WeatherMaker

As for the material it's made of, think of the rolls of rubbery, non-skid shelf liner you can buy. I've also seen some sleeping bags with a band of it around the middle to keep you from sliding around the tent floor so much. Here's a little closer pix of mine from another thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=15&t=77602&st= It also works OK keeping the GPSr from sliding around on the car dash.

1/2 amp is plenty. I seem to recall actually using a 1/4 amp on my old Garmin 12. Out of curiosity, I'm running a current test right now (er, "currently" ). The GPSr is inside actively searching for satellites, on a 12 volt power supply. The current draw jumps around a little bit. No backlight pulls about 25 milliAmps, mid-level backlight about 55 mA, and full backlight about 72 mA. Shutting the receiver portion off (as in putting it in Demo mode), drops the current by 10 mA. External amplified antennas draw power from the GPSr, but only 5 - 25 mA, depending on the model (at least the ones I've seen). When in the power on/enter button diagnostic screen, a long beep pushed it to 100 mA, but in regular operation, the beeps are so short as to only bump it up about 7 mA for a split second. Regarding your early voltage post, the same diag screen shows the internal voltage (when powered off a 12 volt supply) to be around 3.15 volts (2.4 V when on internal batteries), showing how the unit uses its internal voltage regulator. While the unit can take up to 36 volts input, it's less stress on the regulator (& less heat generated) to use an input voltage only as high as you have to, i.e. 6 or 12 volts (or even 14-16 directly from a solar module). So, 1/2 is still larger than necessary. Use a 1/4 amp if you can find one. Hope this helps.

This is the one I have: The GPS Store.

Wow - thanks for pointing this out. Two issues have arisen since you caused me to look into this. One, my picture ain't my waypoint. Don't know how or why, but my saved waypoint was significantly off from my picture. Amazingly, I've got a picture to create the correct waypoint. Two, the point is different still from yours (assuming you entered the coords directly at topozone.com) - since the coords are actually in NAD83, ExpertGPS is converting them to NAD27 before TopoZone.com gets them (derived from reading the URL). However, even with WGS84/NAD83 selected on the topozone menu, the point doesn't appear to shift between that & NAD27, & never quite matches your map. Interesting. FWIW, yes, at least one lake was still there. In all actuality, considering the small gravel & sand the entire peninsula appears to be formed from, I'd be shocked if it hadn't moved somewhat in 50 years. Again, I wish I had marked the tower.

After recently purchasing a 60c, I took the "altruistic" approach and loaned my Garmin 12 to a GPSr-less friend. Works as good as the day I got it (actually better, with firmware upgrades). So, technically I have a backup, but it's 1500 miles away.

Pelican cases were mentioned above. While not perfect, they can provide that 2nd level of protection. For travel (tho not in a kayak - just the hostile environ known as the airport), I keep my 60c in a Pelican Micro Case #1040, pictured below. It's not a perfect fit (you can buy a foam liner if you want to do that), but it can't flip over inside the case, and there's plenty of room for extra batteries, a small compass and/or maybe an external antenna. I bought it at Cases 4 Less for about $11. Factory specs at Pelican.com (mine happens to be yellow with a clear lid, no foam). It does weigh more than the GPS, but it's almost bombproof protection for it. And, it doesn't block RF so the GPS will work in the case if needed. In the spirit of a recent (different) thread, last night I verified that it still floats with the GPSr in in, with NiMH batteries, so that's good to know. Hope this helps someone.

Pardon me if this has been discussed, but my search came up nil. Is there a format that ExpertGPS can export waypoints to that DeLorme Topo USA 5 can read? I seem to recall mention of exporting to Street Atlas (which would probably use a similar/same format), but can't find it. Thanks!

Hey - it's not the greatest shot and may not answer your questions, but here's a photo I posted in another thread: Guess where I was..... The display is actually better than what you see, as it's in a case from the GPSstore, with a clear, somewhat thick plastic front that tends to glare. edit: trying to get the URL to the right entry.

Technically, I'm not a southern boy. I'm a South Dakota native, and most recently moved from Idaho. We have a weather research station in Barrow, and yes, we try to visit it during the summer months for obvious reasons. While no polar bears were present, we did find a few rather large carcasses scattered about: (http://www.qsl.net/kw1nd/dead_big_something.jpg) (Intentionally no imbedded picture) Don't know what creature they're from or who ate them, but nevertheless, it'll be wild country again when the ice returns. I was a little surprised when I returned home & plotted the point in both DeLorme's Topo USA 5 & TopoZone. DeLorme put me 2000+ feet out to the west in the ocean, while TopoZone put me on the western coast, but still quite a bit from where I actually was. And since I roamed the beach up there, I'm REALLY sure I was on the most northern tip of land, not to mention GPS backing me up. There is a radio tower out there, that according to topo maps, is benchmarked, but it was down the beach a way & we were already tired of hiking almost 4 miles in small, loose gravel & fighting the wind, and facing the task of walking back. Considering where the maps showed me at, marking the tower's survey point may have been a good idea for cross-checking. As the picture shows, I did have excellent satellite coverage up there, and was surprised to see WAAS POR (I think that's the satellite's name) as long as I held the GPSr up 4-5 feet off the ground.

Took a work-related trip last week. Can you guess where to? And from the looking I've done, I'll trust my GPS much more than any map that plots this point. The WAAS satellite #47 very low on the horizon is another clue. Found a few benchmarks & caches while I was there, too (well, near here anyway).

It has a single hole on the back, to use with the belt clip (no clip of any kind comes with the case). I don't know if you can mount the GPSr in any common mount, though, as the "sharkskin" case wouldn't allow the mount to clip onto the GPSr. I have the same case, and like it. It is difficult to get on & off, but the material (like shelf liner) is pretty non-skid and easy to hold.

I was going through the same type of tracks-related questions yesterday. Everytime I downloaded tracks to TopoUSA 5, I would get multiple tracks over the same roads, even though my 60c shows that I saved individual tracks. Here's my guess (haven't had time to verify this, though): 1. The % field is your "working track memory." Unless it's cleared back to 0%, every time you start a new track (by choosing "on"), it will append all new track data onto whatever is already in the working memory. 2. When saving, the "no" option in "save all the track" enables you to use the arrow to cursor to a particular point in the track working memory and make it the new start or stop point. If you tell it to save all, you get everything in the working memory, whether some of the track points are from a previous tracking "episode" or just the current one. 3. Once you save a track, then choose "clear," your track is still saved, but you've just cleared the working memory to enable your next track to start fresh. 4. I don't know how the % relates to memory usage (i.e. how many points & tracks are still available out of the total available ), but I would hope that it all works together. In other words, if you've got some combination of tracks & points saved, your working memory % will increase proportionately faster (because there's less available memory) than if you're starting with absolutely nothing saved or in the working memory. Clear as mud? Edit: typo

My 60c (purchased about 10 days ago) also has the pads. If anyone wants to track the timeframe in which they seem to have added the pads, mine is serial number 379247XX.