JSWilson64

I used a US Globalsat BT-359 (SirfstarIII) with a Palm E2. The GPS was very sensitive, as sensitive as my 60CSx. Same chipset - go figure! But I couldn't find Palm-based stuff that would work the way I wanted (without spending way too much $$). So I ditched the GPS and just used the PDA for paperless caching.

Garmin's software to do this is called NRoute - it's a free download on the Garmin website. Unless you have Garmin maps on the laptop, I think it just shows you on a base map. Microsoft Streets & Trips will work as well, iirc.

From Engadget: What's Garmin stock doing today?

Really? Come on down to Dallas, and I'll pay for your plane ticket if you can show me how to do it on my Etrex Legend. And if you can't do it, you can buy me a plane ticket to Hawaii. For those with handhelds that don't average, but can connect to a computer, you can average waypoints yourself. Take several waypoints (the more the better) at the site you want to average. Return at different times, if possible and repeat. Then download the waypoints to Easy GPS or your favorite program. Convert coords to decimal degrees, import into Excel (or your favorite spreadsheet). Average the Latitude. Average the Longitude. Done. My son and I used an Etrex Legend in heavy tree cover to scout sites for a possible cache near our home. We did the above process, collecting 15-20 waypoints over 3 trips to the site. The averaged coords, entered into a 60CSx, take us right to the tree we were considering using. Just haven't gotten around to placing the cache...

I think WGS 84 is the default on the Colorado, but it should be there in the setup somewhere... :-) As far as the grid coords, this is from Garmin's FAQ: I don't see the COlorado on that list...

I'd second the 60CX if you can find it. I have a 60CSx, and while it's great, I never use the compass or altimeter.

Just wanted to repeat a warning often heard 'round here: When updating firmware, remove any micro SD card from your GPS. Better safe than sorry.

Among other things...

Not if you live in the same metro area (Dallas/Fort Worth)! I get my woots in 3-4 days usually. Now, it does seem stupid to have to pay $5 to ship something across town, when I could just swing by after work...

So, we've got a Colorado series and some leaked info about an Oregon series, which sounds kinda like a Colorado with a touch-screen. Does that mean Colorado is more old-fashioned, and Oregon is more touchy-feely? And if Garmin has another state-themed handheld in the works, what state will it be? The Rhode Island would have to be the smallest handheld unit ever. Maybe they'll name one after a Canadian province? Like, say, the Garmin Quebec, in which all text would be in both English and French. <rimshot> Any other takers? This thread is intended to be for light-hearted speculation and poking fun at geographic stereotypes. Actual product information may be found elsewhere.

That's how Garmin's GPS receivers have worked since the Stone Age, so primitive is probably the right description! That's just how it is. Could you do this with different map data files? Hate to say, I've never loaded a custom POI on my 60CSx. But this is how I handle different sets of waypoints. I use the map to to select those points in a given area and save them in a different file. edit - here's a thread about working with POI files I noticed that going from MetroGuide with an autorouting hack called metrowizzz, to City Nav NT, too. Recalcs seem to take a lot longer.

The simple answer is, "Probably nothing you'll miss." I have a 60CSx, and I never use the electronic compass, and the alitimeter is of little use. I wouldn't miss either one. The compass frustrates the #%$^@ out of me, and the only time I have ever used the altimeter was to make an elevation profile of a 50-mile bike ride I went on with a group of boy scouts. We started and finished at the same place, but there must've been an earthquake, because there was about a 100 foot elevation difference at the same spot from start to finish. As long as you get the Cx, so you have the good chipset and external storage, you're good.

At which point, you'll want a GPS with "Jumpmaster" mode!

This probably isn't too helpful, but I've had my 60CSx do that sometimes, too. I'm not sure why, either. Once when we were heading for a city that was 200 miles to the North on the highway we were on (we were on the feeder/access road at the time), it tried to have us U-turn and go back, then U-turn again. About all I can offer is what I tell my kids is "Dad's #1 rule for troubleshooting electronics" -- turn it off, count to 10, and turn it back on. Try turning the electronic compass off, too. If you're stuck like that again, you could try a suggestion I've seen here, which is to put it on a screen that displays your coords, and look at the coords of the hide on a sheet of paper. Move in the appropriate direction so that your coords approach those of the hide.

Wrong. Gen 1 give you cel phone tower triangulation. Jailbroken phones with LocateMe or Navizon. Navizon and a license gives enhanced triangulation via WiFi ap's and cel tower triangulation. Even better if your area has been heavily mapped with Windows Mobile devices with GPS capabilities. Not good enough to cache with, but mighty handy for local searches... Also there is at least one program on installer.app that allows you to save maps locally (on the iPhone). Have no need of it myself, so haven't tried it. I doubt an Appstore version will be forthcoming, but who knows... Did you even read my entire post? Like sentence #1, maybe? Or the one a couple sentences before the one you quoted, which, if you read the whole thing, you'd figure out that at that point I was talking about when you're outside cell service?

Not all GPS receivers will automatically average coordinates. It's what it sounds like - a running average of the position. You can accomplish the same by marking multiple waypoints at one spot and averaging the latitude and longitude portions. Dump the waypoints using Easy GPS or Mapsource, get those values into Excel, convert to decimal degrees (to eliminate those tricky degree-minute-second conversions!) and average. The fun thing about doing it yourself is you can visualize every waypoint that went into the average, and the averaged point, in Mapsource or Easy GPS. It'll be pretty obvious if you screwed it up... I know Garmin 60CSx will do waypoint averaging, can't speak for any others. 76CSx will probably do it, too, since they're basically the same under the skin. If you're going to do it, I'd let the GPS lock "settle down" for 15 minutes or so before beginning to mark or average. I've done this manually with my Legend to scout a location for a cache (never have gotten around to hiding it, though), and with my 60 CSx, too.

The iPhone (gen 1 or gen 2) has Google Maps as long as you're within cell service. There's no map storage on the iPhone itself. So, once you're outside town, your GPS will at least give you lat/lon. Gen 2 iPhone will presumably give the same from the GPS chipset. Gen 1 iphone gives you no positional awareness.

Can you communicate with any other serial device? IOW, do you know for a fact that you're able to communicate via serial protocols with some peripheral?

Firstly, I'd say get a GPS that can average a waypoint. Then let it average at one point for a nice long time until your accuracy was less than 10 feet (as low as possible). The other suggestions above are good for following the line. You could mark the corners, get the GPS to tell you the bearing from one to another, then use a lensatic compass (the kind with the little window you sight thru) to sight down the line. Send someone down the line to mark trees, etc. It's only 3/5 of a mile, so eyeballing it might be enough, unless you're in dense woods. Wet blanket time: I don't know why you're doing this (building a fence?) but there's a reason people hire surveyors. If you do it yourself like this, you're probably going to need someone (i.e., a lawyer) to draw up an agreement between the property owners. Otherwise, how do you know both parties are agreeable? And even if both parties are fine with it, the future owners may not be. When they hire a surveyor and find a fence or other improvements on their property, or find that "their" fence is on the other side of the line, the proverbial fan will get soiled. My grandparents built a house on the wrong lot; trust me - hire a surveyor.

Ain't that the way it always works? The pros get the experimental kit (like "electric Dura Ace" ) well before the public sees it. They'll be using the "pro" model 705, for sure. If it's like any other company's R&D, the Garmin cycling units should improve from this relationship. [OT] I'm wondering whether any teams will be testing the new Campy Super Record 11-speed stuff. And if so, they should be carrying a Spinal Tap logo somewhere... :-)

It's not really related to Geocaching: Last week Garmin signed on as top sponsor for U.S.-based cycling team Slipstream Sports. Garmin was a lower-tier sponsor, but ponied up bigger money to be the "name" sponsor. It's now the "Garmin Chipotle H30" team. New jerseys and logos for the boys in argyle will be unveiled on July 3, 2 days before the start of the Tour de France. Here's a news release. They'll be using the Edge 705 in their training. I wonder if they paid for all the unlock codes needed for all the bikes? I guess having Garmin sponsor a cycling team makes about as much sense as any other sponsor: mobile phones, appliance manufacturers, national lotteries, postal services. At least there's some tie-in. Let the griping begin: "Why don't they spend that money on developing better, cheaper maps!"

Does Easy GPS "know" that your Legend is there? Or does it say something like Device Not Found? If Easy GPS can see your Legend, you're halfway home. Check your GPS settings to make sure the communication protocol is set correctly (I think it's supposed to be "Garmin" ).

Make sure you get the serial cable with it - otherwise that's another 20 bucks. A Legend was my first GPS a few years ago (thanks kids!) and it was a good way to start.

You might also want to look at gpsvisualizer.com - it's a way to display tracks and waypoints on google maps. It has a LOT of functionality, like drawing a circle of a certain radius around a point.

Well, it is called City Navigator, isn't it? What you need is Garmin Rural Navigator 2009. Seriously, though, it's full of errors in the big cities, too. City of Dallas drained and dredged silt from White Rock Lake about 15 years ago. CN still shows the old shoreline. CN just tried to route me through a building the other day, because it didn't know that a street had been closed and built over about 10 years ago. And on and on...