megamapper

Walking in the rain, Ker PLOP. Huh, what's that? Oh #*&$%, it's my GPS! Well it says it's waterproof on the website. I pull the GPS out of the water, turn it on, it looks totally fine. I turned it off, put it back in a more secure pocket, and continued. When I got back, I looked at the GPS to see: Condensation on the screen (from inside the GPS). The screen is Black and Flashing doing the 'funky chicken'. I figured the GPS was toast. I took a hairdryer, turned in on low fan, with high heat, and let it warm up the GPS (20 mins) This caused the condensation to turn back into water vapour. The problem is because the GPS is 'semi-waterproof' the water is not going to be exiting the GPS anytime soon. So the trick is how do you get the air to exchange. Oh yeah! I broke out my 'foodsaver'. I have a jar that has a special lid that connects up to the foodsaver so it can suck the air out of the jar. I dropped the GPS into the jar, started the foodsaver, and right away, I could see the water vapour (that was once inside my GPS) condensing on the inside of the jar. It works. Yippe! I then heated the GPS for about 5-10 mins, followed by about 2-5 sessions of foodsaver. 5 hours later, I can put an ICEcube on the screen, and no water would condense. The GPS is now clear of water. I put the batteries back in, powered it up, and it worked great. The PhD has a barometer, I figured it would have been toast. Well, even that is working 'FINE'. The Food saver btw takes the air pressure from 29.7 Hg down to about 8 Hg. Anyways, figured some of you folks might like to know about this. Regards, ---- Robb ----

I have a Lowrance PhD and the Mapcreate 6 topo maps. I am running Windows XP Sp1, and the Mapcreate 6 installed 'wonderfully'. While, I can't see exactly how to help your situation out, I figured a quick post that others with XP are not having the difficulties you are. I'm sorry to hear about the Issues. Regards, ---- Robb ----

I tried to order my first GPS from GPS City. The conversation went something like this: Me >Hi I would like to by a Lowrance PhD GpsCity>Sorry we don't have that in stock. GpsCity>We have the PhD Plus version. Me >That comes with the US map right? GpsCity>Yes Me >Well I'm in canada, it's useless to me. Can you get me a Plus version Me >with something useful to me like a Canadian Topo map? GpsCity >No we can't do that. Me >Can you break up a Plus, and ship me the PhD with a canadian map? GpsCity >No. ME >What about the Lowrance Map & Music? GpsCity >Sorry we don't have that in stock. Me >What about the Lowrance Marine GPS. GPSCity > Sorry, not in stock. The only GPS we have in stock is the GpsCity >the Lowrance ifinder Pro Me >Grrr... I'm thinking of Cost vs features, I spent about 3 weeks researching GPS's and knew everything that I wanted in a GPS and how much I wanted to pay. The Pro is ok, but lacked a few things. I decided to look for a decently priced Magellin (even though, it does not have an external antenna jack). Me >Ok then, what about a Magellin xxx. GpsCity >No we don't have that in stock. Me >Well then, I guess I'll call back when you actually have some GPS's in Me >stock. I then tried GPS Central. A plain PhD was in stock, and the Canadian Topo maps were also in stock. It arrived quite quickly, priced lower than my local B.C. lowrance dealers cost, and I was able to use it on my Kayak trip. I was quite happy with gpscentral. If GPSCity actually had GPS's, I would have been happy with them as well. Regards, ---- Robb ----