atlxplorer

I can't get it to work. I have the keyspan adapter, which I spent like $60 on and it was my understanding it would work with a mac, but perhaps I misread some posts on this board about it. I uninstalled the PC driver, unchecked the Keyspan adapter as a "drive" within the OS X network preferences pane, to no avail. The one improvement is that mapsource now recognizes the adapter and it BEGINS to transfer, but almost immediately after gives me a communications error. This is the same thing that happens with the E-Trex updater.exe file. It's very frustrating because I know both things recognize that I have the GPS hooked up. They also DO connect to each other and begin the transfer, but it always fails just after it begins (no matter what baud rate I have it set on nor if I check or uncheck the high speed transfer option). I'm about at the end of my rope. I suppose I can use my work PC to do some of this, but what a pain that will be. Any other advice would be great. Thanks!

I am going to try those things... there are a few you mentioned that I have not done. It's odd, because I thought I had read several posts about people not having a problem w/ the Keyspan adapter (though I have the new highspeed version, which may be different than what they had). Perhaps they were all still running OS9, which I'm trying to get completely away from. I invested $60 in the adapter, so hopefully I can get it to work. We shall see!

I'm having some similar problems, and have spent a lot of time troubleshooting based on forum discussions, but still can't get things to work properly. Here's where I am... I have OS X, a Vista, the Keyspan high speed adapter, all drivers installed (on mac and pc). I have COM1 set-up in VPC and it's recognizing the keyspan adapter. I can get EasyGPS to recognize the Vista in COM1, and can transfer stuff that way. BUT, I can't get either the Vista software updater.exe nor MapSource to recognize it. At times, the updater kind of begins (the screen on the vista changes), but it never gets beyond 0%. It autodetects the unit on COM1, so it SHOULD be working. I've checked and unchecked the highspeed setting. Humph. It only seems to work at all if I have it hooked to the USB port on the back, not the keyboard (thanks for the hint!). For Mapsource, I can't get it to recognize the unit on any baud rate nor any COM port. Any port over 2 gives me an error, perhaps because VPC only lets you set up 2 ports. Please help! PS - I can use the updater on an actual windows machine, not that it probably makes a difference.

I've had a Vista for a short time now, and am still getting used to the various aspects of geocaching. I've had mixed experiences... it's let me right to caches sometimes (even in some tree cover), while other times no matter what I did it said I should go in the other direction. I have to agree that a lot of this is tweaking settings (compass off vs. on, WAAS off vs. on, battery saver mode or not, etc.). I try not to get too frustrated. I realize that there will be times I probably need to use the compass along with the GPS to figure out where I am and where I'm going. I also need to figure out how to change settings so that I get better readings under trees and such. I'd say use the thing for awhile and spend time getting to know it before you give up on it so quickly. I also would think that WHERE you live/play also plays a big part as to how well it can lock onto certain satellites, right? Jeff

I've had a Vista for a short time now, and am still getting used to the various aspects of geocaching. I've had mixed experiences... it's let me right to caches sometimes (even in some tree cover), while other times no matter what I did it said I should go in the other direction. I have to agree that a lot of this is tweaking settings (compass off vs. on, WAAS off vs. on, battery saver mode or not, etc.). I try not to get too frustrated. I realize that there will be times I probably need to use the compass along with the GPS to figure out where I am and where I'm going. I also need to figure out how to change settings so that I get better readings under trees and such. I'd say use the thing for awhile and spend time getting to know it before you give up on it so quickly. I also would think that WHERE you live/play also plays a big part as to how well it can lock onto certain satellites, right? Jeff

I'm a Mac user and have been doing research as well to determine what to get. I decided on an eTrex Vista since it had all of the features I wanted (the $50 rebate at Amazon helps as well). I think which will or won't work with a Mac is a moot point... any of them can connect to a mac w/ the correct software/cables. If you want to download maps to the GPS unit, you'll need Virtual PC, since both Garmin and Magellen's propritary mapping software (the only maps you can download to the unit) are both PC-only. In other words, choose your GPS unit, then do the research to figure out how to get all the connections working. --Jeff

I think I misunderstood something. I got an e-mail from Garmin saying that Metroguide was last updated last Fall (to map version 4.x). I remember reading a post on here that they had just come out with a new one. Perhaps it was an old post, as I am new here and have looked through the archives. In any case, sounds like it's safe to assume that anywhere you get it (other than perhaps some of the ones on E-bay) would be the latest version.

I have a question about versioning as well. I am about to buy a Vista from Amazon (cause w/ the Amozon-only $50 rebate it's cheaper than anywhere else). I was going to get the MetroGuide USA CD from them as well (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004VX3J/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_sc_1/102-5764306-6367350). There is a $50 Garmin rebate if both are purchased at the same time. My concern is that the version on Amazon won't be the latest. From what I gather, the product has been recently updated, as it states on Garmin's site as well as on offroute.com. I'm referring to the maps themselves, not the software which you can update for free from garmin. I see nothing on Amazon stating it's recently updated in the description, nor a way to even find out what version it is. The product images on the 3 mentioned sites are all different, so I don't know what to do. I don't want to spend the money and find out it's an old version that I can't upgrade. So, my question is this... does anyone have an idea of whether or not Amazon is currently selling the recent version? How long ago was it released? --Jeff