quintios

My apologies for the necro-bump, but my usb port broke two weeks ago and I depend on this unit greatly for my work. It has an intermittent connection that makes it difficult to use during driving and for downloading tracks and waypoints to my computer. I did find this on eBay but I do not know if the female USB connector will fit a Colorado: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-2x-mini-USB-connector-GARMIN-Oregon-200-300-400-440i-400t-450-450t-550-550t-/261333963555?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd8b7d323 I haven't yet opened my unit so I don't know if repair is still a possiblity. The center plastic little part in my unit moves now, sort of like a loose tooth; I don't know what that means. Questions: Have any of you successfully re-soldered your usb port, or replaced it? Would the above linked part work? If you ordered the usb connector from another source, would you link me to that source, please? And finally, does anyone know of a repair shop that can fix these things. I called Car Toys but they don't do that sort of work, so I'm at a loss as to who else might be able to accomplish this. Thank you for the help! If I should start a new thread please let me know.

Man, I was worried about a flamefest. Glad I'm not too off base, but sad that apparently I'm right. It would be nice if the features of both could be integrated into one. Couldn't agree more about the quoted statement above. I love messing with the data after at trip. Kinda fun for a geek like me.

I got a forum error when I tried to post and it went down for maintenance or something. I couldn't bring up the previous post, so here's what I put togther previously: I'm posting this in the hopes that somehow I'm mistaken and the observations I've made are wrong. I'm not trying to start an argument or flame war. I'm hoping that someone can point out to me certain functionality in Mapsource that I don't believe is there. I've had my Colorado for about 9 months now and was an avid S&T user before then. I had a few gripes with S&T, mostly due to the fact that it didn't give you nifty data about the trip, like average speeds, top speeds, stopped time, and so forth. After having used Mapsource & the Colorado for the past 9 months I believe I understand the main difference, in my opinion, between the two products. Truly, Streets & Trips is a much more comprehensive trip planning software. There are ETAs, road speed adjustments, and begin/end/stop time settings for visiting points of interest. Mapsource, on the other hand, is a "Point A to Point B" type of application and really not much more, in my opinion. For example, I'm planning a road trip from Oregon to Colorado. I am trying to find things to do and see along the way. In Streets & Trips, I can find all points of interest within XX miles of the entire route. Mapsource, on the other hand, will only allow you to find points of interest near a point, so searching for, say, landmarks or museums along the route is impossible, so it seems. It seems that a combination of these two products is best for me. Use Streets & Trips to figure out the route (although the overall route is easily calculated by either product) and any stops between the beginning and the end. After that, enter the stops as Waypoints in Mapsource and download them to the Colorado. Using a handheld GPS in a car is a lot easier than using a laptop! I wish the trip planning functionality were better in Mapsource, but it truly is nonexistent. There's nothing there to plan a trip; it seems to be just for calculating a route between point A and B.

I see. That's one of the main reasons I got the GPS is so I could go off trail and find my way back. Although a friend accuses me (correctly) of being a Boy Scout, and somehow that means I have an innate ability to find my way back (incorrect). Thx for the feedback. I think I'll hold off on this product for now.

Has anyone purchased this (or the East or any other region)? Are you happy with it? Is it worth it? How accurate have you found the maps to be thus far? Reason I ask is because when I was up in the Rocky Mountain National Park is seems that the trails were fairly well marked. Is this not always the case?

Now that I've discovered spanner mode, makes me think that I could simply use my iPod car power adapter (it has a usb input at the end of the cigarette lighter adapter) to power the GPS and have the brighter screen. Anyone try this?

I'm a newbie myself, but I think getting City Navigator on an SD card is a bad idea. You can't upgrade it so you have to purchase the whole thing over again if you want to update. At least updates are cheap. I would opine that getting the SD cards is only needed if you travel to a lot of different countries and need those maps without having to swap out via a laptop. It would be easy to swap out SD cards. I have the same setup. I bought City Navigator off of Amazon, registered it, and got the 2009 update via download for free (it'll show up as a link in myGarmin). edit: Spanner mode, I think that's what was screwing up my installation. The drivers never loaded because I was in Serial mode, not spanner. Go figure. I wish the included documentation with the Colorado wasn't so incredibly lacking...

Update: Had to call Garmin to get City Navigator to show up in my account. Spoke with "Matt". Helpful guy. He fixed up my account, and within minutes City Navigator showed up as well as a link to the free update to 2009, which I downloaded cause I'm like, really really cheap. He didn't ask where I got the software or anything like that, so apparently it doesn't matter where you bought it, you should get an upgrade for free. I'm pleased.

Well, I used Mapsource to unlock the maps; just followed the prompts. I went to myGarmin and the maps didn't show up as a registered product so I registered it. I went back to Mapsource and tried to transfer the maps to my GPS but I can't. The option is greyed out. I'll read through the help files to see what I'm missing. edit: Ahh, I see what I'm not doing. Have to select the Map Tool and start clicking around on the map to get it into the Map list and *then* transfer it. What a pain. For some reason the maps aren't showing up in my account. I can keep registering the unlock code but under myGarmin there are no maps installed with my device. I guess I have to call Garmin tomorrow. What a pain.

Well, I bought City Navigator NT North America from Amazon and I'm installing it now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll report back and let you all know whether or not I get an update to 2009.

If I get the City maps to add to Mapsource and my GPS (Colorado), do I need to install nRoute?

So is the same thing going to happen when I get the City Navigator maps? Won't I be able to see the detail in Mapsource?

It shows when I click the "Product Details" link for the Colorado. As an aside, there's a link to "MotionBased" on the Details page as well. I thought that the Colorado and Motionbased weren't compatible?

newbie/ How do I check the logfile? /newbie

Dang you are helpful! I would have thought that Mapsource would do this all on its own. I guess not? I would have been quite upset if, after getting the City maps, it did not auto-route for me.

I just purchased a Colorado 400t with no additional maps other than what was included. Is there a way to see the elevation information in Mapsource?

No no, what I meant was, essentially, can I use Mapsource with the Colorado to show me where I am on the map in Mapsource? The purpose would be that I now have a large laptop screen to look at where I am, versus the small screen on the Colorado. Will Mapsource+Colorado function like S&T+Included-GPSr?

I found this thread looking for information as to whether or not putting a GPS on a mountain bike would damage a GPS. I recently purchased a Colorado and the recommended bike mount. I attached the mount this morning and went on a quickie road ride to see if I could "feel" how much vibrations could get to the unit. At least on the road, it seems very little. Review The bike mount can be mounted both in the X and Y direction (straight up and down, or side-to-side, if you will) but cannot be swiveled once attached. You could always cut off the zip-ties which hold it to your handelbars, but only 4 are included; you use two to attach the mount to your handlebars. The grooved protrusion on the backside has a rubber covering to eliminate the mount from moving simply from vibrations, but giving it a firm tug will allow you to adjust its position. I haven't done any rough riding to see if it would cause the mount (with GPSr) to jump, but I can imagine that it would given enough force from an impact. Installation is as easy as they come. The included zip ties are quite stout and once I have determined the favored mount position I'm going to take some needle nose pliers and tighten it up as much as possible. Lowes sells zip ties of varying thickness and width, so if I ever run out I know replacements can be had, although you might not be able to find black ones. (The ones I've seen at Lowes are white.) The mount itself is of the same design as the included carabiner attachment, and attaching and removing the unit couldn't be easier. I'd say it's worth $10. end Next time I go mountain biking I'm going to put the Colorado in my backpack. There's no reason why I would need to look at the GPS while I'm riding. Plus, the screen brightness is so poor that I would have to really focus on the screen to determine anything *important* (and by important I mean the map), and thus I would not be concentrating on the tree I'm about to smash into. However, I am not experienced with mountain biking nor GPSr, so I'd be interested as to what sorts of things you guys actively monitor while you're riding. If the screen brightness wasn't an issue then I could see having some nifty data on the screen, but since it is not I'm not really aware of what I would absolutely need to see.

Ooo, awesome explanation. Thanks! Can Mapsource be used as tracking software? I've gotten somewhat spoiled by the large screen from Streets & Trips & the USB GPS gadget that came with it. It would be great if I could use Mapsource with the Colorado and the City Navigator in the same way.

That wiki is near useless for a newbie like me. All these acronymns they toss around need to be linked to their definitions. It's extremely confusing. I need more basic instruction. I think if I keep reading it over and over and over again I might learn something, but reading the help file from Mapsource has been more helpful, it seems. I hope that doesn't come across as harsh. I signed up so I can, hopefully, provide more of a "HEY I'M A BIG NEWBIE AND THIS IS WHAT I NEED" type of perspective.

Thanks guys. It's working well as far as I can tell so I guess there's no worries!

I registered my unit a couple days ago and on myGarmin it tells me the first satellite acquired was back in April. Is this a refurbished unit?

This might not be the appropriate place to ask this, but what exactly is Spanner mode? I've seen it but not seen any documentation on it.

I wish that were true. But, because I'm a bit afraid of trying to use the unit without the proper driver I've already installed it on all 3 XP machines. Like I mentioned, 2 of them worked, one did not. And the one that didn't would not work with nor without the driver. Anyway, looks like no one else has had this issue with the T&WP software.

When logging a find, there's a checkbox for "add waypoint to the log". What is that used for?