Twilight Error

The link I provided above is to the GpsPassion forums where there is also a Tom Tom forum, among many others. http://www.ADVrider.com also has a very good GPS board, and it is a motorcycle specific site, so you're likely to get replies that address your specific application.

The depth function and water temp functions of a sonar are displayed by the GPS, no 'depth chart' is displayed. Its handy in a very rudimentary sort of way, but certainly no fishfinder/bottom scanner.

It does an *okay* job if the tree cover isn't too heavy. Much better in open desert or Alpine areas without signal obstruction. Mounting it somewhere the Patch antenna has a clean view of the sky is difficult, maybe to the top of a backpack shoulder strap? When I'm backpacking, I carry my 76CS in a pouch on my waistbelt and a Gilsson antenna mounted to the top of the packbag on an Aluminum ground plane. During a recent hike in New Hampshire, I was seeing 15'epe in the heaviest tree cover in the Great Gulf (surrounded by 5500-6200' mountains) and 6'epe on the ridge.

I've also got a RAM on my motorcyle to hold my 76CS. The longer your RAM arm, the more vibration you're going to see. Mine is the shortest arm available, I've got no vibe troubles. With a Vista on the end of the arm, you should be just fine going to a slightly longer unit.

Correct. Three 1.5v/900mAh cells in series gives you 4.5v/900mAh output. Place those same three cells in paralell and you've got a 1.5v/2700mAh battery. I'd skip the alkaline cells entirely and go for Lithium, but thats just me....

I've been seeing a full solid bar on #51 with my 76CS for the past week, hollow bar on 48 off and on for the past several weeks. I pick up both signals with and without my Gilsson.

Search around for the Mapsource Registry Hack, its a very simple procedure to copy all three discs to your HD and tell mapsource to look for the information on the HD and not a CD.

The battery does charge fully via USB. But this all may be a moot point as my GPSr got run over by a truck today after I left it on the roof of my car and drove away. What hurt was actually seeing it get run over as I was crossing the street to pick it up. I now have two solid lines running across the bottom of the screen. Can't read the distance/direction to each POI when viewing the list. It still works but isn't waterproof anymore. If the replacement battery doesn't fix my charging problem, that'll probably be the end of the line. I've heard of Garmin replacing units that have been run over by cars, but doubt Magellan will. Interesting turn of events, huh? NOW you can open 'er up and see whats going on.

I'm probably not the best to answer this because I'm using a marine mount screwed to the dash of my truck. I did have one of the adhesive mounts, but between the curvature of my dash, being in a black truck in the sun and the weight of the 76, it didn't last long. How handy are you with sheetmetal? It wouldn't take much effort to make a bracket that allows you to mount a marine base to the dash through the trim screws. In that case, you get excellent stability and its easily removable when you sell the vehicle.

map page ---> setup map ---> map setup - information ---> (hit menu again) hide/show "whatever product you want to see". At least, thats the sequence on my 76CS. I can't imagine the X series is too far removed.

I'm going to try doing that with mapsource as soon as I get home from work today. I did see in the setup map section where I can select and deselect the different maps do i have to go through and deselect all of the cn maps? i have 20 or so different ones to scroll through, I guess what i'm asking is there an easy way to select and deselect cn or topo maps all at once? Yes, there is a menu option to hide all the maps from a certain product. If you just want to see CN, do nothing - that mapset is visible by default. To see topo, find the 'Hide CN' option and select that.

If you're giving up on the unit anyhow, open it up and see what the power socket/pcb connection looks like. You may have a bad solder joint, something that is fairly easily fixed by someone handy with an iron. Also look for any evidence of burnt components while you're in there. Did the unit get exposed to a higher than expected voltage somehow? Did a 12v power supply get plugged in by accident?

Indeed, but a NiMH cell at the same weight of the Li-Ion will only have 700mAh. The benefit of Li-Ion is its lightness. Except for Silver-based and some extremely exotic molten salt cells, Li-Ion has the highest specific energy of any chemistry out there.

How big a screw? Was it a standard thread, or a self-tapping screw for plastic? What was the old threaded bit made of - plastic or metal? My first option would be to fill the screw thread cavity with JB weld and let that cure. Drill and tap it for the screw, it'll work at least as well as the original threads. The downside to this: you'll have a bit of plastic or metal rattling around in the case unless you can extract it somehow. You will also have swarf from the drill and tap operation, but cured JB is non-conductive and shouldn't impair function. Option two is duct tape.

You need to get a copy of Mapsource... The regular Topo product has pretty good coverage of natural features, such as lakes and rivers. The data is decades old (in some cases), so you may have to supplement it with common sense and a dose of local knolege. Another product to check is Topo 24k - this is a selected set of 24k series topo maps, if you're going to be in an area covered by the 24k maps, it is a much better product as the data is far more recent and 1:24,000 scale instead of 1:100,000 scale. Yes. It comes packaged with all the mapping titles Garmin produces, you simply have to install from the disc and go. Make sure you go to Garmin's update page to get the most recent version of Mapsource. Yes, what you want is to find a copy of Metroguide V6. Its only a couple years old, so the data isn't too far out of date. The data chunks aren't so large uploading to the Vista is a problem, and you do not have to unlock the maps for each GPS. The downside is you can't use it to autoroute if you eventually upgrade to an autorouting unit. It will, however, autoroute on your computer, which you can use to set via points on a route and upload that to the unit.

Moderator, please delete this. See the post below for my reply...

I just got a Gilsson for my 76CS. Using my washing machine as a ground plane, I'm seeing 10'EPE and full strength lock on 5 of 8 satellites (the other three are half strength). I'll be making a smaller and lighter ground plane on monday when I'm back at work - I've got some .09" Titanium in the scrap bin - and I'll see how well it works on my backpack.

If you haven't already bought your USB to serial adaptor, try to find a Belkin unit. I went through three different brand adapters before I found the Belkin, for some reason it works where the others don't. You might also try Gilsson, they make a USB --> serial adapter, but I haven't tried it.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. My Vista has been more-or-less flawless since I stopped using it in my truck for navigation - vibration was killing 'em and the 3rd unit has held up. While I would like to upgrade at some point to a color screen and all that happy shyte, the uses I will be putting it to just don't require the larger mapping memory. Perhaps I'll pick up a 2nd generation SiRF unit in a year or two, but for now, I don't see the need to replace it. In the Vista, I can get enough of the Topo24K maps to cover a weeklong trip along the AT and quite a lot more area if I load the regular 1:100,000 series topo maps. For traveling on my motorcycle or in the truck, I've got a 76CS and lug around the laptop to move maps around - If I'm on a trip where I need the GPS, chances are I need the laptop too...

#51 has been showing a full length hollow bar for the past week up here in New England, with occasional hollow bars on 35 and 48. The signals drop under heavy tree cover, but I'm only using a 76CS. When my Gilsson shows up, I expect that'll improve somewhat. Number 33 shows up often, and I do get a solid bar, but never more than half strength.

I have a new Cx model! I sometimes see 33. But thats it. Don't tell me the new Cx's don't see the new waas birds period,please no. I never got any answers about birds north of 80 here in Ontario. Seems weird the East coast doesnt have a WAAS bird. New York State is a large chunk of population. The east coast did have a WAAS bird - #35. It was moved by its owner to the west coast to provide better coverage over the pacific. The replacement bird is apparently in orbit and sending test signals, it is expected to be fully operational this fall. From southeast Ct, I see #35 and 48 on occasion, never get a signal lock on them though. #33 shows up frequently and I do get a lock on that one. 51 is new, I've seen it listed on the northern horizon, but have yet to recieve a signal.

Any of the basic GPSs will work as a speedometer. Someone mentioned an ETrex Legend, it'll work fine. The unit can be set up to record a tracklog, recording a point every second (best it gets). This tracklog will include current speed and bearing - proof of your driver having done the exersize properly in case there is any question. The large digit screen in the trip computer is more than big enough to be seen when the unit is on the dash, it can be configured to show current and maximum speed.

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I use the antenna while backpacking and mountainbiking. My 76 is in a pouch at my waist, out of the way and the antenna is mounted to the top of either my backpack or camelbak. On the bike, I don't like handlebar mounts because of the potential for crash damage, I feel its much safer in the padded carry pouch I've made. It also allows me to use my external battery without running wires everywhere. The pouch itself is an old camera case that I lined with two layers of metallized bubblewrap. The point was to provide crash protection (beyond the padding in the case) and insulation for winter use. The downside is the metallized insulation completely blocks the signal and requires the use of an external antenna.

Im a fan of the 76 series, I've got a both a 76S and CS, which see regular use on my mountain bike, motorcycle, kayak and canoe. The two features that enamored me to the 76 series over the 60 are the marine heritage - lots of kayaking and canoeing mean my unit must float alongside me if I dump and the internal memory. When I bought my CS, the X series hadn't been announced, so internal memory was still an issue. Another datapoint to consider: The 76 was meant to be used in a high vibration environment, the 60 is handheld. I can't prove if the 76 is hardened against vibration damage, but I suspect it is the case.