clintb

Any normal USB output will work as long as it's rated for 5 V. The amperage matters in that it will either charge slower, or at the full speed the 64s will allow.

I have an Oregon 650 on the latest firmware, and while I've barely used it for geocaching, I have used it for quite a bit of hiking and trail running. It's loaded up with 24K Garmin US West maps, OSM OpenCycle, and some other random ones. I'll use it recording tracks of where I've hiked/ran and it's not yet locked up. Great size, great response, battery life is excellent (screen off when not using), and it's comfortable to hold.

Surprised no one has replied to your question. Go here: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ For trail running/hiking/geocaching, I'm quite fond of "Routable Bicycle (Openfietsmap Lite)" maps. Around here (San Francisco bay area) those maps have tons of trails mapped and it's presented in a very clean way. Choose a predefined area from the drop down selection boxes, or check the box for manual tile selection and select your desired area. If you chose to select tiles manually, you'll enter in an email address and receive notification when the maps are built. If you selected a predefined area, more than likely you'll be presented with a link taking you to a folder to download from a number of files. For loading directly onto a Garmin, download the one ending in "gmapsupp.zip"; unzip the file and you'll have a file ending in .img. Name that file whatever you want, then copy to the "Garmin" folder on your 64s. If you have a micro SD card installed, create a Garmin folder in the root and copy the .img file into the Garmin folder. The absolute best thing you can do before copying/deleting/renaming, etc...on a Garmin is to connect to a computer via USB, open Windows Explorer (if on a PC), open the drive for the Garmin. In that folder, you'll select everything and copy it all to a folder on your computer. Save that as a backup in case something happens to the original files.

Before buying the City Navigator maps I'd suggest taking a look at the open street maps for Garmin (http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/) . You'll have to buy a micro-SD card to store the maps but the maps themselves are free and are quite good. I have two SD cards, one that I use for a mapset that covers most of the U.S. and one that I use for when I travel. That way I can create a mapset for where I'm going when I travel on my "travel" card and swap it out for my "local" card when I get back home. Seconding that site, specifically the routable bicycle (Openfietsmap Lite) maps. I use those for trail running/hiking/geocaching and so far they've been on the mark both on road and off road.

Something similar and related, yet a bit different happened with my Oregon 600. Using a PC, GSAK, and loading .gpx through USB was fine. Making and loading maps to the Oregon 600 SD through Basecamp via USB resulted in a couple of micro SD cards actually being software locked. Yes, software locked. I could not format the micro SD, neither in the Oregon 600 as a drive letter, nor via a card reader. I tried every tip I could find and even on Mac OS. Nothing worked. This happened twice on new Sandisk Extreme 32GB cards. Luckily, it was new and ordered via Amazon so exchanges were easy. It came down to the USB cable I was using. Same trusty ole mini USB cable I've been using for years. Switched out to the still-new USB cable that shipped with my few month old Oregon 600 and everything works perfectly.

Love it! That's exactly how my mom and dad (mostly mom) raised me. I almost never heard my mom fretting about germs, except the time I darned near cut off a portion of my leg with an ax (oops!). Either through genetics, or the broad exposure to the outdoors, or a combination of both, I'm rarely sick. People in the office getting sick? Not me. I haven't had the flu in over 10 years. A cold is more of a, "Hmm, am I coming down with something?" then it's gone. Get out there and get dirty!

Keep the USB connection, but use EasyMPS to send a GSAK generated .gpx file to Mapsource. Easy as pie and fast with USB.

NAT (as used in 'cheapie' routers is stateful. It has to be, in order to work. If it wasn't stateful, sessions using the same ports/hosts would get crossed. Stateful firewalls grew out of NAT. Designers recognized that simply filtering traffic based on source/destination ports was less secure than NAT, so they decided to apply the concept of NAT state tables to non-NAT connections. Stateful inspection is a requirement for doing most forms of NAT (including all forms of NAT in devices you'd buy at a retail outlet.) - it's impossible to do one-to-many NAT (which is what broadband routers do) without maintaining state. Sorry, but you're thinking of NAPT (Network Address Port Translation), not SPI. The two do not go together as you imply. SPI works higher in the OSI model, whereas NAT and NAPT work at layer 3-4. "ports/hosts"? There again, not interchangeable. A port is a service ON a host, not the host itself. One host, as in a server, can have many ports that it's listening on/to. FTP, Web, etc... Some simple, but effective definitions: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/stateful_inspection.html http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/NAT.html and here http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101218.asp

Not all routers have firewalls. Only some do. i.e., you can't just go to Best Buy and buy the cheapest router there and expect it to have a firewall. You need to verify. Very true. Most of the cheapie routers are just providing a very basic level of security in the form of NAT (Network Address Translation). The true firewalls have SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection), which looks inside the the data packet to make some intelligent decisions about how to handle the traffic. Either way, both of them are better than no hardware based router. I love the Netgear line of products; most of them are SPI equipped these days and have great features. www.netgear.com Check out the WGT634U.

Look around on eBay for the Maha MH-C401FS charger. It will charge 4 AAs or 4 AAAs individually at either a slow or fast charge. I have been very pleased with the one I bought from thomas-distributing.com.

What camera are you using? Great white balance.

No doubt, this site is fantastic. I joined and started a premium membership even before purchasing my GPSr just to say "Thanks".

I had my 60cs shut off a couple of times just right after powering it on. I solved that one by using some denatured alcohol on qtips and cleaning the contacts. I cleaned the batteries as well for good measure.

My 60CS has been stellar. I don't have anything other than a PPC w/Bluetooth GPSr to compare it with, but it's stellar none the less. It has guided me to within feet of each cache I've sought out, but for some reason it has me going through all manner of creeks and such. Hmm, maybe its time to get a Topo product... The form factor is fantastic. The color screen looks even better in bright sunlight. Battery life is fantastic. I just did a 5hr drive from OK to my home in TX on just one bar showing the entire trip! My Socket/Emtac Bluetooth unit will pull in a good amount of satellites, but the 60CS usually gets two more. Great reception! Money well spent!

Ok, I have to ask an obvious question; have you calibrated the compass on your 60CS?

This is a great thought. So good that I thought of it too. I was thinking my camera had this, but I went through the manual and don't see anything about that. Man would that be useful. Look for this to be inclusive of RAW format photos. I don't know if the G3 does it, but my S45, when set to RAW, will take the RAW and bundle a 640x480 jpg along with it as the thumbnail. How about finding a cheap PocketPC with a CF slot?

I'm a cyclist and a Geocacher, but not at the same time. The good ole cycle computer does its job just fine, but I often wonder about using my 60cs as a cyclocomputer.

Another way is to use "[_QUOTE]Insert quoted text here.[/_QUOTE]" Remove the underscore that precedes each "Q" in "QUOTE".

Garmin 60CS Socket Bluetooth

www.micro-surface.com for some fantastic products. Specifically, Micro-Gloss, is what I use. Start with Micro-Gloss #5, then Micro-Gloss and you can finish up with Final Finish. I've tried all manner of suggestions on plastic and bar none, then micro surface stuff works the best.

I have an iPaq 2215 w/512MB CF card and Socket Bluetooth with their My Navigator software. I love that combo for autorouting/poi type stuff, but wouldn't think of using it for caching. Paperless caching, yes, but not as the GPSr. For those duties I use my 60cs.

Don't forget the $10 rebate on S&T2004 that's going on. Rebate Form

I haven't had any problems with PayPal in over 300 selling transactions and more than a handful of buys.

The guy at NG TOPO is full of it. A USB cable is just a passive device; the 60CS is what Windows will need the driver to communicate with. NG TOPO probably doesn't support USB transfers yet, but serial is more than likely no problem.

I would like to know why some geocaches go to the found list when I've clearly not found them yet. It seems as though ones which are in close proximity to a cache that has been found will be put in the found list. Very annoying.