Puddlewalkers
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Posts posted by Puddlewalkers
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I bought the mounting kit from Garmin. It came with a semi-permanent and permanent mount. I mounted to the dash using the permanent approach. When the GPS is detached it doesn't take up much surface area. It works great. If I ever need to remove I think I will be able to. It should clean up with a good gunk remover.
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I just looked at the TOPO 2008 through the web browser. I looked up my address which is a fairly new community - about four years old. The roads are missing on TOPO 2008 but exist on the latest available MapSource v8. It's interesting they don't overlay the latest road map data from MapSource v8 on top of the updated TOPO 2008 information. It probably has something to do with how the data is represented.
The street information looks to be about 5 years old for the area I live. It has been updated since the last TOPO map, but isn't the latest.
If the TOPO 2008 doesn't have my local roads on it I am sure it is missing many others.
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I also had this problem when I first purchased my 60CSX. I called Garmin and they were willing to send me an RMA. I chose not to as it seemed to be getting better with more use. After more than a year it works fine.
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Garmin 60 CSX if you have the budget. Probably the most popular on the forum. Great reception, functionality, and geocaching capabilities.
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I have had my for about a year now. Used it extensively on the road, trips, hiking, and geocaching. Very reliable, no major functional issues, I consider it a good investment. Another thing to consider is Garmin's cusotmer service, its awesome.
I have some issues.
The memory card will shake loose over time, particularly if you use it in the car regularly (I've experienced it about 3 to 4 times since I aquired the unit). It all has to do with the metal clip used to secure the memory card behind the battery. They may have corrected this. I could probably rig it to prevent this, but I am too lazy. I just reset the card and everything is back to normal.
I don't like the fact that you can't have it report GPS elevation in the altimeter screen. The altimeter becomes all but useless when tracking elevation in a commercial airplane. I will add it worked great when I was driving and hiking in the mountains this summer, no complaints on the ground.
There was a time when it wouldn't lock onto WAAS satelites. This turned out to be an issue with the satelites being repositioned, not the GPS. I get consistent locks now.
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I have been using my Vista and my 60CSX with Streets and Trips since I bought them. I am using no extra software. You need to get a serial cable for your devices. Both support NMEA output, which is needed by Streets and Trips. Works great! I use it on the airplane when I travel.
Hi Puddlewalker,
My current cable for the etrex is a serial (comes with it). Can I get a serial to USB adapter in order to connect it to my laptop and did it plug and play or do you have to make some setting changes? Thanks.
Yes, you can get an adapter at any electronic store. That is exactly what I have done. Works great.
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Another minor issue I have with the nav on the handhelds is if you select find->food (or gas) it will return stuff that is closest to you, but some of them you may have just passed.
True, but I would consider that a feature, not a bug. If junior needs a restroom now, I'd like to know about the one that's 2 blocks behind me, rather than one 13 miles ahead of me. Besides, it displays the distance and direction from your current location, so you can choose what works best for you.
I echo the restroom comment.
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puddlewalkers - when you were looking for exits, did you ever find the 60csx to report exits from a highway other than the one you were on? that has happened to me several times, on some fairly major highways (not 6 or 8 lane major interstates, but on 4 lane farly important highways - ny/nj/ct area).
I know the gpsr knows where I am so that's not the question, and I attributed it to lack of basemap data (e.g. if we don't have exit data for the highway they are on, show them exit data from a nearby highway). In addition to the basemap data seeming to be a bit older than CN, I can't imagine they'd have every highway exit data in the basemap, even for what I consider to be 'important' highways.
Did this ever happen to you?
When this happened to me, we tried to use the find nearby for a food category, and while somewhat successful, it was harder to correlate the exit to the food establishment.
I did not experience that, at least where I caught it. The times I looked for exit information it was accurate. I was on major highways (Interstates mostly) when I was using the feature.
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Press FIND to open the Find Menu. Highlight the Exits icon and press ENTER. Use the Rocker to select an Exit. Select an Exit and the Services for that exit will be shown.
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I just got back from a summer vacation - 4000 mile road trip and multiple hikes in Yellowstone and Tetons. I used my 60CSX extensively with City Select and the TOPO 24K maps for the National Parks. We also did some Geocaching during the trip.
I have to say I was very impressed with the performance of the GPS throughout the trip. I had created waypoints for each of our destination points and relied on the GPS to route my trip. Worked great! Never got lost and saved the hassle of my wife managing maps and navigation. The hassle factor savings alone was worth the cost of the GPS and software.
I loved the exit feature. Always knew where gas stations and food establishments were. I wish there was a one button option for finding a Culver's though (kids favorite eating establishment)!
The Geocaching features are excellent and easy to use. It was nice doing some caches at rest stops or at particular sites. I used the route pocket query and had all the caches loaded before I left for the trip. Added a nice element to the trip.
I used the TOPO maps in the parks. All the trails I hiked were on the map. It allowed me to route on the trails and the altimeter was accurate within 50 feet of posted signs (which I didn't expect after my experiences with the altimeter in airplanes). One quibble, the 60CSX doesn't seem to distinguish between trails and roads when routing using the TOPO 24K. I would get some strange results when driving through the parks - it would occasionaly try to send the car down a walking path!
I will never take a road / camping trip without a GPS again. Indespensible tool.
Garmin makes a good product in the 60CSX. I am not a Garmin rep, sales person, and don't own stock (thank goodness, looks like it took a dive the other day). Just a pleased customer.
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I just got back from a 4000 mile summer vacation road trip and noticed several of those boxes on my 60CSX map. They never locked up my unit. I was traveling in the rocky mountain states and the mid-west.
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I have been using my Vista and my 60CSX with Streets and Trips since I bought them. I am using no extra software. You need to get a serial cable for your devices. Both support NMEA output, which is needed by Streets and Trips. Works great! I use it on the airplane when I travel.
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I did reload the maps making sure I had included the routing information. When I open a route on the GPS and select Map I see a straight line between the two end points of the route. When I select Navigate/Follow Road it recalculates the route along the trails as I had constructed the route in MapSource and I see it on the map. Everything appears to be working as advertised. Off to Yellowstone for some hiking and geocaching with the family! Thanks for your help!
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Did you try navigating the routes? If the routable trails are anything like on-road routing, the route won't be calculated along the trails until you do a navigation on them.
Keith
When I call up the route and attempt to navigate I get the error message: Route Calculation Error: No roads near starting point.
It appears that I don't have the information required to make the Topo Maps routable. I will look into how I downloaded the maps from MapSource. Thanks for the reply.
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I created some routes along Topo 24 trails (Yellowstone) in MapSource and then transferred them to my 60CSX. The routes came over as straight lines on the 60CSX, ignoring the trails. Any suggestions welcome.
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are you seeing 48 and 51 at the same time?
No, not at the same time. If I lose one (because of a building or whatever) it may lock on the other, so I have seen 51 and 48 within a couple of minutes of each other.
I never got WAAS locks before the 2.60 update. Its the norm now. Pretty cool.
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If I sit next to a window my 60csx works. I bought a serial cable that I hook up to my PC. I run MS Streets and Trips and track the flight realtime using the NMEA interface - works great! The altitude reported by the NMEA interface is the GPS elevation, not the barometric altimeter, so it is accurate.
Garmin needs to offer the option to report the GPS elevation on the altimeter page, not sure why it isn't an option. It can be accessed on the satellite page by pressing Menu.
Going close to 500 mph does pose some problems for MS Streets and Trips, you can only zoom in so far, but the granularity is more than acceptable for seeing what your flying above.
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I did some more testing at lunch. My accuracy was 9 - 12 feet with WAAS (sometimes 48, sometimes 51). I am not sure what the problem was this morning. I will do some testing as recommended that hopefully shows greater accuracy with WAAS on. Looks like the latest SW updated has fixed WAAS in my area.
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I installed the new 2.60 SW Update on my Garmin 60Csx and for the first time in the Minneapolis / MN area am getting WAAS error correction (D's in the satellite bars). I now can see satellites 48 and 51.
Interestingly enough my accuracy seems worse. I was regularly seeing 10 to 12 feet, now I am seeing 18 - 22 feet. I understand in concept what WAAS is doing (I have been to several web sites with detailed descriptions). Given my rudimentary understanding of the technology, I would assume the GPS accuracy would improve. It is an interesting phenom. I will test further turning off WAAS.
Also, I am interested in what the 2.60 update did. Why wasn't I seeing the WAAS satellites before? Why was a SW upgrade needed to enable this feature in the Minneapolis area?
It's great that Garmin is constantly improving the product through these updates.
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ILBandit,
I'm no expert either, but I heard that some folks can't see WAAS birds because they have "Battery Saver" enabled in System Setup. Did you enable Battery Saver? If so, you might want to change back to "Normal" mode. (See page 67 of Owner's Manual.) If not, maybe someone else will have a suggestion that will help. Good luck.
TracknQ
I thought of that also, but I do have it set to Normal mode.
QUOTE(JohnnyVegas @ May 14 2006, 06:29 PM)Ya Know, Geocaching was around before WAAS, and peolple had no problems finding caches then. just go have fun and find some cache.
I'm not that worried about it, I just wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with my GPS unit, like I had said, the accuracy on this thing is definitely not a problem, I love this new unit.
I'll just wait patiently, and play around with the WAAS stuff in Sept. when everyone says it is supposed to be back up and running.
I do believe they are still testing the sattelites. I had error correction one day with a lock on 35. The next day nothing. I also have gotten correction when traveling to the east coast and south. It is hard to blame the unit until they have everything in place.
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I used my 60CSx on a plane ride from MPLS to NYC. I connected the GPSr to Streets and Trips via a serial cable. The GPS elevation was reported correctly the whole trip 900ft to 40,000ft. During this same time the Altimeter page never reported the correct elevation. I am assuming this is because of the barometric pressure within the airplane. Is there anyway to turn off the barometric pressure / altimeter calculation and instead use GPS elevation for all Altimeter reporting? I don't see that option within the menus.
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I thought about purchasing a Lowrance when I was looking. I went to a seminar at the local Cabelas. The GPS guys told me that the Lowrance was the best value for the dollar. I decided on a Garmin (60csx) for a couple of reasons:
Garmin's built in support for geocaching
The auto routing feature
The size - like the larger screen on the Lowrance or 76csx, but don't like the handling that large of a unit
Excellent reception with the SIRF III chipset
I am very happy with the Garmin, it is a cool tool.
A close friend of mine just bought the Lowrance H2O C and is very happy. We were out geocaching the other day and it worked very well. I do get better reception with the SIRF III chipset. I don't believe the Lowrance has the chipset yet.
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Check other threads on the site about WAAS. They are moving satellites so WAAS isn't always available for everyone in North America. If you had D's in your bars you were in error correction mode. I am not sure why Garmin doesn't put this in their manuals.
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Have you checked the info on the Smittyware site about Registering the software?
Yes, sad to say I don't understand. On the iPAQ I enter the registrations number and the iPAQ wont allow the registration to continue. Reading the Q & A for issues, I don't understand what to do next. Looking for some guidance. Thanks.
I had the same problem at first. Ask for another registration code from the code request form in the support area of the site. Type in everything like it were case sensitive (keep capitals and lowercase letters the same for Order Number and Smittyware ID). You'll be sent another code. If the registration code you get sent is different something got messed up the first time. It should work then.
Colorado 400t or 60CSx
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
You won't be displeased. I have been using my 60 CSX for geocaching, local and cross country road travel, hikes at Yellowstone, etc. It is a fantastic GPS - solid stuff.