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Highland Hounds

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Everything posted by Highland Hounds

  1. Understand where you are coming from there. What I am looking at is going with the 300 & 24K West DVD (WA, OR, CA, NV). I spend 99.9% of my time in OR/CA and would like higher detail maps of where I am at. I do have the old Garmin Topo of the whole US that I can upload if necessary although it is lacking the shaded relief feature. If I traveled further and more often I could see the benefit of having the whole US topo loaded with 100K maps for sure, but in my case I don't think it is applicable. I really appreciate everyone going back and forth with the pros and cons of each and their own personal preferences, it has allowed me to make a fairly educated decision on what I need to do. Before I started I was unclear on quite a few issues but have them all resolved at this point. Thanks again!
  2. Apparently the state of Oregon isn't available as a topo from gpsfiledepot so I will have go with the 24K series. I hope the detail is much greater than my old Garmin topo software pictured above.
  3. Any idea how the files from gpsfiledepot compare to the Garmin 24K series of topos? I have the older version of Topo pictured above and it is just OK. I have National Geographic Topo that I prefer to use on the computer but it isn't GPS compatable but the maps are so much better. I just download my GPSr data and overlay it on the National Geographic program. I was planning on getting the Garmin 24K West DVD to replace both of my mapping applications listed above. When I went to the gpsfiledepot all I saw that seemed applicable to Topo was a trails map of the NW. I didn't download it yet and don't know if this is the same style map that is better than the Garmin ones.
  4. I bought a Colorado when they were released last year. After much deliberation and internal debate, I decided upon the Colorado 300 for just the reasons mentioned. I already owned the Topo 2008 DVD, and I could use an SD card to load the maps. I even spoke with several Garmin people at an event in their Chicago store, so I had not only salesmen, but some of the engineers there too. They all agreed that the Colorado 300 + Maps DVD + SD card was the same as a Colorado 400t. After getting my 300, I quickly learned that this wasn't entirely true. When you have the Topo 2008 DVD, you don't have exactly the same maps as are pre-loaded on the 400t models. The maps pre-loaded on the 400t unit are about 2.7GB and only use about 500 segments (I might have the number of segments way off here). The Topo 2008 DVD maps are closer to 7000 segments and are larger than the 4GB file size limit for the maps file. This really disappointed me because I couldn't load "everything" from the Topo DVD as well as my City Navigator maps onto the 300 (even using the SD card). After a little moping, I accepted that I didn't really need to load the entire US Topo maps, and I loaded a sub-set of maps onto my SD card and was off working hapily for several months. While visiting the MidWest Geo Bash last summer, I found my next limitation of going with the 300 over the 400t. When you pull your SD card out for any reason, you lose all of your maps... This isn't an issue for most people, but it became one for me. I keep my geocaches stored on the SD card so that I can have multiple GPX files with more than 2000 geocaches. I only put a sub-set of those GPX files into the /Garmin/GPX folder on the SD card, and can move them around using my PDA or my cell phone while out on a caching run. I was attempting to do just that on a Saturday afternoon when we met up with some friends for lunch. They gave us their address to go to their house, so I entered it into the GPSr and set it to route us there. Before leaving the restaurant I pulled the SD card to move the GPX files around on the PDA, and quickly learned that my GPSr could no longer route me to their house because it had no maps. On New Year's eve last year, I took advantage of an exceptional opportunity. A local cacher had purchased an Oregon 400t and later decided to go with a Delorme PN-40, so they were selling their 400t with all of its accessories for $450. They told me that they had sent their GPSr back to Garmin for repairs/exchange and had been sent a replacement one that they had not used (or had used very little since getting it back). Now that I have the 400t, I am seeing that with the Oregon, Garmin made the differences between the 300 and the 400 much less "troubling". On the Colorado 300, the user only had about 390 MB of available memory for maps, etc. I hear that on the Oregon that is now up to about 850 MB. That 850 MB is much closer to the 1.25 GB free on the 400t, and therefore make it easier to suggest the Oregon 300 to people. The other thing I have learned is that very few people really "need" the whole US Topo map on their GPSr all the time so loading some maps on the GPSr internal memory and more on the SD card is an acceptable solution. Thanks a bunch for your lengthy reply, completely understandable and applicable to my decision. Thanks for putting me back on the fence between the 300 & 400T again!
  5. I won't try to "talk you out of it". For most people, the 300 + maps on DVD + micro-SD card is the more robust solution. That way you get the maps on the PC as well as on the GPSr, and the only real differences between the 300 and the 400t are the pre-loaded maps, and internal memory. The micro-SD card can compensate for the memory issue... Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't mind you "trying to talk me out of it" since it would be a learning curve for me as to the reasons for not going the route I plan on. I would like to know why someone would not go this route even it is for reasons that might not apply to the way I will use the GPSr. Enlighten me if you feel like it
  6. To answer my own question here: I talked to a tech at Garmin today and posed the same question to him. He told me that buying the 24K West software to be able to use on the computer and upload to the 300 would be more beneficial since the maps would be in 1:24K detail instead of the 1:100K as loaded on the 400T. It's looking like the 300 plus another $100 for the Topo West 24K DVD. I am looking at going this route unless you guys can point out things that my limited knowledge base is lacking.
  7. I have been trying to figure out the best way to go between the 300 and 400T as well. I was looking at it as I could purchase the 300 and the 24K West DVD for close to the same as the 400T. Would the 300 and 24K West give better detail and usability outdoors while geocaching and hiking than the 400T? I am not concerned about city maps, car navigation or highway maps. I am primarily geocaching on the West coast. Sorry if this has been covered before, I am new to this forum and geocaching and these forums seem a bit overwhelming to search for me at his point in time. Thanks
  8. My son's 27 now and while visiting him in Arizona i set him up to find his first three cache's.... he was up all last night looking for a deal on a GPS...... Good thing he finished his homework so he can read now LOL. Have fun with your son...they grow up too fast. Joe Thanks! This seems like such a great activity to spend time together.
  9. My son (8) and I just started Sunday, what a great time to spend together. He couldn't wait to get home today and find some caches nearby the house. What a perfect way to get him to do his homework first We are looking forward to the many adventures ahead of us!
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