TheBedouin

One word.... Forerunner! I've had the Garmin 305* for around 9 months and its Ab Fab! records all my runs very accurately and with the added bonus of heart rate etc. Check it out! Bedouin * I believe that there is a new 405 model out now.

I've now got Google Earth Plus and GPS Babel in order to transfer routes that I've created in Earth to my Garmin Colorado 300 Thing is whenever I plug the Garmin into my Mac (On Tiger 10.4.11) and either use the Google Earth GPS option OR the GPS send to GPS I instantly get the error that the Garmin was device was improperly removed and that doing this may result in the loss of data etc. You normally get this error if you pull the cable out without first ejecting the device. SO, what am I doing incorrectly? OR is this normal? GPSBabel seems to carry on working but takes ages! Cheers Bedouin Right after about 10 minutes the upload to the Colorado has failed with the error.... usb_set_configuration has failed:usb_set_configuration(SetConfigaration): Device not opened for exclusive access. Anyone got any ideas?

Welcome to 'Rip off Britain' its not known as treasure island for nothing! I'm not aware of anything else... OS (Ordinance Survey) does some excellent stuff but not compatible with Garmin and besides it'd cost an arm, leg and three toes to buy!. Despite us UK tax payers being forced to pay for its creation and maintenance we still have to pay again if we want any of it Good luck in Scotland its a fantastic place Bedouin

I wish to be able to create a route/track (whats the difference?) in Google Earth (GE) and then transfer it to the Colorado. GE FAQ said I need the 'Plus' version so I upgraded. I can now see the Col 300 in GE and transfer the route/track data. What I can't seem to do is transfer the route/track data that I created in GE TO the Col 300. I've been led to believe that this is possible... any one got any tips? Cheers Bedouin

Dude, I get the same sort of accuracy Bedouin

I have had a number of Garmin GPS's in the past and they have all worked as intended straight from the box. I admit that I find the way certain things are implemented on the Col 300 strange but on the whole its pretty straight forward. Now explain to me.... I walked through Kensington Gardens in Hyde park, London then along Kensington High Street as far as the exhibition centre. Keeping a constant check the Col 300 showed I had a error circle of 10-15 feet. It was locked onto 9 sats all showing the small 'D'. I was using the 'Recreational' Profile. I exported this track into Google Earth and saw that I spent the whole walk along Kensington High Street walking through the buildings on the opposite of the road an average of 106 feet from my actual position. This isn't unusual, all of the tracks I've made have huge inaccuracies. My Garmin Forerunner 305 dosen't have this problem nor does my Garmin Vista. Go figure! Just because you have a 'good' unit it doesn't mean that others have as well. Garmin needs to sort this out. Bedouin

It feels a bit better but not much.... the accuracy is still way way off. I'm being told by the 300 12 meters yet Google maps is showing an erratic 25 to 35 meters out I'm going to give Garmin support a call in the morning to see what they've got to say for themselves Bedouin

I hear you but is it really fair to expect people who've paid top whack for a top of the range GPS to treated as guinea pigs for Garmin's RnD Dept? My Col 300 is so inaccurate I'm lost for words.... Yes I'm on the latest firmware! Bedouin

OOOOOOOh... controversial! Bedouin

I feel your pain..... welcome to the club! I've JUST updated to the 2.51 firmware hopefully this will resolve the issues Bedouin

You can buy a Garmin TOPO SD card for Scotland here in the UK... cost in GBP is around 70. Hope that helps! Bedouin

Hi, Red90... Sorry, I've been out this afternoon and its been just so frustrating! The unit is saying that its using firmware version 2.20 and the webupdater is showing that version 2.40 is ready for download. When I do this it D/L's fine but as I said fails instantly on trying to install. >You should not need to "do" anything to record tracks. It is all automatic. Thats kinda the problem I want to save a specific track i.e. my morning run route rather than a track of everywhere the Colorado has been... if that makes sense. >Do you have detailed maps in the unit? No, but thats going to be the subject of another post i.e. are they worth it as the base map is so "inaccurate" >Is "lock on road" on or off? I've seen this setting but can't seem to navigate back to it... can't find it Cheers Bedouin...

Right, I decided to upgrade my ancient Garmin Vista to a Colorado 300 for a trip to Canada. To cut a long story short it appears to me to be the most unintuitive gizmo that has ever been inflicted on the planet. I have all the recommend software but it refuses to update... it'll recognize the unit and downloads the latest firmware at which point it INSTANTLY says "failed" despite calling Garmin Support I've been unable resolve this. I'm on a Mac using 10.4.11 and Safari 3.04 and Garmin Webupdater 2.02 I've spent the last 2 odd weeks having to trial and error to see how the features work. I wanted to track my morning run so I could see it on Google Earth. Its a complete mission to do this what with having to go to multiple pages to set/save things. When it finally started I realized that I couldn't get a distance moved. I think I have to 'reset' the odometer but ???? There are a number of other features that I'm still unable to workout/use! But the thing that I find most worrying is its "inaccuracy" I crossed a road once one side to the other yet Google earth is showing I crossed it 3 times. Does the Automotive Profile make a difference? A number of other waypoints that I've taken at known points are worryingly off All in I'm pretty hacked off with the Colorado... the Vista was FAR better. Any ideas/thoughts greatly appreciated! Bedouin