ericnau

Can someone clarify one point for me? Right now, with my Garmin Lengend, I have to be walking before the compass (and arrow) register a change in direction. With the electronic compass the arrow will always be pointing in the right direction whether or not I'm moving, correct? Thanks

Thanks!

What is the downside to an electronic compass (i.e. what makes it a PITA)? I'm in a similar situation as the OP, and ever since my first GPS I've wanted an electronic compass, but now I'm second guessing myself.

Thanks for the replies so far. I'm convinced the Vista HCx is right for me. Just a few more questions: When the Vista HCx says it can hold 1000 waypoints, is this for built in memory, or on the SD card? ...Can you put waypoints on a SD card? Is there a limit (besides storage)? If I were to buy maps, do I have to update them, or do I have to buy new ones? ...How does it work, basically? I buy the map (which is on a SD card, right?) and then just pop it in the GPS? Anything else? ...Also, are the maps based per city, state, country, or something else?

First of all, I considering myself fairly technologically advanced, but when it comes to GPSs I'm totally lost, so I thank anyone who can give me any advice. Right now, I have a eTrex Legend, which leaves much to be desired. ...I never had any luck connecting it to a PC, so I've been entering geocaches manually, which is a big pain. I'm in the market for a GPS now, and the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx really caught my eye. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it was the only model I could find that had an electronic compass, which I really want. I also like the automatic routing, although I doubt I'll ever buy a map so I can use it (but if I did, would this work just as well as in car navigation systems?). Are there any cheaper units you could suggest that you think I would like? ...What about a Magellan? Also, I have a Mac running OS X. Is there any software that will work with my computer? ...What I really want is an "iTunes for geocaching" that will simply sync my computer with my GPS. Also, are there any GPS programs that have mapping capabilities? I'm looking for any thoughts on this subject, and even the smallest of suggestions are welcome! Thanks again, Eric

Thanks!

I'm not entirely new to geocaching, but still have a lot to learn. I have a cache up in Lake Tahoe named "Farewell Tahoe," but according to the TB history, out of the 50 Travel bugs that have visited my cache, 4-5 never came out, but they aren't in the cache. Is this normal? Where could they have gone? I haven't noticed any obvious foul play, but occasionally I will find items in there that I don't remember seeing logged, but that may just be my forgetfulness. Sometimes I feel as if geocachers aren't logging their visits, which would explain why some items seem to appear randomly and some Travel Bugs disappear, but I don't have any proof. Unfortunately I don't live close enough to carefully monitor the cache's contents. Is there anything I should do about this?