Colorado3G's

REI has the their winter sale catalog out......No Handheld GPS's....... I have a gift card and was hoping for a sale on the Montanna or 62's.....

If you can - go look at them at a local store. I have a Dakota and I think the screen tech is the same as the Oregon - just smaller......but is sure is a PITA. You need full sun to see it and as soon as you get in shade or even your body blocks it - your trying every which angle to read it or turning up the brighness etc.... They are very popular and a lot of people like them.....but I'm really surprised at how bad they are with varying lighting conditions and are so popular. Yes - the touch screen is really nice - but if I can't see it....that doesn't help any....Maybe the Oregon is much better - I just haven't had a chance to compare them togehter hence my suggestion to go to a store and get your hands on them which I'll be doing soon. I'm looking at either the Montana which is much brighter or the 62 right now....? Food for thought!

It must have been turned down - the one I've seen at REI with the Oregon was significantly brighter than the Dakota's or the Oregons. To adjust brightness - you do a quick click of the power button and that brings up the brightness settings. I'm leaning toward the Montanna as I just got a Dakota 10 (which is a similar screen to the Oregon) and I hate the Dakota 10 screen - impossible to read unless you actually have the full sun pointing right on it...walk into some shade and it' terrible IMO.... Considering the Montanna or the 62....

That helps ALOT! Thanks!

I have a quick question that I couldn't find through search. I've been playing with PQ GPX's on my Dakota 10 and I'm trying to understand where the actual Find logs are stored....is it in the base PQ GPX file and if you overwrite the file with an updated version - it still keeps your finds? I loaded a PQ and did a few finds.....the original PQ GPX was there (in the Garmin Folder) along with the the waypoint GPX and the geocache_finds.txt showed for the field notes....but here is what I thought was interesting as I was trying to find out where finds were actually stored. 1. I first deleted the waypoints GPX and the Field Notes txt file from my GPS and my Finds still showed as finds in the unit.... 2. I then replaced the original GPX with the original file - just overwrote it - and my find logs still stayed in the system even after overwriting the main PQ GPX file....I even deleted all the other gpx's like current.gpx. It's like it does a smart file overwrite where it updates the PQ GPX File but retains the Finds in the same file.... Does it really do that? Pretty cool! 3. When I deleted the GPX, rebooted, then reloaded - the finds dissapeared - but when I just overwrite the existing PQ - it keeps the finds...interesting! Thoughts..Thanks!

I'm doing the exact same thing right now...weighing the 650 vs 62sc! The 62sc runs about $100 less than the 650 and is smaller and perhaps a little easier to handle on the trail or with gloves and the antenna may get a little better reception for me in the Rocky Mountains (?)......so I'm trying to decide if I want a bigger unit, bigger screen, and a touch screen for that $100....my eyes are bad enough that I need my reading glasses for either model.... This is for the family and we are "occasional" geocachers and perhaps get out a few times a month....so I'm not sure I'll really be logging a lot of notes which the touch screen would be a + for. I picked up a Dakota 10 on Quibids for $5 and it included the City Navigator which I can use on both I think and I'll probably use the Dakota 10 when I travel for business since its so small.... Ughh....hard to say and I just can't make up my mind.....it may just come down to price for me....but today I'm leaning toward the 62sc....? I guess my other question is which model will have more expanded features as they improve firmware...?

Just wondering when will be the best time to buy? Did anyone buy a GPS last holiday season....any sales out their like REI that you remember? It seems like handheld sales are few and far between and car GPS's are always on sale.... Thanks!

I've been planning on getting either an Oregon or Montanna for the Family this Christmas and ended up winning a Dakota 10 Bike Package (with Map Source) on Quibids yesterday for $5.00 ....(plus all the bids I used - probably total costs was $50)! If people are intersted - they appear about once a week on Quibids....just search for Garmin.... Now I have to decide if this will be good enough or just use it as my work/travel/backup GPS and still get a nicer one for the family...hmmmmmm! I know I will definitely need my glasses for the Dakota...those darn eyes are getting old!

I have a blackbery but I am in fact experiencing problems with Cachesense - it worked for a while...I bougth the app.....but now it won't get a satellite lock at all - won't even find them....just sits and spins..... Still trying to debug the problem...

For those of us that are new to this and discovered this thread (because it sounded interesting) and as Mr. Yuck pointed out above... I thought it was important to add there is a legit magazine out there and there's even and app for that! http://www.ftfgeocacher.com/ http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ftf-2011/id466061097?mt=8

I've tried the Trimble GeoCache Navigator and CacheSense.....now that I've used both - I like Cachesense better although I didn't at first because I didn't have the settings correct... I got mine through Blackbarry App World....not sure about UK though....

GPS City show's it in stock and ships Monday! http://www.gpscity.com/garmin-etrex-30.html G

Smart move taking off the pict with your home coordinates.....better privacy! All you're trying to do is help others and people want to find out where you live! Interesting it has a picture viewer since the Garmin Website says it doesn't....Cool!!!

I have a Blackberry Bold and have tried two from the Blackberry App World: CacheSense and Trimble's Geocache Navigator. I did not like CacheSense and it never seemed to work very well....I just finished testing Navigator and liked that and it is an official Live-Enabled Application....but at $19.99 it's a little pricey for the Geocache Navigator and I haven't decided to buy it yet.... One thing though that I'm not sure about with the Navigator is traveling....it has two setup choices for GPS - Network Assisted and True GPS - If I use it in my hometown (Denver) - I get a True GPS lock in about 1 minute......no problems.....but I was just in Northern Lousianna last week and it would not work - I could not get a anytype of GPS lock - so it was useless......not sure why it wouldn't get a lock on True GPS??? I'm goint to try Cachesense again as it looks like maybe I wasn't properly logged in.....

Details....can't wait to hear about it....!!!!

This is a great idea....my 12 year old loves caching and her Birthday is this spring....plenty of time to plan. My only concern would be how to structure it so each kid has a chance to win or get a prize..... :)

Now you have me thinking whether I really need a camera or not...it's a nice idea but that seems to be the only differnce between the 450 and 550 unless I'm missing something. The idea is nice and it is convenient....hmmmm! A question...can you post a picture direct with your log or do you have to download then upload it with the log in your Field Notes transfer? My guess is no.... Thanks for your help.....

Just wanted to get a few thoughts on the Garmin Oregan 550 vs the 550t....including the rebate the best prices I'm seeing is $350 (550) or $436 (550t). Looking at getting something nice for the family this Christmas and with the rebate expiring - I'm thinking either looks good..... Thoughts....? Are people generally liking these.....it seems to be popular on the forums? Thanks!