pizzachef

I think that you can. The problem is that MMC cards a re a little thinner and sometimes wiggle loose and lose the connection inside the GPS...but I believe that they'll work. But you might want to wait for someone who's actually tried it to give a definite sayso -pizzachef

I'd have to say that I'm not shocked at the performance of the Magellan and I'm quite surprised the the old Eagle worked as well as it did. That behavior is not characteristic at all of the current line of Magellan GPS units. My older 320 and newer Meridian both work excellently in the car and very well under lots of trees. The only time I lose a lock is in a tunnel or under a concrete overpass. And don't pay any mind to Criminal and sindigo, some people don't realize that a little cynicism goes a really long way, and its just rude too. -pizzachef

You think this guy will hang around and give us more commercial-looking advertisement posts with his sock puppet? I guess its a neato idea, but the last thing I want on my GPS screen is the golden arches everywhere. -pizzachef

try this website http://members.cox.net/pizzachef/geocaching/manual_GPS315_320.pdf i'll leave it there for a few days for you..might be a little quicker than magellan's but the file is kinda big to be emailing the 315 is a great gps, i used my 320 for a long time. i recently moved up to a meridian but only to get the mapping...if not for that, i'd still have my 320. good luck with it...it does take a little while to get it up and going the first time -pizzachef

Well, it is a little obscure, but the most obvious guess would be decimal degrees or DD.DDDDD just multiply the decimal portion by 60 (so if you have 90.874, multiply .874[degrees] by 60[minutes per degree] to get 52.440 minutes) and you'll have something that looks like this: DD MM.MMM degrees and decimal minutes. that's what geocaching.com uses good luck with that -pizzachef

The 310 does not have a display option with the hundreths digit. It has DD/MM.MM. It will get you close enough to find a cache, although I found myself switching to the coordinate screen and try to move around until the coordinates were dead on because the distance only shows up in miles. 0.01 miles is hard to picture when you're used to dealing with feet. Anyway, your unit isn't a dud, just a bit outdated. If you don't like it, see if you can find a 315 on ebay or somewhere...it's a HUGE step up from the 310. If you like the way the buttons are laid out on the Magellan, you may find it cumbersome to switch to the way the Garmin etrex buttons are laid out. -pizzachef

Well, I dont know if different browsers do different things, but my pointer changes from a little arrow to a little hand with a finger pointed out when i mouse over something that;s clickable. That seemed sufficient to me, but I guess if it's not over-complicating things, the color-changing is pretty nifty. I try not to fix things that aren't broke (but then I don't know what goes on at the other end of this website...I'm just a happy, ignorant end-user) and the changes you're making are very nice and I'm very appreciative. I wish I could offer to help...I do still owe you that pizza -pizzachef

Sheeesh...is that all? I thought it would be more complicated than that So the waypoint url format is new? I've never noticed that before, but I like it. I don't usually convert hex to decimal in my head, so i'd always have to search for the waypoint...now it seems i can just type it in the url. That's good because it seems my TI-85 doesn't have the Base31 number system anyway, and in my life, I've only been able to memorize 2 or 3 Microsoft product keys. The only thing I don't get is the offset 411120. Is that not a decimal number? because it sure is innocent-looking. -pizzachef

I've noticed that the URLs for the individual cache pages look different since the new supercool Nearest Cache Page came out. I thought before the URL had the base 10 number for the 4 character GCxxxx number (or am I way wrong). Did we finally run out of numbers? Or are the new URLs just a better way of doing things... If this has been discussed already, I'm sure someone will point me in the right direction -pizzachef

I was thinking of using a Nalgene bottle. The only thing I'm concerned about is the anchor drifting...down here we've got the GUlf of Mexico, and even behind the barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi, I think the sea floor is a dynamic thing in hurricanes and such. Is that a problem for anyone??? -pizzachef

I know it's not the most convenient way to do it, but if you're in a pinch, couldn't you just change your coord system or datum in your gps..enter in the coord, and then change back to the original coordinate system and look at the coord you just entered? Seems like the gps would make the most ideal coordinate conversion tool...but it is a little cumbersome to keep changing settings... -pizzachef

quote:Originally posted by eneste:I'm in the same boat as Rich. I'd also like one that can easily hookup to a laptop, preferrably through USB. I'm looking at the Meridian Platinum because lots of you recommend it and it has an expansion slot for memory. It is a little expensive though. Anyone have cheaper recommendations? ALL of the Meridians have an SD card slot. The platinum just has the compass and barometer. The base Meridian was going for 100 bucks at outpost.com. -pizzachef

The only gps that uses sd cards for expandable memory is the Magellan Meridian series, and they don't come with maps. For car use though, I've heard the Garmin GPS III or GPS V are really good..they have auto routing and probably have a pretty good point of interest database. I know that the Meridian POIs are pretty dated...I dont usually use them. Do a search and see what people say about the Garmis III/V. I think the V is about 500 bucks, or was anyway, but the III might be pretty reasonable. -pizzachef

Multi-Media cards are thinner than Secure Digital cards but will work interchangably with them for the most part i think. Are you using an MMC card instead of an SD card? -pizzachef

quote: And now to see if we can arrange something to take care of those clean bathrooms... Doug? Oh nooo!!! I'm shivering already Looks like there's going to be a good turnout...probably more than I imagined. No problem though..but I might not have enough seats for everyone. Maybe anyone who has one of those folding camp chairs should bring one to sit in. That would help lots! -pizzachef

Well, I can't answer your mac questions, but as for the Meridian and the Zire...I have Mapopolis maps, not the GPS enables ones though, but they're not really all that much better than the maps that are on the gps from Mapsend. I've found a few errors on their maps (mapopolis). But if you still want to conenct them together...it looks like the Zire comes with a USB cable for hot-syncing. You'll need a serial cable (if they make one for the Zire) and a null modem connector (connector with a male? serial port on each end) so that you can connect the female ends of the hot-sync cable and Meridian cable together. I've been intending on trying the demo GPS enabled maps, but it's really more hassle for no real benefit over the gps maps. So I can't really vouch for how well the two work together. If you give it a whirl, let us know how you made out and if they work well. -pizzachef

Try using GPS Babel. It will convert your EasyGPS files from .LOC to .WPT (the magellan protocol, but it's different from the mapsend .WPT !) Then you just put that file on your card with the card reader and load it with the card utilities. If you make a new file in the gps, use babel to convert it to .loc to use in easygps. GPS Babel is a little finicky, but when you figure out it's quirks, it works wonders. -pizzachef

I did not realize that they made such good tracklogs. I know the etrex summit is supposed to lay down excellent tracks...makes sense since that's the gps that looks like it's made for hiking. In that case, I'd say the geko would be great for hiking...lightweight, simplistic, good tracks, and maps are pretty useless on hiking trails. But if you're not looking to shave ounces, I think there are better alternatives. -pizzachef

I still don't the Geko even comes close to the meridian as far as functionality goes. i'd recommend the etrex venture if you're looking at the geko..if you're not worried about mapping. and unless you absolutely need the digital compass and barometer in the meriplat, i'd say the base model meridian with a fat memory card is a super deal. leaps and bounds beyond the geko -pizzachef

Even with the non-mapping base SporTrak, which also happens to be yellow I think, you're getting more features in the gps than with the etrex yellow. The base sportrak is probably comparable to the etrex venture. The yellow etrex isn't the best deal out there anymore. -pizzachef

Ummmm....make sure you're not getting an Olympus xD card...there's a difference...the xD is Olympus' and Fuji's new proprietary memory. I know Olympus also makes Smartmedia cards, but I've never seen an Oly SD card. Other than that, ditto what letherman said. Any brand SD card will work fine in the meridian. And mapsend works great with the base Meridian, just as well as with the other Meridians. -pizzachef

If you've already got an SD card, the Meridian is probably your best choice. It's the same as the gold but with less memory, which you're compensating for with the memory card. Other than that, it does everything that the others do..I have one and it's great. There is one limitation to the base meridian that's really not all that significant if you know about it. Read here: http://gpsinformation.net/mgoldreview/magellanbasemap.htm Basically, you have to make sure the batteries don't go dead on you before you do a manual shutdown, or you can lose the waypoint data that you've entered since the last shutdown. Anyway, I'd recommend the base Meridian, it's the most mapping for the money. -pizzachef

I still can't figure out what type of user these things are being marketed to??? It just doesn't look rugged enough for a serious, ounce-counting, backpacker...i think the summit would FAR outperform this thing...and the 101 and 201? Is there a reason they made the screen so small? It just looks like a lot of wasted, potential screen space. I realize 2 AAA's don't give that much juice, maybe that's the reason for the small screen. I just don't get it -pizzachef

quote:Originally posted by Cachetrotters:I'm sorry to be a doubting Thomas (my middle name, in fact), but it should hold so tight you have to back off the screws a little so it _will_ swivel when you want it too....unless you stripped the screws on one side... There is a specific way to tighten the clamp. Check the mounting bracket instructions and try again. don ditto...I had that mount for my Magellan 320, which is the same rig but with a different cradle. It was plenty tight, no unintentional swivelling. I just ordered the mount for my meridian, so in a week I might be in your shoes. -pizzachef

I haven't had much time lately, but I'll let you know the next time I have some time after work to go on a cache run. In the meantime, you can probably do some of those virtuals hidden around the city without a gps...just read the hint and mapquest should get you close enough. -pizzachef