paulmc

I wouldn't mind a USEFUL answer to this question myself. Tried IE and Mozilla with every update available for my eTrex 30.

Recognizing and converting between the formats is pretty basic stuff for people who work with maps, so just get your decimals in the right places, know what half of the planet you're on, and use WGS84, which is a worldwide system. NAD27 is only for North America. Not that there aren't reasons to use other coordinate systems, you just need to know what you're doing.

eTrex yellow eTrex Venture Sony Pyxis IPS360 Trimble Scout Oregon 200 Still got 'em all

Is the screen actually brighter on external power or simply at its brightest setting? I have an Oregon 200 and I don't have an external adaptor to try it with, but it would be nice if it were brighter in the car or on the bike. I've always wondered if these Garmins have dimmer touch screens than most because they are made tougher (more/thicker layers). My cell has a much brighter screen, but I wouldn't touch it with dirty fingers or expect it to survive much of a drop. Anyways, I've gotten used to the relatively dim screen like a previous poster, but I still use my Venture on my bikes.

I'm new to transferring large numbers of GCs also. I ran a Pocket Query earlier today and still haven't received the gpx file by email, but I don't know if I did everything right. If I don't select a particular PQ generation day will the PQ simply be placed in queue today? I didn't select a day so should I go back and run the PQ again and select today? Are there instructions somewhere detailing the effect of each choice made when creating a PQ? Hopefully these questions are on the original poster's mind as well - and get answered. Paul

I've been a cacher for a few years but just discovered benchmarking in May 2008. It's mostly Canadian Benchmarks that I find because I live in New Brunswick, Canada. On my best day I've probably found about 10 new benchmarks, but it may be easier for me than most because there aren't many benchmarkers in this province and only a handful were found when I started. I work for a land surveying company and we've located several in a day just for work. All our finds so far have been new finds. I now leave a metal detector, shovel, camera and, of course, a gps in my car at all times. The gps is loaded with thousands of POI's for various benchmark types all over my province. - Paul (benchmarking under "A Bound Crew") PS: what do you guys mean by PID? Here in NB it stands for Property IDentifier - a unique number identifying a parcel of land.

The variance in the tracklog from switching hand-to-hand is not at all related to accuracy. It's dependant on the smallest coordinate increment the gps can record. Accuracy refers to an absolute position; the tracklog is recording relative positions - hopefully, but not necessarily accurate ones. Oh yes, back to the issue at hand - I just got a new Oregon 200, installed 3.13 beta, and got "System Software Missing". I tried all the tricks I found online to no avail so I exchanged it for a new one the next day. Now I'm using v3.10 (like Low Bat) and have no intention on trying a beta version again. Ever. I have thousands of custom POI's for Waymarking, catagorized with custom symbols, etc., and the unit is working A-1. I could not be more pleased. The Oregon replaces an eTrex Venture Cx, which also handled the POI's well.

I'd like better accuracy, although I'm not displeased with my Venture Cx. I use mission planning software so I know what time of day to expect the best satellite configuration and make the best of what I've got. I often use a 60CSx at work, but they're a little big and bulky for my taste. I tried a friends Oregon for a couple days and it was accurate when tested at a point with known coordinates (a survey marker in the open), but I never got the chance to go geocaching with it. As others have said, that only tells you if the cache owner posts good coordinates. I plan on buying my own Oregon this weekend and I intend to test it thoroughly using the new averaging feature. Unfortunately, any navigation-grade gps I've used rounds its coordinates off too much to really know how close you are getting.

I agree with Tahoe Skier5000. My Sony gps (circa 1991) is almost like new and my Trimble Scout (circa 1992) works A1, although the lcd display has some dead pixels. My eTrex yellow, bought in 2001, is in better shape than my 3 year old eTrex Venture Cx. I keep good care of all of them. It seems that gps receivers are replaced for newer and better features more than anything else, which makes it a buyer's market for collectors of old equipment. I paid under $100 for both the Sony and Trimble, but they were $1000 and $800 new, respectively. Unfortunately they aren't so great for geocaching and they eat batteries like crazy.

What's the url for gpsdepotfile? gpsdepotfile.com doesn't go anywhere and I can't even find it using Google.

I just had my boss's 60Csx replaced because of a damaged antenna cover, but it was actually torn. The plastic housing was also cracked - looks like it was exposed to gas or something. He got a new replacement for CDN$150 including tax/shipping. I read elsewhere on this forum that someone got a new rubber for their eTrex from Garmin support. They don't sell them, but they talked to the right person at the right time and I think they sent it free. It's worth a try... The rubber case on the Oregons look and feel like they will last longer than the older Garmins.

Re: You do realize Canadian topo maps are available free? Just be aware that Ibycus topo maps are not street routable. They are prettier though, so I use them offroad and use Topo Canada everywhere else. The Ibycus maps have a slower redraw speed in my Venture also.

wkmccall wrote: "Spot On? Might want to go with a non-consumer grade and start looking at military grade GPS units for spot-on accuracy.. " I've had my eye on the Trimble GeoXH with sub-foot accuracy. Now if only I had 12 grand to spend...

You do need Mapsource or another FREE uploader to load any maps (unless you get them on a card), so that's not a problem. For caching I'd go with Topo, just be aware that the streets on them just aren't as good. I never tried filedepot, but I have Ibycus free Topo maps as well as Garmin's Topo Canada. The Ibycus map features are prettier and well-labeled, but the maps are slower to redraw on my eTrex Venture and street routing isn't possible compared to Garmin's Topo maps which are faster and routable. Garmin now has the new Canadian Topo maps for the Oregon if that's where you live. Hope this helps. - Paul

Or you could just pull out your calculator.

They go for $16 in Canada. My boss always breaks the clip so he bought 3 for a cell phone for $5 each and used them with the Garmin button.

Deleting double post...sorry

I'd like to know what these are like for geocaching. I like the option of post-processing and the Windows Mobile OS, as well as the ability to add whatever map data you can get your hands on. I'm a GIS technician so working with various map data isn't a problem. They may cost $750 and up, but their flexibility is very attractive. So, anybody tried one? Paul

I've had nothing but good service from Garmin - even when asking questions not related to my gps.

My 1991 Sony gps has WGS84. The datum predates consumer gps units and is basically the default or standard datum that all gps units use. Even when selecting another datum it is still using WGS84 in the background.

I'd love to try the PN-40 with MrSid imagery of my province - New Brunswick. I have about 1800-1900 MrSid files of about 2.5Mb each at 1m resolution for about 5Gb. Triple that on the gps and it should fit on a 16Gb card. Anyone try MrSid on this unit yet?

I keep seeing these terms but don't know what they mean. Anybody??

I'm curious, what do you mean by bump and PM?

If you didn't get a cable yet I have one here. 10 bucks to cover shipping and it's yours. It's the serial cable you want, right?

As owner of the TB you may be able to delete their log.