SamSpade47

I'm not able to answer any of the OP questions, but I thought I'd pose this question in the interest of extracting more information from MustangTim... which might be of interest to the OP. Anyway, I'm just curious, when you have it in the car, i assume it is mounted in a landscape orientation, are you able to electronically rotate the display 90 degrees to a portrait orientation like you would use a handheld unit? Thanks.

Google Earth is another option. You have to make sure the area you will be navigating is in the cache (Of GE) before driving... It would just mean zooming in (at home while connected to the internet (unless you have some sort of mobile internet connection)) and navigating the route you actually anticipate driving. Since the cache only holds 2gig, I've heard of people having multiple cache files... It's not really very user friendly, but it's kind of cool to be driving along and watching you progress on GE. You can try it at home if your GPS has a demo mode. Set your gps in Demo mode, enter a route, have the GPS simulate driving the route, connect the GPS to the computer, start GE, go to tools, then GPS, go to real time and check "Automatically follow the path". As your GPS simulates navigating the route, your progress will be shown in GE. In the real world, while driving, connect the GPS to the computer, start GE, go to tools, then GPS, go to real time, and check "Automatically follow the path". As you drive around, you GPS feeds location information to GE. GE will plot your progress on the screen... Check this out: http://www.gaiagi.com/3d-driving-simulator/index.html If you enter a From: and To: then hit Start, the top middle window will give you an idea of what your progress in GE will look like... But as others have said, nRoute works nicely. Just thought I toss out another option. Sam

Not sure if, by "non T' you're referring to the Oregon 300, or the Oregon 550. But in either case, those numbers are not correct. All three models (O300, O550, O550T) have the same 850 MB of internal memory, and all three use external memory cards. Check G5, G10 and G10a. here: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Product+Information#toc5 The "T" models all have 4Gig of internal memory of which ~2.7 is used for the US Topo maps. The non "T" versions have no 2.7gig topo installed and have <1gig of available memory. All I was saying was that if you want the entire USA Topo and the entire USA routeable roads get the "T" model. With the "T", you're not just paying extra for the Topo map, but also for the extra memory installed internally.

Before you do anything check the free routable maps at: http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php I've never used them and can not vouch for them, but I would think it would be worth a look. The T has 4Gig of internal memory the non T only has ~900M. With the T you can load the entire 100k USA Topo and the entire US Street Maps as well. With the non T you won't be able to get the entire 100k Topo on the unit... Sam

http://gizmodo.com/5318860/htc-hero-review...agically-flawed

Is there a particular reason you want to buy the City Nav on the SD card? The DVD version seems more versatile. You can load in into your mapsource. You can load a sub set of it to your unit or another SD card (that is read/writable, along with other maps). The only benefit to the preloaded SD card is if you want to transfer the SD card between several GPS's. Just trying to be proactive. Sam

It sounds like for that kind of detail you almost need to make your own trip by trip maps. The BLM appears to have tons of property shapefiles available for download at http://www.geocommunicator.gov/GeoComm/index.shtm Thanks for the link. That's an excellent source for land ownership that I wasn't aware of until your help. I was looking over an area up in Idaho that I just got through exploring with my Quad, and found it to be interesting, as some of the land appeared to be private, yet the map shows it all belonging to the NFS. On the down side, there is a beautiful trail network up there, clearly marked, and a great area to explore that doesn't show on the maps. One of those things you won't find unless someone tells you about it, or you stumble on it. Just thought I throw this out there... Since you didn't mention exactly where "You were looking over an area, up in Idaho", I couldn't confirm whether or not there is coverage with the Northwest Trails database. Check out this collaboration: http://www.switchbacks.com/maps/NW_Trails.html It's a set of user provided track that have been converted to a transparent map overlay for Garmin gpsr's. The trails are not routable, but it's still worth checking out. Coverage is WA, OR, ID, AK, BC etc... (the NW). Sam

1. Download: NW_Trails_v1.48.exe (or whatever the most current release is) and run it. That will install/register the maps with mapsource. 2. In mapsource, zoom way out so that you can see the area of maps that you want to download (example: zoom out so that you can see all of Washington). 3. Again, in mapsource, select the NorthWest Trails map set from the dropdown selector (if it's not there, the maps didn't install/register properly with Mapsource), click on the map tool, then hover over Washington (you should see a bold yellow outline of the state). Click it. You should see Washington appear in the Maps selection sidebar. 4. In Mapsource again, click on the Send to GPS icon. Select Maps. Hit <enter> 5. You should see Mapsource build the map set, then transfer it to the GPS. Every time you do this it will overwrite previous maps (the file gmapsupp.img) that you've sent. It won't overwrite your Topo maps (gmapprom.img). 6. Restart the GPS and go to Setup, then Maps, then enable the NWTrails. NW Trails is a transparent overlay, so you should see the trails over the topo or city nav maps that you have installed. It's a very cool setup. If you're not able to get it working, you can PM for my phone number and I can walk you through it. Sam

doing something like what? Sorry didn't follow. Gotcha- well when you get it up and goin, send me a link and I will post it on my blog! Enjoyed your blog...

Are you able to save the track as a *.gpx file. If so, you can drag and drop that file into Google Earth... Good luck.

Or on Google Earth, just look for Christopher McCandless. It's considered a landmark now. huh, how about that. However, it appears typing in his name takes you to a spot 10 miles east of the actual location. That is cool! That is one of my favorite books! Some fools got themselves rescued... http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/90960...ments_Container

The unit will only hold 200 of the caches that you "send to gps" from GS. How many do you have on there? You could delete some of the old ones.

Can you clarify something? Did you delete the Base Map or the Topo Map? There is a base map: gmapsupp.img, ~273M and there is a Topo map: gmapprom.img, ~2,767M. Later you say that the CN works but that you can't get the Topo back on there. Are you trying to put them both on the internal memory? The 400T has 4G of internal memory. The CN and Topo will not both fit in the 4G. You'll have to get an SD card and put one or the other on there. Check this thread for additional information. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=223617&hl= Hope this helps. Sam

Thanks again for bringing it back...

Take a look at this... http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=223617&hl=

Watching this thread...

I went, I saw, and I conquered. I didn't really conquer it, but I was there and I did see it. Pretty cool place... no harrowing story or alien abduction or anything. Just a nice warm Summer day in the mts. Stopped at a couple of place on the middle fork of the Willamette (wild and scenic status). It was awesome. If any of you are in the area be sure to check out another enjoyable cache: Secret Falls, GC12R1K.

You can download the Mapsource upgrade directly from Garmin. It will only work if you already have one of their map products. That said, you can download Training Center from Garmin directly with no restrictions on use. You can then download Mapsource and it "sees" Training Center as one of the required map products. Convoluted, but it works nicely. You can then download maps from GPSFileDepot and load them to your GPS via Mapsource. Again, kind of convoluted, but free is free...

Thanks for bringing it back!

Yeah if the time frame was right I might try to join you for the trip unless you were wishing for complete solitude on your way to the Hell Hole. The I Hate I-5 Covered bridge cache above is a few hours south of Eugene and not one for this trip. The local forum for the Eugene area might be of help too. Emerald Valley Cachers Sorry, I didn't see theses posts until this morning. The idea of carpooling isn't a bad idea, but it wouldn't have worked out in this situation. I drove down to Portland Friday night and stayed with my sister. It wouldn't have been cool to show up with a complete stranger along for the ride. Saturday morning I drove down to the Hell Hole. It was a pretty "Cool Place"! What an amazing formation! I sure wouldn't want to be standing on the South edge during the "Big One". The covered bridges were cool as well. Thanks. But the highlight was a cache that I happened upon called "Secret Falls" (GC12R1K). Despite DNF'ing, it was an awesome spot. The Middle Fork of the Williamette River (Wild and Scenic Status) was beautiful. Lots of driving... ~200 miles Friday night, ~500 miles Saturday (I had to get back Saturday night to pick up my wife at the airport). If you go, don't do it like I did, take a couple of day and camp on the river... Was it a "Cool Place"?, Yeah, it was Cool.

I agree - Harriet nice post. Perhaps a tutorial with pictures is in line for those who are struggling with a replacement for the GE KML. Are you kidding me? ~5 convoluted steps (worst being waiting for the PQ via email) instead of GE KML! There is absolutely no comparison. GE didn't need any tutorial, it just worked. Simply, Seamlessly, Quickly and Beautifully. Anyone that says otherwise is delusional. There has been all kinds of ideas thrown out... on demand refresh, premium2, abbreviated information. They would all address the "server load" issue. I suspect the real issue is keeping people on the site vs. spending time on GE. Ground speak earns $$$ while people are on their site browsing (viewing adds), they earn zilch while people are eleswhere. Pathetic.

I might be interested in a couple of them... but the question begs, how do you end up with several hundred 50 cal ammo cans?

Hypothetically speaking... Let's say some fool from Washington wants to drive all the way down to the Oregon Hell Hole (Cool Place, GCGG27), a little to the East of Eugene, and he wants to hit some other interesting caches along the way, any suggestions? Thanks

Reminds me of this one, sort of... GC13AZA

Yeah, the only route I would even consider... I've been up Early Winter Spire, Shuksan and some others in the Enchantments long ago, but when I had youngsters I didn't feel like leaving them Fatherless... Now that they are grown, I'm thinking about doing some more climbs. And the 5.6 doesn't seem that unreasonable. That route proves that you can get to some truly awesome spots with RELATIVE ease. And wouldn't that be cool to be FTF on a 5/5 cache.