[Memory And Maps]

Hello all,

 

I am new here and very new to caching. I have yet to purchase a GPSr and I am leaning toward the 60cs at the moment (I'm borrowing my Brother's yellow eTrex for now). I will be using my GPSr for both long driving trips and caching trips. So my questions are these:

 

Using auto-routing maps, how much of the state of California can I cram into 56 megs of memory?

 

Will loaded maps significantly cut down on the amount of waypoint/route information that can be stored or entered?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

Map sizes can vary. I've got MetroGuide which doesn't auto-route, but densely packed city regions can be as large as 3 or 4 MB. Perhaps someone with CitySelect can give a better estimate for that product. But I would guess you can fit a very generous portion of the state into 56 MB, if not all of it.

 

Also, maps will not eat into your route/waypoint storage. They are stored in separate partitions of memory.

[Metroguide Sale At Target]

Yup, that's precisely what I snagged today. Splendid.

[Metroguide Sale At Target]

I just got back from Target (near Grand Rapids, MI), where I snagged not only MetroGuide North America v6, but also the car mounting kit and car power cable for my Legend. They've got all of this in a bundle on sale this week for only $99.

 

So if you're a cheapskate like me that's been holding out on buying accessories for your ETrex, now's your chance. Heh.

[Garmin Etrex Legend]

The Legend's basemap is comparable to a decent state highway map, with a peppering of street-level detail around metro areas. If you're using it for trips of more than just a couple miles, it'll be quite handy. So you shouldn't be any worse off than you are with a Rand McNally yearly atlas. But keep the atlas in the back seat, just in case. ;-)

[Intragrated Elevation Into Coordinates]

I had aviation applications in mind for the most part. I suppose you are correct. No real practical purpose. Perhaps complicating things unnessecarily so. It was for the most part a concept I had not considered before and wanted to put it out there to get feedback on. Actually elevation accuracy is not as bad as most people think, and accuracy of both horizontal and elevation is improving each year from improvements in the system, but yes, elevation generally runs about 1.5 times behind horizontal.

Ah yes, for aviation, this sort of thing would be very useful. But you can bet that if I were doing something as mission critical as landing an airplane, I certainly wouldn't be using a little $200 eTrex hooked to an autopilot. Heh. My Legend can vary by as much as 20 or 30 feet for elevation, and I'm sure that's more than enough to leave you in a smoldering heap on the runway, or with a hefty repair bill at least.

[Intragrated Elevation Into Coordinates]

Well, if doing a goto on a waypoint requires going several thousand feet vertically, chances are the environment is such that using a standard GPS would be either impractical or impossible (i.e. inside a large building, etc.). In most cases, the user is on relatively flat land, and someone who really needs the elevation info probably has some kind of topo maps, too.

[Elevation For Waypoint]

Hmm, this raises an interesting question. Are there actually any high end units currently available that take elevation into account when navigating to a waypoint? I'm sure all our humble off-the-shelf units from Galyans, Circuit City, et. al. don't do it (including my eTrex) but I'd imagine there's equipment out there somewhere with this capability. You know, just in case someone wants to plant a cache on a vertical cliff face. Ha ha.

[60c Is Leaving Me Dissapointed, Comments?]

Hmm, not sure exactly, but I notice my Legend is much more picky with it turned on.

[60c Is Leaving Me Dissapointed, Comments?]

Are you using WAAS? It might have that turned on by default. It makes it much harder to get a lock with it enabled, though some claim it improves accuracy (I don't notice any difference). On my Garmin eTrex Legend, it's in the System configuration, as I recall. Turn it off if necessary, and see what happens.

[Garmin Clearance At Target]

Hmm, no luck at either of my local Targets (Grand Rapids, MI - Clyde Park, and 28th Street stores). Bugger! I could have used a cheap copy of MetroGuide, even an outdated version. Heh.

[Garmin 60cs, Geocaching & Multi-display 4 Lat/lon]

Hmm... Are you trying to use that for navigating to the cache? If so, there's a much easier way. Create a waypoint and enter the coordinates for the cache. Your GPS should have some means of then selecting that waypoint and giving you the bearing and distance to it. I've not used the 60cs, but I've got an eTrex Legend, and it's as simple as choosing Pan Map, selecting the waypoint with the cursor, and pressing the "Go To" button at the bottom.

 

If you're trying to do something entirely different than navigate, then just disregard this. ;-)