Rocky Mtn Bear

Thanks Gang. not sure why I missed that menu item but it's there. Nifty trick to get the magnetic deviation. I did note that on the setup screen where True North is selected there is another field for magnetic Variation but it doesn't contain any value. Hmm! Again thanks.

I have a Garmin Map76S. I would have thought it would be capable of finding True North and in fact the manual suggests the compass can be set for True or Magnetic but I don't seem to be able to find any menu item to do this. I would appreciate it if someone can tell me how I can set the GPS up to point to true North and also is there any way to see the built in declination tables? Thanks. Bob

Team 5 Oh, thanks. I was aware of the external antenna jack on the Garmin. I was wondering if there was any significant difference between the internal Quad antennas. Laurie, thanks too. I kinda figured that the design of the antenna determined the orientation but wasn't sure. Thanks for confirming. It's interesting you mention the compass. I would not consider the triple axis feature a big deal. If you're going North and are holding the unit vertically I guess that's good but if you suddenly turn around does that mean you will go straight to hell;-) Actually the ability of the Map 76S barometer to distinguish between atmospheric pressure and the GPS altitude sounds like a more significant feature if it actually works. Again thanks to both of you. Bob :-)

I know ther have been many threads along this line but don't see the answers I'm looking for. Antennas - Both units use a Quadrafilar antenna. Is there any difference between the two units? Waypoint Averaging – Both units have way point averaging. Again is one unit's system better then the other? Does the Meridian store altitude with the waypoint? Orientation. - The Map76S must be held vertically for best reception. Does the same hold true for the Meridian since it uses the same kind of antenna? Alarms – I believe the Map 76S has audible alarms. Does the Meridian? Is there any significant difference between the Meridian’s Sunrise/Sunset calculations and the map 76S’s Sun/Moonrise tables and icons? Is one system better then the other? Any other thoughts or opinions are welcome. Thanks.

Being new to the game, it might be interesting and fun to form small local groups that can maintain more direct contact with each other. For example I live very close to Nose Hill where there are at least three caches that I have found. I will soon be setting one or two myself. It would be interesting to form a 'local' group that could share info, issue challenges to each other etc. Knowing who is watching your cache might be a way to facillitate this.