damel

Hrm, I get the same thing here . I had assumed that creating the file in the ExpCard directory would fix this but it does not. Looks like quickinstall only installs to the PDA by default. I can't seem to find a fix for this (Other then just moving the files between windows (handheld vs ExpCard) before you hotsync). Anyone else have any ideas?

I would have to second what RJFerret says. Sounds like you have 'Follow Road' selected. When you select the geocache to goto make sure when the little window pops up that asks 'Follow Road' or 'Off Road' you select Off Road. If you do not have this option then change it via RJFerret's suggestion to 'Prompted' if you would like the gpsr to ask you every time or to 'Off Road' if you want the unit to always use the compass. I personally like being prompted as I will use the Follow Road option to get me close by road and then recalculate with Off Road once I'm out of my car.

I did the same thing when I upgraded my firmware. This is not a database that is standard with the 60cs as far as I know. It loads marine POI symbols and if I remember correctly tide information. When you upload any maps the next time from MapSource the Marine POI info will be deleted. You have not lost anything, just temporary gained something. If you like the Marine POI and tide info there is a link for a file that will add the maps to MapSource somewhere in the forums. I forget where though sorry.

I would guess that the settings which contain a checked "Install to palm after convertion" is still being used by the cachemate export. Make sure that you uncheck this option and save the settings. Then use this saved settings for the macro. ie..in the following the settings is called 'Normal' so you would make sure that the cache export settings called 'Normal' had the "Install to palm after convertion" unchecked and then resaved as 'Normal' EXPORT Type=CMT Settings="Normal" File="C:\Progra~1\palmOne\<hotsync_username>\QuickInstall\<HandHeld | ExpCard>\cache_mate_file_to_create.pdb"

I would definitely second what scott9282 says. Hold the units in your hand. Play with the buttons, look at the screens. If you have a chance hold the unit in sunlight to see how well it looks under bright conditions. I would not limit yourself to just Garmin either. Have a look at the other brands out there. Some might have options that you like better or that may be more useful to you. I personally also went with the 60C for many of the same reasons as those above. The unit just feels good in your hand. It is small enough to take anywhere and has a good amount of memory. I liked that it uses batteries as apposed to rechargeables. I love the way the screen looks in bright light as it has a way of reflecting the light that makes the screen appear brighter. I have also heard nothing but good things from those with the 76 series units and they seem to perform very similar to the 60 series. With some mapping software I think either would last you quite some time and be a great choice.

I think that the Garmin Topo USA maps are very useful. Considering the size of the screen on GPS's the maps have good detail for the topography around you. Like Sputnik 57 says they are equivalent to USGS 1:100,000 survey maps so they do not have the detail of say the 1:24,000 maps but then again that amount of detail gets harder to see on such a small screen. I like them a lot. Where else can you get decent topographical maps of the entire US for under $100? If you are really worried about 'high quality' maps I would suggest looking into creating your own. You can easily make 1:24,000 maps or better by following: Garmin Custom Maps. These take time to create but are free and very high quality.

I have so done this before! Like when you know they have to be a cacher because they are just lingering around. I just sit and watch. Its fun to see the anticipation for sure!

Eddie Bauer backpack from Target. It has lots of pockets. Also has some good padding incase I'm doing some real day hiking. I keep is filled with H2O, camera, Survival kit and of course lots of swag.

The satellites are always moving (two complete orbits every 24 hours). There can be any number of satellites in the sky in your area depending on where they are in the sky at the time in question. To get a 2D lock you need at least 3 satellites. This is all you need to know where you are horizontally. Most GPSr's today have 12 channels (like the garmin's you mentioned). This means that they can lock on to 12 different satellites all at once. This depends on how many are in the sky and how many of those you have direct lines of sight to. I often have anywhere from 7 to 12. The system is setup in such a way that you should have comparable coverage anywhere in the world. Oh, and I think the 60CS and 76CS get similar reception.

Works like a charm. Takes a while to get the data from USGS (especially depending on the size of the map you’re downloading) but after that everything seems to run very smoothly. It is amazing the detail that you can get with these custom maps. It is also very kewl that you can make them transparent! Although I would not do this for entire states, I will definitely create custom maps for areas I know I will spend some time in. Thanks for the info! Note to others: the link in the article should be seamless.usgs.gov not seamless.usgs.com

I had bought one of these a couple of weeks ago mainly for travel. I had not had a chance to test it out yet but after reading this forum thought that I should. WOW is the only word that comes to mind when using it. I had 11/12 satellites at all times driving around the city and even 12/12 sometimes. The amazing thing was that the signal of 8 of these 11 (or 12) was totally full! On top of that I was getting differential data that I would normally not be able to. I have never seen such good reception...truly amazing!

Someone wrote a beta version of a program to do this on a Palm. I tried it and it didn't work with my T3...but then T3's are known to have a serial driver problem. I might've also tried it using my TRG PRO but can't recall. Do a Google search for palm and sendmap (or mapsend...I always get the two confused). It's freeware. GeoBC Yup, this is exactly what I was looking for Thanks. Good to know there is at least one beta version out there. Means I'm not the only crazy one to have this thought..hehe. I'll have to see if it works on my m505.

mcx is the connector your looking for. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...4&category=4668 the one in this picture (Note: this is gilsson's online store and where I bought mine)

Yes, GSAK can filter for any direction. From the menus "Search" -> "Filter" -> "Other tab" -> "Bearing" on right top-middle of page.

I know this is probably a long shot, but with a serial connection you would think that it is possible for a palm to communicate with your GPSr (In fact if memory serves, I have seen a post that says a user could do this for geocaches). If this is possible I was wondering if there was a way to send all my MapSource maps to the Palm and store them there (because it has a SD card) and then when I'm on a trip I could use that Palm to update the maps on my GPSMAP 60C. This would be a lot more handy then bringing my laptop on every trip and having to wait while it boots up..etc. Anyone ever try anything like this or know if it is possible?

I would do something like what follows in a marcro .... 1) User flag all of the caches 2) Filter by Found caches and un-flag (this will get rid of caches you found). 3) Filter by user flagged caches 4) Filter by log found for your friend’s nick/name/id and un-flag (this will get rid of your friend’s caches). 5) Filter by user flagged caches This should give you only caches both of you have not found. Edit: Thought I would elaberate... Create three filters, one that filters your found caches, one that filters your friends caches and one that filters by user flag = set. Then do this... USERFLAG type=set range=all FILTER Name="<filter_for_you>" USERFLAG type=clear range=filter FILTER Name="<filter_for_friend>" USERFLAG type=clear range=filter FILTER Name="<user_flag_set_filter>"

In the File=>Export=>CacheMate dialog just uncheck the box "Install to palm after conversion" That option/dialog box doesn't come up when running a macro though. Do I have to run a "dummy" export so I can uncheck the box, and then that option will be retained when running the macro? (I presume I could save the settings where it won't auto-install, then call those settings in the macro) In the export CacheMate PDB file screen you can save your settings, so that you can use them again. Just uncheck the Auto Install option and save the setting. Then when you call it via a macro do this: CACHEMATE Settings="<name_of_setting_created>" File="path\file" The key is the 'Settings' option of the CACHEMATE function.

Yes, the Garmin GPSMAP line are all very good GPSr units and are rugged enough that if you drop them or get them wet they will still work fine. I have a GPSMAP 60C and love it. The unit does everything I could think of and more. You may still want to use the PDA however for paperless caching (info like descriptions, logs..etc). A cheap palm unit can do this nicely though so there would really be no need to use your iPaq.

I choose the 60C and have never looked back. Used the extra $50 towards some MapSource products. I have never personally found a need for the compass and from what I have read its a drain on the batteries. I opted for longer battery life and to use my real compass.

I use CacheMate and GSAK with a premium membership to gc.com. Its all fairly easy and straight forward. I tried to read the geocacher-u tutorial and even began trying to do what is says before I found CacheMate. I could not get things to work easily. I then found CacheMate while reading the forums. CacheMate is simple. Seems too simple at first, as embra pointed out. But after a couple of days playing with it you may just be hooked like us. You can get all your own logs/notes off of CacheMate and into GSAK. There is no automated way to get the logs onto the gc.com website but GSAK has a simple work around where the log in a GSAK window and the online log open at the same time, and you just paste your new info in. Its the closest I have found to total automation (and this seems to be more of a gc.com issue that there is no way of total automation). You can try both CacheMate and GSAK out before you buy them. GSAK will have no limitations (just a nag) and CacheMate will just allow a small number of caches like 10 when not registered but this can easily give you an idea of how well everything works. As for a PDA I use my old m505, but I have heard many people using much less and having no problems. I like that the m505 has a SD slot. Many of the new models also have this feature so you may want to look into some of the cheaper models of these for this reason.

I own a GSPmap 60C and love it. I would highly recommend it. In my experience it has lived up to all the hype in the gps community and then some. I however would like a model that included an SD card but for my normal use this is not needed as the 60C has 56megs of memory built in. I have never used a magellan but I would guess that they are fairly similar in capabilities. I think the best thing to do is to go to a gps function and try some different units out. Find what feels best and what has the features that are most important to you.

GPSr Map Software: MapSource (City Select NA, TOPO USA): Computer: GSAK Palm: CacheMate

In the File=>Export=>CacheMate dialog just uncheck the box "Install to palm after conversion" I think that Dr. Boggis still wants that one button sync option that he had before. Where instead of finding the files where he created them and moving them into the install program, he just wants to press the HotSync button and have everything transfer. Clyde is correct Dr. Boggis, or at least half correct as I think I have the missing piece you are looking for. 1) Do what Clyde suggests and turn off the "Install to palm after conversion" checkbox on all your cachemate outputs. 2) Add a line similar to this at the end of your macro: RUNPGM Pgm="C:\Progra~1\palmOne\QuickInstall.exe" Parms=C:\Progra~1\palmOne\<hotsync_username>\QuickInstall\<HandHeld | ExpCard>\cache_mate_file_you_created.pdb - this points to the file you made earlier in the macro, Note: use one line like this per file you created. Although it seems like the regular install program needs to be closed every time between each file being added, the quick install does not seem to have this restriction. This is the best fix I have found so far. The QuickInstall box will open, but only once and it does not appear to need to be closed for the script to keep on running. Plus you don’t even have to close it to hotsync your palm.

EraSeek is correct, the number you see like +-10ft are actually the Estimate of Position Error (EPE). This is more of a probability issue then an accuracy issue. The EPE says that you will be inside the sphere given that the confidence level (sigma) for the situation is high enough. It seems to be generally accepted that garmin uses a confidence level of 50% (50% CEP). If this is the case, then you have just as much chance of being inside of the 10ft circle as you do of being outside it. Thus the EPE is really not accurate at all, just a guess of the error of your unit. WAAS is probably a better guess for the difference. Maybe it was reset in your unit when you upgraded. In the setup menu make sure WAAS is turned on. I know my unit came in the box with WAAS turned off, which I thought was wierd. Maybe thats the default. See these for more info: http://factsfacts.com/epe.htm http://gpsinformation.net/main/errors.htm http://users.erols.com/dlwilson/gps.htm

By the same thinking, this works for Google Satellite View: Google Satellite View=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=%lat+%lon+(%code-%name)&spn=0.020,0.020&t=k or of course any other %tag seems to work here too.