Crash & Sunshine

Found 10 with mine thus far. I don't have the issues with tree cover that are being reported. Mine even works in the house. I find that once I'm in the general area that the satellite screen works very well to get ya right to the cache. Mine will not turn off the screen completely either...I have to tap the power button and power down to the minimum 10% to help battery life. Now can anyone tell me what the increments of measurement are in the GPS coordinates? What's the footage difference in say N32 29.679 and N32 29.680? Is that one second difference? If so how far is a second? Sorry...I'm a newbie still! The last cache was exactly 1 increment off the posted coordinates....I have had them show spot on.

I read your review...nice job. I'm hoping they will fix the compass, but in the meantime...have you tried using the satellite screen to locate a cache? Press and hold the satellite strength bar and the screen will come up....compare the changing coordinates, as you move, with the posted cache coordinates to get you to the cache...works great on mine.

Noob question...are ya talking about the paper log in the cache or the one here at the website? We leave as little as possible on the paper to conserve space but do comment here...and were were taking a lot of pics but decided they gave too much away.

Get this plugin first: Garmin Communicator Browser Plugin and then when you're on a desired cache page at the main geocaching.com site, select the send to GPS or send to Garmin link. What about Pocket Query's? Go here and follow this...it worked for me. http://pilotsnipes.googlepages.com/index.html If you want the caches to show in the Geocache Icon folder on the Nuvi...here is what I do. Loading the Nuvi 1. Do pocket query @ Geocache.com 2. Go to email and drop unopened zip file onto opened GSAK program 3. Click Nuvi button in GSAK program then click start...follow through 4. Run POI program…next…next…next…etc 5. To upload to the Geocache Icon in the Nuvi…Go to Nuvi hard disc and copy the new GSAK file from the POI folder into the GPX folder in the Garmin file...your done POI files will still be there and they have everything plus all the logs with them...the Geocaches files will not have the logs....but I like having both available in my unit. You have plenty of space for them unless you loaded a butt load of pics or something in there. Now...about the Inland Lake Visions Card. It gets a thumbs up IF it has the lakes you will need it for. Even if it doesn't have those lakes on the "list" most of the lakes are still more detailed than on the preloaded topo maps. None of the 3D stuff works in my Nuvi. It does give a way points screen to some wrecks. Is it worth the $....that is up to you to decide...but the software does work on my Nuvi....and it does give detailed contour for some lakes along with the depth at the point you touch the screen on the contoured map. Its looks a little better (more detailed) than the demo for the US Inland Lakes software I looked at on line.

Wow..this thread is 4 pages back already? Am I the only lab rat with one of these in their sweaty hands? We snagged 4 caches Monday, and I tried out the satellite screen on the last one....that thing is the bomb man...put us right on the cache...I mean to the foot....I will be watching those GPS coordinates once I get close from now on....and not relying on the little feet icons any more. So far my biggest complaint is still the power button location...I keep on accidentally turning this thing off with the way I grasp it. I removed the extra memory so I can plug in the Inland Lakes Vision card...should be here tomorrow...hope it works! I will also be testing the GPS coordinate repeatability of a couple of locations soon and report back on that.

I have the Nuvi 500. I've only used it for the road and GC so far but have the Inland Lakes Vision software due in this week to try too. So far...I love it. I got spot on, to the foot, on the last cache using the satellite screen and looking at the actual coordinates....the first time I've used that feature...I will be using it a lot more now. It does cost some, but can do a lot of different things....so far pretty darn well. It's fun to drive down the road and see all the caches show up on the screen too.

Thanks everyone...being a newbie at this y'all opened my mind to other ways of looking at this hobby. I was looking at it from the perspective of using a GPS unit as "THE TOOL"...not as "A TOOL". The Google Earth Sat. photo imagery in my neck of the woods is very, very good…in fact you can zoom on individual trees in a lot of locales....gives ya a whole new perspective on the Big Bro thing.

Thanks...we love a little Led for the Head...Plant is the male version of Janis...and Page is one the top 5 best guitarists ever. We would pay a pretty penny to see them together again. Just saw Robert Plant and Allison Krauss ...that was interesting.

I'm new here and I'm sure this has been beaten to death...but I want to know what others think. I know I have the option of not using the maps...but I feel that it takes the fun out of the hobby. To be able to look at Google Earth and zoom in on a cache, right down to the exact park bench or bush it's located under just ruins the whole reason for Geo-caching. You don't even need a GPS unit! So why bother buying one to play this game? I would be fine with everything else but the magnifying glass from space is a little too much. Rant off...nomex suit on...fire away.

Hi...we are preparing to hide our first cache and have some questions about "subscriber only" caches. First...the closest one is over 28 miles from home. How rare are these? How many premium members are there in my area? Is there a way to find out? How many premium members should there be within say 25 miles to make this worth a premium member only listing? We want to put some pretty cool stuff in our cache and keep it well maintained and loaded...hence the idea about "subscriber only". What are your thoughts about this?

I will be very interested in what you think about this unit. I'm learning more about it every day. I just found out you can get the satellite positioning/strength screen by pressing and holding the signal strength bar in the upper left corner. It would be nice to know more about what I'm looking at. Is there a tutorial available somewhere about this screen and how to use it? I got a email back from Garmin this morning about the Inland Lakes software. Here is what is says: Thank you for contacting Garmin International. The inland lakes program is updated every year. The vision card is the mapping that we recommend with the Nuvi 500. You will get the spot soundings and light sectors. You will not get the other 3d features or auto guidance. With Best Regards, Jason B Product Support Specialist Marine Team Garmin International 913-397-8200 800-800-1020 913-397-8282 (fax) Att: Jason B www.garmin.com So they don't recommend the Mapsource-U.S. Inland Lakes software that is available on a DVD...only the Visions software. I don't know what a "light sector" is.

Learn something every day...I do! Thanks...I'll try that. Ok...that didn't work, but I found the procedure in the on board help tutorial. You have to be pressing the upper left corner while powering on...hold it till you get the recalibration screen...it takes 15 seconds or so for it to come on. I recalibrated twice cause the first time didn't help...it seems to be better now.

I got the the Nuvi 500 this past weekend and have problems with the lower right corner down arrow icon. With repeated pressing while scrolling through geocache files it will sometimes (about every 10th press) select the file right above the down arrow icon...instead of continuing to scroll. I also have intermittent problems entering my security code...it selects a wrong number making me reenter the 4 digit code again. I don't see any distortion on the what appears to be tight touchscreen. It's not too annoying at this point...but if it gets worse it will become very annoying. I got my unit @ GPSNOW.COM...I hope they have a good return policy? I'm going to post this information over at the Nuvi 500 thread so others can join in if they have problems too.

A couple of new items. You can get almost 50MB of additional on board space by removing the foreign language files...ie...text, voice, and help files. I moved them to my PC just in case I want to reload them later. I only kept the American English files. Here is a disturbing observation...I'm only able to get 128 caches to show in my display. I have 220 loaded on the disk...you can see them when looking in PC explorer...but only the first 128 will pop up on the Nuvi. I tried calling the missing up by GC#...no go. I moved them from internal to external drives..still no go. I'm not sure what this means...maybe this is a limitation. Maybe it will pull up out of the drive as some are deleted...I don't know. I fired off a email yesterday to Garmin asking if the Inland Lakes VISIONS and Map Source U.S. Inland Lakes software will work in this unit. Also if the 3D features will all work...and if and when these will be updated again. It looks like we all need to send in some questions and suggestions for fixes to maybe get this thing to be more to our liking. I will send another email asking about the capacity of the caching files and if the screen can be turned off rather than just turned down to save on the battery. Here's a thought...I wonder if this unit only pulls up the closest 128 cache files to where I am when I access them? Reasoning...it changes the order of files from when I'm at home and in the office. I got the the Nuvi 500 this past weekend and have problems with the lower right corner down arrow icon. With repeated pressing while scrolling through geocache files it will sometimes (about every 10th press) select the file right above the down arrow icon...instead of continuing to scroll. I also have intermittent problems entering my security code...it selects a wrong number making me reenter the 4 digit code again. I don't see any distortion on the what appears to be tight touchscreen. It's not too annoying at this point...but if it gets worse it will become very annoying. I got my unit @ GPSNOW.COM...I hope they have a good return policy? Anyone else having problems with the touchscreen? Here is a thread about the Oregon and Nuvi units where some folks are posting about this problem. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...p;#entry3617061

Well...got me a $20.00 gift certificate being the first to review this thing over a GPSNOW.com...it will come in handy for another battery or carry case. After loading (one at a time) the 120 closest caches into the Nuvi...I enjoyed seeing them pop up on the Nuvi while in driving mode on the 20 mile commute this morning. I was surprised that so many are right next to interstate exits and some even appear to be right off the shoulder of the interstate. Not my idea of where I would care to park! I'm trying to get my name changed because my wife and I are both registered here and doing double entries. I emailed to the link at the bottom of the page Sunday but haven't heard back yet...we would like to join our names and be the team we are...Crash & Sunshine.

Test Report My partner and I got out in the middle of tropical storm “Fay” and played this weekend. In between rain bands we hunted for 5 “caches. We located 4 of the 5…the 5th is a micro that we will need to go back for. First the “driving” report. The speedo is right on. The GPS device gave me plenty of lead time for making turns. It rerouted with no problems if I failed to follow directions. I don’t care if it doesn’t have “text to speech” …I can easily read the name of the streets. Bottom line….it worked very good. Geo caching…I plugged in the info from this site…told the unit to go and off we went. I was able to get a great signal even under heavy cover. It got me to within “2’ of one cache….the others were within 10-15’. Cons: Battery life…I had it in battery mode all the time at 50% power. It went to 1 bar and started warning me of low battery after 5 hours. Maybe it will get a little better after the battery is run through the charge cycle a few times…I don’t know. The unit takes a while to recharge from empty. It will charge off the USB cable while I’m uploading to it. I’m having problems finding software…it seems none of the “Werigo” stuff is available for this model yet…it’s not in any of the pull down lists. Also I’m unable to upload multiple files…I have to do them one at a time….I’ve tried everything to include reinstalling the software…and the “Easy GPS” software does not have this unit listed in it’s pull down list. Although I’m a paying member of this little club now…some of the cache waypoint downloads are not dumping the “cache information or hints” into the device…when you try to bring up the information you get the “you need to be a premium member” routine. The compass does not seem to work...not sure what it’s supposed to do. I'm not too happy about the power button...I accidentally turned it off. It is very sensitive...and in a place that is easy to press accidentally. You can press it once quickly and it will give you the screen to adjust screen brightness...but you can't turn off the screen completely to save power..even at "0%" the screen is still dimly lit. This is my first taste of GPS and while I’m new to this and I’m still like a kid at Christmas… I’m pretty happy with the unit. I think it’s going to do what I want it to do. This just in on my inquiry about Wherigo... Robert, Thanks for your interest in Wherigo. Unfortunately, Wherigo is not available for Nuvi 500. It is currently only available on a few Pocket PCs, Garmin Colorado, and Garmin Oregon. Thanks! Wherigo Media Group Groundspeak Ticket Details =================== Ticket ID: IXB-371971 Department: Wherigo Priority: Medium Status: On Hold One other thing...I had my unit turn itself off several times this morning while messing with it. I'm inside a 8 story building and have no satellite connectivity...but it seems weird it did that. Tried it later and it worked fine.

It is not a do all...do you know of one in this price range? If you have to have a "magnetic" compass and "altimeter" get an Oregon...but it is not a do all either and costs a lot more after you add the maps this one already has. This one has a compass and altimeter but they don't seem to function...maybe an software update later? I don't need that stuff in Alabama anyway. As for Wherigo caching..I don't know...but it has a Wherigo tutorial already built in. So this is going to turn into a trash the Nuvi 500 thread?

Yip...I'm a total tadpole! Cool it has 2GB+1GB...plus the 4GB card I added. That should let me add plenty of stuff. Couldn't tell how much was already used though. Thanks

Thanks...I checked the tips out...I've fooled with this thing for hours already...not a lot of help with questions like how much is the internal memory? I added the 4gb external card. Is there a way to access the memory info? What does the camera icon do? It clicks like it's taking a picture when I tap it...is it? Where does it go and how do I access it if it does? I took it for a test spin and it works great in the driving mode...it even told me when I got to the nearest cache to my house.....but since it's raining and going to for the next week ...I can't really get out and test the walking mode. No manual is available at Garmin online and none packed with it...I've never heard of such...especially at the price of this thing...that's crazy!

I am a complete GPS newbie...and got this thing yesterday....my first comment is....Where is the manual? All I got was a "Quick Guide". I went online and registered...what a fun experience that was....NOT! I plan to use this for everything it can do...caching, road trips, boating everything...but I sure would like to get a lot of questions answered.. manual please!