derrylynne

Thanks guys. Downloaded Firefox - and works perfect with that. Explorer is real C**P isn't it....

Thanks Chris. Will look at that. Need to get the route sorted so going to have to find a way to download this. But seems some it works for firefox not for others. How can you get this done using memory map gpx?

I have loaded a file from google earth of a route we will be taking in a weeks time - have done this before so should be straightforward. Got a nice kml file. Uploaded it so I can do a search for caches along the route. I go to pocket queries - then to find caches along route - then to my created routes - then find the route I have saved to this - and click create pocket query - then get an error saying internet explorer cannnot open the site so it is abandoned. Anyone any ideas what is going on?

I have not had my Colorado for long, and only taken it out for three trips geocaching. And listening to all the comments coming across from several people it would look like I have bought a dummy and ought to throw it in the bin. However, what I have found is a different story. Ok I am a ‘geocaching nerd’ - although here in South Wales I use a GPS for serious navigation. On the high ground if the cloud comes down it is very important to be able to get back to the car - and not go over a cliff on the way. I know this has been mentioned before but for track back when that has happened in the past, I have just followed the trail I have created on the way in. And that has been on a GPS that had track back. The Colorado lives up to this and I would feel it is quite capable to allow me to do that. I have found it to be very precise. More precise than most other units I have had. For instance I have never had a gps that has said I am 0 foot from my objective, and for that to be correct. This has happened twice in the three trips I have used it. It is sensitive. I was in dense tree cover yesterday and it did not flinch. A week ago I was in a deep valley and again it did not flinch. I have never had any problems with the screen brightness, be it is dull or sunny weather, so has not been an issue for me. The screen is bright and clear. The ability to transfer ordnance maps for the area I am going to into the Colorado has been great. Yesterday I was out and quickly found where I was, identified the correct tracks, and where they were. This out in the wild in wet and windy weather will be a boon. The topo maps are also great - again very quickly allowing me to identify areas to avoid and mark out a good track on moorland or mountain areas. With the ability to hold up to 2000 geocaches and logs for my sport it is a serious machine. Yes there are some issues that need to be sorted - but none of them serious issues. It seems most the complaints are coming from owners of the 60CSX. I have never owned one of those - but my view is if your love is the 60csx - then stay with it. Don’t expect the CO to be the same. To me - as a Geocaching nerd - the CO has a great future….and problems will be sorted..

I have never really given a thought to what we take with us when we do a trip but here goes. 2 * GPS units - one for Derry and so Lynne don’t get left out - one for her. Laughs.. Rucksack 2 * full waterproofs set. Camera - for taking pictures of location and as a muggles distraction. (We look like tourists that way - or was it idiots?) Ordnance maps of the area downloaded onto the Colorado 300. Drinks of squash and a hot flask of tea. Sandwiches. Compass. 6 * AA cells Spare batteries. Lynne. - dare not forget the wife… Anemometer and temperature instrument - for wind chill calculations - Pens. Notebook Spare boots Spare clothes. Torch. Not forgetting the walking pole (handy for searching for caches in the bush too) Surprising what we take isn’t it. But then again if we are only doing a couple of cache and dashes - just Lynne and the Colorado.. Lol…

No! 14 out 14 today, perhaps helped by the sun spots! What sun spots. There are not any at the moment. Although I am sure we have all had some bad days - mind - not as bad as Phil and Ruth. If it's a half tidy GPS throw it this way though.

There is know doubt in the future caching ability might be more of where you live. Here in South Wales caches can be far apart. Little areas of caches and quite a large area inbetween. Making it a difficult choice for many in Rural areas. Whilst in cache rich areas like the south east public transport is a good option. Especially if you are over 60 and get a free bus pass.

We have cut back on some caching due to the high cost of fuel. Using public transport is not an option here as it is none too good. We are sure if the price keeps rising many will cut back - only those with a large budget will be able to cache as they have...At the end of the day we do not have unlimited funds for a hobby and like most others have to budget to within our means. Of course I could also request a large payrise - telling the boss I need the cash for geocaching. laughs...

I telephoned Garmin Europe again today and have been assured that Garmin USA are aware of the problem as regards the clock that some are having. They are working on a software update that will sort this out. Let us hope it will be out soon...

Having some time today I decided to test for accuracy - after all no accuracy and Garmin could take it back. Using an Etrex Venture and the CO side by side on my front porch - and Google earth (as my front porch shows very well on that) the two sat side by side WAAS enabled. Because we now unofficially have the Europeon Sat working we get the 'D's all the time. But you will have to point the gps south when possible to get the best reception. The results were quite consistant.The etrex showed anything from 14 to 23 foot accuracy with all the 'D's showing, the actual distance from co-ordinates given and where the unit were looking at Google earth. The CO on the other hand gave from within 1 foot to 8 foot from where the unit were. What is apparent is it is very important after a hard reset - or when first bought - to allow it to be stationary collecting the data from the Sats for at least half an hour. Even if you get a lock within a few minutes it still needs to obtain all the constellation data so leave it alone to pick up the data....I did have a moan about the Manual. Call that a manual...

I had a fix when I set the alarm. And it did turn on right on the button at the time I set 7 minutes later. But as said on my previous log I turned it off after putting the alarm off again, and it froze when I started it again. Seems to me to be a software problem not hardware. That is a good thing as it can be sorted. What we will need to do is keep informing Garmin Europe of the problems and hopefully they will let Garmin USA know so the right software update can be made. I have to agree this is something you would expect of microsoft not 'Garmin. The unit has been released with software not working as it should...

It maybe a glitch that effects everyone although many have not noticed. If so a software update should cure this as it will work when the alarm is set to on. As you say a hard reset and the beta does not do anything. As I have done these too. Sure it will all come together in the end... But Garmin will be getting another call from me tomorrow. Twice I have played with the alarm. And then after it has come into play and I have turned the unit off - it has froze and I have had to do a take the battery out soft reset. Not good enough. This needs sorting....

tested to see if alarm does work. Picked up a sat and then to set the alarm to turn the unit on 7 minutes later. It asked me if I wanted to switch off - I did and waited till 10.15pm. Did it turn on? A big Yes. And the time was right. So the alarm works so suspect the clock does not keep ticking over when it is off, unless the alarm is turned on. That is probably how the unit is made. Can't be sure but would like to know if Chris CO is at the time switched off when it is turned on next day before getting a signal. It maybe there are some quirks. Can't answer the stopwatch problem. Sure they must be linked although hard to see why that would jump when it is picking up a sat. Not that I have tried the stopwatch. As for the clock - as Chris says does it matter when it is off. No providing it does not effect the unit. And it does not effect the alarm. Although the funcion of the alarm is hard to understand. After all - why would anyone want it to turn on at a selected time? And if so. Why?

I telephoned Garmin UK this morning and hey a quick reply and polite response. The guy said he had heard of the clock not working when the unit is off, but was not sure if it were because none had noticed. I did though point out if the clock was not working when it was switched off, then the alarm could not switch the unit on at a preset time as the clock would not be working. It also occurred to me that if everything goes off when the unit is turned off, this may also be related to accuracy of the gps. Some have found the need to do a recalibrate every time they switch on. Anyhow the advice I had was to do a hard reset. Same way as Chris said. Have done that, it is still outside in the garden getting it’s 30 minutes looking at the stars. Although it was fast picking up a lock. It did not lose the geocaching data although it lost other data like waypoints. Anyhow will be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed the clock NOT working, or still at the time when it was turned off, before picking up a satellite signal again…

I have heard the beta software upgrade to 2.51 solve many of the freezing problems. I have upgraded now to that one and will let you know after my next caching day...

It is possible a hard reset will solve the clock problem. Only problem is I have no idea how to do that as it is not shown in the manual. Does anyone know how to do a hard and soft reset?

On the whole I like the CO. As for paperless caching and the image feature, that is fantastic. However, I likewise do have some problem with the 'clock'. In that it works fine when switched on, wether fetching satallites or not. But switch it off and it don't work. I am assuming that would make the 'alarm' useless. And to be fair to Hungry Garmin do advertise it as having a 'sports stopwatch'. I will be ringing Garmin to ask them some questions about the watch and if there is a need for the unit to be changed although I won't have time to do this until Thursday. It could after all just be a setting somewhere that is overlooked. The manual after all is only very basic and 'not very good'. Sure it will be ok on the day though. Be interesting to find out if anyone else is having this problem with the clock. I also tested how accurate the CO is and it is awesome. I tested it with Google earth and was only about 2 foot out in my back garden....

Have to agree it is a big NO to use plastic bags. When we first started we were as guilty as the rest, but soon realised they are a bad idea. Nowadays we use duct tape, nice black tape that is a good for hiding the cache in dark places. Boxes that are air tight - and of course water tight are widely available. We must admit to cito'ing some bags from caches we have visited as they were so manky. Now we are on holiday next week - and are planning quite a few Eclectic Penguin caches - no plastic bags to cito we hope. laughs....

From what I have been reading it could be as you had an early unit that you have a 'bad' one. If that is the case I am sure Garmin will exchange it with no problem. Interesting that some have had up to 4 units exchanged by Garmin. To me it is impossible to have four faulty units. I suspect that it comes down to not knowing how to use the unit or wrong settings. For instance it is easy to have tracks or to find a geocache a long way of if the settings are set up wrong. But in your case - as you are so anti CO - ask Garmin for your money back or for it to be exchanged for a unit of your choice........

There is no 'official' statement that the early software left much to be desired. Although that is obvious from looking at the many posts as regards the CO. I have also seen the post where there were many problems with the 60 Cx - all of them resolved in the end after which it was pronounced a brilliant GPS. I have also come across posts for the Hcx many being almost equally critical as some of the posts for the CO. Interesting too that many posts for other GPS units have come up with the same problem as the CO after an update to the 2.51 upgrade. That the signal takes much longer to lock. I upgraded to the 2.51 today - took the CO out into the sunshine and saw no difference in a lock to before. Interesting too that I too had this problem recently though. With an Etrex and a Quest. My answer to that is the problems was probably the satellites or some other thing that is outside our control. The way I see it is that in many ways there seems almost to be a witchhunt starting against the CO. I became interested in buying the CO after seeing Mrs Blorenge's at the South Wales Event. Chris showed it to myself and several others, including Matrix, and has been said showed everything as is. After all - Chris is not selling the units. You state problems that exist with version 2.51. Again this is a beta version. It has solved some, but not all issues, and I have know doubt that when Garmin is aware of all issues still existing these too will be resolved. What is needed is either a little patience - or for those interested in the CO but not wanting until all issues have been resolved to hang on in there until they are. I have also used many Garmin units, several Etrex units, the Quest, and now the CO.

Although I did notice when the gps had been turned off the time stopped and did not correct until it was put on again and it picked up a satellite - this has now been corrected by the beta update. That update does fix a few quirks - and it has been aknowledged that the early software left much to be desired. However, Garmin were always going to work on problems found in the field. Yes Beta does suggest we the customer is testing the software. But at the end of the download it does say if there are any problems to call Garmin - and the telephone number for the UK is supplied. It is probably the case that the customer is the best and most informed person to test the software then report on any problems which themselves will be ironed out. As Matrix says it is each to his own. If you don't like the Colorado - don't have it. If you have a bad unit ask Garmin for your money back. Garmin are a very good company to work with and have been known to exchange units when being past their warrenties. I maintain that for Geocachers - with paperless caching now being possible with just one unit - this will be a very popular unit.

Sounds to me as though you were trying to buy a stopwatch but bought a GPS instead. Like Chris I am very happy with my Colorado. But then again like Chris I bought mine for the paperless caching and the GPS....

WE know you have issues with the stopwatch on the 300 - but what about the 300 as a gps? Accuracy, sensitivity, paperless caching etc. All of which to me seem to be faultless. Personally the stopwatch on a gps is nothing more than a gimic. If I were needing a stopwatch on a regular basis I would buy a stopwatch. I have noticed the clock thing that you have. The gps does not have an 'internal' clock. It takes it time from the satellite so of course stops when the gps is turned off. But is this really a problem? Most if not all wear a watch anyway. Where the 300 wins is it's paperless mode - saves over a thousand caches with logs and all information. This saves on carrying a pda and gps, just the one unit now. Picture clues can be downloaded to the gps. It is accurate and quick to pick up a satellite with a nice bright screen A sensitive gps so good in valleys and tree cover ( very much needed here in South Wales and the valleys). Easy to use and intuitive. It is very solid construction and waterproof. Can take mapping for onroad and topo which can be loaded onto SD cards. No gps is perfect. And the 300 is no exception. But take away the gimmics as a gps it is as near as can be….

[ Have you made sure the 'Position Format' and 'Map Datum' selections agree? To quote from the Scouts Factsheet, (because I put it in there) "It is particularly important to ensure that whatever Units are being displayed as the Position Format have the correct Map Datum set. British Grid being displayed will need to have the datum set to OSGB and a Deg/Min display should have WGS84. Making a mistake in this could put your location out by up to a mile." At a Leader training session I messed with the settings on the 4 eTrex we were using and then had all the groups go to the same coordinates. They ended up separated by varying amounts, the worst by about 300 ft. That made me think as I had bought a new gps - not yet tried out in the field - but played with the formats. Checked with an old etrex next to the new gps. Sure enough I had messed up some settings. That would have had me swearing out in the field. laughs. All sorted out now. Good post...And of course I will be smiling at the weekend providing it is not raining..

Put a couple of tracks onto the colorado tonite using the long method. Fugawi to my etrex - then to mapsource - then to the colorado. What a pain way to do it. The tracks look good and are easy to see on the colorado though, much better than the etrex - however I cannot see where in the software the tracks are put. Searched the lot and could still not find the tracks. If I could I could have just put them in cutting out the etrex. Oh well till I can solve the how to get the tracks directly from fugawi this will have to do..