crunchewy

We are going to be visiting Montreal this summer and I'd like to do some geocaches while there, but the selection of maps for Canada on GPSFileDepot is limited. Is there a source for good free maps for this area of Canada somewhere?

For what it's worth I had no problems with the iPhone app recognizing my premium membership. I had let it lapse and just recently went premium again, and it worked fine again. Premium caches show up and I have access to pocket queries. One thing, though. Is it possible use something other than Google for satellite maps? Because it won't let me save the Google satellite maps for offline use, yet there doesn't seem to be a non-Google option for those.

Yep, it seems to work great on the Mac. Yeah!

One feature I really like at opencaching is that you can send all the Geocaches you are currently looking at on the map to your GPS. I don't see a similar feature on the official Geocaching site? Is it there somewhere and I'm just missing it? Another thing is I think the way pocket queries work is kind of weird/confusing. I create a pocket query, save it... and nothing happens? Oh, you have to check the current day to get it to actually do anything. Why would I want to make a pocket query and then not actually run it? I don't get that. Seems like it should default to having the current day checked, with run once then disable, and you can then choose to uncheck it if you want to.

I just got my first real GPS, a Garmin GPSMAP 62sc, and it does seem to be more accurate than my iPhone 4 and I like it, but I have to say that it is a royal pain in the *ss in comparison. The iPhone app is sooooo convenient. What we need is for some company to make an add-on GPS module for the iPhone that gives it the accuracy of a standalone GPS. It seems like that should be doable. Maybe it even exists already, but I couldn't figure it out from the one's available out there. Most seem to be getting used by people with iPod touches and iPads without a GPS, to get a GPS for other purposes. Not hiking/geocaching. So I can't tell about the accuracy from the reviews on amazon. Probably the reason these things don't exist is because Garmin, etc, don't see it as a winning solution for them, as their standalone GPSs are a map sales cash cow, and that goes out the window with the geocaching app which has way better satellite and road maps, and entirely for free. Also another useful thing would be a GPS with bluetooth that could receive Geocaches from an iPhone wirelessly. So you could locate nearby geocaches, get info on them, etc, on your iPhone, then transfer the caches to the standalone GPS wirelessly to then actually find them. That would make the standalone GPSs more convenient for sure.

i did end up paying for it and, yes, it is pretty ridiculous how long it takes to download the images. There seems to be long pauses where it's doing nothing at all. I guess maybe their servers are overwhelmed? They need to add capacity if so. Still, the satellite images are pretty good. They are not as detailed as google maps satellite images, but they are good enough for the most part and I'm glad to have them. So it takes a long time to download them, but I think it was worth the money anyway. Still, if there was a good free solution that offered higher resolution images, that would obviously be better. I just don't think screenshot-ing Google Maps pages and pasted them in place is terribly practical.

I just got a Garmin GPSMAP 62sc and updated it to the latest firmware. Every time I eject the disk from the desktop on my Mac and then disconnect the 62sc from the computer, it shuts down and the starts to power back up but just sits at the Garmin logo forever. I have to pull the batteries and put them back in, then I can power up and it seems to be fine. Does anyone else have this problem?

Ahh, but there's the rub. Garmin has a maximum file size for each tile to be downloaded. At the maximum, each resulting tile is about 10 miles by 10 miles, and about 100MB; give or take. One can only download a single file at a time (per computer), and a single file can take hours to download. Yes, 100MB is a large file, but it should download in minutes, not hours. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to talk you into or out of getting the imagery. But you asked "is it worth it?" I kinda like the imagery, now that I have some, but IMHO the download process is so ridiculously slow that I will not renew my subscription until that part of the deal is improved. Hope this helps! Ah. Yeah, that is slow. Hmm. I'm probably going to give it a try anyway as it will be convenient (other than that) and hope they improve the download speeds.

Ah - I didn't know they had samples. I will try that. Thanks. As far as map file sizes, satellite images are big. When you use google maps it only loads a portion at a time. If you're trying to grab an entire state at once I'd expect it to be huge. Probably massive.

I'm new to a "real" GPS, and am use to my iPhone showing satellite images in the geocaching app. So ideally I would like satellite images on my new Garmin GPSMAP 62sc, especially for city caches. Are the "BirdsEye" satellite images worth paying for? How much detail do those have? Is there any other option out there? I will mostly be geocaching in Maryland, US and there about, but will be going to Montreal this summer and want to look for some caches while there, and of course wherever we go on vacation. So need satellite imagery for various places. I know there's a trick you can do with Google Earth (overlaying a screenshot of the satellite image), but that's pretty painful. I'm use to no work at all.

Does this version fix the problems with sending to GPS on a Mac or do I still need to use the beta or older version?

Can somebody point me to the Mac version that works? I have a GPSMAP 60sc coming in the mail and I'm on a Mac and would really prefer to use the Mac instead of VMWare Fusion/Windows if at all possible. Are we sure that the current version doesn't work on Macs at all, or perhaps is it just on some Macs? I guess I'll find out, but if doesn't work I'd like to get the older version. Never mind - I found the link to a beta version that apparently works in this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=289137&st=0&p=5063979&hl=garmin%20communicator%20mac&fromsearch=1entry5063979 Or does the new 4.0.3 version fix this problem? I will try it first.

After much hemming and hawing, I decided to give a Garmin GPSMAP 62sc a try. Ordered from amazon where the price was about the same as for the 62s - I was going to get the 62s, but for the same price I didn't see any reason to not get the sc model. If I see any problems, returning it should be no problem. I'm excited!

I have an iPhone 4 and am wondering if there are any Bluetooth GPS receivers that will give me better performance (particularly under tree cover) than the built-in GPS? Could also connect to dock connector. Ideally it wouldn't require jail breaking my iPhone 4, but I'm willing to do that if needed to get a better GPS. I have one now but the performance is worse, not better, but it was pretty cheap so it's not really a shock.

Another option I'm wondering about is adding an external bluetooth GPS receiver. There are some that work with iOS devices out of the box, but also you can jailbreak and then use any bluetooth GPS receiver with some software you can install that way. I'd actually be the most happy with something like that, but I bought an inexpensive one a while back and it proved not to provide better accuracy. In fact I think it's worse. Are there any bluetooth GPS receivers that provide significantly improved GPS accuracy?

I really like using my iPhone 4 with the Geocaching software, except that the accuracy once we get close is poor, especially in the woods. I'd like to get a "real" GPS, but only as a supplement. I don't need road maps as I have TomTom on my iPhone as well as the Geocaching app. Basically I just need something that will give me greater accuracy once I'm near the cache. I'll use my iPhone to get me close, then the real GPS as needed. What's a good choice for me? I think all I need are for it to have Better accuracy, maps, compass and the ability to enter GPS coordinates, though I'm not sure exactly what I need.