seadad9903

a puzzle cache that gives the coordinates of the degaussing range bouy in Norfolk, VA. which is about a mile offshore

Holy cow, VIctory Mike!! I've been using military grade GPSr's for 19 years and never had a more technical explanation Accurate as heck, however. To give the perspective of someone who has used both military and commercial....... the ones i use at work (i am in the Navy) are accurate to 1 meter. my Oregon & Delorme, standing in the same spot at the same time are off by 10 meters (give or take a few feet). most military models don't have the viewscreen, so i had to do some math to figure my actual location (at the end of a pier in Norfolk, VA). the military model was the most accurate. it was also the hardest to use. as for the question of signal lock, the electronics don't know if they are in a military GPS unit or not. the signal is the signal. personally i use a commercial raytheon gps/radar/depthsounder at work. i operate harbor security craft used for protection of ships. the mil grade units are time intensive and require specific training on their use. the commercial units may lack the super-accuracy, but when the difference is only 50 ft or so and you are on the water, it doesn't matter that much.

Thanks for the comments. i ended up getting an oregon 400t, it was in stock in the store i usually shop at:) no problems with it so far. i am getting a delorme pn-40 in a few days (they had to order it) so i can do a comparison on both. i figure i can either keep both, or sell one if need be. a note for future users of the oregon that have an iphone/ipod touch...the touchscreen is exactly like a palm touchscreen. a thin film over the main touch receptor screen. it takes slightly more pressure than an apple device. not a problem for that i have seen, i used to have a palm treo. so far the only issue i have had with it is that with out the backlight in darker areas (indoors, in a car at night, etc) it is difficult to read. but that is easy to deal with. seadad9903

CP, i ended up getting an oregon 400t. it was in the store, the pn was not:) i'm picking up the pn-40 in a couple of days. they had to order it. anyway, to provide an answer for the oregon side... yes, you can load garmin's inland lakes series on the oregon 400t. and even on an SD card, there is no switching or anything like that. apparently all the maps you can fit on to your specific storage capability are melded together internally, so all you see is what is out there. happy GPS'ing!!!

I would try to keep it going but if it didn't have a tracking number, you can bet someone would keep it. that is what i had decided on my own, but i wanted confirmation. i am ok with someone keeping it. my thinking is that, since it is so specific of a coin, that if someone were to keep it, hopefully they would keep it for due to some feeling for the military as opposed to keeping just because it is a "trophy". If you want it to travel, your best bet would be to drill a hole in the coin and attach a TB tag to it. hadn't thought of that. might be a good way to go. thank you

OK. then my question to the general populance would be..... if you found a coin such as that, with a specific destination or goal would you help it on its way or would you treat it as something to keep?

would a personal coin (one i had made for a deployment to the middle east) be suitable as a geocoin? there is no number on it, but there aren't very many in existence. the coin itself is highly unique, a triangle with logos of specific units on it. any comments on the acceptability of this coin is appreciated seadad9903

ok, i am in the same boat...... i have an Oregon 400t. Updated software to current release. Put Ibycus maps onto SD card using MapInstall (I'm on a Mac). Went to Setup/map/map info. Only the preloaded map shows up. Am I doing something wrong, or is the map on the SD card overlaying the basemap? Also, if I get a routable street map will it overwrite the topo map?

Is there some reason the CO is not a prime choice? Both for geocaching and for general navigation? It seems like everyone leans towards the PN-series or the OR, with a few who have a CO as well. Is there something about the CO that turns people off, or is it a case of a unit competing with the whizz-bang grab of the OR's touch screen?

hi to everyone! After reading (a lot) on the forums and getting touchy-feely in a store, I have narrowed down my choice for a new GPS to the PN-40 or the Oregon 300 (maybe 400). Both are good units, and I would be comfortable with using either as is. My question is this: I am in the Navy, and frequently need a GPS on the water. Will either of these let me transition from land nav to water nav, as long as maps and charts are loaded into the unit? And if one (the charts for example) are on an SD card, how will that affect my being able to see where I am? Thanks for any advice you guys can share. t2