ALooneyGuy

I know it's probably way too early to tell, but I wonder if the 24k topo maps will work on the new Colorado 400t. Particularly, I wonder if the 3d view will work... I got the 60CSx when it first came out, and have been very happy with it, but this series seems to have some very intriguing new features.

Currently doing something similar but for french and belgian topo maps. I just began 4 days ago learning/playing with various tools but can see they did a sloppy job as they did not care to name lot of places, items, streams etc..., just put generic names like "stream" "buildings" ! Formating, colors, zoom level are sloppy too. I guess the market is not very big in Europe for these because definitely the GPS can do better when I see all the possibilities available. What tools do you use ? Do you have by any chance a table showing the coding of the formating data included with an item name ? Eg with Mapdekode and Trackmaker: Hardwood<S=&H1F><Z=1> S seems for the string format color and appearance and the Z for the zone/zoom level which are obviousely translated from the Garmin img binary format. As a National Map Corps Volunteer in the USA, I have been extensively hiking all of the trails and exploring the areas in this 24K Garmin map which is the same as the US Geological Survey 1:24K maps which is the maps that all of these USA map makers use. I opened the original Garmin 24K map with GPSmapedit, and used this program to edit the map. Hikes and some off road trails were saved as tracks and other features were obtained as waypoints (if they were different then the Garmin map information) and stored and compiled in a Mapsource gdb file. Then added the Mapsource gdb file and added the tracks and waypoints. Garmin uses 3 map levels, so I paid carefull attention in assigning lesser features to the lower level(s). I obtained a shape file from a state GNIS department which showed the boundaries of wildlife management areas, and added the boundaries as polylines. Of course, to make the map back into a Garmin Mapsource file, I used GPSmapper. To see the coding of the maps, instead of opening the mp file with GPSmapedit, use notepad to see the coding and also allows editing. GPSmapedit has default values (colors, line styles, etc.) for various features (points, polylines, polygons), but I'm not familiar with changing these values, but are the same as the Garmin 24K topo. I've followed similar methods, but when loading the map into Mapsource, the autorouting that works so beautifully with the 24k maps doesn't work anymore. It seems to be cGPSMapper that is causing the problem. Does autorouting work with the maps you altered?

I just exchanged a couple of emails with Phil at lakepowellmarineelectronics.com, and he asked if would mind sharing some information. He said they now have the 76Cx and 76CSx in stock. If you're looking for the absolute best customer service in helping you out with your purchase, I can't recommend these guys highly enough. It was simply the best online purchasing experience I've had. Phil really helped me out with my 60CSx purchase.

OK, I'm feeling left out of the loop here. What is the gift card kickback? I haven't had any success getting any kind of a bargain from lakepowellmarineelectronics.com. What kind of deal did you get? Nevermind, I found it. I thought it was a little more clandestine than that.

OK, I'm feeling left out of the loop here. What is the gift card kickback? I haven't had any success getting any kind of a bargain from lakepowellmarineelectronics.com. What kind of deal did you get?

I got an email from Phil today saying they had to sell for the Garmin gouging price. Looks like those of us who hesitated lost. Guess I'll stick with my trusty Vista for a while longer.

Are you guys who just ordered getting the lower price or the $499 price? If you're getting the lower price, how are you doing so?

it does make me wonder, though, where the retailers got the idea that sirf was included. did they make it up? if i was a retailer, i wouldn't advertise specs i didn't get from the manufacturer. i wouldn't want the headache of angry customers returning product or accusing me of fraud when the product they finally receive doesn't live up to the initial marketing. i've noticed that some of the sites have a "specs subject to change" clause. others do not (amazon, gpscity, etc). maybe amazon and gpscity will get sirf-based units and the others won't. I think some of the folks at Garmin don't know what they're talking about. Either that or they just flat out lied to me. See my earlier post in which I pasted an email from Garmin saying that the Vista Cx DOES have sirf.

The bold emphasis being mine. BTW, I found this page by reading Garmin's CES blog (really an ad) written from the nuvi's perspective. Everyone has a blog these days huh? I would tend to agree with you, but I'm hoping what I was told directly by Garmin is correct - that the Vista Cx DOES use sirf.

I believe the S is for sensor, as in compass "sensor" and barometric "sensor" as mentioned in the other responses.

It does seem a little doubtful, doesn't it? Here is my email to Garmin and their response: Inquiry: I own a Vista and I'm trying to justify upgrading to the brand new Vista Cx. Is there any difference between it and the Vista C besides the memory slot? I had read somewhere that it might have the sirfstar III chip which is supposed to work better under foliage. Is this true? Any information you can provide detailing the difference between the Vista C and Vista Cx would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! Thank You for contacting Garmin International! I am happy to help you with this. The differences are just as you stated, the expandable memory, and yes it does have the sirfstar, however you have been misinformed sirfstar acquires faster. It will not do any better under foliage. As the problem with foliage is that the signal strength emitted by the satellites looses strength by the time it reaches earth, and the signal cant actually penetrate the dense foliage, acquisition under dense canopy is bad because the canopy is dense.

I emailed Garmin about the Vista Cx, and they specifically said that it DOES have the sirfstar chipset.