SketchySmurf

It's really easy to pad your seller ratings. Sell something to yourself and then refund your money and your left with the ability to say whatever you want. That's why you have to look really hard at the ones that weren't so happy. That's why eBay's and Amazon's system works so well. It's very difficult to corrupt their rating system. Its true that big companies get bad ratings sometimes but they have dedicated costumer service staff with detailed steps on how to get restitution. We don't have anything except an email...You do understand how "sketchy" this can all seem right? I'm really hoping I'm wrong. Like I said there's no turning back I've already plunked down the cheese. But I won't be satisfied until my CSx gets here in factory fresh condition with all the parts accounted for and the unit working the way its supposed to.

OK, I could use a little assurance. I spent a lot of money tonight just to prove a point. I hope for all our sakes that they turn out to be alright. Like I said, I can be very vocal about my opinions and if I do get burned, well let's just say I have a LOT of time on my hands...

OK, I ordered a Csx tonight from them. We shall see how well it goes...Be very assured, one way or another you will hear from me on this and every other GPS related newsgroup and site I visit about my experience with them.

What could it mean?? It could mean the company is setting up usernames just to boost the company! Sorry if I'm a little paranoid, but getting duped on the internet is not exactly unheard of. Besides, have you seen their seller ratings on Yahoo? Read some of the comments, if that doesn't get you thinking twice I don't know what will... Caveat Emptor.

All these raves about lakepowellelectronics...some by people with only one post...***spidey sense tingling***

Completely brand new in box, unregistered with all the documentation. Asking $80. Will even ship for free. ooops, forgot to put MA as one of the state maps included.

I bought the eTrex yellow on Amazon too. Great price. But you have to factor in all the other stuff you would need, car mount, charger, software (if you have a mac), mapsource...When all was said and done, the GPS was the least of my expenditures.

Fife, Nice summary. Maybe the rest of us can build on the experience and this thread can be a running catalog. My setup: HARDWARE Ti Powerbook G4 1Ghz Garmin Etrex Yellow Keyspan 19-HS (the newest one) also standard serial to usb that came with an old Palm SOFTWARE Mac OS X 10.3.9 MacGPS Pro PDA apps: Cachemate MacCMConvert COMING IN THE MAIL TOPO! Nat'l. Geographic Regional Maps CONSIDERING Garmin GPS 60cs or 60cx Route 66 OK, as I mentioned before on this thread and others, I just want to be able to plan my trips, make waypoints and especially tracks from maps obtained online (preferably free ones, i.e. Google Maps) and download them onto my etrex. Of secondary concern is being able to back up saved tracks and waypts. MacGPS Pro gets me about halfway there. It up/downloads tracks and waypoints flawlessly. But if you want to make tracks easily on your desktop, you're going to have to open up your wallet some more. Although the app claims it can take maps from any source, calibrate it and use it for your own purposes, it is a very finicky proposition. Often the information it asks of you the help the app calibrate maps are not easily obtained. I'm hoping the TOPO! maps will help remedy the situation. I use the Keyspan USB Serial adapter to connect my etrex to my mac. The palm adapter is not recognized (at least with MacGPS Pro). To go paperless fife, I would download Cachemate. Then download MacCMConvert which takes .gpx files and enables it to be read in Cachemate...

Hey guys we're talking about Mac stuff on this thread too. I ordered MacGPS Pro yesterday and am waiting on the TOPO! discs for my yellow eTrex. I was looking for an app. where I could create tracks on a map and then have it upload to my GPS. I thought MacGPS Pro would take care of that, but soon realized I would have to keep spending if I wanted to get maps where it didn't take me eons to calibrate. Now i'm concerned that the TOPO! and MacGPS Pro are going to overlap in function. Anyone care to comment on how they work with both of these apps? The Route 66 app. is intriguing, however, I don't see the ability to upload tracks as one of the features, just waypoints...If you own a non mapping GPS, tracks are life.

Bought MacGPS Pro today...I think I'm going to start a support group. Transferring waypoints and tracks seems easy enough. Calibrating maps from say Google (which I have been using exclusively) will make you impotent. First it asks you to standardize the map, ok, fine I use the center point. Then it asks you for coords on the map to calibrate it. In Google Maps, I can't think of a way of clicking to a point and having it spit out coords. I would love to get my hands on some maps (the TOPO! series is looking good right now), be able to click vector paths and have them download to my etrex. Please don't tell me I have to spend more money...

Let's know first impressions, etc...I'm looking to commit to something too. (or is it I'm waiting to be committed?)

yes, you are skimming along the surface of what its like to be in the mac community. Not only do we have to learn the ins and outs of new software and the most efficient way to use them, but we also have to make sure they play nice with our toys. Don't get me wrong, though, I've been a mac user for years and don't ever expect to switch again. (Although its times like these I wish I had a cheap PC to tool around with.)

can you CREATE routes/tracks based on maps from google (for example) and it will show up as a route on your gps?

I'm confused. From what I read on the site, you could take maps (even ones that are scanned in) calibrate coordinates on them and you can plot waypoints on the software which can then be downloaded onto your GPSr... I have an eTrex Yellow, so I couldn't load maps if I wanted, but if I could download a route or track I created from within MacGPS Pro and be able to download it onto my etrex, I would be more than happy.

Guys, I'm in the same boat as all of you. From what I understand, GPS Connect for Mac OS X isn't able to up/downlad routes and tracks, it can only do waypoints. I've been looking at MacGPS Pro. It's the most full featured app. I've found. Anyone have any experience with it? PS I absolutely refuse to use anything that requires Virtual PC.

Hey everyone. Since this is a newb thread, I thought I'd concentrate the newbness all on one thread. Bought myself an Etrex Yellow for Xmas for a little help with navigating snowshoe trails. Then I stumbled onto geocaching and of course, I'm hooked. I would love to be able to do two things: 1) I understand that I need GPSBabel and/or GPS Connect to download and upload waypoint data between my mac and etrex. I've recently been introduced to Google maps, and have been using it extensively in planning trips and hikes. I would LOVE to be able to click on a point on a map, have it spit out coordinates which I would then download to my etrex. 2) Actively manage routes and waypoints from my computer to load on my Etrex. In other words, the computer has a library of routes and points and from which I would be able handpick to load on my GPS. Sort of like an iTunes library to iPod relationship. What's the quickest, most painless (and hopefully least expensive) way to do both these things?