TeamAv8r

"How do I save maps through the card reader so they show up on up my GPSr." Start by creating your map in DirectRoute. Save it to the computer (I do this incase I ever want to load it again later) Then select Upload to GPS form the regions menu. You will have 3 choices. Pick SD card. When it is done, I strongly recomend going into your card reader drive (my computer>Drive X:) or use windows explorer and CHANGE THE NAME OF THE FILE. It is stupid but all regions you load form DirectRoute will have the name Detail00.img. If you don't change the name when you load a second detail map it will just overwrite the first one. (because they have the same name) If you then load a third map, it will again overwrite the last one because they have the same name. It is silly but I guess Magellan didn't figure this out untill it was to late. So, bottom line is after you create and load a detail map, go change the name. Don't change the .img part just the name in 8.3 format. This will also make it eaiser to tell what map you are trying to load in your GPS if they have a more decriptive name. Now put the card back into your GPS. Then MENU->Card Utilities->Change Map->Select Detail Map, and pick the one you want. "One more dumb question if I have a region loaded and I leave that region while the GPSr is on will it load the next region I have saved or will I have to load the region I am in manually." No dumb questions around here. This one is simple, no it will not change regions alone. You have to change it manually. Hope that all helps. If you have any further questions just ask. I have also created a web site that has a lot of info about the Meridian if you care to look. The link is below. I would also recomend checking out the Yahoo Meridian Message Board . Lots of good info including a FAQ located in the FILES section that is a must read for any Meridian owner. Good Luck! Adam

Well, It would help to know what Meridian you have. Gold, Plat, Color, Marine, or just standard Meridian GPS. If it is the last one (or any for that matter) go HERE and find yours in the chart. Click the link for what firmware you are looking for (most likely standard). This will bring up the download page. Read the directions. There is infor there you need. Then click the link on the bottom that says "Click here to download the XXX firmware". What you will have then is a .zip file on your computer. UnZip it and look for the .exe file named MagUp. Doubble click it and follow the directions. Make sure your Meridian is connected to the computer via the serial cable. All done! I downloaded all the Meridian Firmware update without a problem. Below is the current list for the Meridian Standard Firmware (not marine). Meridian Color - 5.12 Meridian Platinum - 5.12 Meridian Gold - 5.12 Meridian Marine - 5.12 Meridian GPS - 4.02 Versions 5.0 and later of the standard firmware support street routing and guidance, if a MapSend DirectRoute map is active in the GPS receiver. Good Luck! Adam

There is a thread for testing of such things.... HERE

"I ain't carrying anything that has four legs of its own.." Now that is funny! Adam

So, if i buy a Garmin eTrex, i will be able to go most geocaching then? Yes, The eTrex will do ALL geocaching. How would i go about using it? Read the manual and the FAQ on GC.com. Play with your new toy a little in the front yard to get used to using it. Nothing sucks worse then being in the middle of the woods and not remembering how to use something on your GPS (been there,done that) Do i enter in co-ordinates and then follow an arrow? Pretty much. Trust me it is much more fun then "follow the arrow" sounds. Go wandering aimlessly untill i find an area with those co-ordinates? Well, I would not call it aimlessly. But kind of I guess. There are different types of caches. Some easy, some hard, some down right impossible! But all and all it is a good time. Many Thanks, You fellow Geocacher (well, maybe not as expierienced) Your welcome! Don't worry about asking questions. All of us were in your shooes at one point or another. Except maybe Moun10Bike, he pretty much was born while Geocaching. Adam

I think you would have a eaiser time listing the people who DO NOT use GSAK, then the other way around. Adam

Good news! Have fun with your new GPS! Adam PS - "I suspect the series will be updated fairly soon to keep up with the Jones'!" the Garmin 76cs is scheduled to ship on or around April 4th.

RINGBONE I still enjoy reading that thread..... ahhhhhhhhhh..... Good times! Adam

GSAK Edit - Tie with Cherokeecacher

"Having used Direct Route would you have purchased it if you knew what you know now?" Yes "What price point would you put on this software that you consider would be a fair value?" Around $100 give or take. I got mine with the Value Traveler pack so all things considered it was less then that. But to buy it seperate I would say around $100. Good luck! Adam

"It does sound like a Garmin commercial." Well, now that you said that I feel I have to put in my 2cents on the Meridian series from Magellan. I have the Meridian Color that I got as part of the Meridian Color Traveler Value Pack. Paid $360 at www.Vanns.com. Personally I like the color screen but some will disagree as to if it is worth the extra money. The Meridian Gold is almost the same as as the color with the exception of the color screen and the fact you can add an external antenna to the color. Having said that I have never found the need for the external antenna. So that would really depend on if you were going to use it in a "different" location say below deck on a boat or something. The next model is the Platimum. This model also has a eletronic compass and a baro meter. I have never used a Platimum but from just general reading most people will tell you they either don't care for the compass and baro or don't feel they are really that great. So, My recomendation is the Meridian Gold or Color. Get the color if you are looking for a color unit. Otherwise the Gold is fine. The value traveler pack comes with the GPSr, Mapsend DirectRoute software, auto cradle, PC data/Power cord, and a 64 MB SD card. My opinion is you are going to want most of these items anyway so why not get them as part of a package for less money. I think you will be fine with either unit. Garmin is fine, Magellan is fine, really just a matter of prefence. But I didn't want only the Garmin people to respond. I would also recomend trying to get your hands on a few before you buy. See what "feels" good. Some just feel better then others. Good Luck! Adam PS - I have been working on a stupid web site about all sorts of stuff, but I have quite a bit of info on the Magellan Meridian Color there if you would like to check it out. The link is below.

Recomend "search" button near top of page..... Why? Because it has been covered 100 times before and there is a lot of good info in the threads.... Here is a good one to start with....... HERE Good Luck! Adam

I have gone mad!!!!!!!! OK, I have to stop now.... Adam

Mr. Spock...... Big: Small: Adam

Did some one say SpongeBob SquarePants! Big: Small: Adam

Haha.... Beat you by one minute this time.... OK.... Who's next? Adam

I could not get a big one. The only picture I found of Kyle was a .gif and was not very big. Also the logo looked bad on the hat. The greens ran together so I just put it on the shirt. But it is all sized for an Avatar (75 pixels wide). Adam PS - Right click and select Save As.... to save it yourself

Custom Dell XPS 3.20 GHz Intel Pentium 4............. $2200.00 Corel Photo-Paint 9............................................... $600.00 Missing work for 3 days..........................................$450.00 Two Pots of Coffee and Three Packs of Cigarettes.....$16.00 Having the BEST custom avatar..............................Priceless Isn't life grand! Adam

My GPSr is the same size as his body! That would suck to carry around. Good thing the little guy is strong. Adam

How is this?.... Just playing around. Big: Small: 75 Pixels Wide Fun Adam Beat me by one minute Staos..... Edited to add small pic and cuz I wanted to

What would have saved JFK (and Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline and coutless others) is if they would have never left the ground in the first place! There are limits to everyones ability, know them and respect them. I can drive an 18 wheeler about as well as JFK could fly in MVFR/IFR. Like they say about car accidents "10% your fault just for being there" well in aviation it is more like 95%. Sad really. Adam <-- knows his limitations! PS - Funny how the first post talks about a pretty fancy GPS for flying, and the prev. one talks about using a plumb bob.

Warbones - Sorry, I should have been a little more clear as to where and what to download. On the left of the GpsBabel page click downloads... Then it is the like the 2nd one down. The file name is GPSBabel - 1.2.2.zip near the right it will say it is for windows. Download that and unzip the file where ever you want. In the files that are unziped one is called GPSbabelFront. I made a shortcut to that on my desktop. Doubble click it and a box will show up called "GPSBabel GUI Frontend". The top line of that box is where you put the .loc file you downloaded form GC.com. The second line/pull down menu should say "Geocaching.com .loc" for the input file format. Next line is the output file name. You can type whatever you want for a name. Next is the output file format. You should select "Magellan Mapsend" for this menu. Then hit process. The file that is created is now ready to be loaded into Mapsend DirectRoute and then to your GPS. After they are loaded and saved as a waypoint file in Mapsend you can delete both the .loc file and the new file you created with GPSbabel. This will help next time you do the whole process by not haveing a million .loc and misc files all over the place. (I am kind of dumb and can't keep track of what is what) Anyway, hope that helps a little more. Let me know if there is anything else. As far as why I use GPSbabel vs EasyGPS or some other program about all I can say is that is how I have been doing it form day one. I will agree there are several other programs out there that will let you do the same and even more with your GC.com files. I just like how simple GPSbabel is (once you do it once or twice) and I perfer to use my Mapsend software to keep track of my caches. Both found and not found. Part of the reason is I do not get PQ from GC.com. The small amout of info included in just the normal .loc file is not enough for me to go all out on a fancy program like EasyGPS. Although I have tried it and I do like the program. I just don't have enough caches/information to make it worth doing. So for me that is why I like my GPSbabel. I will also agree that GSAK is a awsome program and will do what GPSbabel will do and more. But, for just starting out I think the more simple the better. After you get the hang of GPSbabel you can switch to something with more bells and whistles like GSAK. For me anyway, it was better to start simple and build on it from there. Just my two cents. Good luck all! Adam

Get the 2.0/fast/high speed reader/writer. Even if your computer only has 1.1 ports you can still use the reader and the price difference is small. I would be willing to bet your computer has 2.0 anyway. So any 2.0 SD card reader/writer will work fine. Adam

No, metal detectors detect metal. It is the guy behind the x-ray that looks for wepons or bombs or anything else that doesn't belong in your shooe. Same as they are doing with your suitcase or laptop. Adam

Here is what I do..... With my Meridian Color and directroute software.... 1. I download the caches I want to do form GC.com (thank you GC.com) 2. Use GPSbabel to convert the .loc file to a Magellan mapsend file 3. Load the mapsend file into my Directroute software so I can see where all the caches are 4. Up load the cache waypoints to my GPS 5. In the car I select GOTO->Street Route->USER WAYPOINT->and I pick a cache 6. Follow the directions till I can't get any closer with the car (usually the parking lot) while using the map screen and street routing. 7. This is a big one. I then hit GOTO again. Select NEW GOTO->POINT to POINT-> USER WAYPOINT->and pick the same cache again. 8. Now I switch to the compass screen and follow the big red arrow. The fields on the top tell me how far away I am and how fast I am going. 9. Do this untill you get within about 25'. Then start looking around. It is the last little bit that is the hardest. Sometimes it helps me to back away about 50' and follow the arrow again. Do this a couple of times and you will get a better "general area" to be looking in. The compass is more acurate when you are moving. Other then that it just takes getting a few under your belt before you know what you are looking for. Soon you will be saying to yourself - "that hollowed out tree would be a good place for a cache" and BANG! There it is! I have had to vist the same cache a couple of times before I finally found it when I first started. But it gets eaiser. Like someone else said, pick some easier ones to start with. Don't feel like you can't use the hints or read the other logs. There are usually some good tips form previous people that have found the cache. After a while you don't need them anymore. Anyway, that is how I do it. Hope that helps. Good Luck! Adam edited cuz I wanted to