Team Coordinated

Wahoo! The Vista connects and talks to my Axim. I still don't have a custom cable, but the two devices talk! I plotted my house on a Streets and Trips map. Now I'm either going to make a cable or buy one if I can find a shop that makes them. Tim Team Coordinated

HI, I've had mine for over a year, picked it up on an ecost special for $280. I picked this one because it was everything I wanted. The only thing that bothers me is the smaller screen and the antenna. I'd love it if Garmin merged the Vista's functionality with a powerful antenna into a pocketpc device. I almost have that now with my Axim and my vista, but other than that, the vista rocks plain and simple. I hope garmin updates the etrex line with some improvements like a color screen and an external antenna. The Vista has 24M of data for maps, which is kinda small. In my own unrealistic and extensive use of my handheld, I'd like to be able to load a couple of states into the vista, or have the vista use a SD or flash card. Yeah, I've read about the ique3600 from Garmin, but I'm really not interested unless it turn out to have AWESOME performance where I JUST HAVE TO HAVE ONE OR I'LL DIE!!! I don't think that will be the case. It's pretty hard to beat the Vista's features (and it has a lot of them)! Dollar for dollar, it's probably one of the top 3-5 handheld GPS units to get. Mine easily has a couple hundred hours of run time. I use it for auto, hiking, cycling, geocaching, and for when I get lost doing any of things mentioned. It's also been a serious trooper and has been through a lot. Good money spent! Tim Team Coordinated

Wake me up when someone makes a tri-corder. Until then, I don't need no stink'n picture-taking, gps finding, cell phone! Pahhhh! Tim Team Coordinated Now where did I put my PDA?

Hey folks - Just ordered my cable from Dell. In a previous post, I quoted: Dell Serial Cable (Part# 310-3474 must be ordered by phone) If you type this in at Dell's site, it gives you: PALM COMPUTING Palm HotSync Cable - Serial Cable, Serial, 6 ft, 9-Pin D-Sub and Proprietary Connectors, For PalmT i705 / m515 / m505 / m500 / m130 / m125 Handhelds As the Dell rep was telling me, this is NOT the cable for the AXIM. You have to call Dell directly and ask for the serial cable for the Axim. Now, normal companies would be able to give me a part number that you can type into a search engine. This however is not the case with Dell. The Dell rep blew me smoke about not being about to give a part# that works on their website, yet he has the information to get the part ordered. Whatever. Did I mention that Dell support sucks? Just be aware of this if you order the cable to do the hook-up. It would be unfortunate if you went through all this and got the wrong cable from Dell. At any rate, my cable is ordered and should be here next week. I also have a couple of e-mails out for custom made cables, but I don't have any responses yet. It's good to hear that Jeff got his etex working. Soon to have my Vista talking to my Axim, Tim Team Coordinated

I found the following information on the Dell site. I guess I'm not alone! This has GOT to be a mess to set up! Wires everywhere, bulky, and it works, but maybe room for improvement. Which makes me wonder... I can imagine what all this crap must look like strung together. I'm curious if some online shop is already making one (time to pop off some emails). The engineer in me says "Baaaah!" I can get another Vista cable, Dell's serial cable, and my multi-meter and make my own cable! Take the solution created below, figure out what's going where and start constructing. I'm seriously considering this option. How bad do I want to make the two units talk? Bad! A couple of options I have to look into...an online company making the cable and figuring out the pin-outs and making my own. I'll do some more research and post what happens. With my luck, I'll make the cable and then drop the Axim on a rock and crack the screen a week later! Anyway, check out this guy's efforts. Tim Team Coordinated From: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dellpda&message.id=15314 After much headache I have finally successful made my eTrex Vista work with my Axim. I followed advice posted on this site with little luck, but it did give me a great start. Heavy research of groups relating to the eTrex interface and the Axim interface drew me to a conclusion. The conclusion is that the eTrex did not like the data being transmitted to it from the Axim and would essentially stall or distort it's output. Even with the Axim being tricked with a Null adapter, the Axim's GPS software couldn't interpret the garbage being sent to it from the eTrex. I determined that I must stop the data flowing from the Axim to the eTrex. This method allows me to start my GPS and Axim consistently every time without performing any funny tricks. In fact, I can start the Axim with the serial cable plugged in. (still must disable ActiveSync though) I have used this with Mapopolis, GPSEngine, and MiniStumbler. The problem with the eTrex series units is the NMEA interface is picky. Parts Used: (have) - Axim - eTrex Vista - eTrex Serial Cable (came with unit) (had to buy) - Dell Serial Cable (Part# 310-3474 must be ordered by phone) - Male to Male Gender Changer (Radio Shack Part#26-231) - DB9 Null Modem Adapter (Radio Shack Part# 26-264B) Attaching Cables; eTrex--->eTrexCable--->GenderChanger-->NullAdapter--->AximCable--->Axim +The eTrex "data in" must be blocked. If you don't want to destroy the cable, here is a simple solution. I placed a tiny cut of masking tape over the "Power(+)" and the "Data In" terminal on the back of the eTrex. When I slide the eTrex cable on the eTrex, these contacts now don't contact anymore (this also allows for reverting easily so you can update your firmware etc...). If you need pin outs for the eTrex, visit www.garmin.com and download the PDF manual. +Attach the gender changer on the other end of the eTrex cable. +Attach the null adapter to the gender changer (The Male side MUST be facing the Axim) +Attach the Axim cable to the open male end of the null adapter. +Attach the remaining end of the Axim cable to the Axim. (make sure you disable ActiveSync first). This setup has guaranteed a solid working GPS connection between my eTrex and Axim every time!!! I'm not the best at communicating my ideas on paper, so if you have questions, reply and I will help. Please feel free to elaborate (or disagree) this post to help others. Stephen

Very cool, I'll try doing this and see what happens! Tim Team Coordinated

How very cool to hear this! It's nice to hear about good service when so many places don't do this (besides GPS). I've gotten so use to crappy service in general, that then someone goes the extra mile, it really makes a big impact. I'd drop them a letter! Tim Team Coordinated

Has anyone managed to hook up an Axim to a GPS(specifically a Garmin Vista). I want to use Pocket streets with my Vista. Haven't figured out how to do it yet. Grrrrrrr. Any help is appreciated! Tim Team Coordinated

Programs like this just make me giddy! It works on my Axim x5, with no problems so far (time for extensive field testing!). A question though...I really don't want to tap myself silly entering all my location data. I keep a couple hundred caches on a flash card (portable geocaching!). Is there a limit on the number of caches you can load into the program? For your program, I added a cache and then tried to find the data file. I'm thinking I can adjust my LOC data and convert it to the Cachefinder format, and save that file on my Axim. Then when I start your prog, it should read the data file and load in all the coordinates. Am I crazy or can I do this? At any rate, Dude, you are awesome for creating this! Maybe if you get enough response, you'll do updates, like maybe a resolution bar to compensate for longer distant caches? How about a location field that remembers multiple locations? A direct load button to pull those wonderful XML LOC files straight into the program? Skin support? A graphical compass arrow and readout for each cache. The text is nice, but graphics are just that much cooler (I do some UI work for a software company when I'm not geocaching). Sorry - this program is just too freeking cool, useful and has my vote for two thumbs way up. Mucho again! Tim Team Coordinated

I taped mine to a cat and recorded its wandering for a day. Then I printed out the track log, colored it with Photoshop, and had it enlarged to a 3'x4' print. I titled it "Chaos" and sold it on ebay for $3400. (just kidding) Tim Team Coordinated

I have a Garmin Vista. I have had great success with this unit. If it ever dies, I'd get another. My Vista has been through some tough times (not on purpose). Still running great. A couple of friends have bought the same model after using mine. Tim Team Coordinated

I have an Axim - it's my portable geocaching workstation. I use a Garmin Vista for geocaching. I would never use a GPS compact flash card in a PDA. Portable GPSs are made to go everywhere, whereas a PDA is not. I've had my Vista in rain, snow, sleet, heat, underwater, and in pitch darkness. I've dropped my GPS, sat on it, bumped into things with it, put things on top of it, taped it to my bike, and even let my kid play with it. If I wear out the batteries, I replace them (or pick some up at a store – they are AAs) After all this time, it works like a charm. I wouldn't want to try that with my Axim. If you do get a compact flash for your Axim, it will probably be for your car. With an external antenna and a power source, you could have a viable solution for in-car navigation. For geocaching – get a dedicated unit. If you are willing to drop $270 on a compact flash card – heck, get a Vista. Try this - get a program like HTTRACK. Download all your favorite sites to your Axim. Send the data into your Axim and get searching! Never waste another piece of paper printing off cache pages. My Axim has every cache within a 100-mile radius of my house, all stored on one compact flash card. Something I do want to find a solution to…I need my Dell Axim to store and load Mapsource maps to my Vista. Pocket Streets is OK for now, but I’d like to have the option. Besides, I refuse to carry a laptop on vacation! Tim Team Coordinated