches that they placed as "found", it just means i can have more caches to look for..... it's not like it gives them the privelege of riding by themselves in the carpool lane, or going backstage at the rolling stones concert, etc. it's sorta like the guy at an AA meeting talking about being two years sober, and you can smell beer on his breath..... strictly speaking, it's none of my buisness what he does, and "to thine own self be true" is the operative thought here..... FulThrotl

if you buy the 400t, you really don't need any additional maps.... if you wish to have VERY accurate street maps, and poi's, you can add the streets NT maps, and the database of roads and poi's is better than on my indash gps in my car. pulling into san jose airport, my indash unit had SJ airport, and my handheld had all the separate terminals...... you can add higher resolution topo maps, but i cannot imagine why you'd need them for geocaching.... FulThrotl

take a peek at the sten headlamp. http://www.pbase.com/darklightimagery/image/50871932 it's made for spelunking or caving.... here's a link to it, and every other headlamp made. it honestly doesn't get a whole lot better than this. it's not cheap, either.... but it'll run for 8 hours on high, and 4 days on low... it kicks the energizer bunny's butt.... 4 brightness levels, etc... it's made for a hardhat mounting, but they have a headstrap available as well as a 9 volt adaptor instead of the Li/Ion rechargable.... can mount it on the mountain bike as well....... FulThrotl http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/stenlight_s7.htm flashlightreviews.com is a pretty comprehensive site for flashlights and headlights.

well, for what it's worth, i bought the spot, as it makes for an easy way for people to track you. you can set up a link to a web page, and anyone you give the link to can view where you are at. you can set it to track your progress, as well as call for non emergency assistance, and the 911 disaster button is always there... it's brightly colored, and i went to home depot and got a klein large cellphone holster which holds the unit nicely, and is nondescript. so someone always knows where i'm at, and if i don't show up, they know were to look.... if there are a string of way points on a map... well, let's start looking near the last one, vern... leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, and all... sensitivity could be better. the unit sends three pulses for each geo position fix, so one of them is likely to get thru. turn the puppy on in tracking mode when you leave for the day, and leave it run. a regular beacon is an all or nothing proposition. cause pushing the big red button out in the middle of nowhere can lead to a big recovery bill when the helecopter shows up, when all that happened is a u joint broke on the 4 wheel drive. i'd say it's a good solution, but if i was going to deepest BFE, especially outside the US, i'd buy the big cahuna, as a 406 beacon will work everywhere. not so with the spot. however, most of the 406 beacons have to deploy an antenna, and need a clear view of the sky to work, so you are gonna have to crawl out from under that tree with a broken hip either way.... the difference is that i can leave a trail of waypoints every 10 minutes all day long before i break down.... and if i'm really hurt and can't deploy the thing, those breadcrumbs may prove important to me.... FulThrotl

I don't need bells everything should be able to hear me wheezing and coughing along the trail (especially uphill). I heard that with a cougar you can try to make yourself look bigger by grabbing the hem of your (open) shirt or jacket and holding it up in the air over your head (not covering your head) with your arms out (making like a sail). Makes you look bigger. One of the local sports/hunter writers said that Kodiak bears have come to associate a gun with food. When they hear a gun go off it's just like a dinner bell. They know a hunter has made a kill and they come running to see what's for dinner. another strong reason for silencers... also, you don't annoy the neighbors that way.... :-) however, i've spent a good deal of time in the woods, lot's of it on the kern plateau, and have never crossed paths with a bear when i was on my dirtbike.... they hate the things, along with many hikers, come to think of it... the closest i've ever been to a wild bear was about 12 feet, and that was my fault, not the bear's... i was walking along like a total dipsnit, not paying any attention whatsoever, and when i looked up, there he was, watching me... i made an immediate left turn off the trail, climbed over a fallen tree, and headed back the way i'd came... the critter was quite happy to let me go. so, based on my experience, the safest way to navigate in the woods is on a loud, noisy dirt bike... until the hunter you've pissed off shoots you off of it, anyway... one early morning, while sleeping, offroading on big bear mountain, i had two 30 cal. holes put thru the side of my van, about 2 feet above me. seems that there were 3 fellows communing with nature a couple hundred yards away, and were shooting into a rock wash. i don't know if it was a richochet, or not, as they were yahooing and having a grand old time, but *two* richochets hitting the same target one right after the other seems like long odds to me. about 10 years ago, i spent 6 weeks in louisiana, in a cabin in the bayous, with a 10' boat with an outboard for the communte to the real world. the cabin owner made sure that i was properly armed, for two reasons, the lesser of which was alligators. it was explained to me that if one headed towards the boat, to shoot it, as a large gator can easily turn over a 10' aluminum fishing boat, and you then become lunch. don't know if that's true or not, and only saw 3 gators in 6 weeks when i was in the boat, as they don't like the outboard motor very much, and stay out of your way. but the main reason was self protection from other people. "people disappear out there, make sure you're not one of them" i was told. the other time i was told to leave the canoli, take the gun, was canoing down the boca chitta river in missisippi. the reason given was: "boy, this here's mississippi, not calif. everybody packs." i guess he'd never been to south central LA... anyway, paddling down the river, with hanging moss, and the guy in the front canoe playing the soundtrack from "deliverance" on his tape player, it was abundantly clear that our biggest risk came from other people with guns, and turning your canoe over in the rapids. everybody had a gun. and everybody we met was polite, 'cause everyone had a gun... it's a strange world. so, it probably sounds like i hate guns. not the case. i've been shooting since i was 7, and one of the things i really liked doing was long range accuracy shooting, with the 6mm PPC. being able to hit animal crackers at 200 meters is fun. i always liked using the elephants from the box, they were a little bigger. not many people can hit a dime two football fields away 10 times in a row without missing. i can, on a good day. so, guns are ok, i don't care much for some of the people who carry them. and someone who's afraid, and carrying a gun, is a formula for disaster. better to look at the fear, instead. my experience is that we tend to attract what we fear. that may sound like 2 scoops of new age BS, but that doesn't make it untrue. a friend of mine showed me how it works... he used to teach firewalking, and explained the principles when he taught me how to firewalk. as he put it... "it's not about firewalking. it's about learning how much fear controls your life". my experience has been that you can walk barefoot, slowly, on oak coals, for about forty feet, without feeling any heat, discomfort, or suffering any injury. the temperature of the coals was about 650 degrees. the only requirement is that you be in a mental state that is completely free from fear when you do this. however, back to the gun question.... i seldom go anywhere that i feel a gun is needed, but if i do feel it's warranted, i bring one. that hasn't been the case in a long time.... if i really need to bring a gun, it's probably either to defend myself against a frightened person with a gun, or to bag my limit in animal crackers. but i don't have much fear, either. FulThrotl

yeah, that's pretty much the conclusion i came to.... however, where i find myself on any given day with regards to work usually is within 30 miles of my house, but can range anywhere between santa barbara, and the mexican border, and up to 100 miles inland... so i wanted a large offline list that my laptop could spit out a list of the close ones to where i am at that day, as broadband access isn't always available.... i sometimes end up with dead time in the middle of my workday, and this seems like a natural for a time filler..... now, if my customers will leave me alone long enough to find some of these..... :-) FulThrotl

I hear ya. It's a mixed blessing. More caches are great, but it gets more difficult to keep track of them. We're having a similar problem planning for GW6. There are just so many caches that we debated for awhile on how to pick what ones we wanted. I go out to Southern California a few times per year. It always amazes me how many caches I have to choose from there. I've decided to stop trying to pick the ones I want to search for in advance. Sure, I still target extra special ones that are recommended to me, but mostly, I just create PQs for all of the caches that are in the area(s) that I will be visiting, less those that I know that I won't take the time to do. (For instance, I don't like to do puzzles or high terrain caches while traveling.) I dump the PQs into my laptop, which will live in the hotel, and into Plucker on my PDA. I also load all of the caches to my GPSr as POI. This allows me to have lots of options. If I find that I have a little bit of time to look for a cache, I simply fire up the GPSr and PDA to see which of the nearby ones look interesting. i've just had a reality check here, after reading numerous pleas for more pq's, pq sizes, raw data dumps from the server, ad infinitum........ my first thought upon embarking in this hobby is that *they* should allow me to download all i want, etc. just suck down everything within 500 miles, etc.... how convenient is that? i have a 30 mb net connection... as they say, hook me up, dood. *they* are doing all of us a favor in keeping us from stealing more chain than we can swim with... i did a little test, with a few PQ's, to see how much data we are dealing with.... the answer is, a whole bunch. i set ground zero as huntington beach, calif. (center of the known universe, of course) i set the PQ size at 500 (of course) i set the radius at 500 miles (a good days drive) i filtered out everything but conventional caches, and eliminated micros, just to have something big enough to put a geocoin in. that should trim the output, right? just active caches. nothing exotic or wierd.... meat and potatoes, so to speak. i started at 01/01/1998, and it took till 11/13/01 to amass 500 caches. almost 4 years. the second PQ took 7 1/2 months to fill. this month, may of 2008, a 500 hit PQ is filling up in 11 days, er, 10 days. 50 new caches per day. that means, to have an offline mirror of *most* of the caches within a days drive of my house would require i purchase an additional membership or so, every year, just to tread water. and three memberships just to get current..... as that line in the movie "blow" went..... "we need a bigger boat" the hell with it... time to quit being a database adminsitrator, and just go look under a bush for a tupperware tub. FulThrotl

Nothing to do with cache pages - my question relates to forums - the mention of Charities on Forum pages isn't allowed. Have you considered simply discussing this issue in your local, non-GC.com forums? Yes - indeed that's what we do - but it doesn't answer the question - whys it so bad that it can't be mentioned on the GC forums? many organizations have a policy of not endorsing, supporting, or having any opinion on outside issues..... there is good historical precedent for this, as some organizations have become rife with controversy to the extent that they ceased to exist.... the organizations, that is, not the controversy, which remained alive and well.... after the demise of the organization.... the short version is, "shoemaker, stick to thy last"....... FulThrotl