ritzvin

Just reset the trip odometer to zero at the beginning of your walk. Both Garmin's and Magellan's offer that feature (at least Garmin etrex legend and Magellan meridian color do).

I LOVE cachemate too. It's really fast to use in the field too (unlike the html software I've tried before switching to cachemate).

if you have a magellan, you'll have to buy an SD card reader/writer in order to write multiple map sections to the same card. No big though - they're less than $10, and make the uploading process tons faster. as far as what I can fit on a card: (these are all from magellan MapSend directroute) Southern California from Monterrey/Carmel to San Diego, including Los Angeles, and parts on Nevada, Utah, and Arizona: 39.5 mb Buffalo, NY to Baltimore, MD -- including Buffalo, NY; Baltimore, MD; Harrisburg, PA; and part of suburban Washington DC: 37 mb downtown Baltimore (only contains downtown area): 944 kb New York city : 7.6 mb Buffalo, NY; Rochester, NY; Allegheny, PA: 7.8 mb Buffalo, NY; Toronto, ON; Barrie, ON; Hamilton, ON; MIdland, ON: 14 mb

you might want to pick up an emergency charger. They contain 4 AA batteries, and plug into the device. I've seen them for $15 (I was researching the ique at the time).

Amazon.com has the legend for $130. If I recall, most of the new ones on ebay were selling for more. There may be a selection of used ones though, since a lot of nifty new gps's have been coming out lately.

I've used both cachemate and plucker. cachemate is easier to upload to the device..GSAK outputs cachemate pdb files and sends to th palm install tool in one step. The results are plain text, so you can wade through the results faster on the device. This is probably a mute point to you, since you have a Tungsten. It's a major one for me though, since I'm still using my palm vx (tends to be slow on web pages). Plucker-gpx spinner takes a little more work to upload files, but not too much after setting everything up the first time. Reading pages on Plucker are pretty fast compared to other website programs. It still lags a bit on my palm, but shouldn't on yours. (once you set it up (ie after the first time), you simply drag a pocket query or exported gpx file onto gpx spinner, then tell plucker desktop program to upload index.htm to the device).

another option is cachemate. it's $8 to register and have more than 10 waypoints in it, but it's the most convenient to upload to, and the most convenient to wade through on the device if you have an older (read: slower processer) pda. GSAK will output to cachemate format and send the file to the palm install program in one step. no images though. my palm is an older non-color one, so pics would be of limited usefullness anyway.

the main disadvantage is the battery life. I can take my meridian color out on several outings and roadtrips before having to replace the AA Nimh's. The battery life is a lot shorter on the iques. THis is the only major complaint I've ever seen regarding the device, and is the sole reason I don't own a pda/gps combo (and I see this complaint a lot). It has numerous advantages though. It uses Palm's os5 and basic software, so it is a good pda. The gps program(s) work with the contacts list, so you can easily navigate to the home of someone in your address book - no re-entering of the address needed. also, no using arrow keys to make your way through a keyboard if you do need to enter an address - just hit the letters with the stylus. 3rd party software is available, meaning you can usually find something that works the way YOU want it to with the features you want. If I don't like the way my standalone gps does something, I'm stuck with how that feature works. if you get one, do get a hard case for it. The buttons on palm's are notorious for getting hit in pockets/purses/etc leading to many complaints of people taking out their palm only to learn that they are dead and the memory is erased. (the front app buttons on palm's turn the device on and go to that program--probably the same for the ique..so it could get turned on and be running in your pocket unknown to you for several hours; since palm's run on ram (faster, no moving hd), exausting the battery clears out all your info). even with auto-off, it may be turned on/hit enough times to still exhaust the battery. also--be sure to protect it from the elements--it won't be as hardy and waterproof as standalone gps's.

For those who use any of the Garmin iQue's, how long does the battery last in it? I'm considering upgrading my palm vx to this one. My main concern is the battery life. I love the extra conveniences this would provide (ie connection with the contacts program, easier interface for typing in info, etc). also- are there any differences in the main programs btwn this and the palms. I remember that the old handsprings made it more tedious to set the alarm times and edit appoinments in the datebook...I'm curious if anything like that is different on the iQue vs PalmOne's palms. thanks

For those who use the Zire72 with a gps receiver, how long does the battery last in it? I'm considering upgrading my palm vx to this one with the nav package (color handheld w/ camera & mp3 player, gps receiver, tomtom software for $400). My main concern is the battery life while using bluetooth. Separate programs for in-car nav and geocaching wouldn't bother me (since tomtom is supposed to work with the contacts program). (I currently use a magellan meridian color).

mobipocket is useful for having the detailed cache information with you when you go out geocaching (especally if you don't know which caches you will do that day and don't want to waste a lot of paper printing stuff out). Some caches will require you to have some of that information, especially virtual caches or caches with puzzles. (I have GSAK output a lot of info to the gps, but the waypoint comments area is still only 42 digits). I don't have any advice on solving it...perhaps after the program is around longer, the little bugs will get fixed. Complain to mobipocket so they know that's a problem. ps - the same thing happens with °.

perhaps that was the problem then.

I tried it out when geocaching with my Legend once. It caused my locaton to jump around a lot, which was incredibly annoying - I turned it off about 1 minute later and never turned it on again. The gps with WAAS disabled was more than accurate enough, so I didn't really see a reason for using it.

Is there somewhere you can tell it the approximate coordinates when you get to the new city. At least on my meridian color, you initialize it and tell it your approximate location (state and/or approx coords if known) to make the process quicker.

When you say the mapping capabilities were somewhat limited, what are you referring to? Is there some feature of it you didn't like or wished it had? Do you already own the detailed maps? How much memory do you want? If you were happy with the interface, and pretty happy with the mapping capabilities, and esp if you own the detailed maps, I'd get another magellan. I've read the meridian gold is selling for about $160 now. You might want to read the specs and see if it's bigger than your sportrak. My meridian color is pretty large (but I think the sportraks are too). If you want more than 24 mb of memory at a reasonable price, forget about buying a Garmin (I don't think they have anything with more than that amount of memory for anywhere near $200).

on garmin vs magellan.. I don't generally think of one as being better than the other - they both have their good points and bad points. What someone buys is based on what features are important to them. My last unit is a magellan bc I wanted it for in-car navigation as well, and the magellan's offered memory card storage and color screens at a cheaper price. The res is relatively low compared to garmin's color units. My first unit was a Garmin Legend bc I wanted a unit for geocaching with the possibilty that I might one day put some detailed maps on it (a v. small area at a time). It had a nice small size, and felt comfortable in my small hands. The Garmin also had nicer waypoint icons than my magellan meridian. Since the basemap could seem cluttered in black and white in some areas, I decided a color screen would be a necessity for detailed maps. Garmin has much nicer color screens (more colors, higher res** - I don't know how the new color explorist rates compared to them); but at a higher price and not much memory. (in the end, I chose lower price & memory over resolution & size).

also make sure you'r enot running any other software (like Palm hotsync) that could be using that port.

what I'm sure everyone else has already requested: - removeable memory cards : this is one of the main reasons people who buy magellans buy magellans - make travel bundle packages: give people a price break when buying maps with the gps. (another reason I wound up buying a magellan) That's pretty much it. I used a Legend for a while. It was a nice unit. WHen I decided I wanted a unit for in car navigation as well, Garmin didn't offer anything with decent memory (aside from 1 or 2 newer VERY expensive models, and those still only had 128 or so mb of memory). I bought a Magellan Meridian Travel color bundle for $380. things I like about Garmin vs my Meridian color: -Garmin color screens have more colors, higher res (unfortunately higher price as well) (don't know how they compare with the new explorist though). - waypoint icons match those of geocaching.com when downloaded. (new explorist might too - i don't know) almost forgot: -maybe they fixed it, but the panning on my legen was really, really annoying. had to go through a menu to tell it to pan first, then could pan. with my meridian, I just start panning. - having a joystick double as an enter key makes it difficult to not accidentally scroll or select when you mean to do the other. (etrex models, may not be the case on newer models)

If you want a unit solely for geocaching, the cheapest unit with a computer connection will function as well as more expensive models. If you have very rugged terrain, then the ability to upload topo maps will likely come in useful (ie areas with mountains/plateaus/ravines where such 'altitude changes' will significantly obstruct your path), and you'll want a unit with enough memory to accomadate those maps. Otherwise, topo maps are unnecessary. Color is useful when you have loads of detail and items on the screen. It's something you'd probably want (along with a LOT of memory) if you were using the gps as an in car navigation unit as well as for geocaching. Otherwise, color won't really add any usefullness.

on the Vista.. the only cons I can think of: - no expandable memory (internal only), and only 24 mb. Since you plan to use it only fo rthe outdoors, this should be plenty for your purposes. I would think that should be more than enough for topo maps. (in comparison, my block of detailed streets/destinations for the rectangular area consisting of Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Buffalo, a little of Pennsylvania, Toronto, and Barrie is 23 mb, thus travelling with street info with this device would require lots of uploading of map areas) -No USB or removeable cards: this will increase the required upload times for maps...probably not an issue for you depending on how many topo maps you'll want to switch between and if you'll even have to (I don't know homw much memory your topo maps will need) - non-color. however, the monochrome shading on the garmins is pretty good, and should be more than enough for topo uses. Conclusion... based on your planned uses, the above cons probably aren't an issue. It should be an excellent model for you. (the one I would have picked for you)

Questions to think about? Do you want to use this for street navigation, or only for outdoors-type stuff like geocaching? ---- yes - then you may want: -------------------- color (more detail = harder to read if only 1 color, esp in car) -------------------- higher memory or takes memory cards -------------------- bundled detailed software ==========pricewise, the winner for me was the meridian color...the travel bundle is available from anchorexpress for $381 (this includes the unit and the detailed North America map CD's, and a car holder, cig lighter power adapter w/ data cable, data cable. it's serial; but USB SD card drives are less than $10 on ebay (and allows you to upload multiple rectangles of detail to the same card). ---- no - a non-color model with less memory will suffice. ============ The Garmin Legend is pretty nice at $130. If you want to upload topo maps, you might want to upgrade to the $190ish vista with 3x the memory. I don't know how much room the topo maps need. Do you want the waypoint icons on the gps to match those on geocaching.com (differentiate between single, multi, virtual,...)? ---------The older magellan meridian models do not. It has fairly large pixels and only 16 colors, so the icons are pretty simple...not the pretty shaded icons the Legend I used a few times did. (I returned the Legend when I decided I wanted to also have street detailed routing). The Legend even showed the travel bug icon if there were travel bugs (if I remember correctly). Your best match is probably the vista. It's fairly cheap, but has enough memory to fit a decent amount of topo maps.

check that the baud rate is set to the same number on both the gps and the software on the PC. The default on the meridian color is different than the GSAK default, so that is likely your problem (I had to change it to get them to communicate).

second that. If you have anything else running on the com port, it won't contact the gps. If you have Palm software on your computer, simply exiting the hotsync program should be enough (at least it was for me).

This doesn't contain all the caches in the Buffalo area. As of the time I'm typing it, the individual bookmark lists do contain all available caches in the general area described by the bookmark title. Beaver Island State Park Buckhorn Island State Park Buffalo Riverwalk Kenmore/North Buffalo Misc Buffalo Area (so far contains Tifft Park area caches) Niawanda Park/Tonawanda Riverwalk Devil's Hole/Whirlpool State Parks, Goat Island, Power Vista Scajaquada/Delaware Park Zoar Valley