MacBandit
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Posts posted by MacBandit
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Does anyone have any information on when or if DEM shading will be available on the Mac with a future update to Garmin RoadTrip?
I've been trying to send a service request to Garmin using their website but the form isn't working either in Safari or Firefox.
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To be honest I find it strange that the CO electronic compass goes so far off base just because batteries are changed. There must be more Garmin can do on this subject. I will keep the issue open in my list.
Another quick compass question on the CO 400t... When I was playing around with my first unit the red compass arrow had a section that would break out moving off left or right. I was intrigued with this presentation as it reminded me of an aircraft VOR. With my first replacement now (I'm not hoping for any others) I've been unable to get the compass arrow to function this way. What was that mode--How do I get it back should I prefer it?
Thank you.
Sounds like you are referring to glide path. It's an option you should be able to change from the compass screen.
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To be honest I find it strange that the CO electronic compass goes so far off base just because batteries are changed. There must be more Garmin can do on this subject. I will keep the issue open in my list.
Another quick compass question on the CO 400t... When I was playing around with my first unit the red compass arrow had a section that would break out moving off left or right. I was intrigued with this presentation as it reminded me of an aircraft VOR. With my first replacement now (I'm not hoping for any others) I've been unable to get the compass arrow to function this way. What was that mode--How do I get it back should I prefer it?
Thank you.
Sounds like you are referring to glide path. It's an option you should be able to change from the compass screen.
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I wonder if Garmin used their heads and kept in mind that this is a hiking unit and people will be using it with gloves. I sure hope the touch screen works with gloves.
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The new version supports the Intel Macs and is suppose to be very very fast. Has anyone tried this and if so has it worked for connecting Macs to USB GPS receivers and transferring maps to them?
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I have had my Garmin GPSMAP 60CS for about 5 months and just recently was able to cache with it. I also have a Legend and it seems to me the legend keeps a better sat signal lock in foliage or in difficult signal areas than the 60CS(both receivers in optimal postiton with the legend laying on its back and the 60CS pointing up). In my house with the legend I can get a lock while I can not with the 60CS on the same hour in the same spot in my house. Also making sure the units are not on at the same time and place to interfere with each other. I really like all the features and the unit other than I am a little disappointed in its ability to keep a good lock. I have also noticed that when I let it dangle from my neck on the neck strap it loses signal. In its optimal postion pointing straight up I would think this would not happen like it does. Also sometimes it will take several minutes to lock in after I power it on in its own backyard. However I have had the estimated accuracy down to 6 ft in a clear sky situation and it has been dead on with caches in wide open areas. Is the 60CS just quicker to let you know that you have a low or lost sat signal or am I just used to the legend letting me wonder around for a few minutes before it lets me know that it has lost its signal? Is my question making any sense? Just wondering if anyone else has this situation.
The 60C lock issue has been addressed some where seems like what you need to do is do a complete reset and then let it sit outside with a clear view of the sky and let it load for approx. 30mins. I think there is a FAQ on this somewhere. Maybe someone else can point you to it.
In my experience the 60C is a far superior GPS then any of the models like the Vista or Legend. I out performs them in every way from GPS lock time to signal strength to page load time.
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dick621 & CenTexDodger - thanks for the replies...On my 60cs I went to the map page, hit menue, selected guidance text, enter, and got three choices. Always show, Never show, and Show when navigating. Hope that helps.
I tried using the Show when Navigating, and Always Show options. What that does is show a somewhat helpful text like 'Oak Street to Main Street', until you get close to the turn, then it shows the more helpful text 'Turn left on Main Street'. I want to always see the 'Turn left on Main Street' text.
In the Main menu, select setup. In the setup menu there is a icon labeled page sequence. Go into that and select "Add page". Find the "next turn preview" and add it where you want to the pages that you can scroll through.I may not be understanding what you are saying, but I don't think this will give me what I want. I already have the next turn preview page setup as one of the pages I can scroll thru. I don't want to have to scroll to get this. I'd like the top entry on the next turn preview page to show as an additional data item on the map page. I tried adding additional data fields to the map page, but there was nothing I saw to add the next turn preview.
The closest thing I have found so far is to go to the next turn preview page, and display this instead of the map page. I can then see all the turns on the route. It jumps to the map page when I get close to the turn, and then jumps back to the turn preview page after I've made the turn. This is an ok solution, but I'd rather have the pretty map page as my primary screen.
There unfortunately is nothing to meet your requirements. I know I wanted the same thing. I've since found that I just keep my zoom out far enough to see my next turn and when the preview pop ups then I see it in further detail. If the map is too complex at a higher zoom then I just use the turn by turn page since the next turn map pops up there as well.
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So what exactly does battery saver mode do? It doesn't dim or blank the screen. My guess is that it reduces the frequency of track logging and/or sat checks, but the manual doesn't really tell me what is really going on. So what is it? Inquiring minds want to know!
It reduces the frequency with which it logs your position. From my experience you'll get a tighter more accurate lock with it off but if you are just traveling highway or not in heavy cover I find I can get about a third more battery life with it on.
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Fear Not fellow Mac users, In a few years (possible 2) we will be able to run windows on a new Mac and all our problems will be solved
I'm not sure how running windoze on my Mac is going to solve more than 1 or 2 little problems I currently have. I can see it creating quite a few, but not solving more than 1 or 2.
Now a GPS company creating a Mac version of their mapping software to run on my Mac solves those same 1 or 2 problems without the creation of the new problems.
Of course, in 2 years, what will be the incentive for software manufacturers to create Mac versions of software? You can just run windoze on your Mac full time and save them plenty of effort. I guess this is the wrong forum for this topic...
The incentive will be that one person using proper compiler will be able to port a small to medium size app to the Mac OS in a few days.
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Basically if you want to drive and have the cursor centered in the road you need lock mode turned on, otherwise the cursor will wander around based on accuracy of GPS.
ImpalaBob Not to be picky but the cursor location on the map/road has more to do with the accuracy of the map then the GPS. The GPS is almost always way more accurate in location then the map is.
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Has anyone tried using autorouting in the unit with Metroguide 4.01? According to an item on ebay... ebay it is posible. If so, isn't this just the origional release of Metroguide 2 without all the updates?
MG 4.01 is old and outdated.
So still with autorouting there may no be a road to drive on
That's putting it kindly.
In my area it doesn't show roads that have been here for 20 years and it does show roads that have never existed.
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autorouting on the topo type maps
Autoroute to what? topo lines?
Trails and roads(unpaved).
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Except for loading maps.
Doesn't do much for road navigation and big city routing though. I'm pretty handy with a paper map so in a lot of cases I'm better off with a large print topo then I am with a GPS but of course it isn't as handy.
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Also I have another issue Soo I'll throw it out there.. whe I'm Driving it seems I'm alittle off with the road when i drive.. I dont seem to follaw the road it shos me driving on the sidwalk.. is there a good way to Configure the unit to be more accurate?
This is just map accuracy all GPSs and maps fight this issue.. When you get CS you can turn on lock on road, which will lock the cursor to the road.
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Oh the other hand, I might check out VPC and see if that holds any potential for running the mapping application.
It would pay for those of you who are new to this forum to at least skim the previous posts, as there is a wealth of good info & ideas presented in the past. Many of the frequent posters, including myself have successfully avoided the Virtual PC thing and have found fully satisfactory solutions outside of the Windoze trap.
Except for loading maps.
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How about "power Save button where you can shut down the display, but it continutes to take a reading, and wake it up when you arrive near a location? Talking about saving some batteries!
Actually the backlight is the biggest power drain without that a small modern LCD really doesn't consume all that much power. What I think really draws power is redrawing the maps in real time.
Good observation, lets expand on it.
One of my biggest wishes is for something I call "auto backlight". Although I don't use my B&W Legend in my car as a primary means of navigation, I do use it from time to time to keep tabs on current trip progress. If it is night time, having the backlight on all the time is a real battery killer. I would like to have a backlight option that would allow me to turn it on on "every x minutes for y amount of time".
Wouldn't it be nice to have the unit turn on the backlight every 5 minutes for 30 seconds automatically- without having to depress a button?? Now that's product innovation! A simple software upgrade could do this...
(Good thread BTW...)
Or you could just plug it into a power socket since you're in your car.
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How about "power Save button where you can shut down the display, but it continutes to take a reading, and wake it up when you arrive near a location? Talking about saving some batteries!
Actually the backlight is the biggest power drain without that a small modern LCD really doesn't consume all that much power. What I think really draws power is redrawing the maps in real time. I haven't tried it but I suspect you'll get better battery life from a text screen where there aren't any graphics being drawn constantly. Also for the kind of functions a GPS like the 60C provides the maximum 30 hour battery life (which I have attained) is totally incredible. My old Vista with the crummy b/w screen could barely scratch 8 hours.
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I'd bet you were going faster, I don't think the software computes the downward component vector (altitude loss) in its calculations
I don't know about the 60C but 60CS is capable of calculating vertical Feet/Second. Also they are not certified for air navigation but are capable of it so true speed (horizontal and vertical combined).
60C has a vertical speed field too. Now you have me wondering. Do you suppose there is altitude data coded into the track log too? I have downloaded several flights into Delorme's topo v5 but have always wanted the altitude to code also so I could 3d model instrument approaches.
Time to figure out how to run some experiments.
If you look at the elevation log screen you can track back through it using the cursor.
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I have a new request that I thought of a few weeks ago and then promptly forgot. When I'm traveling down the road and I'm looking for an upcoming gas station there is no way to find something upcoming. You can look by exit but what if you don't know what exits are upcoming. You can look for nearest but that includes things you past and North and Sound bound exits. This goes doubly for Rest Areas which are usually only accessible from one side of the highway or the other. There should be a way to search for upcoming POI especially if you are following a route in which the GPS knows where you are heading.
Also it would be nice to be able to limit POI to within a certain distance of your route. Sometimes your nearest gas station on a route is 2 miles east of the highway when I could have gone 3 miles down further on my route and had one right on the highway.
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Mini USB. Mine started to pull out the other day so I called Garmin and have to send it in to either get repaired or get a new one. We'll see what happens.
Every experience I've had from Garmin suggests that they will warranty exchange it for a remanufactured unit as long as you haven't left signs of abuse or tampering with it. I'm going to try to remember to treat my USB connector with care if they seem to be at all fragile. That connector is definitely a tight fit. Let us know how it goes.
PS: Using the 60CS for downhill skiing is a blast. Recording top speed is great fun. I Broke 50mph on one run and my brother cracked 60mph.I did 125km/t = 75mph with my downhill ski
I'd bet you were going faster, I don't think the software computes the downward component vector (altitude loss) in its calculations, I'd bet it only does the 2-D map component. Unless you have some flat parts of your run, you might have even better bragging rights
I don't know about the 60C but 60CS is capable of calculating vertical Feet/Second. Also they are not certified for air navigation but are capable of it so true speed (horizontal and vertical combined).
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Thanks. So...does that mean you can down the updates for free? I couldn't find a link on their site. Maybe I'm blind.
why would they give out maps for free?
Not the maps for free....only the updates. In other words, I already purchased the maps, but they soon become out of date with new roads being built etc. Why can't they provide a yearly update via a quick download?
No the the new versions are not considered updates. If you owned the previous version you can get a discount on the new version but not for free.
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Why doesn't Garmin (the website) offer a yearly download to update their Mapsource data, especially City Select? The new City Select version which I recently bought is already outdated due to alll the new roads in my area. It would be nice if you could download an update every year which includes all new roads, highways, points of interest, etc.
It appears they are doing this now that they have gone to Navtec data. City Select 6 came out about a year after City Select 5. The problem is no matter what even the latest software will be a year old due to the time involved in updating all the maps for the entire country.
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I have a minor issue with the geocaching mode of the 60C. I'd like to be able to select the next cache from a list of the nearby caches after having found the current one. The suggested or nearest cache is not always in a direction I want to travel.
You can always search your waypoints by symbol then hit menu and then hit find nearest.
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This can be done currently with MapSource. Just make sure you have your mapset created in Mapsource and then save it to your computer. Next time you need it just open it up and the mapset and waypoints and whatever else you saved will be read to go.
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Was that clearer?
If there IS a way to do what I'm describing, I'd sure like to know about it!!!! For people that are constantly travelling or just want to load different mapping areas, that would save hours of time.
Very much so and I have to agree that it is a bit time consuming but I usually start it and go do something else. Takes about 15 minutes at most for a full load.
ImpalaBob 
Garmin Dakota 10 and Dakota 20
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
All I want to know is if they will eventually make the software on one of these units so that it has the same level of functions and is as customizable as the software in the 60x series.