phern47

The Freedom maps SD card is locked. Yes, there is space to add waypoints and tracks but the free space is limited. I haven't used my iFinder Pro very much yet so I haven't limited out on the free space in my GPS unit yet. However, I will be using an empty 512 meg SD card in a card reader for transfering tracks and waypoints to my PC. I will soon buy a pc cable to allow me to download tracks and waypoints directly from my GPS to my PC.

For my iFinder Pro. I guess the title says it all...lol.

Ok....thanks for the response. I am still confused about what I need to create maps. From what I can see in my information booklet, I need Mapcreate 6 custom mapping software and from what you have said, I will need the card reader too. Anyway, if anyone has these accessories....I want to buy them.

Will any of the SD card readers found in stores work with a Lowrance iFinder Pro? If not, does anyone have an SD card reader for a Lowrance iFinder for sale.

Thanks for all the good advice...and I am from Alabama, which is heavy woods...thanks again...this has helped! Now, all that is left to do is ask yourself if you want to add detailed maps to your GPS or not. And since you may want detailed maps, then there is the choice of a colour screen or not. If you decide against a GPS with mapping capabilities then a monochrome screen is very adequate. If you decide to buy the Etrex Legend like you said at the start....it has mapping capabilities and has a 16 level monochrome screen.

Caches are few and far between up here where I live. Entering them one by one or on a note pad is all that is needed. I have yet to do any geocaching (I'm really ashamed by that...after being here for 3 years already) however I will be doing some next summer. There is now an organized group of geocachers in my area that I now belong to. What I really want is the cheapest PDA to view topographical maps and to hook up to my GPS so that I can view my progress over the terrain. I know absolutely nothing about PDAs or Pocket PCs. If I knew where to start in my shopping for a used or refurbished one...that would be perfect. Yes....the PDA will also serve as alarm clock when camping, taking notes, keeping adresses etc. All the stuff that the M500 or the M505 already do. It does not have to have mp3 capabilities. Colour would be nice to have though. If I can connect my digital camera to it so that I can edit my photos while camping....that would be great...but not really a necessity. I will probably buy a few games (chess, solitaire etc) to add to the unit. There are so many units to choose from and my knowledge of them is poor. Their price has drastically lowered in the past while and from what I have read, they will become almost obsolete due to the fact that most people are buying cell phones that do the same thing and more. Cell phones up here do not work as soon as we go about 20 miles north of where I live. There are no named roads, villages, towns or anything, north of where I live....lol. Only logging roads, snowmobile and VTT trails, logging camps and outfitters.

Which pocket pc or pda should I buy for gpsing? I want to be able to view topographic maps and maybe city maps on this device instead of carrying paper maps. Being able to connect my GPS to the device and seeing my movements on the maps would be a very interesting option too. Using the cheapest available device is important.

The old GlobalNav 12 had a shortcut for faster location when travelling far. There was a screen where you had the choice of state or country before initialisation.

I don't see the point in avoiding certain areas because of illegal activities. Ok...I'm old and inoffensive. I have worked quite a bit in the world of security (conservation officer, private detective, store detective, 911 operator for the Quebec provincial police) so "bad guys" don't scare me. However, the region where I live, has the lowest crime rate in Canada. Our "bad guys" may not be as bad as yours.

Yes it will and just as good as all the other units. Yes, there are more sensitive gps units on the market, with more options but they are also more expensive. Yes, like all the other GPS units, you can enter the coordinates and it will lead you to the spot in question. The importance is to have a GPS unit with WAAS. This makes the GPS much more accurate. However, the Legend that you have chosen is bit expensive. You can find them cheaper elsewhere. If you do not have any intentions of buying mapping software etc for your GPS, the Lowrance iFinder GO is just as good as the Legend at almost half the price. http://www.target.com/iFINDER-Go-16MB-GPS/...5654332-5282551 You may even find the iFinder GO at a lower price elsewhere. A few years ago, few geocachers had high sensitive GPS units and that did not stop them from geocaching. I have used ancient GPS units (Garmin 45 and 1994 Lowrance GlobalNav 200) with no problem in the bush and in my vehicules. The GlobalNav 200 even worked in the back seat of my Suzuki Sidekick. In the bush, I never lost reception....but then again, the tree canopy is not very dense up here in Quebec. It's mostly conifers and no canyons. There are GPS units with the new high sensitive reception and without mapping too. Ex. The Garmin Etrex H. Things like mapping capability and colour screens add much more to the price of a GPS. Like the Legend you have spotted or the iFinder GO, they all have the same basic map already installed but you can buy software to add detail to the base map on the GPS units with mapping. Since you live in Arizona in an area where there are lots of narrow canyons, maybe buying a more sensitive GPS is an option you should seriously consider.

I would send a message back to the local member of parliment and tell him that encouraging geocachers and other normal citizens to use the premises is a great way of reducing illicite activities. Especially the geocachers who usually carry cameras...lol. The heavier traffic will make the undesirables go elsewhere.

[quote name='richsnake' date='Nov 19 2007, 05:54 PM' post= To you have the link to where i can see or buy these maps? Sorry....no link. However I saw them at "Chicoutimi Chasse et Pêche" blvd Talbot, Chicoutimi. This boutique has a web site. I really hate going to this place. The only reason I go there is to justify the reason I go elsewhere...lol. As soon as you get through the door, the salespeople are forced by their boss to greet you with their famous "do you need help" phrase. The owner of the store's first impression of everyone who comes into the store is that they do not know anything about hunting, fishing, gpsing etc. The other day, I went there to look at the GPS units and the prices they were selling for. The main reason I was there was to see what the base N.America map looks like on the mapping units. I asked the owner to see one of the gps units so that I could look at the N.America base map. After the owner splurted out all what a GPS does while he fiddled with a bunch of buttons, he reluctantly let me hold the unit. He actually whinced when I dared touch the toggle switch. I mentioned that from what I could see on the screen was some nowhere place in the U.S. I asked if I could see what the province of Quebec looked like. He told me that he had never gone outside with his demo gps units and that he would have to go outside, let the units find their home in Quebec and from then on have the starting screen somewhere close to Chicoutimi. He also told me that he had topo maps of Canada....but I could already see the CDs stacked in the corner of the display case. After some careful investigation, I saw that there were CDs of all the roads and trails in my area so I said "very interesting" then "how much?". Anyway, this boutique is the only official Garmin dealer in our area. He is a complete jerk. He has the only hunting and fishing boutique in town so I doubt he will go broke. I know for one thing, if I owned such a store, my GPS demo units will have been taken outdoors to initialize them, they would have detailed topo maps installed etc etc. And, I wouldn't treat people as if they ignorants. BTW, he sells his GPS units for twice the amount I can get them from the U.S.....shipping included. In my e-mail today, I got news that there are CDs of all the "quad" trails in Ontario and Quebec for Garmin GPS units and that there will be some for Lowrance units soon.

I live in the Saguenay region of Quebec. Some local guys made highly detailed topo maps of my region and on top of that, all of the roads built by the lumber companies are included. All of the roads....even the old ones no longer used. The CD sells for 75 dollars. So instead of paying 150 dollars for my region, I may opt to buy the maps sold here in the region if the Mapsource topo maps are not to my liking.

I played around with the track settings on my Lowrance GlobalNav 200. Since it was pre-selected at 1 track point per second, this meant that I could register only 10,000 seconds (about 3 hours) of travel. Increasing the time to 2 seconds gave me 6 hours of tracks. On long road trips or excursions in the woods, I would increase the delay. I was hoping to overlay my tracks on maps using OzieExplorer but I could never get my computer to recognize my GlobalNav 200. For working with a computer, my older Garmin 45 worked much better but I sold it before buying the GlobalNav 200. I sold the GlobalNav 200 the other day and I'm waiting for a used iFinder Pro that I bought "used".

At the start of your tracks, it looks like you are driving on a road. But when you turn off 3rd Ave SE, it no longer looks like you are on a street or road. Can you explain? By the way....a dead end street is called a "cul de sac".

If you want something for geocaching, I would say that the ordinary Garmin Etrex (the yellow one) would be just fine. You should be able to find one on ebay for about 50 dollars. They have a great battery life. You can buy excellent rechargeable batteries and a charger for about 20 dollars. Buy the batteries that have the highest milliamp hours and the slowest charger you can find. If it's just for geocaching, having internal maps is not necessary. All you want is to have something to point the way. The type of terrain you will be walking over is described in the directions for the cache. When you get within 50 feet of the cache, there are hints as to exactly where the cache is situated. The Yellow Etrex has WAAS and will take you within 15 feet of the cache. Having a highly sensitive H series GPS may be nice but the cacher before you....what did he use? If his GPS was not WAAS enabled and he did not use one of the new highly sensitive GPS units, the cache could be anywhere within a 50 foot radius no matter how good your GPS is.

I read all the posts about Mapcreate. I am confused. I want to enter detailed topographic maps of the areas I go hunting and fishing. From what I have read, the topo maps of Canada on the cards that Lowrance sells are not that good. They are better for the U.S. but for Canada, it's not the case. I read that Mapcreate allows the user to "create maps". What do they mean by this? I can download very nice topographic maps on my computer directly from the Canadian governement site. Can I download these detailed topographic maps to an iFinder Pro with the mapcreate program?

From what I have seen so far, a used or refurbished Vista sells for a bit more than 100 dollars plus shipping on Ebay. The price for Trip and Waypoint Manager is quite reasonable so that's no problem. I'm sure that ibycus wouldn't mind a donation for his trouble. I have a few paper maps (20,000 : 1) of the areas that I play around in. Lots of places I go to do not even have trails. So far, I have been using a mapless GPS, compass and the paper maps but it sure would feel more comfortable to be able to see where I am right on my GPS screen when I am surrounded by trees and can't see more than 100 feet in any direction. My old Lowrance GlobalNav 200 did not lose contact very often. In any event, I don't have the budget for an H series GPS. Maybe in a couple of years.

I want to buy a gps with mapping however I'm confused as to what to buy. So far, I have decided to buy a used Garmin Vista. I want to be able to work with detailed topo maps (Quebec) on my gps. What confuses me is the fact that the GPS comes with a basemap of N.America. Is this basemap good enough to be used alone? If I buy a Garmin, do I have to buy a program called "Mapcreate" to be able to add a couple of topo maps of the area around my home where I do all of my hunting and fishing or is there a way of be able to use detailed maps without buying "Mapcreate" for 180 dollars?

I sent you a pm yesterday.

You should be able to find the specs right in your manual. My old Garmin 45 could handle voltages from 4 to 40 volts DC.

Je me suis abonné sur le site.

Lewis, je demeure à Chicoutimi. S'il y a d'autres activités, j'aimerais être au courant. Ça fait longtemps que je fréquente le site de Geocaching. À cet époque, il y avait juste 1 géocache dans toute la région....celui sur les Monts Valin (Tête de Chien). Cependant, je n'ai pas encore fait de géocaching. Vue que je va souvent à la pêche, l'été prochain, j'ai l'intention de mettre des caches un peu partout dans le bois mais, il me manque encore les petits détails sur comment organiser une cache. Donc, s'il y a d'autres activités dans la région, je vais essayer d'être là pour participer.

The older Garmin units worked on voltages ranging from 6 to 40 volts. However, I don't know what voltages the new ones accept. The companies do sell a cigarette lighter adapter for their GPSs so I guess they have decided that using such a device is harmless to the GPS.

Thanks for the responses. I'm not very interested in buying a Magellan. As for sensitive reception, that has never been a problem for me because I can find my way around in the bush when there are no trails. I always have topo maps and compass with me. I use my GPS most often in my canoe or boat. I always hook up my GPS to my electric motor battery, so running out of batteries is not a problem either. Even my Lowrance GlobalNav 200 worked fine. If it wasn't for the fact that I want to load some topo maps, I would still use it. When driving on the highway, I plug my Lowrance in the cigarette lighter and 90% of the time, when coming back on my tracks, it even tells me on which side of the road I am driving on. Yes, some of the bells and whistles of the newer units would be great, I'm on a tight budget so 100 dollars is the limit I want to put on a GPS. In a year or two, the higher end units will be in my price range.