dogwalkers2

While I agree that the odometer issue is a non starter, I still believe that Garmin has shown ample proof of incompetence. Most glaring is their lack of support for OSX as if it had only just come out. A few things are starting to come on line, but still can't use Mapsource. There certainly *is* a conspiracy by Garmin to trick customers, how else do you explain the eTrex and the eTrex H both being available at the same time for the same price? Another one is that they did away with the Vista C and the Legend C and put the H chip in the Cx making a HCx but they didn't do that with the Venture C, there, they put the new H chip in the crappy C model and left the Cx in production. Thus if you want a Venture you are forced to choose between crap battery life and an H chip, or good battery life no H chip and the ability to load a lot of maps, of course there just happens to be a third choice, move up to the Legend or Vista. Incompetence or conspiracy: You decide. I see your points, but I wouldn't label them as incompetent or consipiracy. I understand the frustration of not having MapSource for your Mac. That does suck. But (and this is coming from lack of knowledge of the Mac - I've never used one) isn't this life for a Mac user for most software choices beyond the basics? As you said, more are coming online, so maybe there's hope for "MAcSource" soon. The final issue I see as marketing issues. I have never seriously looked at the Venture in any of its incarnations. The Legend had what I wanted in its day and the Vista HCx had what I wanted when I upgraded this summer. What are the advantages or unique characteristics of the Venture (other than the odd combinations)? The conspiracy theory I was thinkinng about are the continuous complaints that Garmin knew about a problem, but hid it and did not do anything about it as discussed in another thread. There are other similar discussions on this board. Like the non-starter you mentioned. Thanks to you guys in this thread for "putting it back in perspective" and carrying on a decent conversation without resort to panic (for the lack of a better word).[/rant] Back to the original post, it does sound like the battery contacts could cause the OP's problems. That would also explain the similar problems I had on my Legend and the fact they mysteriously cleared up on their own (the contacts shook tehmselves back into place?). Sounds like a good place to start.

I have to give this a rousing round of applause. It's really a non-issue as "slow" means under 2.2mph. And it may be even less than that since the firmware upgrade; I haven't heard anyone say with any authority what the new number or algorithm is now. Perhaps the above quote should read "very slow movements". And it's not like you can't get an accurate number if you want it; the track log distance is still fine; always has been. I have a Vista HCx, and I LOVE it. You won't be sorry. Sooooooooo glad to hear that there are others that think the same as me. I'm getting tired of the "it's broken real bad and unacceptable", "Garmin is incompetent" and "it's a conspiracy" threads.... It works real well and I LOVE mine too...

What map form is most everyone else useing to Geocache? Thanks. Depends how you are doing it. If primarily urban caching, I'd go with CN. If heading out into the "wilderness", I'd go with Topo. Personally, I use both, picking which one depending on the info I need. Where do I get the software? I think I will get them both. Also what about the sim card or memory chip? Do I need that too? Sorry for so many questions but you guys are a big help. Thanks. It appears that you live in the US; I'm in Canada, so I can't really tell you the best place to get them, although others on the board certainly could. The strong Canadian dollar (pretty much at par) may make a difference one way or the other, I don't know...Prairie Geomatics (http://www.prairie.mb.ca/) has CN/US Topo for $139/$109, respectively and they are great for quick, personal service, etc. I don't know their international shipping policies/other Customs issues, but you can always talk to them at 1-888-444-0302. Hopefully someone else can offer a comparison to US prices to put it into perspective for you, maybe with a better price. I would suggest getting a 2GB microSD card from an electronics store, such as BestBuy, etc. 2GB is the biggest supported by Garmin, just don't get a SanDisk Ultra...it's known to be incompatible.

What map form is most everyone else useing to Geocache? Thanks. Depends how you are doing it. If primarily urban caching, I'd go with CN. If heading out into the "wilderness", I'd go with Topo. Personally, I use both, picking which one depending on the info I need.

If you want topo data, you need to get the topo maps. They also have street data and can autoroute (at least the Topo Canada does). However, the street capabilities are far superior using CityNav. I find that I get better autorouting using CN as opposed to Topo Canada. Both use a far larger scale than the basemap or T&WM, hence the greater detail and higher cost. With respect to T&WM: Further information:

Two things: 1. I had a similar issue with my old Legend after I didn't use it for awhile. There were the lines, etc. and I thought th eunit was toast. It cleared up on its own and has worked fine since then. Beats me what the problem was, but it works fine as a hand me down unit to a family member. 2. I agree completely with SiliconFiend with respect to the "errata" The Vista HCx is a great unit.

I know other people have commented on this with other models in the eTrex line. It appears that some have sent it back, while otehrs have managed to get Garmin to send new gaskets. It also appears that two sided tape is used, as you say and some people have recieved this with their new gaskets and others haven't. Someone, somewhere mentioned a good tape to use to fix it yourself, so you may want to look at that. Finally, however, it seems that the gasket stretches when it comes unattached, so a new one might be in order. Sorry for all the mights, but I'm just suggesting things that I've seen here. MAybe someone else might have a better answer.

I tried it with a route I have on my GPS and see what you mean about not being able to turn the labels off. I think that it is probably an oversight on someone's part. I've never built routes in the method you describe, but it sounds like either maps.google or the other website you use create the route more like a track, with all the waypoints, but still call it a route. Is there any way of saving it as a track rather than a route? At least that way, if possible, would get rid of all the interim waypoints. I guess the lesson learned is that a route should contain fewer waypoints (what Garmin calls "via points") while a track can have the large number of points, occurring whenever the direction changes (or time or distance, as the case may be if you log it). So, like I said, it seems that if you are able to save your plan from the other of software/websites as tracks rather than routes, it should do what you want.

Just set up your map the way you want it in MapSource, then print it. I'd suggest using File>Print... rather than the print icon so you can set up your page (landscape v. portrait, etc.). Works for me...

And the aliens found at Roswell are working on it...

You're on the right track (so to speak). However, I'd suggest renaming the track to something useful (in MapSource). Then upload to the GPS from MapSource using the transfer to GPS option, rather than to the mass storage. Like Smac999 says, the GPS will not read the save tracks from the mass storage, only the 20 from internal memory.

All you need to buy is City Navigator NT. The current version is the 2008 version.

I've never personally tried it, but you may want to check out www.motionbased.com. They are somehow associated with Garmin (i.e. Garmin links to them and it looks like only Garmin GPSs work with it). It is an online service that appears to do what you want (i.e. post-analysis of track logs). There is a free "Lite" version and a fairly pricy subscription version and they say the difference is "MotionBased Lite is similar to MotionBased Standard except you're limited to analysis and mapping for your 10 most recent activities. Signing up for a MotionBased Standard gives you unlimited access to these core features, plus the Analyzer and Saved Reports." I've never tried this as MapSource works for my needs. If you do try it, let us know how it goes.

I don't know for sure, but it does last beyond turning the unit off and back on. I'm kind of lucky since the street I live on runs perfectly north-south, true. The calibration also seems to survive the changing of batteries. I guess the short, ambiguous answer would be to calibrate it when it doesn't seem right, based on the info you have. If you have no external frame of reference, it does only take less than a minute to calibrate... I guess all this to say, if in doubt, calibrate...

Changes made from version 2.30 to 2.40: Fix compass hint message issue when compass turn off. Changed odometer calculation to more closely match track log distance. Change number of lines of text in the address field on map feature review page from 4 to 6. Limit number of custom POI bitmaps to 64 to ensure enough memory resources. Added better compatibility with Mac computers in USB mass storage mode Improved pedestrian route calculation for shortest distance method. Changed datum used in the SWEREF 99TM grid from GEO_NAD83 to GEO_NONE_GRS80. Changed datum used in the Estonian grid from GEO_NAD83 to GEO_NONE_GRS80. Fix potential shutdown when using TOPO West 1999. Fix potential shutdown on track setup for data card when track log files have long file names. Corrected French translation for 'Log track points'. Improve track log recording for sensor products to continue recording sensor data even when GPS doesn't have a fix. Fix potential shutdown when propagating in a cul-de-sac across a map boundary. Add A905/D900 unlock code communication protocol. Make route recalculation on MPC maps behave like City Navigator maps. Fix second power on issue. Fix WebUpdater issue of GPS firmware.

Same thing for the Vista HCx, so it looks like your decision isn't any easier. I can't speak for the 60csx...

Garmin has published v.2.40 for the Vista HCx (and the Legend HCx, too). On their downloads web page, it still says 3 August, but on the page for the Vista and Legand HCx itdelf, the date is 26 September. It looks like this adresses most of the concerns people have had on this board: Changes made from version 2.30 to 2.40: Fix compass hint message issue when compass turn off. Changed odometer calculation to more closely match track log distance. Change number of lines of text in the address field on map feature review page from 4 to 6. Limit number of custom POI bitmaps to 64 to ensure enough memory resources. Added better compatibility with Mac computers in USB mass storage mode Improved pedestrian route calculation for shortest distance method. Changed datum used in the SWEREF 99TM grid from GEO_NAD83 to GEO_NONE_GRS80. Changed datum used in the Estonian grid from GEO_NAD83 to GEO_NONE_GRS80. Fix potential shutdown when using TOPO West 1999. Fix potential shutdown on track setup for data card when track log files have long file names. Corrected French translation for 'Log track points'. Improve track log recording for sensor products to continue recording sensor data even when GPS doesn't have a fix. Fix potential shutdown when propagating in a cul-de-sac across a map boundary. Add A905/D900 unlock code communication protocol. Make route recalculation on MPC maps behave like City Navigator maps. Fix second power on issue. Fix WebUpdater issue of GPS firmware. Edit: Just installed it and the "additional updates" in the second stage of Webupdater, now shows Software version 2.40, GPS SW Version 2.30.

The manual will explain all this. By the way, I really don't think any eTrex has voice prompting. You have a base map that isn't very detailed, but will show the relative positions of you and your destination. You can also get extra maps, i.e. City Nav or Topo that will have a lot more detail of a type that depends on the map and what you prefer to do with your GPS (City Nav is better for travelling roads and Topo is better off road).

Just to add a bit, I use an HCx for kayaking. If you put it in an Aquapac, it'll float and clip with a carribeaner to your deck lines, so it doesn't float away.

To me, it sounds like you want the appropriate Topo from Garmin for where you'll be doing your hunting. It's not required and there are other things you could do, such as use Google Earth (which would give you a satellite photo of your area). The Topo map of your area is printable, etc. The MicroSD card is used to store this additional map data, as well as Points of Interest (from the additional map data or custom ones you can create) and it can also store track logs with the full data of an active track log (saving a track on the unit strips the time/speed data). If you installed it properly (like any other software) it should work from your hard drive.

Distance records a track point every so many metres/feet travelled. Time records a track point every so many minutes. Auto records a track point according to some magical combination of time and distance, based on how much your track changes. That is, if you travel a nearly perfect straight line, it will lay down fewer track points than if you travelled a curvy course over the same distance and time. You don't need any other software, since the distance calculation is based on the lat/long coordinates of the track points. Just the relative positions of things such as roads and lakes may be off due to the lower accuracy of the maps in T&WM.

If you turned your GPS on at the starting point and then immediately left without doing a manual calibration of the altimeter, then the autocalibration might not have had time to work and the altitude may have been wrong at the start and right at the end. It would take the autocalibration about five minutes to correct a 100 foot error, once you have aquired enough satellites. If you turn off the autocalibration, you need to recalibrate your altimeter every hour to maintain accuracy, due to the air pressure naturally changing. Although this method is more accurate than the autocalibration, you need to know either your height (most likely from a topo) or the sea level pressure (less likely...generally if you are at or close to an airport or weather station) and it is a pain to recalibrate every hour. Otherwise, it appears that you have it set up right for what you want to do with the altimeter: autoclaibration and variable elevation. Just either manually calibrate or wait a few minutes before beginning your hike. The fixed elevation setting is used if you want to track pressure changes (useful for minitoring weather at a base camp) at a certian spot without as much influence of the GPS satellites. Because of the amount of altitude error this would generate, the altitude display is turned off on the trip computer in this mode, so you would not get any track elevation data in your track log. This doesn't sound like what you want to do.

That's probably the auto-calibration kicking in. Seems to be working. Yep, it sounds like a high pressure area is moving in.

Open the .gpx in MapSource, then transfer to the HCx via the usual MapSource send to gps feature. You can rename the track in MapSource if you want, too.

From Garmin: At another point, they provide some other details of interest: