Entropy512

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/buymaps.do http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/country/gb/ The latter link provides free maps, but I know nothing about the quality of those maps. The free US topos are excellent, but I know the UK's rules regarding availability of government data differ from the US. (In the US, we get road info from the US Census and topo info from the USGS.)

I think I may still have the Moab trip records, I'm in the process of digging those up. Still have the laptop I went on that trip with, and the eMap is at my parents' home back in NJ. I'm wondering if I simply forgot to log any caches for two entire periods of my history... I'm fairly certain I logged the original (2001ish) period though. A mystery that will never be solved most likely... (I have photographic evidence of myself and family members at two of the Goblin Valley caches - just need to find out their GCID.)

For a system as important to the military (and also now to civilians), there will be SOMETHING done (and probably already has been done) to mitigate risk. I think the big news is that it's going to be a few years longer before civilians see L2C go hot.

Normally no, but computers can fail at the most inopportune times and you find yourself using an unexpected backup. It's the same reason I strongly dislike special cables - you're toast if you forget or damage the cable, and cables are EASY to lose. I know of one store within 30 miles that carries the PN-40 (let alone accessories, they may not sell cables for it), while even my local drugstore sells mini-USB cables. Edit: FYI, we did have just such an incident on a family trip in 2004 where my Garmin eMap's serial cable started flaking out. We were lucky in that it happened on our first day of the trip before we left San Diego for the desert and were able to find a store that had a Garmin serial cable, albeit at an outrageous price. That incident and the eMap's totally nonstandard flash memory is why I avoided Garmin products for as long as I did and gave DeLorme as many chances as I did (Street Atlas HH 2006 and 2009, my father's PN-20, and my decision to give the PN-40 a chance despite my experiences with its predecessors, DeLorme claimed it was a massive improvement over the other products, but it just wasn't enough of an improvement.) Garmin has since fixed the issues that caused me to leave Garmin in the first place, and is now ahead of the competition in that regard - standard memory (catchup here) AND standard cables/connectors (an incredibly important industry first, at least for hiking oriented units).

I just recently returned to geocaching after a pretty long hiatus. I've been caching on and off periodically since around 2001-2002 or so. That said, I'm trying to figure out where some records of my finds are. I have three main periods of caching I know of (not including recent history) Senior year of college/first year out of college (2001-2003, mostly the first bit of that) - At LEAST 10-20 caches near my home in central New Jersey, some on the route between NJ and Ithaca, NY, and a few in Ithaca, NY. Family trip to Anza Borrego Desert State Park in California (2004) Extended family trip to the Moab, UT area (2006) Of those three, I can only find the records in my profile of the ABDSP finds (which are now all archived due to a change in ABDSP policy, but do still show up as finds on my profile) I'm absolutely positive I logged the 2001-2003ish finds on the site. The Moab 2006 finds I may have forgotten, as I can't remember if we had internet connectivity in Moab (i.e. I may have planned to log stuff when I got home and forgot about it). Some of the caches involved were clearly archived - I found at least two in Goblin Valley State Park in Utah on the 2006 trip, and of the caches currently listed, only one has a publish date prior to 2007 and I'm pretty sure that was the one I didn't find. Did I really forget to log THAT many caches, or are there cases where a change on the site could have wiped some of the older records of my finds? It's not a huge deal, but it has aroused my curiosity.

They added the geocaching rework to the PN-20 firmware too? To the OP - What other devices do you have? Do you happen to have a PDA of any sort? It's going to be hard to find a good all-in-one solution in your budget range, but if you happen to have a Palm or Windows Mobile device you can probably use it in combination with one of the newer eTrex units. Also, you might be able to score an older Palm dirt cheap on eBay that will be more than sufficient for paperless work. Even the old black-and-white Palms are good for going paperless - All of my finds prior to 2004 or so were with a Garmin eMap + Palm combination. Like one of the other posters, I've had bad experiences with DeLorme handheld products (their PC-based products are excellent). I tried for a long time to give them the benefit of the doubt (rooting for the underdog), but after my disappointments with Street Atlas Handheld 2006 and 2009, the PN-40, and my father's disappointment with the PN-20, I've returned to Garmin (especially since Garmin has addressed all of the issues that caused me to move away from them in the first place.) One possibility is the upcoming Garmin Dakota series. Price point and exact feature set are still unknown - some rumors say it'll replace the eTrex line, others say it'll replace something in the personal fitness line, so far all the data I've seen indicates that it's a mini-Oregon with a smaller screen at a lower price. It appears that it will have the Oregon's paperless geocaching features, which are stellar and the best paperless experience I've ever had.

Odd, I tried GateCacher and it choked on a medium sized (100 cache) GPX file. Spinning ball of death for 3-4 minutes before I had to hit reset. GateCacher was pretty much the final attempt in a series of WM caching attempts before I gave in and bought a dedicated unit (Oregon 300).

Hmm, if hard water/mineral deposits are the issue, then perhaps a jug of distilled water is in order? I'm probably ordering an InvisibleShield for my O300 soon, based on this feedback I'm considering distilled water + using my hand vacuum pump to degas it. (Distilled water can still have dissolved gases.)

I have an Oregon 300 and absolutely love it. Easily readable screen (I will admit the brightness control is hard to figure out without reading the manual and the default is pretty dim - Tap power button briefly when the unit is on to bring up brightness adjustment) Great user interface - I quickly figured out everything except aforementioned brightness control Easy transfer of caches to the unit and fieldnotes back (it's a USB mass storage device - drag and drop!) Edit: I forgot to add one thing regarding the user interface - The Oregon allows you to choose different "profiles" which are banks of settings, so you can change a whole bunch of settings at once by switching profiles. It comes with some pretty good presets (Geocaching, Automotive, Marine, etc), and each one can be customized or copied, and new ones can be created. So if you want to drive to a cache, throw the unit into Automotive mode to choose the City Navigator map sets, change the map display and routing settings, and disable the electronic compass (no electronic compass will work properly inside a metal vehicle), then as soon as you get out of the car switch to the geocaching profile to enable topo, electronic compass, and switch to "direct-to-point" routing. Standard mini-USB connector - I carry one cable in my laptop bag for three different devices including the Oregon, and my phone charger will power the Oregon. (I own an HTC PDA phone, its charger is recognized as "factory" by the Oregon. Moto/Blackberry users will have to perform a small software workaround on the Garmin to use their chargers.) Standard memory card (MicroSDHC) - Admittedly everyone has finally moved here now, Garmin was one of the last but they have quickly gone from an annoying array of proprietary connectors and memory cards to almost entirely standard technologies, leapfrogging some other manufacturers who pioneered a move towards standard memory interfaces. The Garmin is the first trail-oriented unit I've seen that had a standard connector in addition to standard memory. Actual usable turn-by-turn road routing if you get Garmin's City Navigator maps - no other trail-oriented GPS I've used comes close. (It will disappoint if you're expecting TomTom/Nuvi-like features though.) It is possible to get free 24k topo maps for most of the United States from www.gpsfiledepot.com The only thing I don't like is that the STM Cartesio chipset doesn't perform as well as the SiRF Star III or MTKv2. This is a problem with both of the premiere paperless caching devices on the market though, both the Oregon and DeLorme PN-40 use the same chipset. Both units are rapidly improving in performance as firmware updates get released though.

Unfortunately nearly all PDA phones that have GPS functionality use Qualcomm's GPSOne solution, which is pretty "meh" compared to dedicated GPS chipsets such as the SiRF Star III or MTK2. The difference in lock times and general performance between my AT&T Tilt and a Holux GPSlim236 (SiRF) Bluetooth puck is like night and day. Most dedicated PDAs without phone functionality that have GPS seem use the SiRF.

It sounds from the posts like BlackBerry might actually be ahead of WM at the moment. Hard to tell. I tried going paperless with a Windows Mobile device (AT&T Tilt) and gave up. Some apps couldn't even load a "medium" sized (100 caches instead of the 500 limit) PQ GPX - GPXSonar and GateCacher are in this category. GateCacher forced me to reset my phone after I got the spinning ball of death for 3-4 minutes. BeeLineGPS was pretty close to what I wanted, but it would pop up a browser to view cache details and didn't have any sort of maps I've heard good things about GCzII, but I've also seen some forum threads here imply that it might violate Groundspeak's TOS due to the way it retrieves cache data.

It appears that Garmin supports trail-based units (such as the Oregon and Colorado) with nuMaps Lifetime - So you can purchase lifetime updates for your unit (if Garmin's page for nuMaps Lifetime is correct).

Spray it with saltwater. Don't dunk it permanently - you need saltwater AND oxygen (although maybe dunking it in saltwater with a bubbler???) You may be able to accelerate the process with electricity, but the oxide type resulting from this process (a relative of electroplating, but designed to oxidize an electrode in a similar manner to aluminum anodization) may be VERY different from natural rust

Does the HCx have an electronic compass? If it does, I'd strongly reccommend the Oregon 300 over the 200 - you'll likely miss the e-compass if you've got it. Even if it doesn't, I'd reccommend the O300 for the electronic compass. Long ago I geocached with a PalmOS device (Kyocera 6035 smartphone) and a Garmin eMap. I've tried "going paperless" with Windows Mobile and my AT&T Tilt's internal GPS or external Bluetooth pucks. For caching, the Oregon 300 is way ahead of anything else I've ever tried. Current difference between the 200 and 300 on Amazon is $50 - it's worth the extra money. Edit: You might want to wait to see what the Dakota has to offer. The Dakota 20 looks like it'll be an Oregon 300 with a smaller screen and $50 less, although pricing is VERY preliminary. Based on recent Garmin press releases, the Dakota series may have the MTKv2 chipset, which is vastly superior to the STM Cartesio used by the Oregons and also the DeLorme PN-40.

Where's the link to the documentation describing how an application can pull PQ results directly? Unless there's a publicly documented API, it's a "secret backdoor".

I've only been somewhat nervous about logging some of my DNFs because there are some people who keep asking for ways to search for caches that have more than X DNFs in Y weeks so they don't "waste time" hunting it. I don't want to reduce traffic to a cache because I'm too rusty to find something that is obvious to others. I have set notes occasionally of "Turned back due to being unprepared" just so cachers know the owner is serious when they reccommend pants and shoes. I'm probably going to go back and log my other DNFs after this thread. If the people who treat too many DNFs as not worth their time don't go to a cache because I didn't find it - their problem not mine.

Um, not exactly. While I agree with you that DeLorme is very, very poor in cross platform support and they really, really should have a simpler drag and drop method of transferring data to/from the device, Cache Register does break some new ground. CR fetches and syncs your PQ's directly from GC.com -- no waiting for the email with each PQ, downloading and unzipping the attachment, copying it to the GPS. Instead, when you run CR it shows you the list of PQs you have on GC.com. You pick one from the list and click the "sync" button - and CR loads the PQ direcly to your GPS. Also, if you've made some field notes since your last sync, it uploads those to GC at the same time. This integration is the one seriously cool feature that I think give DeLorme an edge for cachers. For now. That may be temporary. GC.com made some back end changes for this to work, and I rather expect Garmin will be able to use a similar method real soon now. Hmm, a minor advantage, and if gc.com opened up their API so ANY developer could access that feature of the site, then I'm sure Garmin (or a third party) would quickly match and exceed CR. I do know of a piece of software that offers similar capabilities to what you describe (e.g. accesses multiple caches without going through the standard PQ system), and interestingly enough most times I see a reference to it, I also see a post on the thread referencing it saying that GS has been deleting references to said software for TOS violations, probably because said software doesn't use the "secret" Cache Register backdoor (which should not be secret...) In general, the PN-40 needs far more software support to perform various functions than the Garmin does. Yes, if you spend $10 you can get a few features not currently done by the Garmin, but 90% of the functionality of that piece of software is offered out of the box by the Oregon without any need for special software (free or for-pay) of any kind. This combined with the lower reliability, lack of a mounting rail (the carabiner clip included with the Oregon is FAR more useful than the PN-40's megalanyard, and there's no way you could add a 'biner to the PN-40 to mimic the way the Oregon's 'biner works - You could use a split ring and some string tied to the PN-40's lanyard holes, but this would allow the unit to swing far more than the Oregon's 'biner gadget.), and lower resolution/smaller screen make the Oregon worth the extra cost over the PN-40, since free 24k topos can be downloaded from www.gpsfiledepot.com for the Oregon. Also, a contributing factor to the original poster - What other devices do you own? Do you own a Blackberry, Motorola, or HTC phone, or anything else that charges from mini-USB? You will be able to use these same chargers with the Oregon. (Although BB/Moto chargers require a small software workaround. HTC chargers are treated by the Oregon identically to a Garmin power supply.) Add Reply failed so apologies if this becomes double posted. The OP also was interested in turn by turn routing - lee, I did not have a chance to exercise it, but is the PN-40's on-unit routing significantly improved compared to the PN-20, Street Atlas Handheld 2006, or Street Atlas Handheld 2009? I'm looking for words like "epic" and "night and day" and "totally redone" as the on-device road routing on the latter three products (I have used both of the SAHHs, my father has a PN-20), and on those products, road routing was so minimal, slow, and in general useless that it was barely enough to warrant the feature checkbox and that was about it. DeLorme could claim they had it, even though it was unusable for 95%+ of device owners. I have seen little evidence that the 40 is any significant improvement in this regard. While the Oregon will be a massive disappointment for a Nuvi user as far as road routing, the difference between it and the DeLorme with City Navigator maps is like night and day.

Content deleted - GC database was hiccuping earlier and posts went through despite browser reporting error.

Which GPS receiver? In general, Pocket Queries with a premium membership are the answer, but the exact transfer method once you've executed a PQ and received the results depends on your GPS unit.

Please post links to these "reports." DeLorme sometimes can take a couple hours to prepare a very large download (it pays to plan ahead), but I haven't seen cries of "FOREVER" on their forums in quite a long time (DeLorme has upgraded bandwidth and server capacity at least twice since I've been following them). I've also not heard of being unable to resume downloads. I've been able to download the same map package multiple times, in fact; once at work, and again at home because I left the download on my office computer. Again, please post links to these reports, and quantify "significantly." I've had no complaints about screen redraw performance while hiking w/ my PN-40. First review on Amazon. What's your definition of "very large"? I think my largest download was 40MB (I think it was about six map tiles? Maybe a bit more?) and it took over an hour for it to be ready. Topo USA repeatedly said, "You have a new download ready" at least once every five minutes but every time I went to the NetLink tab there was nothing new. I'm trying to hunt down the report regarding the screen redraw performance of the PN40. I know that screen redraw performance of the PN40 with just basic topo maps was, as I said before, slower than the Oregon 300 despite the O300 doing the following: Taking DEM data from one mapset Taking topo contours from a second mapset (freely downloadable 24k topo from gpsfiledepot.com) Using the DEM data from one mapset to relief shade the map when displaying the contours from the other This is with the O300 updating approximately twice as many pixels as the PN40 (176x220 resolution vs. 220x400) At this point, if I want aerial images I'll just fire up Google Maps Mobile on my phone. As a sad testament to DeLorme software (admittedly a different product than the PN-40), GMM can download aerial imagery and display it even on an EDGE connection faster than Street Atlas Handheld 2009 can display lower resolution aerial imagery stored locally on the SD card of an AT&T Tilt. (Another purchase I regret making...)

As lee_rimar pointed out, it's actually no. You need, at a minimum, DeLorme's plugin. (Also, does that plugin work if the drivers for the PN40 haven't already been installed by Topo USA?) To load a GPX on a "clean" computer with only web browser installed: Open up gmail (Note, I'm a gmail user - it's free and web-based so it meets the "no software installed" requirement) Open up an email with a PQ Save it If a zipped PQ was requested (it's reccommended but not required by geocaching.com) unzip it - Unzip functionality is built into Windows XP and above Plug in GPS via USB cable. GPS may be on or off at this point (according to http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?p=121743#121743 - it is reccommended that a DeLorme be powered off when you plug in the cable.) Copy GPX file over to the unit - It's drag-and-drop as the interface is 100% USB mass storage mode GPX may be placed in either internal memory or on the memory card To upload a field note on a "clean" computer with only a web browser installed: Plug in GPS via USB Go to the upload fieldnotes page on geocaching.com Click "browse" and choose the fieldnotes file on the Garmin's internal memory Click "upload" Also, what happens if you forget your USB cable when packing the DeLorme for a vacation? In my local area (within 25 miles of my home) there's only one store that carries the PN-40, and I'm pretty sure they didn't sell replacement cables separately. For the Garmin, if you forget the cable, mini-USB cables are easy to find. I've found retractable mini-USB cables at dollar stores even! I currently have a single cable in my netbook's case that allows me to transfer data from my Garmin, my phone (AT&T Tilt), and my i-Blue 747A+ logger. With the PN-40 I would have to carry at least two cables. As to NOAA charts, high-res aerials: It's not simple at all with the PN-40. It takes FOREVER for DeLorme to prepare your download, and I've seen many reports of downloads getting interrupted, which DeLorme doesn't allow you to resume. I've also seen reports (my unit failed before I could try high-res aerials) that using raster images can degrade device performance significantly. Given my experience with other DeLorme handheld products (SAHH2006, SAHH2009), I wouldn't be surprised. DeLorme is so bad at writing renderers for handheld units that they had to throw a whole extra processor into the unit to get acceptable performance. Even with the extra processor, my PN-40 was slower at redrawing basic topographic data on a 176x220 screen than the Oregon is at redrawing more detailed data (topo + relief shading) on an approx. 240x400 scren.

I describe it as, specifically: Lanyard was hanging from my wrist PN-40 swung approximately two inches back Swung two-inches forward towards the door My phone has taken far more (and far more significant) hits and still works perfectly, despite having far more potential failure points (like a slide-out tilting keyboard). Which leads me to another plus for the Garmin: The PN-40 comes with an incredibly long lanyard that lets the unit swing around a huge amount if you're not holding it. The Garmin Oregon and Colorado series come with a carabiner clip that the Garmin's mounting rail snaps into. (The Oregon/Colorado mounting rail is a great thing in general here) You can clip it onto your belt or through a belt loop and it won't swing/bounce at all. As to the thread being sticky: At least they're not trying to hide it, but this has been a known problem for at least six months with no conclusive fix so far. As to the 30 day policy: Who cares? Amazon provides a better policy that applies to both Garmin and DeLorme products. Unlike DeLorme's policy, Amazon will pay for the unit to be shipped back (in fact, gives you a premade UPS label to print out), and will reset the 30 days while you're waiting for your replacement. Also, a good return policy is no substitute whatsoever for a reliable unit. If the unit fails before an important event, what good is a return/exchange policy? As to Cache Register: Cache Register is just a (additional cost) workaround for the DeLorme's deficiencies. Garmin allows you to perform Cache Register's two primary functions (loading of multiple geocaches into a unit and uploading of field notes) simply using drag-and-drop in your favorite file management program. As to Garmin Communicator issues: Garmin Communicator was designed for older Garmin units. Newer Garmin units (Oregons/Colorados) do not require any special plugin for cache loading. Just copy the GPX file over to the unit's memory.

Let me ask the question this way. Choose a computer. Plug in the PN. You are not permitted to install ANY software on the computer with the exception of a web browser if for some unusual reason one is not already installed (on 99% of the computers you will access nowadays, this will not be required). No Topo USA, no Cache Register, no DeLorme plugin. How long does it take you to transfer 200 caches? Can you even do it?

Any advantage the PN-40 has over the Oregon in this area will soon be going away. Both the PN-40 and Oregon had horrific performance under tree cover from the get-go, and both had serious WAAS issues. This is because they use the *exact* same GPS receiver hardware. The PN-40 is currently slightly ahead of the game because they were the first to release a firmware update that fixed WAAS issues. The Oregon is pretty close (the 2.9x series betas have apparently made great strides in accuracy and receiver performance, I can't do a before/after as I loaded 2.98 almost immediately.) About the only thing missing from the Oregon's firmware at the moment compared to the PN are the WAAS fixes, and those should be coming soon. As to the ability to take a hit - The PN-40 has a tendency to fail even if you don't hit it. Read the DeLorme forums regarding the unusually high percentage of power supply issues, whether due to design flaw or bad manufacturing quality control. People will defend the PN-40 by saying, "it's a small percentage of sales", but the fact that it has a sticky thread on the tech support forums indicates that the numbers are statistically significant, whereas the Oregon does not seem to have any such statistical patterns in failures pointing to one particular item that fails for many users. As to the availability of an in-unit rechargeable battery for the 40 - I think DeLorme bit off more than they could chew with that. I have a feeling their power supply circuit would be a lot more reliable if they weren't trying to do so much with it. (Supporting alkaline, NiMH, and RCR-V3 with in-unit recharging in a single unit.) In my case, my PN-40 either failed spontaneously, or a light tap against my apartment door (2-3 inches of travel on the end of the lanyard as I unlocked my door) was enough to kill it.

You say any computer, including an internet cafe or a friends' can be used to load caches, then you specifically ask me if I have heard of an additional, for-charge app that is required to load more than one cache at a time. Good luck installing that on an internet cafe PC. Everyone rants and raves about Cache Register, but its advertised features are: Uploading of field notes Uploading of multiple caches to the unit The Oregon can do both of these without a single piece of extra software - so why is Cache Register so great? As I see it, it's a workaround for missing features of the PN40 that DeLorme wants to charge you for.