Texas Shadow

The City Select v6 comes with the unlock codes that can be used on up to 2 units. This applies to the software and doesn't have anything to do with which unit(s) you use it with. Hope this helps although it may not be what you wanted to hear.

I have a CF Que and it is a very good unit. The software will only run with the CF Que installed and the CF Que cannot be used with another mapping program. You might consider selling your other CF unit and buying the CF Que if you really want to have use of the Garmin software on your PPC. The autorouting is excellent with very good voice prompts and fast rerouting. The only complaint I have is that the unit does not have an external antenna connection. Actually, I have one more complaint, it will not work in my new OtterBox 1900 case. [edited to add:] Also consider that it comes with the City Select NA v6. If you already have this software with an additional unlock code, you could use the CF Que with that and have an unused, new version of the software that you could use later or possible sell to offset the cost of the new unit.

I have a CF Que, but I use a 76cs when I get out of the car and the CF Que for my backup. I have tried using the CF Que though, and you need to make sure you select off road and Pedistrian under the Route Preferences. Then you can customize the map routing screen and select the Turn Pointer as being one of the fields. This pointer will then point towards the next turn or in your case, the cache. It is not as nice as the large screen on a dedicated GPS, but should work OK. Also make sure your distance to destination is one of the fields on the routing map screen. You can also select to just have one line on the routing screen with 2 or 3 large fields. I would put the distance, the bearing to destination and pointer. That would be my preferences, but play with the customization of the screen to get the things you feel you need displayed.

I have the same antenna, actually a couple of them, and I did remove the stickers and magnets. It does not remove the center part of the sticker that has the antenna information on it. The screws are for attaching the antenna to a sheet metal base. This antenna works really well by the way.

The Garmin Quest provides voice prompts and I know there are those on these forums that use one for geocaching, but the cheapest you could find one would be about 499. It does come with the City Select software.

You can unlock up to 2 units for the City Select. So, if you only have the one unit and then upgrade, you still have the second unlock available. After 2 you can purchase additional unlock codes from Garmin, but I'm not sure of the price.

Don't feel too bad, I had a similar experience in December. I bought the same bundle that you did. I tried it out on a 200 mile trip to upstate SC. The directions were poor and it would lose it's signal at critical moments and was almost impossible to reconnect without stopping. I agree the route was hard to see and at one point I turned wrong, but thinking another road was the route I ended up taking a long detour. All the SAHH said was I was off route. I finally stopped and tried to recalculate the route, took about 45 minutes. Later I couldn't get the bluetooth to connect even with the gps sitting 6 inches from the PDA (HP 2215). I returned the entire package and bought the Garmin CF Que. A much more professional and reliable unit. The good thing I have to say is that I was actually 31 days from when I received it and Delorme gave me the RMA and didn't even ask what the problem was?

Check out The Supply Net. Thier prices are higher, but they have a good selection of high quality cables.

I'm not sure if cachmate is similar, but I use GPXSonar, and you have a selection to set the center point coordinates. The default was thousands of miles off when I first loaded it.

I don't have the Delorme Topo, but my version of Street Atlas, you can go to find, advanced and at the find tab you can select to find a lat/lon location which should take you to the place you want to go, that is if the Topo product works the same. Hope this helps. Maybe someone who has the Topo will confirm if this is correct or not.

I have purchased 2 gps units from Adventure GPS during the last couple of months and the service has been good and both items shipped the same day as I ordered them.

Keep in mind what Alan2 stated above. When you load even one map it erases all the maps you have loaded before. You have to transfer all the maps you want to load at the same time. I did this early on, kept loading maps thinking I was adding to the maps I already loaded, then I learned .

I just checked out the Haicoms at BuyGPSNow. They do have some features I wish my Garmin had, like an external antenna jack and can be used with a cable away from the unit. They look good. I'm not sure about cheaper though unless you already have mapping software for the PDA. The CFQue also has 64MB of memory which I fit my local maps into along with the base map. However, I think if I had already had the software I might have gone with one of these also.

SupplyNet is comming out with a cable for the T5 to the Delorme Earthmate USB at the end of next month. I actually had a cable like this and used the earthmate with my IPaq for a while. It worked fairly well, but then I accidently plugged the wrong power supply into the cable and fried my earthmate. It might be a solution if you don't want to change PDAs.

Sorry, I didn't mean to comment on the wrong unit. Both the places I mentioned are advertising the Map 60 also.

I have the Garmin auto mount and it has to be out of the case to fit. You might want to consider a third party mount if you don't want to remove it from the case. The Gilson case is not very hard to take on and off IMHO.

I just edited the above post to correct for mis-information due to memory lapses.

My PDA with the garmin software and the CF Que has the map page, the satellite page and the find page. The map page can have up to 3 lines of 3 fields which can be set to display almost everything you would need including GPS estimated error, heading to destination, distance to destination, compass heading, ... The route options let you set your preferences by car/motorcycle, bicycle, pedistrian and some other I can't remember right now. I think it has everything you would need because when you set it for pedistrian it points directly at the destination and doesn't follow the road, but it doesn't have a dedicated compass page like the self contained Garmin units. It is also not WAAS enabled if that is a priority for you. This is the manual on the garmin site. You might want to browse it to become more familar with the pages and functions. Hope I have answered your questions. (Edited to corrected memory lapses)

I have an IPaq 2215. Right before Christmas I bought the Garmin CFQ1620 to use for a trip from SC to Texas and back. It worked very well and I have been VERY happy with it. When I got my 76cs, I put them both on the dash and did a route to a cache. They both calculated the exact same route and the prompts were within seconds of each other for the turns. The voice prompts on the CFQ/PDA were exceptional though. It tells you not just to turn right or left, but things like stay left and bear right. The only problems I had were a couple of times I exited to a rest area or gas station and turned off the PDA while it was recalculating the route. I had to do soft resets on a couple of occasions because of that. I bought mine at GPS Adventures for about $205, but it comes with the City Select v6 that I now use with my 76cs also, which made it a good value. I also have put the entire southeast, both topo and City Select on a 1GB SD card and still have about 700 Meg left. I highly recommend this one since you have both the CF and SD slots.

I have one of the cases that Klatch mentioned above. My external antenna has the 90 degree connector, so I plug in the antenna and put the 76cs into the case. The case keeps the antenna connector snug and the cord exits out of the zipper. I just zip it up leaving just enough space for the cable to exit out the side. It seems to work well.

I just ordered This One from Campmor. It is a closeout and only has one color left, but the price was good and I can live with the color. I found it a little more at ebags.com but it had free shipping.

I noticed the GPS60 on the page for The GPS Store. I think thier price is about $159. It is probably a preorder, but it doesn't say it is. Actually, I looked again and it says they will be shipping about Jan 24th. I also found them at Adventure GPS Products.

Once the route is calculated, you can edit the route and insert a waypoint that is on the route you want to take. The GPS will then recalculate the route including that waypoint and should give you what you want. You may have to add more than one depending upon the differences between Garmins route and yours. Do not do as I did driving from Texas to South Carolina this Christmas, I inserted a city (Mobile, AL) as my waypoint and the route took me through downtown before it sent me back to the interstate. Use an intersection or other point of interest instead. At least that is how I did it.

I have always gotten cables from "thesupplynet.com". However, I saw a similar post here after I joined and some gave sources that were cheaper. I am at work so I don't have those links although I saved them on my home PC. The Supply Net has quality cables and good service. Maybe someone will give you other sources to check out. Good luck. Hope you like this caching thing as much as I do.

On my 76CS if you go to the Display Setup under System Setup, there are selections for the Daytime and Nighttime Color Schemes. You can change the screen colors there.