Sputnik 57

I believe they call this the iPhone 3g, due out on Friday.

Several years ago, Atlanta Gal did a test on lithiums in her 76C. The results are described in this thread. The general sense (at that time) was that they last twice as long (she took them out after 52.5 hours of use), but cost three times as much. Note that lithiums have a very flat output curve, with a steep decline at the end. This fools your battery strength indicator. You may have 4 bars for a very long time, and suddenly go to 1 or zero, so be vigilant.

If a GPSr is regularly 30 to 300 feet off, I would suspect that the Datum is set to NAD27 instead of WGS84. Those two datums are often a few hundred feet apart in the US. But the units drifting to within 10 feet of the cache does not sound like datum problem. If you have a good view of the sky and WAAS reception, you should be within 20 or 30 feet every time.

Recommend that anyone else wanting to use the forum to get a member ID go to the Getting Started forum and post in the "Testing Testing" thread pinned at the top of the page. Please do not post "test" posts in active forums.

This is a well documented problem with the x units. The latest firmware is supposed to stop some of the wandering while motionless. Suggest you check to make sure your firmware is the most current. (2.6, I believe)

Did you preview the caches on line? A common error is to check the box "include caches I haven't found" and "include caches I have found". The search then returns only those caches that you have both found and haven't found. It is a really short list. If the preview shows caches, then did you save the search? If so, go to the saved search page and see if a day of the week is check for it to send you the caches you requested.

The Legend does not have an electronic compass, so like the H, the unit is just doing its best to point your way. Yes, you have to have it set to show your bearing (not your heading or course), and you have to be navigating to a waypoint (otherwise it doesnt know where to point). It sounds like you've covered those bases. Not sure why it is responding so slowly. I would try fresh batteries, and be sure the unit is not in battery saver mode.

If you can't get past the sat screen, you may want to try a master reset (hold ENTR and PAGE while powering up the unit). This will reset everything to factory settings.

It sounds like it is trying to route on the base map. Be sure that you have the little box in Mapsource checked to include routing information. Also be sure that you have not "hidden" the map on the unit.

My bet is that you are using geocaching mode and don't know it. If the waypoint has a closed treasure chest as the symbol, you should get the Found It button. If it doesn't, you wont.

The almanac may need to be reloaded. Set it down someplace where it has a clear view of the sky for 20 to 30 minutes (sometimes called "baking") and see if it helps.

Almost any modern GPS device will output information in NMEA sentences. They are not completely standard, but the will certainly give you the information you need. If an intermediary of any sort is needed (and I don't think it would be), GPSBabel will slice and dice the info into anything you want.

The one drawback with my 12 (which I started caching with) is that when you are navigating to a cache, it counts down the distance in .01 miles (which is 52.6 feet). That was fine before they turned off selective availability, because the unit's accuracy (like that of all other handheld GPS units) was limited by the satellites. Now the unit's accuracy is 10 meters or better, but the displayed distance is still shown in hundredths of a mile. Once you get to within .01 miles, you have to switch to the satellite screen and walk around unit the displayed coordinates (yes, they are ddd mm.mmm) match those of the cache. That said, it was a dependable little brick. I still have mine and have fond memories of my girlfriend leaning close to check while I manually entered the cache coordinates (we didn't have a cable for it). Sometimes we never made it out of the house to cache at all. Fun times!

It is true that the unit stores the coordinates internally, and doesn't change them as you change the datum. It doesn't matter whether you load them manually or electronically. But if you download the coordinates listed on Geocaching.com (electronically or manually), and the unit is set to NAD27 (or some other datum), before or after you download the coordinates, it will lead you to a place that is different than the cacher who placed the cache (assuming that cacher correctly used WGS84). In the US, the difference between the two datums is between 100 and 300 feet. This may not be Slipper's problem, but it is a likely source for this type of error.

That sort of position error is most often caused by using the wrong datum. Be sure that the unit is still set to WGS84, and not NAD27 or some other datum. "Baking" the GPS to get a new almanac isn't a bad idea, but once you have a clear view of the sky for 20 minutes or so, the unit will be up to date regardless.

AFAIK, the only way to reduce map memory is to omit turn by turn directions, which prevents the unit from autorouting on local roads. Generally too high a price to pay for most uses. The notes screen is an enigma. Users have complained to Garmin and on this forum about he +/- 30 character field in a much larger display area to no avail. Not sure what the firmware resource allocation problem is, but it must not be trivial, because they have done nothing to fix it in firmware updates.

Actually, 56MB of map storage. I suggest that you look for an old copy of City Select version 6 (if there arn't a lot of new streets in your neighborhood) and/or Garmin's topo maps. The detailed maps make the unit a lot more fun and with City Select (of if you need something newer, Garmin's City Nav (not the NT version)), the unit will auto-route from you current location to where you want to go with turn-by-turn directions.

As to question 2, you used to be able to do this in MapSource, but Garmin has moved this function into a separate program called nRoute. Bad news it is one more thing to keep track of. Good news is that it is free from garmin's web site and operates pretty easily once installed.

Google mobile for Blackberry has the Where Am I function built into it. You just press 0 on the keypad and it (i) centers the map on your location (ii) shows a (rather large) circle of uncertainty; and (iii) displays an EPE (e.g., "within 700 feet of your current location"). All of this based on cell tower triangulation. For better accuracy, you can add a blue tooth GPS receiver (such as the Freedom mini GPS--about the size of a auto alarm remote)

I would try these two: 1) Change to map display from North Up to Track Up. 2) Change the map orientation from Magnetic North to True North

Silly question, but does the topo map have street names for those streets? I know that the new Topo product has lots more street names than the old one, but I'm not clear about whether all the streets are labeled. Do they show up in MapSource?

I've had pretty good luck with the Freedom Mini GPS (google it for other vendors. I don't know these guys). I am using an old Treo 650 (Palm) with Google Earth for my maps. Can't beat the price. But I usually cache with my Garmin 60C and not my cell phone.

I have google earth on my non-GPS blackberry 8700g. It gets me to within 500 feet most of the time. Not really close enough for caching, but great to see where I am (and a route to the hotel I am looking for) when I land in a strange city. I also have a bluetooth mini GPS that talks to my blackberry (google "Freedom Mini GPS"). It is very accurate. I think I could cache with it, but constant bluetooth communication is not very battery friendly for the blackberry. I usually carry my Garmin 60C for caching.

Prior to sending the shields with their "magic" solution, they recommended that you thuroughly wet the material with a solution of one drop of liquid detergent in a cup of warm water. I used the home-made solution to put shields on my Garmin 60C (excellent fit, by the way), my ipod, and my Treo 650 (full body wrap). They may be a little high for a simple piece of vinal, but I really like the result. Well worth the modest investment, IMHO.

If you want voice turn by turn, none of the units mentioned will do that. The Garmin Quest or Quest II give voice prompts, and they can be used for caching. As with all "all-purpose" solutions, no one unit really does it all that well. The units above are great in the field and for caching, but are only so-so (IMHO) in the car. The best car units (Nuvi, Street Pilot) aren't really ruggetd enough (again, IMHO) to be good caching units. I think that the Quest units are a pretty good compromise.