Forkeye

Try the Rosabelle Cipher in Minnakada Regional park rated a 5* puzzle.It's in Port Coquitlam,but you better start looking at it long before you get here.

Sound like only the basemap is on your gps.Are you using Mapsource or Basecamp with your Topo Canada and did you actually see a screen where it loads the maps onto your unit.Also maps that are on your gps can be turned on/off as well,but when first loaded they should be on.If you were using mapsource ,zoom out to see a large area,make sure you have selected the map selection tool on the upper bar it looks like a trapazoid and is right beside the gps send /recieve symbols.Basically outline all the maps you while pressing the left mouse button .When you release the mouse button you will see all your selected maps on the left margin.Now with you gps plugged into your usb port select send to gps on the top bar beside the map selection tool.You can select maps from other loaded dvds as well,but you need to select everything you want before you send it to the gps because it rewrites over existing data on the chip.I Havent used basecamp to load maps yet so someone else will hopefully explain that for you ,goodluck. There ya go a tutorial

You dont need to hold the 3 axis compass level as you do the 2 axis one for it to work properly and no you dont really need it to find a geo cache site,it would be of more use for wildeness navigation ,but if you know how to use a real compass then you are all set.The electronic is nice to have ,but not essential.

Maybe Garmin is giving up on the touch screen technology for now,due to daylight read ability issues,most likely the 60csx followed buy the 76csx were probably their best sellers ,and the ones their customers were most pleased with.

That sounds cool,I found this site http://www.maps-gps-info.com/index.html cant you just google laptop gps antennas,I am not sure but I think you can get Backroads books on cd,but whether they will work with mapsource I dont know.You can get Ibycus Topo Canada for free,ie scanned government maps but almost no trails,even Garmins Topo Canada V2 & V4 have almost no trails.I doubt they even have as many backroads as the Backroads boys have.I guess you can record tracks with a portable gps and then transfer them to your laptop later.Sounds like fun,I live in B.C. too. Just checked Backroads web site http://www.backroadmapbooks.com/shop/new-products/ and they have all their maps on sd cards for Garmin recievers.Thats cool those guys have tons of trails .

I just dont understand why some people feel so threatend by having another set of co-ordinates posted,just pick the one you want ,its not like someone wanted a list of them ya might just learn something.

Thats funny,I was going to mention calling a fire mission,and that I have never heard of one being called in Lat.& Long.,anyway once you enter the Lat.&lLong. on the geocache web site into your gps you can change it to any format ,just by selecting that format.It really makes no differance which format most people use to find their caches anyway since most just follow either the compass or the map screen.The benefits of MGRS cannot be fully seen by just geocaching with a gps.It just causes frustration to force technology on those that are not interested in it,anyone who is interested will always explore and discover all that tech. stuff on their own anyway .

Hey ,dont forget that in the military when we use MGRS we also use the phonetic alphabet too when we speak about co-ordinates,niner,bravo, charlie ,echo,etc.,oh my that is really going to p.o. people,we are talkin a whole new language now. its just way too much too soon.Slow down change takes time.

Because the US Government has always had a nasty case of Not Invented Here syndrome. I dont think anybody would disagree with that remark.Now they can tell the world they have a better system just by changing the name if nothing else.

I've been using MGRS since 1971,when I was first in the Canadian military,its simple ,use it with a compass with a romer on it ,you have an easting and a northing and you can find your location an a paper map real fast,each square on the map is 1 km on a 1:50000 scale map.I dont see why it needs to be called something different.Does that mean Americans are going to learn some metric finally?

Perhaps a couple of other questions should have been asked as well,to perhaps find the possible cause ,like have you ever gotten the unit totaly wet,or have you exposed it to quite hot or cold temperatures.Obviously its inferior glue that Garmin uses.

Make sure it is the latest and greatest if thats what you want.I have Topo USA 100k 2008 and it has no POIs,I am not sure if the current one is newer or not,but it is in a different package.My Topo Canada V4 has POIs which is nice.

http://www.gawisp.com/perry/etrex/vista/ Find the one you like and just do it,NOT EVERYTHING NEW IS BETTER !

My CN has a lot more POI than my Topo 24k ,but I am one version behind the current one though and I think my Topo 24k has better back country detail than the CN.If you know how to do it you could you can find almost anything for free....oops

Everyone has their favorite form factor,the 76 was designed to float because it is a portable marine unit,try picking up a 60 when you drop it in the ocean,if I was in a river I would tie either one to myself,in a fast flowing river the 76 will float away quickly and the 60 will be carried downsteam as it slowly sinks,unless the surface water is quite calm you wont be able to see the bottom anyway so you would most likely loose either one.In calm shallow water you can get back both.Which ones better seems a pointless disscusion.If I drop them both off a cliff will the 60 fall quicker than the 76 or will the 76 flutter to earth because its flat Should have got the parachute model.

Unless it sinks real fast it will still be carried out of sight,most rivers Ive ever seen are moving pretty good and as a result you cant see the bottom too good,why not just tether it to yourself, or put it in one of those gps water proof pouches with some closed cell foam.I do that wit my 76 when I am in the saltchuck kayaking,just to keep the salt off it and I still tether it to me.

Garmin is headed the same direction as General Motors,too many models with too many problems,too many bells and whistles that dont come out of the box working like the flashy sales brochure says they should.

I'll be waiting for your report on this comparrison :)My 76csx works great but that 3 axis compass would be cool if it worked well.

Do the new units not recieve waas signals?

I remember a post from a long time ago with a write up and photos of a wish list of screens/funtions for the 76,since it was supposed to be a marine unit, most had to do with tides and moon phase for navigation.I wonder if this new unit will have some of those or just be more geared toward geo caching.The 3 axis compass will sure be nice to have.

My 60CSX performance in Zion Canyon has been pretty underwhelming. Problem seems to be high sensitivity combined with erratic multipath. Have you tried an external antenna,they do make a differance when your normal signal is weak?Thats the feature of the 60csx and 76 csx that people always scoff at! Never need it...I have the Garmin Ga25mcx antenna,its cheap and may help you out.I think it was $35Canadian for me.Cheaper in the USA.

There are lots of free maps out their too,just one more thing to think about ,the 60 is kind of a 2 handed use device and the Vista and 76 is more a one handed ,due to the button arrangments,though some will argue otherwise I'm sure.If you can ,just go to any store and hold them ,or a simmilar unit ,just to see what you like.

They are basically the same,and have the same screens,the Vista has a much brighter backlight for night use,but its really not needed as the 60 is bright enough.The Vista is lighter,slightly better battery life,cannot take an external antenna and I think may still have some odometer issues,its also smaller and lighter.The 60 has a slightly bigger screen and can also use an external anntena.Both have good reception and good daylight readability.Good daylight readability is not as good on all the newer units with touch screens.I think the Vista has the MTK chipset the 60 you could get with either the Sirf or MTK just depending on whether you get old stock or new stock it seems.Some people have had the rubber around the etrexes come off,but I dont know how common that problem is.Also some have had the little joy stick break as well.I think most get fixed under warranty though.I have the 76csx and am thinking about the Vista for hiking just to save a little weight and size.

I am not an e compass hater either,I just like having a real compass along because I dont always trust my e compass.Guess I am old school and like rock solid reliability and simplicity.

If all you need it for is the compass feature, that's fine. But if you like the fact that the Garmin will use the current orientation of the device in your hand to compute a vector to the cache, that's another story. I'd hate to have to sit there with a calculator, my position, the cache's position, and a regular compass - all to duplicate what the arrow does when asked. When functional and calibrated, it works well enough. If a practice session in orienteering is something a person likes to do for every back woods cache, fine .. else .. ??????There is nothing to calculate when using a real compass and a gps,the gps tells you the bearing to the cache/waypoint,set your compass declination scale to your current declination and your gps to true bearings and away you go and its virtually never wrong.