akela_jamie

like lee_rimar I have both. I have a Blackberry 8900 with Cacheberry installed. After trying cacheberry for just 3 days of the 30 day trial period I happily paid the registration fee. My hand held is a trusty Garmin GPSMAP60C. I have cached with a lot of friends and have always found it gets me closer to the cache than my friends other units (Not trying to slag any manufacutors here, usually the difference is a couple of feet) I cache with my scouts, so I actually have 7 GPS units now, (most are simple Etrex that I allow the scouts to use) if you count the Blackberry. Of course the real beauty of using the blackberry and geocaching software like cacheberry is that it is paperless, and I can call up all the information I need for any cache I am looking for from the database. I can even log into Geocaching.com and log my finds on the spot. Good luck Jamie

Thanks for the info Ramon. I have bought two yellows so far. I am looking for a few more units to complete the kit. My Scouts (Venturers actually) love Geocaching, Caving, Rock Climbing, Canoeing, Kayaking, and the latest thing we have started doing is going to abondend mine sites to look for interesting mineral samples, we have found a few gem quality stones. We also explored a site that was a Native Village a few hundred years ago and found Stone arrow heads, a stone axe and a partially finished carving in stone. of course all the sites we visit are now marked in my GPS, and the kids argue over who gets to use my spare unit all the time. A few weeks ago friends and I took 50 youth out hunting for a cache in a remote park. Lots of muggles around, and here we were trying to get 50 excited Scouts and Venturers to be casual and discrete, needless to say we were asked a lot of questions, but fortunatly everyone who noticed what we were doing thought it sounded like great fun, and were all questioning me about where to get information on caches, and what GPS to buy. Be Prepared! Jamie

Metroguide is the better choice if you plan on upgrading or loading to multiple GPS units as it doesnt require unlock codes. I have been using Metroguide Canada Version 4 for a while now in my GPSMAP60C and 4 other GPS units I have had pass through my hands over the last while. I will probably get metroguide 8 down the line when I need maps of the states, but right now I am pretty much doing all my caching in Ontario Canada. Good luck jamie

ive got a a magellan explorist 200 for sale. works great and its a perfect beginner unit. $100 and shipping is free... I apretiate the offer, it is a little out of the range, and a little more unit than I was looking for the scouts, I do know several scout leaders who are interested in aquiring a unit for themselves, with your permision I can put them in contact with you? Jamie PS sorry I took so long to get back to you. I was away camping up north for a while and havent had a chance before now to check the boards. Happy Caching sure.....id appreciate that.......joe Sorry, I tried a few of my friends who are looking for GPS units, but everyone wants to stay with Garmin. There is an aboundance of Topo and Metroguide software around here for Garmin so everyone is sticking that way. Thanks for the offer, and sorry I couldnt get it sold for you. jamie

My plan is to create a Lending Library of GPS units for scout groups in this area (Brantford Ontario Canada) and possibly surounding areas if demand and supply are there. I have introduced a lot of scout leaders in my area to Geocaching, and have even set up a Geocaching event just for one group at our local scout camp. The kids loved it. I hid caches all over the camp, and gave them criptic clues that could be anywhere, but became obvious once they actually found the caches. In the past I have loaned out my own units (1 Legend, and 1 GPSMAP60C) but as I ahve loaned out the Legend on a long term loan to a good friend who is a scout leader but lives a couple of hundred miles away, and my GPSMAP60C has had to be repaired 3 times due mostly to drops, I find myself in the possition of not being able give outt he help I usually do to other leaders. (Fortunatly I was able to complete all the repairs myself as Garmin wants a minimum charge of $125 per repair). Good luck and Be Prepared! jamie

ive got a a magellan explorist 200 for sale. works great and its a perfect beginner unit. $100 and shipping is free... I apretiate the offer, it is a little out of the range, and a little more unit than I was looking for the scouts, I do know several scout leaders who are interested in aquiring a unit for themselves, with your permision I can put them in contact with you? Jamie PS sorry I took so long to get back to you. I was away camping up north for a while and havent had a chance before now to check the boards. Happy Caching

Thanks for the ideas. I will try contacting the manufacturers as suggested. I am currently working on a design for a Geocoin with a scouting theme, but need to finish the design, then get permision of the national council to sell them as a fundraiser. Happy Caching. Jamie

I appretiate the offer. The scouts here have limited funds, but I am sure I can swing a deal like that. I have sent a PM and hope we can work out the details. Jamie

Thank you for the offer. I have sent you a pm and hope to hear from you soon. Jamie

I am looking for any basic GPS units people are looking to get rid of cheap or free (I will pay shipping ). I look after a large number of Scouts, Venturers and Rovers. I have 2 GPS of my own, but when we go Geocaching in a large group its hard to give very kid a chance to use one of the GPS units. If you have any older units you are not using, and would be willing to part with for a good cause please contact me. I am also a Technologist and have repaired a few GPS units so dont mind getting some broken ones to try to fix up. If I manage to get enough units I will spread them around amoungst the other scouting units who are interested in taking the kids Geocaching. Thanks Jamie

Thanks anyway.. Since Garmin told me that the warrenty was void since I dropped it, I took it apart myself. The Ribbin cable from the display unit had popped out of the connector, I replaced and locked it down, reassembled the GPS and it works again.

I am interested. Just dropped my 60C and the screen stopped working. Located in Brantford, and use it everyweekend with my Scout Group. Need a replacement FAST..

I have been using Metroguide Canada V4 for about a year now, and other mapping software as well. I have noticed that the maps become increasingly more inacturate the closer you come to the edge of a defined map area. On a recent trip to Niagra Falls the map was out by a large distance, (but was right on the edge of the selected map. Areas closer to the center tend to be more accurate. The maps will only be as good as the data that the map maker had at the time the maps were made. The map data in metroguide V4 was based on the maps available in 2004, however if those particular maps were not updated since 2000 the data in the New Software could be out by quite a bit. In the case of the city I live in, a major road built in 2002 doesnt appear on the map at all in a product released in 2004 telling me the map used in metroguide was at least 2 years older than the product itself. I have also used magelin products and have found similar issues. My laptop (Work provided) came loaded with Microsoft streets and trips 2006 with GPS guidance, (Travel for a living) dont waste your money unless you like frustration and getting lost. Hope this helps you out.

You choices of mapping software are varried. No one software is perfect for the activities you have listed. Mapsource TOPO is great at giving detailed maps of the terain data, more detailed maps of the lakes and rivers, and some better data of the roads and trails in any given area. You can also consider the bluewater series for detailed navigational data on waterways, lakes and rivers. For Autorouting and general turn by turn directions you have the choice of City Select, or Metroguide. City select is great in large cities with great of point of interest data, but lacks detail in smaller cities, towns and rural areas. Metroguide is adequate in large cities and gives much better detail in areas outside of major cities. Hope this helps you out. Jamie

City select is nice, and has great maps for major centers, but the maps outside of major cities are not that hot. I personnally use Metroguide in my GPSMAP60C. The 56meg may seem small but I loaded the detailed maps of the entire province of Ontario with full POI database and have a little room left. The autorouting works great, I use it often. Watch out for the battery usage, if you are using backlight you'll only get 3 -4 hours out of a set, its better with the more expensive alkalines, but you can get cheap ones from discount stores, ( we buy ours from a Store Called Giant tiger, we get 24 for the cost of 4 duracells). The cheap ones give about 3 hours with backlight on, and about 20 hours normal use with backlight off. Dracells gave me about 4 hours with backlight and about 22 - 24 with light off. I bought the car kit and use NiMh now. Good luck jamie

I had the same issue when I installed mapsource Canada, (I have a GPS Map 60C). It did not recognise my unit at first. I went to the Garmin website and found that 6.11.6 was the latest, I checked the installed version and found it was version 3.something. Do the update to the newest version and you will be fine. Good luck. jamie

I have used both units you are looking at, I own the 60C, and have used my friends legend c. The mapping functions between the two are basically identical, The 60C being alittle easier to navigate menus due to the dedicated buttons. I feel the big differences are in the screen size, the antenna systems, and battery life. The 60 family have a larger screen, giving those of us with older eyes a bit of a break when trying to use it for autorouting (I have the dashboard mount for the 60 series) When my friend and I go out caching together we have found my 60C to be consistently more accurate when we get close to the cache, often leading me to within a couple of feet, when her legend C indicates several meters. I find the 60C updates much faster than the Legend as well. One draw back of the 60C is the battery consumption, I find that I am not getting anywhere near to battery life Garmin advertises. If I am using it with backlight on I will use up a set of batteries (NiMh) in about 3 hours. Without the backlight I get about 16 - 20 hours. If useing it in the car I really recommend the 12 volt adapter. Good luck jamie

I have a GPSMAP 60C (and full auto kit) my primary unit and a Legend (I let my scouts use when we go geocaching) Looking to get a few more Etrex units (used , cheap or free) for the scouts to use,

I really am happy with Metroguide Canada V4. It really does a wonderfull job of autorouting, and my wife love the "Find the closest Tim Hortens" feature. I debated between City select and Metroguide for a while, and did a lot of research online, at the Garmin website, and in other websites dedicated to GPS. City Select is a great program if you are sticking to major centers, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa etc. Metroguide has much better coverage in the "less traveled areas". I bought Metroguide (On Ebay from Radioworld Canada, currently has multiple listings for the same product) for about $40. I use it in my GPSMAP60C and love it. It does not require unlock codes. On a recent caching trip through southwestern Ontario it dirrected us "on road" perfectly, getting us to the closest spot to park before switching to "Follow trail" to get us to the cache. The POI data is fantastic, allowing us to find obscure places we have been looking for easily. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs to travel outside of major metropolitan areas, and with the current buy it now price of $40 on ebay, you cant loose. (by the way, I am not affiliated with Radioworld Canada, I just am thrilled to get the software at such a great price and want all my fellow Canadian Geocachers to know where to get it at a fantastic price) Jamie