nerys

I want to install this on my Vizio VTAB1008 Tablet. it won't let me via the market so I extracted the SDK and sideloaded it onto the VTAB but the installer refuses to install it on the VTAB. can you guys release a version WITHOUT these "checks" so we can just install it. I don't mind taking my chances. if it works great I get a nice 8" xga screen to play with it on. if it don't work I am no worse off than I am now.

My problem is not with run time - lithiums usually give far better run time. my problem is 3-5 years from now when that rechargeable pack is toast and I cant buy a replacement. :-( then my perfectly good not obsolete GPS (it cant really go obsolete since its using the same satellites) would be renbered useless :-( Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

Clearly you dont read. its advertised as having a robust base map. robust is a word that would not even enter into my mind to describe what it comes with (next to nothing) Second the price I paid for the hardware is fine. I find the $150 for detail maps to be offensive. it does not matter how cheap the unit is I WILL NOT PAY $150 for detail maps ever. Again you did not read the $75 is for a COMPUTER GPS Puck. it by the way CAME WITH full USA street level maps withing that price (explain why they must charge $150 for the exact same data and IT IS the exact same data they all get it from navteq) Problem is carrying around a computer for geocaching is not overly convenient (but I almost took that route after seeing the $150 hidden cost of thsi unit) The only reason I am keeping the unit is that I really like the hardware and I found map sources FAR cheaper than $150. (Over my dead body will I pay them $150 for some stinking maps that other companies offer for $75 INCLUDING a GPS puck !!) I dont care if this is the way its been or if this is the normal way for things to work its offensive and on top of this I find it disturbing that everyone just "accepts" it as normal and just fine !! Mind boggling ! The ONLY way I can make it work in my mind is if all you people have never owned GPS units for computers and so have only know one way ie paying insane prices for detailed maps. Oh Well lesson learned the problem is NO Where on the box or website does it make clear to actually USE this mapping gps unit that you have to spend another $150 that also bothers me a great deal. sure its hinted at but in NO WAY clear. It in facts hints that you CAN do this out of the box which you cant unless you count paying $150 to unlock the included disk as "out of the box" sneaky is what I say to that. I am rather sick of this discussion - everytime I read it again it reminds me of how underhanded these companies are. Lesson learned assume anything I read from these people are lies and that I should further check everything. Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

No I meant just what you implied - if you take it out in the desert sun and use it the overall life of the battery will be shortened compared to someone who uses it in cooler temperatures. Example. 2 people with the same lets say CD Player (older higher drain CD player) with the same CD inside. one in the sahara one in Pennsylvania in fall or spring. each charged and they plays CD till it dies repeat at some point these cells will die and become effectively useless this will happen much sooner to the cells being used in the sahara. its much much worse for lithium cells. Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

Yes I was surprised too. I printed google satellite maps of all the caches I want to go see. (I used hybrid so I can see street names and get an idea of where to park :-) I wonder just how accurate those coord positions are on the satellite maps. I plan to find out. Google maps is also VERY cool because I can see the cache positions relative to each other and decide what I can get in one outing and the relative route I should take to get them all without getting lost :-) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

Maha chargers rock. :-) have have some amasing radioshack of all things chargers. 8 cells intelligent fast charger (2-3 hours tops) Great charger I used to have around 100-120 AA nimhs (i the past my cameras took AA's so I ate a lot of AA cells) I have since gotten rid of all of them and now use 15min exclusively. I have 4 of these chargers so I can charge 16 cells - I hate waiting :-) and best of all I can use them in more gadgets now. in the past I would not use rech in my single cell gadgets since you had to charge in PAIRS and I would lose the dead one before I killed a second one. the 15min chargers can charge EACH CELL individually so now I can charge just 1 battery if I need to and on top of that I can assymetrically charge my batteries I can put in a dead cell nearly full cell and 2 half charged cells and it will charge EACH properly to full charge. just awesome ! I cant wait till the low self discharge cells come out especially if they can do them in 15min varieties !! the LAST remaining con to nimhs will be gone then !! :-) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

For example once I have a few caches under my belt and have my own cache hidden here is one way I plan to introduce people to geocaching. Get there curiosity juices going. I plan to hide a well camoflauged cache in plain site and I plan to lure some friends to it and suddenly I will go hey look at this and point to the cache and wait for them to find it. I will then go into you know what this is ? and start explaining geocaching and when they say there are thousands of these just lying around? I will say yes and when they say well how do I find them. thats when I pull out the GPS and say well this helps etc.. etc. etc.. GPS is a TURN OFF to geocaching. most people dont like getting technical. but once you have there undivided attention and THEN introduce the tech now that they WANT to do this they are much more receptive of the technology and the potential work that might be involved since now they also have experienced the rewards. If they are a really good friend yell BOOM as they open the lid :-) hehehe Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

and I dont disagree with a single one of your points. I just dont want it to be forgotten that this hobby is not gps its geocaching GPS just happens to be a very central and useful tool in this hobby :-) for example I would not have even tried this hobby without a GPS. This guys idea was an awesome idea and it DID meet the technical rules required of him but it was still held up because some reviewer WANTED to hold it up. It does not matter that he could fix it with a slight change he is then bending to another person will (no matter how small an amount) and he should not be forced to do that. at that point the kid realized and correctly so that it became a matter of principles that he NOT alter his listing and I happen to agree with him. this is NOT good for a hobby. over regulation is always bad for a hobby its what RUINS hobbies. why do I care? why am I posting ? because I LIKE this hobby even though I have yet to SUCCESSFULLY find a cache grrr !! I plan to remedy that tommorrow :-) I dont want to see this hobby go down that path. we need to ENCOURAGE innovation even if that means a little less GPS. the excuse that it COULD be found without a GPS was used I refuted this with the rebutal that ANY cache can theoretically be found WITHOUT a GPS :-) thats all. :-) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

I did not say I dont want opinions just not yours Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

You dont need a GPS for placement either. you could (YES I know this is really stretching it but its correct nonetheless) do it the way it was done before GPS. with maps and lots of math. The Point is GPS is not the hobby its simply a TOOL used in this hobby. Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

it is and it isnt a problem with the GPS this is assuming it works fine with Alkaline batteries. assuming you device takes 2 batteries ?? that means your putting over a half a volt too much power into the device. now most gadgets dont care but if for some reason the components they used have tolerances that are NOT wide enough to account for this over voltage (and this is not commong but certaintly not rare) then when you put lithiums in it WILL not work properly best case scenario Damage your gadget worst case scenario (not likely though but dont take my word for it :-) NOW if they SUGGEST using lithiums they YES something is wrong with it (either defective gadget or defective design I dont know) if they do NOT suggest lithium then its just a case of it (lithium) eing outside of its voltage limitations. Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

grrr three tried 3 not found yet GRRR :-) Gonna go try again on monday Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

I don't know if you're quoting US dollars or not, but garmin has the legend (c-not, and thus no autorouting) for about $179 but the legend c is very not 179 I would say thats calling me a liar even if hard to understand I did not take a pic of the price tag. its a CELL phone camera I got close enough to make sure I could make out the model (Legend C etrex garmin) so I could research it at home. the pic is simply to show IT WAS the Legend C that I was talking about. I have nothing but my word about what it says and how much it was. if you dont believe me. ehh wahtever I cant control that so I wont let it bother me. Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

yup uploaded the files and replied with details. I think I see the problem. the GS file made by gsak is quite a bit smaller and looks different in notepad than the one from the magellan software. seems like something is "doingawhatever" to gpsbabel under the hood since it does not go all the way but shows finished. the files also looks quite different in notepad. I posted the details over there. hopefully its something really simple. the magellan software is not bad but it requires the GPS or at least (thenkfully this works) the SD card to be present but every time I sync with magellan software it "disconnects" or something IE the SD card goes away and I have to pop it out and reinsert it into the reader. the software overall feels "incomplete" though I am glad they included it and made it at all :-) Gsak on the other hand feels VERY complete even if not super polished and seems to give me SO MUCH more that I can do and interact with the files ! I just wish I could remove the names from the GPS caches on the XL's screen there are so many that it clutters the screen badly. would love it if they were hidden till I put the cursor over top of them :-) but thats a pretty minor nitpick :-) though my out of box experience with the XL has been soured I think my long term experience will be quite good. I just love the hardware and the battery life is quite surprising I though I would be feeding this thing batteries like candy ! but I did NOT want a rechargeable unit (though I wonder if I can CHARGE nimh cells inside the unit. that would be neat. I keep my GPS hardware for a long time. the GPS I use in my car is almost 8 years old if not slightly older. the satellites dont change so the hardware never obsoleses I did not want my handheld becoming a paperweight in 3 or 4 years because I cant replace a proprietary battery. that was a huge selling point to me. somehow I think we will still have AA cells 20 and even 30 years from now :-) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

I can take a lot of things being called a liar is not one of them http://www.nerys.com/stuff/target.jpg and this package DID in fact come with the CD and it stated on the package you could upload detailed maps from the Included CD (now I am NOT sure if this is like magellans where you had to purchase an unlock it did NOT specify that either way conclusively from what I could recall) and it was being sold for $179 THIS is what peaked my interest in these units that they had become this good for this kind of price. This was JUST before christmas right around 15th to the 20th or so IIRC I took this pick with my camera phone so I could look up reviews for it etc.. and ask for it for christmas (searching for this one led me as it happens to the XL) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

thats probably exactly what happened. although you SHOULD be ok I must warn you if its does NOT have protection circuitry built in you are potentiall damaging or wearing out in an accelerated manner some components by using lithiums. Just be careful. Killing your cool toy over a set of batteries would blow :-) Once nice thing is that they are not nearly so affected by cold temperatures though I cant say that we have even HAD a winter this year. it has never REALLY gotten gold for more than a day or two. sad I like winter. (19057) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

ahh yes I did not even consider that aspect and you are absolutely correct on all counts but you missed the one I was pointing to and thats heat. not heat from charging just "heat" in general Heat in general is damaging to NIMH and LITHIUM batteries there chemistries dont like it (Lithium being MUCH more sensitive to it) so just USING nimhs in higher temperatures is damaging to them. So if I use some in Vermont and you used some in the Sahara in the same equipment mine would last a lot longer than yours would (overall lifespan). a HUGE amount longer for lithium. I even tell people dont leave lithium batteries in the car if you can help it in the summer the heat just kills them. the 15minute chargers expose you to 3 and 4 times sahara heat every time they charge so on top of what you mentioned take the overall heat damage into the equation. this is why they are usually only rated for 500-800 or so cycles instead of 1000-1200 cycles. Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

cool ! Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

I did not ask for your opinion. http://www.msh-tools.com/ using this MMO thing he said he got maps with no security Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

Target has the "legend C" for $179 and it comes with the maps CD I can physically see it in the package. alas it does not have the large screen and no memory card slot if the Legend Cx used normal SD cards and had a larger screen I probably WOULD get that one in place of the magellan AND if that model does not come with the CD (I have not seen it for sale yet so I dont know) the CD is only $30 Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

Mine dont meet your guidelines but this is what I use I have a 1watt luxeon pocket light that runs on AAA's so I dont have to feed it $15 worth of batteries like the Lithium powered ones. this is good for the log book or poking around (its quite bright and might actually meet your brightness needs and they have 3watt versions) its not weatherproof but it does have orings and since its an LED its low power so water will not effect it so long as you dry it later to prevent eventual corrosion. the 1watt version can be had for $25-$30 I also carry a rechargeable SPOTLIGHT with me. 1 million candlepower. I only have 1 eye and cant see well at night so I like TONS of light :-) since its rechargeable I dont have to feed it any batteries. walmart $20 I got mine on sale at radio shack on black friday for $5 a pop :-) comes with house and car chargers :-) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

Geocaching does not require at any point a GPS unit. you can ALWAYS use the stars the sun and moon and a Map and map tools etc.. GPS only makes it easier and FUN to me personally. Its not called GPS Caching its called GEOCaching. I have some issues with stringent guidelines BUT his cache DOES meet the guideline requirements. the reviewer simply realized waht the coords led to and took it upon himself to disqualify which is something that should be OUTSIDE of the realm of a reviewers power. the cache AS IT WAS met the guidelines perfectly. Second when we start making rules to reject caches to me thats spells the end of geocaching.com Rules are NIOT SUPPOSED TO RESTRICT they are supposed to ENHANCE the FUN we should not be looking for reasons to disqualify instead we should always be trying to STRETCH IT to QUALIFY as much as possible. ENCOURAGE not DISCOURAGE. the rules were used improperly in this case. I think his cache idea is awesome SO awesome I am thinking of stopping by my local library to see how interested they might be in working with me on this though now I can t use dewey decimal since you all know about it now :-) huahaha Good job man keep up the good work and GOOD JOB on not making that little change. It should never have been asked of you to begin with. With google maps you simply do not need a GPS for the majority of the caches. GPS IS NOT THIS HOBBY !! ANY more than ANY tool is any hobby. This hobby is about FUN exploring thinking chatting etc.. the GPS is nothing. it is only a TOOL to make this hobby easier or more enjoyable for some practical for others etc.. its just a tool. an important "focal" tool but still just a tool. Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

I would love it if SENA cases made a nice case for this that would be nice Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

there is a pretty cheap way to test this. get a cheap Bicycle computer and Accurately adjust it to give accurate results (equal to your gps on level ground) go riding. the bicycle computer will give actualy rolling distance. compare this to the GPS after enough distance to remove spurrious errors Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/

the Ique 3600 rocks I was not so fond of the new one (the windows one) I like the palm one because of the 480x320 high res screen (the windows one is 320x240) Chris Taylor http://www.nerys.com/