gps_dr

Sorry, I can be of no help. Aside from whatever the Bushnell GPS units were designed for, from what I've read on these forums it was not Geocaching. Caveat emptor. Yah, the Bushnell series was designed around hunting and fishing. Hikers brought up the rear as far as usage was concerned and Geocaching never entered the equation. The unit is limited in its usage and imagery capability. It comes with a base map but nothing detailed in the level we cachers have become accustomed to. Waypoint transferring by GPX file then, wasn't even a consideration from everything I read about the 200 and 400 series when I was researching replacing my MeriPlat early last year. I contacted Bushnell when the unit was released. They didn't care that there was no way to electronically transfer information to the unit from other sources. I didn't think that reentering waypoints and not being able to transfer tracks was acceptable. Especially considering the very pricey map choices. The DeLorme PN20 came out at the same time, with real mapping capabilities.

You must have used a different Oregon than I. I have a 400t and I have no problems seeing the screen in sun or shade. Those comments confuse me. I've used Colorado & Oregon units, with the correct angle, they may be workable, but didn't work out good on handle bars for me. The Garmin Dakota 20 has lower resolution, maybe it will be better in that respect, also has 3-axis compass.

I've used both a 76CSx and Colorado 400t on handlebars. Got rid of the Colorado, it was not as visible in varying light conditions. Was a pain in the .... to enter data - stupid wheel was too tedious. Did not display more than one track at a time - newer firmware may have resolved this. I could select functions while pedaling a lot easier on the 76. I doubt the Colorado will be manufactured for long (if they still are). The new Dakota 20 has the same resolution as the 76/60 - so it should have better visibility than Oregon or Colorado. It also has a tilt compensated 3-axis compass and up to 200 saved tracks. Sounds interesting, but I use my GPS units for mapping trails and don't think it will be as easy to do with the touch screen. I often mark over a hundred spots on an outing. Data entry would be easier on the Dakota, but more work to access info.

I found that the DeLorme imagery was very useful in picking out old logging cuts. Much easier to follow than crawling over dead-falls when I wanted to go more or less straight back to my truck after following several trails. Black & White imagery more useful to me for this. The DeLorme also allows you to overlay contour lines to give depth to the imagery. If you like, you can also easily switch to USGS quad maps or the vector topo for more information.

Sportsmans Warehouse have them available too.

The SporTrak units are fairly old. It may not recognize the new WAAS satellites. Consumer GPS units accuracy is largely controlled by the spread of "visible" birds. There are errors introduced at the time of placement as well as locating.

It would appear that the ridiculously small icons on the Oregon are a plot against anyone with older or far-sighted vision. A magnifying glass should not be a required accessory. There is no good excuse for such a poorly designed UI element.

They were bashed for good reason =--> Released with many basic functions not working - e.g. couldn't save a tracklog Triton series was advertised as having WAAS, not all models did. Could not load more than 80 or so waypoints before response slowed to a crawl Failure to respond to firmware defects promptly Support (based in India) were not trained about them before release Screen that is unusable in many lighting conditions A user interface that does a poor job of differentiating selections in poor lighting conditions Buttons that are way too small - shouldn't have to hunt for tiny bumps to locate them - difficult with gloves Quirks like a menu button that doesn't work on all screens Having USGS quads on a GPS is nice, but you need vector topo if you want to zoom in tight. Don't like the map disappearing or turning into huge dots when zoomed in. I had high hopes for them and was so disappointed.

NG topo maps are scanned images. Nice maps, easy to use. I've used them for many years. Sometimes get historical references, from them, but over time the number of "named features" has been reduced in new maps provided by the USGS. (Some changes done for political correctness, others just to simplify) See "From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow - How Maps Name, Claim and Inflame" by Mark Monmonier. Scanned maps have limitations of visibility at different GPS zoom settings. As you zoom in tight, images get pixelated and become useless or disappear. Vector based maps (used by Garmin and many others) scale appropriately and change detail based on zoom. So it's all a matter of trade-offs on your use.

The Vista HCx is a nice receiver, very usable. I prefer larger screen of 76/60 series to eTrex. Also prefer separate cursor and enter buttons of 60/76 or PN40. (sometimes get wrong item selected on eTrex models) The PN40 will require more initial investment in time, but has better and continually improving geocaching support. If you get one now, you should be able to get a free upgade to Topo8 when it comes out soon. Topo8 has some improvements for geocaching support as well as road info for Canada & Mexico.

I've had an PN20, Colorado 400t and 76CSx simultaneously on handlebars. Has similar visibility to 76CSx in varying lighting conditions. I sold the 400t, because the screen was usually too washed out and the designers decided that multi-track visibility wasn't needed. I also mark a ton of spots and data entry was slower than on the 76 and pathetic compared to PN20/40. Of course I would prefer a larger screen, but it is quite readable.

My initial use was to mark hunting related locations and to find my way back to the truck or camp regardless of weather or if I had not been that way before. I still walk in the forest with a bow, but primary use is to map bicycle trails and sharing them with others. Paper maps are such a PITA when on bike, and are often of useless scale. I have 140 uploadable GPS tracks covering over 1400 miles of mostly off-road trails.

In tracklog setup you can change track color or make it "transparent". A lot of my use is on bike, I create a plan track that I upload to the unit and use it as a guide instead of referring to paper maps most of the time. I haven't used a route for years and go-to waypoint infrequently. My 76CSx has street maps and I use it to get to trailheads in strange areas via road routing.

The new beta releases for the PN20 and PN40 enhance the ability to quickly enter notes. I map a lot of bike trails, so am always entering notes with waypoints. Sometimes I would make paper notes that were not legible/readable later. Now it easier to make notes of pictures etc as I go.

It is just doing as you "told it to do" - showing the way on the map page to your destination from where you are. You can control visibility of your active log somewhat, but I don't know of any way to remove that line. It was a configurable option on my Lowrance and the Magellans I believe. (Something like pos-dest) I've mostly used Garmin, so have gotten used to it being there.

At first, I was going to reply point-to-point to demonstrate that there are models which fit the needs I listed perfectly (I'm quite happy with my Colorado). But, I disagree with this idea that anyone not admirably in love with the pn-40 must validate or justify their opinions to others ad nauseum, so I'll kindly not do so. This is the sort of thing others have commented on. It's nearly impossible to make the suggestion that the pn-40 is not the most perfect unit ever made without the pn-40 pack hounds jumping on said posts within minutes of them being posted. Can you or any pn-40 owner transfer GBs of data to the unit in a matter of minutes? No - so why imply it? That's not really helping someone who might not be able to make that distinction. And there's really no need to turn a criticism about the speed of data transfer into a discussion of what types and how much data can be transfered. Apples and oranges. (You'll also notice in my list of things for a GPS to do, photo/raster imagery isn't even listed.) The pn-40 does not transfer the same amount of data from the PC to the unit as quickly as the others you mentioned (Colorado and Oregon). This is well established, and it ought to be addressed without being convoluted to something else. DeLorme's own team members on their forums have brought this up, and justified it by sacrificing speed for waterpoofability. I appreciate your efforts to help (and I imagine many others do, as well). But I don't think offering the pn-40 as the only option to be considered is the only way to help (unless DeLorme is paying your bills! ) Loading several gigabytes of maps onto a high speed memory card is really only a matter of minutes. It wasn't one or two minutes, but not an objectionably long period. I have vector topo and USGS quads for the Colorado front range from Ft Collins and Greeley down thru Colorado Springs on it as well as color imagery for the metro area and room to spare for trips. Also nicely scales my 1400 miles of bicycle trails as an overlay over whatever base map I want. The street maps on the topo match up fairly well with reality. Others may complain about the resolution of the imagery, but the 1M imagery was sufficient to pick out overgrown defunct logging roads to allow me to follow them back to the truck last fall instead of climbing over seemingly endless dead-falls or very lengthy & hilly detours. My76CSx couldn't do that even though it is very reliable and at the top of the class for non-play uses. I use both regularly.

IMO yes. Go for the Colorado or the Oregon. Stick with the best out there in the handheld world right now. I have a Garmin 76CSx, got the Colorado for it's higher resolution display and heart rate monitor. I got rid of the Colorado. It is not as good an outdoor unit as the 76CSx (60CSx twin)! It isn't as good on a handlebar - visibility stinks. It only displays one tracklog at a time - I can't live with that as I use trackolgs to show a network of trails. Also use tracklogs to show roads that are not correct on maps. Entering numbers/text on the Colorado was also to cumbersome. I currently use the 76CSx & a DeLorme PN40 to map trails. They both have their advantages.

NG backroads explorer is 100K (Low Resolution Raster in your lingo) NG Topo is scanned USGS maps as are DeLorme's that are available cheap w/subscription along with aerial imagery. Scanned maps and imagery are useful only at certain magnifications, vector can work at any. NG topo still is not capable of transferring a tracklog to GPS receivers other than Magellan Triton.

I've used the imagery on the PN-40 in the mountains to a big advantage. Being able to see the "birds-eye" view of the forest allowed me to pick out continuous logging cuts to make my travel so much easier than fighting dead-falls. Being able to see around or over the forest you are in can be great. No maps are perfect including the 24K vector topos. They still show campgrounds that were closed many years ago and don't show roads that have been there for over a decade. Imagery can be very useful to see these. Maps are only an approximation of reality. YMMV

One of the features of the PN series is the ability to save screen captures to the memory card. This is great for documentation. If the GPS discovers a "screenshots" folder on the SD card, it will save a copy of the screen image any time the power button is pressed. After the image is written, the user is instructed to press the <Enter> button to power down, any other key cancels power off sequence. This write operation is quicker on faster cards. I noticed a big change after switching to a class 6 Transcend 16GB card from standard 4GB cards.

This is what the PN-40/Topo USA 7 combination does best. In Topo 7 you right click on the downloaded track and save to a draw layer. When you cut your map for the PN-40, these can be included (and toggled on/off as needed.) I have over 1200 miles of trails that are derived from 110 tracklogs. This entire network of trails can be easily viewed on the PN-20/40 or Topo 7. I split my network into 3 "zones" that I store in separate "draw" files to make documentation and data maintenance easier. Each draw file has many trails that can be named, color/style/width edited, deleted etc. Another plus to the system is that if you hover the cursor over a draw layer trail on the GPS, it will show the name of the trail. I use Topo 7, Google Earth and various maps to plan bike rides. I then load the planned ride onto the PN40 as a draw layer and on my 76CSx as a track log to follow.

The PN-40 and 60CSx have an electronic compass. I have the 76CSx "twin" to the 60CSx for 21 months now. Haven't used it for Geocaching, very good unit. The PN-40 has better geocaching support and it's maps are CHEAP! Will start using my PN-40 for some geocaching soon.

GeoCoins will be "sprinkled" by PN-40 beta-testers as well as reps to increase the national coverage. You don't have to be near a Cabela's or REI to find one. A couple will be placed in Colorado week after Thanksgiving somewhere along the 1200 miles of trails I have mapped. Have to start working on locations & hints or locating an existing cache.

In many ways the PN40 is a revolutionary new GPS, there is no perfect GPS for all users. For many people, GPS with screens as large as your 60CSx are too big and too heavy. I've used the 60CSx better half (76CSx) for 20 months now. It is a very reliable and usable unit. There are trade offs in everything - and different users have different needs The Colorado/Oregon units pack in higher resolution, a larger screen and some gee-whiz stuff but failed to keep some things that are critical to some users: * Handlebar visibility (tilting screen to shield/see as you move is not an option here so forget your cell phone.) * Multiple tracklog display (not everything appears on existing maps and maps are always out of date) So I got rid of my Colorado and got a PN40. For less money I have a unit that is the best current GPS for my uses: (hiking, hunting & cycling). I've used it for 3 months now and am convinced of it's value. The DeLorme PN-40 is a huge step forward in usability out in the woods or on the water. Your phone nor any of the other consumer GPS units including Bushnell's Onyx series can display 1M resolution imagery anywhere at an affordable price (not just where you have cell phone service). The addition of selectable contour line overlays gives you a feel for terrain w/o having to switch map types. What cell phones display multiple tracklogs at one time or allows you to see data from tracks you created as overlays on whatever map view you want to use: * Vector Topo * USGS quad raster images * 1M B&W or color imagery * Hi res imagery in many areas * Navigational charts * Street maps The imagery is sufficiently detailed on their puny screen to allow me to select routes thru heavy timber avoiding deadends and deadfalls. When your cell phone does all of these, is waterproof, rugged, stores a thousand waypoints, without an outrageous monthly fee then come back and talk. DeLorme does not have the financial clout to remake the world. Magellan blew their "re-invention" of the GPS by not releasing a usable device. DeLorme seeks out user feedback unlike any other GPS manufacturer. I know they would like to make a device with a larger, higher resolution screen, but don't have the resources to create the "perfect device" for you immediately.

I have a 60, love it. Havent tried the HCx I bought a 4 GB memory card for $1 on eBay but the gps would only use 2GB of it, I think. I was still able to load high res maps for most of Wa, Ore, Id and N. Cal. From the way people talk, the Colorado is better. No matter what you will still need to buy the mapset after the GPS. Get that from eBay also. Get the older version, detail is nearly the same and price is half Not all like the Colorado better, I got rid of mine, prefer my 76CSx & DeLorme PN40 1) Not as good sunlight visibility on handlebars. 2) Only one tracklog can be displayed at a time.