kidnitro

I'm trying to create a speed track of yesterday's kite skiing adventure. I have an Expedition C. From what I can tell, Lowrance doesn't record a time stamp ontop of each tracking point. Is there any way to calculate a speed along a track? I know that the unit can keep track of max, avg speed in the "trip calculator" screen. But can you set the unit up to "request" readings at specified time intervals? That way I could interpolate speed by knowing the time between changes in location readings. Anybody ever make a speed map of their lowrance data?

WR8Y- Not sure about how you can maintain your color/line settings. Maybe re-post your question separately with a more specific topic heading- someone who knows something might be more likely to see it. Good Luck.

Thanks for the help. The map file didn't show up on my GPS screen when I initially booted it up. But, when I left on my roadtrip, it finally did bring it up. So my GPS is displaying my huge basemap (an .at5 file) and my just created smaller map from my recent roadtrip (.lcm file). Don't know what's up but it's working.

I've been able to create basemaps with the .at5 extension in the past- but now when I create a map in Map Create 6.3, it saves the file as an LCM file type without an extension. I can't see/load it into my GPS. Any ideas? Am I forgetting something?

As far as memory cards, I would stick with SanDisk cards. I bought a 1GB SanDisk Ultra II SD card for mine and it works great. Get the Ultra II card for a faster read/write speed. I also use SanDisk Ultra II CF cards in my photography and have had no problems with loosing any photos. A quick search on any photography forum (dpreview dot com) will point to SanDisk as the most reliable card manufacturer. Anyway, I think you've made the right choice to go with a Lowrance- they make great units for a reasonable price. Enjoy it.

I've had my Expedition C for a few months now. I would recommend the color screen over the B&W. I used to have a Brunton Atlas MNS with a B&W screen- a unit also made by Lowrance. The B&W was nice but I've found that the color really helps when I'm using it near water- I take mine sea kayaking / canoeing. The blue water is easily distinguished from the shoreline. Anyway, which ever unit you go with, make sure you get a screen saver ASAP. The plastic screen does easily scratch. I got one from theinvisibleshield.com and I'm really happy with it. Get the one for the Brunton Atlas MNS- it fits great. As for reception- it's hardly ever lost satellite- even in dense tree cover. As others have said- it refinds itself right away.

For the Lowrance Expediton C- get the screen saver for the Brunton Atlas MNS - it's the same body as the Expedition C. It fits perfectly- easy to afix. Lowrance manufactures the gps units for Brunton.

Just chiming in as a Lowrance owner. Although I'm a newbie to geocaching, my Expedition C has consistently brought me to within 15 feet of the 6 caches I've found (I have 1 DNF)- in 3 of those it put me within arms reach. I've yet to loose satellite lock- even while walking through heavy tree cover. It's very easy to upload waypoints onto a SD card- but you need to download the latest version of GPSBabel to convert between the two file types .loc to .usr (Lowrance). I've never used Garmin or Magellan units for geocaching but I can strongly recommend the Expedition C for geocaching. Plus it has the highest resolution color screen of any handheld gpsr. Just on a side by side comparison of the screens, I find that my Lowrance is much easier to distinguish between displayed features than the Garmin units- the Lowrance fonts are also easier to read. Get the Plus package for the Expedition C, Topo Mapcreate 6.3 software (50'contour intervals, lots of POIs), card reader, charger, SD card etc. $323 at TigerGPS. The only bad thing about the unit is it's easily scratched screen. Make sure you get a screen saver ASAP. I am very happy with my Invisibleshield screen saver -$10 - theinvisibleshield.com.

Cool... I didn't know that about the satellite screen. Thanks, I'll check it out. Yeah, I reset my trip data every time I go out. The only thing I wish it had was a timestamp on the plotted track points. Maybe it does- but I have yet to figure it out.

Lowrance Expedition C

My Lowrance Expedition C is still impressing me. I took it down the Mississippi River in my kayak and it maintained position lock even while locking through the locks and dams. These locks have 50+ feet of walls when drained. Anyway, pretty awesome. I'm not sure if anyone else has posted on this feature before- but if you quickly press the Exit button (not the Enter button as my post title mistakenly says) 3 times, it brings up a speedometer dial. It's just like the speedometer dial on your car- even has an odometer. I haven't found this feature listed in the user manual- which doesn't surprise me- the manual is in desperate need of an update. It's a great unit though- and it's very intuitive to figure out just by using it. I've used this feature while riding my bike or paddling my kayak- it lets me quickly see how fast I'm going.

Search the forum for methods to get the scratch out- I've also used toothpaste to polish shallow scratches out of plastic. I highly recommend the invisible shield screen protector. I don't even worry about my screen now- well worth the $10. http://www.shieldzone.com/ Cheap insurance to ensure scratch-free viewing.

I also keep WAAS "on" with my Lowrance Expedition C. I haven't noticed a slow down in processing speed but I do notice a significantly lower EPE. I'm in Minnesota and it seems like WAAS gets enabled about 75% of the time.

I had the same observations with my Expedition C. Awesome reception but the screen is a little prone to scratching. I picked up the invisible shield protector for $10- it's a little much but it really does a nice job protecting the screen, it doesn't add shininess to the screen, and if scratched it is replaced for free for life. Get the one for the Brunton Atlas MNS- it's the same body as the Expedition C. http://www.shieldzone.com/item_description/BTNATLMNS.html

I got my Expedition C Plus package at TigerGPS for $323. It was delivered on time and I have had no problems with the unit, software, or downloading from my 1GB SD card (purchased separately at Costco $49). Make sure you pay the extra $ to get the plus package (MapCreate 6.3 software and cardreader etc.). It's much more expensive to order it separately and I'm sure you want the MapCreate 6.3 software for the street/topo resolution). The screen is incredible.

Thanks for everyone's help. The problem was, I downloaded an outdated version of GPSBabelGUI. Once I downloaded and installed GOSBabelGUI-2 (Beta), everything worked great. I plotted my track onto Google Earth and it matched the features/roads on the aerial photo (almost) perfectly. I'm going to try it on the other viewing software too. Now I'm cooking with grease!!!

I've had my Lowrance Expedition C for a couple weeks now- awesome unit. Hardly ever looses signal, even under significant tree cover. Okay, so I've read a lot of posts about people being able to upload their tracks onto Google Earth. I downloaded GPSBabel-1.2.7 and I can't figure it out. I'm not a programmer so I tried the GPSBabelGUI program and it wouldn't recognize the data.usr file on my SD card. How do you do it? Thanks!

I agree... the screen on the Expedition Color unit that I just bought is pretty amazing. Although it does need to have the backlight on to be seen well (especially under low light conditions). But, even with the backlight on, the batteries seem to last a lot longer than I expected them to (I just put the backlight on it's lowest setting continuously). I tried out a Brunton Atlas MNS before buying the Expediton C. The Brunton is basically a knockoff of a lower grade Lowrance unit (12 channels vs the 16 channels) and it's B&W screen was nice- but the color screen is able to represent much more information more efficiently just because of the added versatility that color can provide (ie. you can easily identify your track vs a road, trail, or stream). I recommend the color screen over the B&W screen.

Just got my Lowrance Expedition C today. Turned it on in my office (I'm 10' from a window in a brick building) and I'm getting 10 satellites and 25' EPE. I've heard these Lowrance units get good reception but this is awesome! Can't wait to get in the field. Now I gotta load up the 6.3 software. Got mine (the Expedition C Plus (with the 6.3 software, car charger, SD card) for $323 at TigerGPS. Also picked up the MB-11 Gimbal mounting bracket for $37. Both arrived via UPS in perfect condition in 3 days.

Just got an email reply from Brunton and they say the contour interval on the Brunton units is 50 feet.

I think the Brunton and Lowrance units are nearly identical- except for the Brunton MNS having 12 channels vs the 16 for the Expedition C. Also, the firmware and software CDs may be different and not interchangeable but I'm not sure. I can't seem to find anyone who knows the minimum contour interval visible using the TopoCreate (Brunton) or MapCreate (Lowrance) CDs. I called Lowrance and the guy didn't even know what a "minimum contour interval" was- matter of fact, I had to explain what a contour line was to the guy (a line identifying equal elevation). I thought that was kinda weird. But he did point me to the Lowrance website where I was able to download a free product emulator. Pretty cool. http://www.lowrance.com/Software/PCSoftware/demos.asp They have some more detailed maps you can look at- Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, etc... but none of them have topo detail... just streets and POI icons. I'd like detailed topo for backpacking up here in flat Minnesota. Brunton claims to have true 1:24,000 scale topo but I can't even get them to tell me their minimum topo interval. If there's someone out there who has an Expedition C or a Brunton MNS, could you please zoom in on a part of Minnesota (if you have the Minnesota topo map loaded) and let me know what the minimum contour interval is for the Minnesota map section? Thanks in advance, -Dave

It looks like the best resolution the Lowrance Expedition C unit can give is 50' contours. Is this right? Does anyone know what the Brunton MNS can do for contours? I think the Brunton has the best topo but I'm not sure- 10' would be nice, especially in Minnesota where it's mostly flat.

I'm looking at getting an Lowrance Expedition C. I just got the Brunton MNS because I heard it can display true 1:24,000 topo. I haven't bought the topo software for the Brunton unit and was thinking of returning it and getting the Lowrance Expedition C (since the Bruntons are made by Lowrance). I too am wondering if the software for the Lowrance Expedition can display true 1:24,000 topo. Anybody know?