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Just so you know, there are some sleazy 3rd party vendors on Amazon, just like everywhere else. If the price is way low compared to other legit sources, expect an upsell / out-of-stock problem (common with the xxND St. Photo type places) or a remanufactured unit. Also, check their direct web site and see if they offer the same product -- sometimes its cheaper through Amazon, sometimes its cheaper buying direct of their web page.

Just received and loaded City Navigator NA NT on the Colorado 300 today. Routing and all that stuff is pretty cool. However, unless you really have a quiet vehicle, you aren't gonna hear it beep when a turn is coming. If I was looking for a strictly automotive GPS, I would get one with the text-to-speech feature so it can speak the streets as you approach them. Navigating unfamiliar roads while glancing at the screen can be hazardous.

Download the owner's manual for both and see which one will be easiest for the kids to enter coordinates on, etc... Also, find out if they have a PC interface so you can pre-load the caches for them.

Ran across your post trying to find mention of how to load both Topo and Metroguide together. I think I have it figured out, but if you have suggestions, please reply.

I think perhaps GC needs to set a limit for the text length as well. We have several locals who are very long-winded and half the text from the cache is not available due to the length limitation.

I got one of the carabiner deals for my Colorado that wouldn't fit on the unit due to the way the strap was sewn. I was just about to cut the strap off and cannibalize the mount when I realized the strap will come off without cutting. I also noticed there was a small slot between the uppermost part of the mount and the Colorado case. Good place to tie something. I dug through my crap drawer looking for an old cellphone lanyard -- I probably have half a dozen or more scattered throughout the house. In stead, I ran across an old ID badge necklace I had from a previous job. You know, the one with the plastic strap and snap that fits through a slot in a badge. Guess what, that plastic strap will fit right through the slot and snap shut, giving you a functional neck lanyard. Worked well yesterday and gave me a secondary hold on my GPS.

This looks like the same bunch that makes the Photon II lights. If their new lights are as good as the old ones, I will endorse them as well. I've had the old Photon II's on keychains for eons and have only had to replace batteries once or twice. The white LED models are really white -- not the crappy purple light the $2 Harbor Freight specials put out. Plus, they won't get activated in your pocket. Saved my butt a couple of times during power outages in office buildings.

Mine works fine with a 4 GB SDHC card. Haven't really loaded alot of stuff on it, but so far, so good.

Only snag is the break in can take 48-50 hours, so I may not get to try them this weekend. Batteries look like they're still on the first charge cycle so far. I did get an extra 8-cell battery holder and a free keychain flashlight (batteries not included ).

I assume you mean the U.S. version? Amazon has it for #109.33 with free shipping. Ordered mine last night.

Just got my 2700 mAh batteries from Thomas Distributing. They're on the charger in break-in mode. We'll see how they hold up Sunday -- hopefully better than the old tired 2100 mAh batteries I've been using.

One other way to zero in is to display the GPS coordinates and compare them to the cache coordinates. Line up the north / south or east / west coordinate and move the other directions until all the numbers line up. This usually gets me much closer than the arrows. If you want to cheat, use the satellite view of Google Maps to get an idea of the terrain and possible hiding places.

This is my plan. Since I've standardized on AA and AA is far more common than CR123. Back to the OP. If your maglight died and it's just the bulb there are LED upgrades that make the Maglight better than it was stock. You can find flaslights on flashlightreviews.com. The site is no longer updated but it's a great respository of information including on Mag upgrades. Most Maglites have a spare bulb in the tail cap. I've owned a butt-load of them over the last 25 years or so and only one actually died. A rechargeable I bought 20 years ago that needs to go back for warranty repair. Other than that, only leaky batteries and bad bulbs.

Don't think so. Perhaps your batteries refreshed or the meter was off. I was messing around last night and got the low battery message, then checked the battery meter and I was only down one bar. I'm going to try to reproduce the event and see if I can get it to happen again.

Post Colorado / GPX file issues in this thread: Colorado GPX File Issues

I've got several LED flashlights -- 1 watt and 3 watt. Sams Club here in the U.S. sells a pair of 3 watt units for $35 or so. They throw some serious light for an LED and run off 3 AAA cells. Can't see buying a flashlight that takes expensive batteries. The last one I got was a Brinkman -- cheap plastic, but just as bright as the metal ones. Found the link: LED Flashlights

Mine seems to run OK from IE or Firefox. Might try reinstalling Communicator and see what happens.

When I was caching with my other units I would transcribe to PC / paper the finer points of the cache location and description as well as an interpretation of the physical location based on the outdated Google Maps satellite view of this area. I had my non-mapping GPS and a pocket full of papers every time I went out. Several times I entered bad coordinates and wasted lots of time trying to find something that wasn't there. Decided it was time to move up to the 21st century and buy a color mapping GPS. Looked at the Magellan models and thought the camera, MP3 player, flashlight and touch screen on the Triton 2000 was a cool idea. Glad I didn't saddle that horse. Anyway, the Colorado looked pretty cool and I was happy with other Garmin products and their support. The only thing I was wary of was the wheel and how it was mounted at the top of the unit. Seemed to me your fingers would get in the way. Found a good price and took the plunge anyway -- glad I did. Yeah, its a bit buggy still, but I figure they'll work it out in the near future, and I don't have to carry a wad of papers in my pocket. Being able to transfer the GPX files straight to the unit is great. Marking the cache as found on the unit and uploading the field notes is really spiffy too. Pocket Queries are even better. I still transcribe and print the puzzle caches just in case, and I wish the Garmin Communicator would download and store the photos from the cache listing on the unit, but other than that I'm a happy camper. We've found 32 caches with it so far, including two we couldn't retrieve due to muggles, but no big deal.

The other day I was playing with the Colorado in a totally dark car, and I noticed the backlight is not completely off when you crank the brightness down all the way. Just not visible under normal conditions. We ran ours hard the other day with the backlight turned down all the way under partly clouding conditions in a partially wooded area and the display was still very readable. Just ordered 4 sets of 2700 mAh batteries from Thomas Distributing -- we'll see how good the life is with new high-capacity batteries.

Garmin had one firmware update for the eMap that added the ability to use the rechargeables at some point. Last firmware update was 2003 or so. Mine seemed to work OK, a bit less battery life. My biggest problem was the batteries loosing connection after being on a shaky motorcycle for miles and miles. I wore out two Garmin bicycle mounts before I found the R.A.M. mounts. I'd probably still use it if I had some maps more recent than '99 or so.

I think mine wound up in north up mode a different way. We were hitting caches along a walking path and at most we would have been zoomed out to maybe 1.2 miles or so. I'm thinking I manually panned the cursor over a cache icon and then pressed the center button on the sit-and-spin (grin) control to view the cache details. When I canceled it was stuck in north up. I'll try to replicate it tonight.

We were out this weekend and at some point got a low battery warning. I checked the battery meter and it was down to one red bar. We finished caching (another 30-45 minutes) and shut the unit off. I popped the batteries into the charger and they only took about 1600-1700 mAh charge -- I think they are 2400-1500 mAh batteries. Not sure if the batteries are sick (they are older) or if the unit just couldn't use the full capacity. Plan B is to purchase a new set of super-high capacity batteries and give them a shot.

When reporting the issue the folks probably should also include their model, s/n, and the maps they have loaded, and whether or not the GPX file(s) were stored in internal memory or on the SD card.

While out caching Sunday I did notice something Garmin should consider fixing. When you go to the Geocaching shortcut is shows the list of caches nearby in proximity order. But, if you are on the move and get closer to a cache down the list than the first entry, the list does not re-sort until you go to another shortcut and back to the Geocaching shortcut. I wish it would resort on the fly. Also, the north up bug bit me while doing something. I didn't note what I was doing at the time, but I had to go back in and set it to track up again. I think we were on the map page and moved the cursor to a cache and selected it. Will try to reproduce it later this week. Other than that, it performed very well and we were able to locate all the caches we sought -- being able to view the description and logs in the field helped out quite a bit. I turned off the compass and noted the arrow didn't go nuts when you got near the cache.

They sell 9" or 12" pieces of protective film at motorcycle shops. They apply them to gas tanks to prevent scratches. 3M makes an automotive version as well. Maybe a local shop that applies it will give you a scrap piece. Be Warned -- It does have a strong adhesive and may make a mess or harm the display.