reidster

Of the two I'd pick the MeriGold. Simply for the removable/expandable memory which also allows for near USB IO speed using a card reader. However both units are a bit long-in-the-tooth technology wise. In your price range you should serious consider either the Lowrance iFinder Pro or iFinder H2O Plus packages. At TigerGPS both are less than $300, with power adapter. The Pro is water-resistant and the H2O is water-proof. The Plus package includes Topo mapping software, card reader, and 32Mb memory card. Here's a very similar post from two weeks ago MeriGold or Vista?

Amen Brother! Thanks to you also Marky.

You think you got it rough? Try being a Lowrance iFinder advocate!

I'll agree that needing to use a proprietary card reader is a real pain in the bum. However, it is only required by MC6.3. The USR file info (waypoints, routes, and trails) can be managed with any card reader and third party software. Personally I don't regularly use MC. I just get a huge capacity card (512Mb or 1Gb) and load to it with all the maps I'll need for the forseeable future. Then I just use any card reader and waypoint management software I choose. I hope this helps, reidster.

I'll admit, as I have in other posts, the iFinder's menu is not the friendliest, but I've come to really love it. First like the Garmin, you can select a waypoint by just keying in the name. Also like the Garmin, it has a menu dedicated to the screen being used. Press Menu once and you get the dedicated menu. A second press pops up the full advanced menu. Also from each dedicated menu, except the satellite screen, you can customize the display. It will let you add two rows with up to three boxes each of information (coord's, epe, dst, spd, trk, brg, etc.). All in all as you can see, judging user interfaces is very subjective. Personally I find the eTrex's side buttons and stick totally frustrating and their menus insulting to my intelligence. But that's just my opinion. I guess the best thing to do is handle each one personally. (Ok, for the iFinder have an experienced user handy).

In all seriousness I wouldn't get either of those if buying today. Both are great units, don't think I am bashing either, but these days you should look for a USB interface and a color screen. Today both these features are optional, tomorow they will be standard and they are both nice to have. The real choice in terms of today's units comes down to the Magellan Explorist 500/600 and the Garmin 60C/CS. Lowrance seems to be making a comeback in the GPS market which I welcome, but I know nothing about them so I won't comment. Forget about the electronic compass/altimeter they are cool, but useless in most cases. Nice to have but rarely if ever needed. Trying to decide between the Garmin 60 and the Explorist is hard. The lack of SD card on the Garmins is a serious drawback for many and the better user interface on the Garmins as well as use of AA batteries is a huge plus for the Garmins. Whatever you decide please spend the extra dollars to get something current versus yesterday's tech that you will want to upgrade before very long. Autorouting is also a huge plus, I wouldn't buy a unit today that couldn't do it. I pretty much agree with everything Dave mentioned. I don't have an auto-routing unit, so I can't comment. However the the two you did mentioned, although quite adequate and reliable, are yesterday's technology. Something newer that is in the same price range is the Lowrance H2O, if you don't need auto-routing. It's feature are nearly as good as the two Dave mentioned for a lot less money. It's large high resolution display is 16-level grayscale, instead of color. It has interchangable SD memory, which you can place into a reader to get the USB speed. It also uses rechargable AA's instead of proprietary batteries. Lastly, it's topo mapping software is the best of the three.

Darn you Hoary, you beat me to posting the code's icon look-up table. FWIW... The only cache types mentioned in LOC files are "Geocache" and "BenchmarK". Therefore converting LOC2USR will insert codes for only one, or maybe two, icon types. GPX files contain more information about cache types, hence the set of eight shown at the bottom of the list. The list is found in the lowranceusr.c code file. BTW: Is JRUST implying anything with his choices of icons for Locationless and Webcam caches?

I'd suggest converting the first set to decimal degrees by dividing the minutes by 60 and add that to the whole degrees. Therefore 31.133 / 60 = 0.5188833 degrees and 38.64 / 60 = 0.644 degrees, so it's... 45.5188833 N 122.644000 W 45.5188800 N 122.643960 W

Personally I would suggest Magnetic North. There are several ways to locate a cache, but two of the most common are as follows: Method 1) Keep walking towards the cache site, until the distance reads zero. Unfortunately 99% of the times just as you get to, or approach, zero your GPSr suddenly says the site is 30 feet in another direction. If you're in a wooded area you soon find yourself doing the dance of a drunken duck as you run towards zero in a dozen different locations. All the while cursing your #@##@% GPSr. Method 2) Walk towards the cache site and stop when you're about 50-60 feet away. Now read and remember the Magnetic North bearing to the site. Put away the GPSr, get out your compass (which you should ALWAYS have with you) and project a path to the site along this bearing. Finally walk this bearing the indicated distance to the site. If it's not there, remember this spot and repeat this procedure from another location. With all that said, this is why I recommend setting it to Magnetic North for geocaching. If there's a practical reason to support the setting of True North for geocaching I'd like to hear it.

PDOP, Thanks!!! You posted some great information. Now I know why my iFinder's EPE is usually twice that of a Legend in side-by-side comparisons. It helps confirm my notion that statements using EPE to compare models are useless. reidster.

The calculation of PDOP is based upon the geometry or position of the satellites. The more spread out and lower on the horizon they are, the lower or better the PDOP value is. Having more satellites visible also improves this value. Calculating EPE uses PDOP, signal quality, WAAS correction, etc. PDOP calculation is pretty much standardized, where as EPE is well basically… cr*p for being used as a standard. Each manufacturer calculates it differently; even models within one brand seem to differ. I use EPE strictly and only as a reference for quality of accuracy. To base comparison of models using EPE is pure lunacy. Trimble provides free software to calculate and graph PDOD Trimple Planning software

PDOP is "Percent Dilution of Position" or "Position Dilution of Precision" EPE is "Estimated Position Error".

bryrisjs, Your unit, which is essentially an iFinder Pro, has most of what you want to do already. This unit will accept a 1Gb SD memory card, which hold files like a remote hard-drive. Therefore during a time of boredom download all the sites of a specific area. Then using GPSBabel convert the LOC/GPX file(s) to one USR file named after the area. Save these individual USR files to the memory card. Now when you're out somewhere, do a mass deletion of all the waypoints from internal memory, and then load the desired USR file into internal memory. However there are a couple of limits to this madness: The maximum number of internal waypoints is 1000. The maximum number of files is 1000. Also, this unit has the feature to sort all the waypoints by distance for you already built in. I hope this is helpful, reidster.

Maybe, but if RS232 is the alternative... forget it! I'll take the 10 seconds of drudgery of replacing a memory card over that any day. I've never understood why no one in their right mind would buy a digital camera with an RS232 interface, but will buy a GPSr with it!?! OTOH... Yes it would be a nice convenience if it had an onboard USB port. However, at what cost? I believe (and I'm probably wrong) the E400 and Legend C are the cheapest comparable units with USB, but they cost $75 to $100 more than an H2O.

Welcome to the dark side of the iFinder. There's no denying that in Advanced Mode the features/menus are somewhat baffling. Every owner experiences this angst after they make the switch. The added functions are so numerous I wish there was a website style Site Map screen. (Lowrance if you're listening, put a complete menu tree in the manual!!!) The worst offenders are the GPS Setup, System Setup, and Utilities selections on the Main Menu screen. I love everything about my iFinder, except having to sort through these three sub-menus. Oy! Fortunately the functions and settings found within these are ones that are seldom used or changed after the initial setup. But if you, or anybody else, need help just post your question (rant) here and the few, the proud, iFinder devotees that are here will be glad to assist.

As Vlad mentioned, the Range Rings on the Map Screen are really cool and useful. FWIW, this screen also zooms in to a true 100-foot display. Another oddly unique feature is the function of the Exit button when viewing the Map Screen. It will alternate the display between your current position and the last place where you positioned the cursor. At first I didn't see the point for this, but with street maps loaded it's been very helpful while navigating to a site. For those of us with no short-term memory, it's handy to instantly recall what streets I should be looking for. Also, pressing it three times, or four if the crosshairs are visible, pops-up a speedometer. This feature is undocumented (read unsupported). Pressing the Zin and Zout buttons will scale it from 10mph to 300mph. Another undocumented feature is the complete satellite status display. While viewing the Satellite Status Screen, press the Down Arrow button three times. Here you'll see each satellite's PRN number, elevation, azimuth, signal strength, and CNO. Pressing the Down Arrow button now will alternate these displays.

What does that mean? The information stored for an ICON has only Lat, Lon, and a Symbol. A WAYPOINT has all this, plus Altitude, Wp Name, and Creation Time. Also, you can navigate to a Waypoint, but not an Icon. Since the firmware allows for the mass deletion of all waypoints or icons, they're handy for setting temporary icons on the Map Screen along your way to a site. This way when you are done you can retain all your geocache waypoints, but easily delete all temporary position icons. To create an icon, press and hold the Ent button. When the pop-up changes to Save Icon, release and then select a symbol. >Edited grammar for clarification

FWIW: Garmin lists all three units as meeting the IPX7 standard, submersed to one meter for thirty minutes. This is considered as being waterproof. The lower standard, water resistant, is IPX2 and the higher standard, underwater use, is IPX8. Basic IPX chart

Now there's sound advice. Now you know why I chose an iFinder. If you need any help, there are always a few of us here and we know what we're talking about. You can also go to Yahoo Groups - iFinder for more/dedicated advice. But if you need to be part of a crowd, go ahead and buy a Legend. Then hang it around your neck, get down on all fours, and go baaaaaaaa, baaaaaaaa, baaaaaaaa...

abarnhart, I some what agree with Jamie. If you're thinking about storing 1000+ waypoints, you definitely want to be able to load them via your PC. Besides all the time and effort, the chances of entering an error goes way up. Whenever I see this question, my stock response is always that one should consider the MeriGold, Legend, and Lowrance iFinders. Like Jamie I also prefer having removable/expandable SD memory. (It makes things so much easier and faster). This is why I chose the iFinder. In the range you listed check out the iFinder Pro. It's very comparable to the MeriGold. On the plus side: It's has a much better display, is smaller, and doesn't have the (alleged) over-shoot problem. On the down side: It's water-resistant, not waterproof and in Advanced Mode the menus can be challenging. reidster

Everything about GPS is digital. Your GPSr is basically a very fancy/dedicated calculator with a special receiver. As long as it indicates that you're locked on to a fair amount of birds and/or the EPE is low, it's working. BUT... make sure its datum is set to WGS84. If not, you will get the errors you are presently having. This is the most common source of positioning errors. However to check its accuracy find an Adjusted, not Scaled, benchmark near you. If you find you're within a meter or two of it, your GPSr is fine. reidster

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Don't worry, few people have. They have great engineers and support, but marketing and sales seem to be non-existent. No, its serial port is strictly for NMEA0183 communications. However using a USB card reader is several times faster than RS232. For a comparison go to http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...dpost&p=1428024 Yes. It uses SD cards which are very cheap, 256Mb @ $20. Please do, they're a great unit for the price. But to be totally honest... the manual is only fair to good and in Advanced Mode the plethora of menus can be intimidating. But in either case, post your question here and we'll gladly help you out.

Blue, Do yourself a big favor and consider a Lowrance iFinder. The Pro model does have an active antenna port and goes for around $150. Its features are very comparable to, if not better than, those of the Legend. It's a dual processor mapping unit with a 3" diagonal 16 level grayscale 240 x 180 screen, removable/expandable memory, NMEA 0183 output, 1k waypoints, 100 routes, 100 trails, true 100' scaled display, uses AA batteries, and fits in your pocket. However... this iFinder is water resistant (IPX2), not water proof (IPX7), and supports routing, but not autorouting. So for geocaching and normal use this model should be compared right along with the Legend and MeriGold. In any event, you will definitely be happy with any one of these three. reidster

bexybear - Thanks for the info. This pretty much confirms how I thought it worked. Since these values change, but very slowly over time, there's no need to receive them constantly from satellites. However since they do change, this is another reason to periodically check for and install firmware updates. Kordite - Sorry , my ionosphere-delay correction grid idea probably doesn't make sense if you're not familiar with WAAS and how it works. Visit Dale's DGPS site for a very good explanation of WAAS and where this correction grid idea came from...Dale's DGPS Info site reidster