Trail Buzzards

I do believe that it is your cable causing the problem. I suspect that if you use your cable quite a bit, then the wiring inside may have broken from all the wiggling. Just as likely would be the pins not making full contact. I've already had my cable replaced once due to broken wire. I am now having to replace the cable because the little tab that holds the connector in the flexible mount broke off when removing it during troubleshooting of file transfer issues. My wife has just informed me that our next GPS will NOT be a Magellan.

I'm not sure their is great value adding topo lines to DR. The real value that I find with Topo is there seems to be more rivers, etc. So, I will switch maps if we are taking an extensive hike in the area or it looks swampy. This comes in handy when determining which side of the brook I need to be to find the cache. If you have limited storage memory this may not be an option. That is one of the reasons why I upgraded to an eXplorist.

That is what I do with my eXplorist 600. I keep the DirectRoute as my primary map most of the time, but can quickly switch to Topo as necessary.

We have an eXplorist 600 and a Magellan STP. We use both DirectRoute and Topo on the eX600 and just Topo on the STP, which is only used as a backup unit since Magellan updated the firmware to include waypoint projection.

I completed my eXplorist 600 battery run-down test last night. The Low battery alarm came on at 9 hrs. 38 minutes and it shutdown at 10 hrs. 40 minutes. Backlighting was at its lowest setting for the complete test. I was surprised that the unit kept going for a full hour after low battery alarm. I wonder is the gps accuracy is affected similar to other GPSRs when the battery is in a run down condition. In which case, I would say that I am only getting 9.5 hrs on my battery after 10 months of heavy use.

I had a negative experience with that vendor. After a week of waiting for the delivery they said they mailed USPS, I still hadn't received the order. I tried to contact them several different ways (phone, several email addresses), with no luck. I had to have PayPal get the money back. I received the order the day after my money was returned. It appears they had sent the lower capacity "A" version. I clearly bid on the "B" version. Buyer beware! As far as battery life is concerned, I am in the middle of a battery rundown test. Three hours into the test at low backlight, it appears to be at 45%, which is in alignment with others. I will report back when the test is finished.

I'm not crazy then. Your battery is acting the same way! I do not bother to look at the odometer any more because it really doesn't mean anything to us. We tend to go on long hikes we a lot of elevation changes, so we know the odometer reading will be wrong. And lastly, I have seen what you are describing relative to the detail maps. At one time I think I was able to explain what happened, but I don't remember. This has happened more than three times that I remember. Do you think it has to do with the fact that we are using both Topo and DR? I do know that if I delete a geocache file [on the SD card] that is assigned as the default, it changes it to the memory based default file. I wonder if once in a while the unit doesn't see the detail map file and defaults it to NONE.

I didn't see this mentioned, so I'll throw my two cents in. You should not log a find on your own cache, because you get credit for the hide. If you were to log a find, you would be double dipping.

Click on Place a Waypoint and make sure the waypoints in question are checked. I believe you will find they are not.

I contacted Magellan Support relative to the poor battery performance and asked them about battery life. I was informed that it was good for 400 charges. Since it is always charging when we go out on our caching trips and at home while doing file transfers, it could be that our battery is reaching end of life.

It's a relief to see that someone else has noticed a significant degrading of the available battery usage time since the firmware upgrade. Is there anyone else that has seen this phenomena?

...... I was just going to ask "So, should we reinstall the newer code.... just in case there were other things updated?", but I checked the site and the 600 is not listed.

Just trying to be funny... coincidence! Thanks for the reply on the light! I realize I can purchase a replacement, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed a significant battery drain since the update. Brewer

I have noticed one major problem since I updated my eX600. The battery drain seems to be greater. The backlight has three positions... bright, not so bright and less bright. There doesn't seem to be an OFF. I can't remember if that is the way it was before the update. At any rate, I am concerned because I can start out with a full charge when I go off into the woods and when I check the battery at 3 hours into the hike, it is less than 50%. I never used to check the battery level before, but started doing it when the battery actually died while we were out caching. That's when I started looking at the light. I have the default for the light to turn off after 30 seconds, so it isn't like I have it on all the time. But, it may only be a coinkadink and the battery is coming to end of life, even though I've only had the unit since 5/10/05. I checked with a tech support person at Magellan and he told me that the battery is good for 400 charges. I wonder if I am exceeding that by having it charge in the vehicle mount while on the road. Any thoughts on the subject? Brewer

It is true that you should only log a find one time.... you can log DNFs for each visit you were unsuccessful at finding the cache. Once found, you can then log a find and receive the smiley. I believe that they should be separate logs and not a DNF changed to a Found. After that, if you do re-visit the cache, you must log it using a note and not a find. I hope I was clear enough for you. BTW, there are also times when the cache owner will allow multiple finds.... usually if the final cache location was changed.

I noticed that will happen if you do not have a sat fix. I was able to duplicate your problem. It stayed zeroed out once I got a fix.

let's try it again

adding a little color to an otherwise drab, ugly buzzard!

Test

This is a fun way to look at the numbers. 1310 caches found. Avg. Difficulty = 1.98 Avg. Terrain = 1.87 Avg. Challenge = 2.22 363 hard caches found (28%)

Three of our last four DNF on FTF runs were because the cache owner did not place the container before submission. Now I look to see if this is a newbie's first hide before rushing out on a FTF run. I think that TPTB should verify that the cache is in place before approval..... maybe a verification message. It may seem redundant, but I would bet that this is the most common issue for newbie hides.

I changed my email address this morning and have the same problem. I do not have any spam filters set. I even set the email address back to what is was and then back to the new one. No mails.... I believe that the problem is at Groundspeak. I sent an email to them and have not heard back.

I recently purchased the Magellan eXplorist Vehicle Mounting Bracket. It enabled me to snap the cable connector in place permanently. Now all I do is snap my eXplorist in/out of the mount. The mount maintains excellent connection.. so far. It is more expensive than the swivel mount, but I didn't want to have to deal with velcro or other means of mounting the unit in my vehicles.

We suggest that you get the telescopic kind that can be reduced to the size of your suitcase... just in case you want to fly and cache. We also suggest that you get the kind that has a shock absorber for going down hills. Bee Crazy uses two sticks which is very helpful for her to keep a good stride going, while I only use one. The GPS is always in the other free hand.

124 pages... 62 miles.... no wonder we spend so much on gas!