Grasscatcher

Probably talking about Topo,(where the individual map segment size is small) correct? There is a limit on "Number of map segments" (2050 I believe)

1. That the absolute best way to learn about your new GPS is to use it or "Play with" it in a familiar area before having to depend on it in unfamiliar surroundings. This is the beginning of understanding...... 2.Learn how to and then save several waypoints of local POI . 3. Set up nearby and distant "Go To" points (to the saved local points) and then use the GPSr ONLY to direct you to them while your eyes can see what the unit is "telling you" and your intellect can reason with, either agreeing or disagreeing with, the results. Resolve any differences....... 4. That a route is a series of connected points describing where you "want to go" ( yet to be traveled) 4. That a track is a breadcrumb trail showing "where you've been". ( a record of a previously traveled or traced path) 5. Understand that coordinates you manually enter into your GPSr must be entered in the same Datum and the same Coordinate Format as what your GPSr is currently set on. 6. Get a Basic understanding of Datums and Coordinate formats,..... and understand that if using a GPSr in conjunction with a paper map, BOTH GPSr and MAP must be the same..... i.e.GPSr must be set on the Datum that the map was created in and use the (one of,if multiple) same coordinate format. 7. If your GPSr has an electronic compass.....only turn it on and use it when you are STANDING STILL and the unit is held level.(Garmin) 8.In unfamiliar territory, always carry,and understand how to use for navigation, a paper map and manual compass. 9. Always, carry extra batteries, ALWAYS. 10. Re-apply rule NO 1 "Play"some more...... until you understand....and agree

Apparently GPS Visualizer is stripping the elevation data when converting to GPX. Try seeing if you can do a profile in GPS Visualizer. You might see if GPS Babel will convert from Google to GPX without stripping the elev data, then open the GPX with Mapsource and see if it's there. Unexpected things sometimes happen when converting files between programs.

A quick check on a short "track" I did this morning then downloaded to Mapsource TOPO.... What Mapsource receives is a "saved" track 11-April-07 and an Active Log track. I did a track profile in Mapsource on the "saved" track and can see altitude data as well. In the tracklist, right click the desired track , click Track properties, click Show Profile On the "Active Log" track, same procedure. You will note that Track Properties shows several additional columns of info on the Active Log track. (but altitude is shown on both saved and AL) However, If you "hand draw" a track, you can't do a profile of that track. If you can see a profile of any specific track on your handheld, then you should be able to download that track from your unit to Mapsource and also see a profile in Mapsource.

New product? I can't find it on their home website. http://abovethetimber.com/GPSmaps.htm It might be a problem that they don't recommend it be used in conjunction with Garmin produced Mapping products. May not be able to have CN and it loaded together? Sounds good and the screenshots look good.

Just a heads up if anyone is interested in doing this......when I read the orig post, it was late Friday. I waited until Monday (4/9) to call Garmin. The service rep I talked to said that indeed it was possible , but that "they" had recently received an e-mail stating that the practice was going to be stopped. He voluntarily said he would check with his supervisor . I gave him the s/n of both my units (a Nuvi660 and a 76CSx) and in a few minutes he came back and said that "they" were still doing it. He asked my name and address to verify the registration information (on record) and said he would have the disk in the mail asap., and said for me to call back after I received the disk if I had any trouble getting the second unit unlocked. So, if you're interested, you better "get with the program" in case it's about to be stopped. Thank you Garmin !!

Easy fix......call Garmin Tech Support 1-800-820-1020...explain what your problem is and they can get you going, even if they have to do a "remote control " takeover on your PC.

Also a tip.... placing a via point on the road YOU want to take a short distance AFTER your desired turn / intersection, will allow the routing software to correctly pick the exit ramp etc.

The "gene pool" gets cleansed...............

Put the CD back into the drive and see if the program then works. The regular TOPO USA requires that the CD for the particular area be in the drive.(Unless you have installed the different areas to your hard drive) Is TOPO 24K the same?

Timpat, That's "in a GPX file that has...." . Your v 4.2.7 will import tracks from gpx but be aware that earlier versions of TOPO will not. Just info for others that have a different version and try it and it won't work.

Pick a couple of specific ones from MapXchange and I'll convert them for you and send them back as GPX

Suggested, promised,hoped for,whatever......possibly in the Fall. My guess is that it will be later. I just do some beta testing for them

The OP's post was about MapXchange files , and if you open some of those, they are mostly tracks. Yes, you can convert tracks to routes and export that way, but you lose a lot of accuracy (trackpoints) doing that. V 5 TOPO will contain many new changes, a couple of which are supposed to be a much different way of handling Tracks and more compatibility with GPX.

Klatch, If you will try your own suggestion, you will find that it will not work...... TOPO will only export SOME data ( Waypoints and Routes) as a GPX file. The files that the OP references (at least most, I haven't checked ALL) don't have any Waypoints or Routes, only Tracks and Notes. TOPO will not export Tracks, as GPX. Newest TOPO will IMPORT Tracks (and udder stuff) FROM GPX but not export.

Everything you said makes sense, but how did you convert old tpo to gpx and how many different versions of topo are there? 1, 2 & 3? old being 1 and new being 3? All the ones I'm trying to convert are from LocalHiles.com and TopoXchange Active versions (now) are v3 and v4. I used v4.2.7....... I selected one of the files in Colorado since that's the state series I have. (I used Molas Pass) I downloaded the file from Topo x change, opened it in TOPO (V4.2.7)( it gave me a message that the file was created by an earlier version and must be converted) It was converted to new version. I viewed it in TOPO and then I saved it (new version) I opened GPSBabel, selected the newly saved (tpo) file, and converted it to GPX I then opened the GPX file with Expert GPS and all data looked fine.

What you need is to find someone with the NEWER version of TOPO. When it tries to open the older version file, it will convert the older tpo files to the newer version .......then GPS Babel will convert that (the newer version tpo file) to GPX. I just tried the whole procedure and the conversion from old tpo to GPX works fine. I viewed the gpx file in Expert GPS. I don't have the Nevada state series TOPO to verify the results on a map but if you'll identify just a couple of ones you need converted , and send me your e-mail, I'll convert them and send you a couple of GPX files to try.

Going the card route is definitely more reliable.

Go to Trimble site Trimble Planning and download that free software. With it, you can very likely answer your own question why you got bad reception at a certain time and at a certain location. You can tell how many and which specific satellites your unit will be seeing at any given time and see that there are times that you should EXPECT to get lousy reception and therefore lousy accuracy. (Note: it's not cloudy weather) That being said....When there is extremely heavy wet snow falling at the time, that can also affect reception due to multi-path error, which is the result of satellite signal reflection. Also on the Trimble home site look for a reference to their GPS tutorial. VERY educational....

A 60CSx has a max of 250 points per route.

Power use is NOT A PROBLEM......use any or all of your GPSr features to your hearts content and just always carry extra batteries. It's worked for me with DAILY use for the last 12+ years. NEVER has my GPSr been without power in the field.

Check to see (unless you did an uninstall before beta install)..... when I installed the 6.12.2 beta it left the 6.11.6 version intact. I have access to both..

For all intents and purposes, they are both the same (60CSx & 76CSx). So, go to a retail store that has both and see which one fits your hands the best and whether you like the buttons above the screen or below the screen the best. Then....that's the one!

Yep, it's now a proven fact..... compass's won't work if you don't look at them! Also..... water definitely runs downhill in Colorado.......Downhill East, Downhill West, Downhill North, and Downhill South....so, you might be lost right now, but just don't know it due to lack of information. Sorry, but I just couldn't resist!

I mis-spoke earlier...Herzog & Red 90 are correct on the not creating a new GPX file when tracklog is cleared. A new track is created within the same(for that date) GPX file.