peter
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Posts posted by peter
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so for those who want one unit for auto and caching which one would you recomend and why?
Navman iCN750 $450
Magellan Crossover $450 - $500
Quest 2 $250-35r me)
If handheld use is a major concern then I'd go with the Quest (either 1 or 2) over the other two. It has the best battery life (20 hrs.), waterproofness (IPX-7 - submersible), and is the lightest/smallest for easy carrying. It works fine for geocaching.
The small screen size is a slight negative for in-vehicle use and it doesn't support text-to-speech so it'll just announce "Turn right in 300 feet" rather than "Turn right on Elm St. in 300 feet."
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can i get maps somewhere for free that will work with a 60cx
Check out Mapcenter - it has user created maps...
You can also try:
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I use an EXTERNAL ANTENNA with a WINDOW SUCTION MOUNT. I get great reception in the aisle seat!
Usually I just rely on the internal antenna in my eMap which works fine near a window, but on a recent flight I could only get a middle seat. I had the external antenna along but was at first a little reluctant to ask the person in the window seat for permission to place it by the window. He seemed friendly enough so I decided to ask and it turned out he was a private pilot and very familiar with GPS. He had no problem with having the antenna on the window and stringing the cable past the seat tray mounts to keep it out of the way. Excellent reception that way and I saw a new personal high for a sustained maximum speed. When just starting our descent into Mpls. we had a great tailwind and got up to a ground speed of 703 mph.
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Do I need the later two if i have CN v8?
Probably not.
'Trips & Waypoint Manager' is basically just the MapSource program without detailed maps, so you certainly don't gain anything from that. Roads&Rec. is a much older streetmap program so the data is rather dated now and was never all that accurate to start (no routing, no address look-up, free Census Bureau data of limited accuracy). But it does include some features lacking from CityNavigator including better coverage of some local parks, inclusion of more streams, and marine features such as buoy and light locations. It also uses far less memory than CityNav. which makes it useful for some older GPS models that have limited memory (like the original eTrex Legend with 8MB).
Whether any of that makes it worth keeping available on your PC is up to you. I haven't used my copy in a couple years but I still do have it available.
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If the above suggestions don't work then I'd suggest calling Garmin again. I've had the best success in getting through by calling their toll-free number right when they open for business (8 am, Central time). When one of my Garmins had a problem it was right near the end of the 1-yr warranty period and they never even asked to see a receipt (nor did I send one). They fixed it promptly and got it right back to me.
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I've had my eMap for a bit over 7 years. It has seen lots of use and the outside case reflects that, but it still works fine - in fact much better than when it was new due to the demise of SA since then and numerous firmware enhancements by Garmin.
But none of the buttons have any lettering left, the tabs that hold on the PC cable have broken off (replaced by a glued on plastic piece), the screen has a crack along the right side and many small scratches, the rubber feet on the back are gone, one of the battery clips snapped off (replaced by a spring that's far superior), and there are numerous scratches and gouges on the case.
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That is excellent information. So if I purchase the gps 18, which includes city navigator, I would get 1 unlock code which can be used either on the laptop or vista cx? Then using either Spanner or gpsgate, the laptop could access Streets and Trips which I understand is better software for the laptop. In essence, then, I am saving the cost of CN for the vista cx by using ST for the laptop, saving approximately $65.
If you get the GPS18/CityNavigator/nRoute kit, it'll come with a code for unlocking the GPS18 so you can use it with a laptop. You'll also be eligible for a free second unlock code that will let you load the maps to your VistaCx either from the laptop or an other PC. You can get the second unlock code from the Garmin website directly or use the unlock wizard included with the MapSource/CityNavigator software. Whether you also want to get S&T for the laptop is up to you. I generally prefer nRoute but don't have the latest version of S&T.
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Alkaline and lead-acid batteries put out 1.5v. Almost all rechargeables put out 1.2v to 1.25v.
Actually, lead-acid batteries generate about 2.0 V/cell, which is why the 6 cells in your car battery generate a nominal 12 VDC. Not that this has much relevance to most GPS use since they don't generally use lead-acid cells.
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So I wonder which units use this calculated MSL and which ones use the (gps) elipsiod height?
AFAIK, all current Garmin, Magellan, and Lowrance models report height above the geoid which is the surface that closely approximates MSL. The old Lowrance GM100 didn't include the ellipsoid vs. geoid correction but I believe their newer models do so. There were also issues with units that used the early SiRF chips (I and II) which didn't properly correct for the geoid.
If you set your receiver to output NMEA sentences and look at the data stream with hyperterminal or other programs you should see periodic output of the $GPGGA sentence. The 8th data field in this sentence indicates the difference between geoid and ellipsoid height being applied by your receiver at the current location.
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OK - We now know the difference between the tow differen elevation/altitudes in the 60CSx. What I would love (Tell me I can do it and haven't figured it out yet) is to be able to add GPS elevation to one of my data fields so when I'm flying I can also see the altitude. It dodn't seem to be an option. Or, can I switch the unit between GPS elevation and pressure based elevation? Its a pain to go to the sat screen, press menu and select GOS elevation when I want to know how high I'm flying.
Maybe this should go into the what do you want to see from Garmin thread.
It has been an often requested feature for the Garmin models that have barometric sensors, but so far Garmin has not been willing to change the firmware to allow the GPS elevation to be shown continuously as a data field or for it to be used optionally as the altitude data in the recorded tracklog.
In reference to the comment above that:
The actual altitude an airplane flys at will have a big effect on the cabin altitude. (inside pressure) The pressurization system in designed to only allow a certian maxim pressure differental between inside and outside the airplane. This is to pervent structural damage to the airplane. (hatches and window blowing out and rivits shooting off the plane wound be bad.) I don't know what the Max Differential is on a commercial plane is, but on a C-130 it's 15 inHg.
While there will be some structural limit to pressure differences, all commercial airliners are able to maintain a pressure altitude well below 8000' while at their maximum cruising altitude and therefore this is not a limitation in practice. The pressure altitude inside the cabin is adjustable by the crew but should never exceed 8000' since that is the official limit based on health considerations for the passengers.
Note that the stated maximum differential of 15 "Hg would allow a sea level pressure altitude to be maintained inside even if the aircraft could somehow be taken into the vacuum of space since nominal atmospheric pressure at sea level is only 14.7 "Hg.
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If I have a 1GB card and I want to put a lot of maps on my unit, is my only option to create one large mapset and scroll through the entire list activating and deactivating the ones of interest?
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OK, well maybe I'm doing something wrong. I would love to only have three. But its the entire set. I have selected three states for the City ( I live where I travel through three) , several states to cover my topo area, and the base maps. It comes out to almost 15 different maps.
With a 1 gig card, I would like to add many maps and activate and deactivate as I travel.
When you have the page with the list of individual maps you can press MENU again and get the simplified (and more useful) list of choosing all the CN maps, all the Topo maps, or just the basemap.
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6500 feet
Well that's interesting. I've wondered where they keep the pressure at on board a plane. If that corresponds to actual air density that would make sense. At 6500' most people coming up from sea level are still comfortable. At 8000' some will start getting sick and many will feel the effects. At 10,000', many will feel some sickness and most will feel dizzy or weak. From there up you can have really medical problems pop up.
I've found the pressure to vary quite a bit on different flights. The requirement is that the pressure should never be lower than an 8000' equivalent to avoid health problems with the passengers. But some flights I've been on have pushed it right up to that limit (i.e. having a pressure altitude of 7900' or more) while others have kept it down below 6000'.
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New versions of both the Euro and NA products have been released annually with CN-Eur usually coming out early in the year and CN-NA in the summer. Garmin could of course change the schedule, but I don't see any indication of that at the moment.
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Instead of mapping/routing from the point where you are currently located to point B. Is there a way to map/route from point B to where you are? Using just the GPS only, no pc.
Also why would your GPS take you on a different route coming back from a location then it did going to?
1) One way is to first mark your current location as a waypoint and then put the GPS into demo/simulation mode with the radio receiver circuits off. Now choose a "New Location" and set it to be at point B. Finally ask the GPS to route you to the waypoint you set before.
2) One-way streets, length of exit ramps, turn restrictions, etc. can all influence exactly how long a given trip will be expected to take and may well make a sligthtly different route look better for the return trip.
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No way to turn off the screen display, but I doubt that it would help all that much anyway. LCD displays are generally pretty low power as long as you don't use the backlight and I'd expect the radio receiver and CPU circuits to be the main power sinks.
But keeping the unit in your pocket isn't generally the best for reception so the tracking won't be as good as possible and the unit won't make good use of the 'Battery Saver' mode. That mode periodically switches off the radio circuits and only recomputes a position every 5 seconds - but if reception is poor or the track is erratic the unit will leave the radio circuits on until things become more predictable again. Placing the unit on top of your pack or other spot with a better skyview should let it effectively use the "Battery Saver" mode more of the time and will also give you better tracklog data.
If you're not already doing so, I'd suggest switching to some good (2500 mA-hr or better) NiMH cells. That drops the cost per charge to about a penny over the lifetime of the cells and makes battery usage less of an issue except on really long trips away from recharge sources.
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I noticed the other day using the csx60 traveling down the road with the map page up. A bridge that crosses the river which I know the exact location of certainly was appearing much closer on the screen than it was. To be more exact the unit appeared to have us on the bridge yet we were not to it yet maybe 1/4 mile away.
What maps were you looking at on the 60CSx? If just the basemap then I'm not surprised since it's not very complete or accurate. But the detailed CityNavigator maps rarely have much of a discrepancy. It's not an issue when walking a "TrackBack" since that's based on the actual GPS measurements of your positions on the way out and is more accurate than the maps.
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Have to ask, why on earth drop so much cash on three units? Why not just buy the csx off the bat and be done with it?
Hint: check the dates of introduction of the three models mentioned. Not everyone is clairvoyant about Garmin's future product plans, nor do we all want to wait a few years for the improved product to arrive.
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A magnet can also interrupt signals going through a microproccessor. A current generates it's own magnetic field. If you hold a magnet to a 9 volt current, nothing will happen. But since the current of each little microscopic silicon wire in the microproccessor of your gpsr is like 1/1000,000,000th of a volt (just guessing, I don't know exactly), the magnet can interrupt the signal. Also, since an SD card works by storing charges in metal capacitors, can't you mess those up with a magnetic field strong enough to shift them?
No, both your microprocessor chips and flash memory devices are perfectly safe in proximity to a magnet. And although the current through any particular gate in a microprocessor or similar electronic device will be very small, the voltage is still at a decent level (typ. a few tenths to a few volts).
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I have a Megellan Sports Pro (with the warranty about ready to expire and when things always start acting funny.)
The magnet was on a keyholder to be used as a cache. (They make those fairly strong so they don't fall off the car while in motion.)
I just was wondering if that was something I needed to be concerned about.
If it's acting funny it may be something to be concerned about, but, no, it wouldn't have anything to do with the nearby magnet.
This thread has sure brought out some interesting comments about perceptions of digital vs. analog data - like the idea that printed digits are somehow not digital.
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Magnets can corrupt digital data.
Magnets can corrupt data, whether analog or digital, on certain types of media. But I doubt Luckless' GPS has either magnetic tape or a magnetic disk as the storage device.
OTOH, he might have a magnetic compass sensor and that could be affected by nearby magnets. It would be good to know what model of GPS he has and just what is meant by "a little crazy." The basic GPS functions wouldn't be affected by nearby magnets unless they're positioned right over the antenna and block reception.
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No I haven't tried it on map source I will try that next time I am on. See you are coming up with the same errors.
1.Woodlawn runs East West, so does River Shore Way. Its also a half mile or so south of River Shore so you can't possibly turn right onto River Shore Way from Woodview. Only road onto RS is from Rome Ave and it has nothing of Rome which runs North South. Guess i will keep my paper map in the glove compartment.
The maps I have show that if you take Woodlawn as far east as possible it becomes River View Ave. running northeast. Continuing on that street after crossing MLK Blvd. it becomes Rome Ave. running north and that then takes you to River Shore.
If that's correct, then it seems to me that the CN-NA directions would lead you to the right place although as printed directions it would be nice to include the street name changes. But when viewed on the GPS it shouldn't be a problem since that'll show you the intended route and where you are at all times.
But I'm no where near Tampa, so let us know if the actual streets on the ground don't correspond to the maps. If that's the case then putting in a correction at the NavTeq website has been shown to be effective at making sure the problem is fixed in the next release.
BTW, I tried it using both CitySelect-NA, v6 and MetroGuide-USA, v4.01 maps and got very similar routing to that posted by NeoGeo. Adding a viapoint to get it to use the Hillsborough exit instead keeps you on the freeway longer but according to the MetroGuide maps it adds almost 4 miles of distance and a little under a minute of travel time. Of course the travel time depends greatly on local traffic conditions and the time of day for a particular trip.
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If i did not use the correct terminology, I apologize. What I meant was a gps that shows heading based on the earth's magnetic field.
No need to apologize; your terminology was perfectly correct. A "magnetic compass" is any instrument that indicates direction based on sensing the magnetic field. There are then various possible technical implementations. Mechanical devices with magnetized needles, flux gate electronic sensors, and null-reading "earth inductor" coils are all examples of magnetic compasses.
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No I meant the auto route box when you downloaded the maps
The 60Cx can do auto-routing with turn-by-turn directions just using the basemap. But since the basemap is so sparse, the directions won't be very good. Whether that's the cause of your routing problem is hard to say without more information.
It would help everyone's understanding if you'd give more specific details about your complaints regarding the routing of CN-NA, v8. Just saying it led you astray at some unspecified underpass doesn't let anyone determine if there's really a map data error at that location, a routing algorithm problem, or some user error (such as NeoGeo's suggestion that the routing data wasn't loaded). Tell us the starting point and destination of the route and exactly where it incorrectly told you to turn and we could probably determine the nature of the problem.
REI has Vista HCx for $219.99
in GPS technology and devices
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I'd definitely go with REI if the price is reasonably close. They have a 'satisfaction guaranteed' policy that can easily offset the price difference. A friend of mine got a Legend Cx some time back that developed intermittent problems from the vibration on his bike after it was past Garmin's warranty. Took it back to REI and they told him that not only would they replace it, but prices had dropped in the meantime so they gave him a new Vista Cx instead along with a refund for the price drop. He's also broken quite a few of the handlebar mounts and just keeps bringing them back to the customer service desk for free replacements. Needless to say, he's a very satisfied customer.