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Centerfield

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  1. We found 4 of the 8 cache we were looking for. The iway 100m worked flawlessly except under heavy tree cover where it sometimes lost the signal. I never had that happen with the iFinder H20 but then again, I only had the H20 in the field once on a breif search before it was stolen. And a side note - I had written a harsh note email to Lowrance about the Mapcreate 6.3 Topo USA maps being incorrect with respect to some major highways and failure to depict exists that have existed for more than 10 years. The map create 6.3 turn-by-turn that comes with the iway 100m is much more accurate and detailed when it comes to roads. Today, I got a call from a Lowrance rep about my email. I told him about my satisfction with the turn-by-turn maps and suggested that they use the turn-by-turn maps as a base for the topo to fix the errors in the topo. He said he would pass it on but wasn't sure if lowrance owned the rights to the turn-by-turn base map.
  2. I used a 1 gb SD card with an iFinder H20. I made one map that was 800gb. The iFinder loaded the map and seemed to work fine until I started moving around a lot on the map - like moving the cursor from Buffalo to Baltimore - then I started losing the maps and experiencing strange behavior from the unit. I called Lowrance tech and one person told me that the problem was the size of the maps - and that I should use smaller maps. She said overlaping smaller maps would not be a problem because the iFinder would internally exclude duplicate information. Another tech support person told me that overlapping multiple maps would cause erratic behavior and that is why the mapcreate 6.3 software creates corridor maps - before the map is generated the software eliminates duplicate information in the corridor maps. The second tech support person said that non-overlaping maps would work just find and that the iFinder would load the correspoding map into memory when the cursor enter the map boundaries. I never got a chance to test either one because my ifinder H20 was stolen. I replaced it with a Lowrance iWay 100m and the map create turn-by-turn software. I cut the size of my map down to about 400mb and have had no problem using that size map on a 1 gb sd card.
  3. Try these steps: Uninstall any mapcreate and Lowrance software from the computer. Plug in the card reader before trying to install mapcreate again. When you first plug in the card reader to a windows XP machine, you should get a message that windows has found new hardware and then that it is operating - win XP does not need special drivers to recognize the card reader - if all you did was plug in the card reader you should be able to transfer files to and from a sd card in the reader using windows explorer. However, in order for the card reader to work with mapcreate, windows xp apparently does need to have the proper card setup file run, which mapcreate does at the end of the installation. That is why you need the card reader plugged in during installation. A FAQ on the Lowrance web site suggest that you might also need to have a card loaded in the reader if it won't install without one.
  4. When you press and release the enter button you should get a screen that says "create wayppoint" in small lettering at the top left, the word "Create" in a box at the center top of the screen, and a selection box entitled "Create Form" with 6 choices. If you have a fix, you can just pick "quick save" and it will create a waypoint with your present position. I believe that it does the same thing as the next selection - "current Pos" although it seems like "current Pos" should do something different than "Quick Save". Or, you can set the cursor on a particular location - for example your house, and save it by selecting "cursor pos". You can also enter the lat and long manually by selecting "Entered Pos". finally, to increase the accuracy of a position, you can select "Average Pos" - again assuming you are connected to the satellits - and it will start taking position until you press exit, and will then average the readings and create a way point. Whatever method you ude, you can then press the "find" button, highlight your waypoint, and then edit it and re-name "home"
  5. Having just purchased a GPSr - "I can feel your pain" (how do you do an accent in text?) Anyway, here is your answer. There are thee means of exprssing latitude and longitude. the first is Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds. The next is Degrees and decimal minutes (that is the method used by geocaching.com). The last is decmial everything. You want to enter the method used by your GPSr. On some GPSr's you can change the method used. Others, like mine (a Lowrance iWay 100m) use just one method and cannot be changed. And don't confuse the method of expressing a location with the coordinate system used to determine the location of latitude and longitude on the earth. You have to be certain you are using the same coordinate system as the system from which the coordinates were derived.
  6. Unplug other usb devices when installing mapcreate 6.3. I bought an iFinder H20 and the mapcreate 6.3 USA topo software with the 2.0 USB Card reader. I could not get the card reader to install on my XP pro machine. It did, however, install on a computer with XP Home - which does not have any other usb devies connected to it. So I removed all other connected USB devices from the computer with XP Pro and the mapcreate 6.3 USA Topo software and card reader installed and worked perfectly with 1gb sandisk SD cards. And both the softwear and card reader continued to work after re-plugging in my other usb devices. seems there is a conflict just in the installation procedure. Then some puke stained smelly social reject broke into my car and stole the iFinder H20. So I bought a Lowrance iWay 100m because it has the turn-by-turn driving directions, is an iFinder H20 in most other respects, and came with the mapcreate turn-by-turn 6.3 software for $10 less than I had paid for the H20 alone (which I would still have if some brain dead going-to-hell creatin had not stolen it from me). But Mapcreate turn-by-turn came with a 1.0 usb card reader and lowrance tech support told me I had to use the 1.0 card reader with that version of the software. It too would not install with my other usb devices attached - so I unplugged them and again had no problem installing the usb 1.0 card reader and no problem using it with mapcreate turn-by-turn 6.3 and 1gb sandisk sd cards. Now, however, the mapcreate 6.3 USA topo will not fire up. Lowrance tech said that was a known problem - you can have both the USA Topo and the Turn-by-Turn versions installed on your computer, but you can only use one of them. That seems easily fixable by a programer but is not going to happen because turn-by-turn will not be updated (the iWay is a discontinued product.) I can probly use the freeware version of altiris virtualization software to isolate the two programs which would allow me to use one while puting the other in hibernation - which I will try as soon as I get some time.
  7. Sorry to hear about the problem with your iWay. I field tested my iWay yesterday and it seemed to work as well as my iFinder H20 (which you can probably buy on ebay real cheap - as soon as the low life piece of fecal matter who stole it from me figures out what it is and then tries to sell it.) The kids and I are going to put the iWay through a "grueling" try-to-find 16 caches today.
  8. I bought my iWay from an auction on overstocked.com from Cpslectronic - I bought it at the "buy now" price at 3 pm EST and he shipped it by 6 pm that evening. it arrived in Buffalo 4 days later intact and all working well. However, his description said new factory sealed with 1-yr warranty. When I spoke with a Lowrance tech about some of the hidden features, I asked about the warranty - he asked for the serial number of the unit and then told me the unit had belonged to a dealer (the person I bought it from was not a dealer) and that the waranty would expire on July 26, 2006. When I asked for a further explanation about the warranty expiration date he said that as long as it was in working order now and not missing any peices, he would register the unit to me and Lowrance would "probably" honor a one year warranty from my date of purchase - needless to say, I'm not confortable with the "probably" part.
  9. I used a 1 gb in both the ifinder H20 and the iWay 100m. The reason I bought the iFinder H20 was to aid my daughter in her first go-it-alone road trip from Buffalo to Baltimore (if I had known of the iWay at the time I would have bought it instead because it is more suited to road trips.) I did not do an estimate first. I used a pentium 4, 2.4 ghz running windows xp pro sp2 with 1 gb of ram. I created a map with mapcreate 6.3 topo coving most of the east cost from Buffalo to Baltiomre. It took about 30 minutes to create and occupied a little over 400 meg. The same map, created with mapcreate 6.3 turn-by-turn took only 5 mins to create and occupied only 178 mb (but there are two companion items - and english data file of 6 mb and a Medtbt0.at5 file of 38 mb - both of which I suspect are associated with the speaking directions). The difference in size and time probably has to do with the mapping detail - although the roads are much more detailed and accurate in the turn-by-turn version, there are topo lines and other ground info in the topo version.
  10. In the past 3 weeks I have purchased 2 Lowrance gps units - an iFinder H20 and an iWay 100m. I bought the iFinder H20 from a local retail outdoors store for $170 and then ordered mapcreate 6.3 USA topo hunt over the net for $90. Two weeks later someone broke the glass on my passenger side door and stole the iFinder. I then ordered an iWay 100m - a discontinued model - over the net for $160 and it came with map create 6.3 "turn-by-turn". It is, in essence, an iFinder H20 with the turn by turn feature available - except there are some useful features on the iFinder H20 not found on the iWay 100m (or at least I haven't yet found how to access those features on the iWay 100m yet). As far as I can tell. the iWay 100m does not have a compass rose and the ability to change between decimal degrees, degrees-decimal minutes (the method used by the iWay 100m), and degrees, minutes, and seconds. (you can do all of that with the iFinder H20 and select the coordinate system you want to use.) However, I have discovered some "hidden" features not documented in the iWay 100m manual – like simulation mode and setting the base gps info - that you get to by pressing the directional pad three times when in the satellite menu. Other than the title of one button (“Pages” on the iFinder H20 and “Speak” on the iWay 100m) they look exactly the same. Both waterproof to some degree, same battery compartment and hidden secure digital card slot, and recessed external antenna and power supply connections. Of course, the iWay’s car cigarette lighter adapter has a speaker, volume control, and head phone jack for the voice instructions, which the iFinder does not have. I am not certain which chip is in either one, but I did have the chance to take the iFinder H20 on a trail in a local park that had moderate to heavy broadleaf tree coverage and it took me right to the spot of the cache without any erratic position jumping. I haven’t had the chance to test the iway 100m in the woods. But we are going geocaching for Father's Day so I'll have a full report on the iWay 100m's performance in the field next week. I could not get mapcreate 6.3 turn by turn to recognize the usb 2.0 card reader that came with the mapgreate topo software. Instead, I have to use the usb 1.0 card reader that came with the map create turn by turn software. I got conflicting information from tech support about this problem and I am wondering if any one has gotten the turn by turn software to work with a 2,0 LIE card reader? Both units appear to have the same features for geocaching, and I was able to load a mapcreate topo map into the iWay 100m. So I can, if I want to, use the topo map version of mapcreate in the iWay 100m. I don’t know if it works the other way around (i.e., using the turn by turn maps in the iFinder) because some jerk is probably still trying to pass off the iFinder H20 he stole from me as an ipod. The turn by turn maps do not have topo lines, but the roads are in more exacting detail – and with fewer errors - for example, divided interstates are depicted as two separated roadbeds instead of the one big road as depicted in the topo version. And I found several exits depicted in very accurate detail in the turn by turn version that were not even shown as exists in the topo version. Lowrance tech support confirmed that despite their similar appearances, these are two different maps using the same POI database. The iFinder H20 will show you your movement on the map as you travel in a car – and you can set it to follow a trail created and imported from another program, or recorded with the iFinder as you traveled to your destination. This is where the iWay 100m really shines – it takes you turn by turn with spoken and written instructions from your point of origin to your point of destination – and just in case you miss a turn or decide to take a different route – it instantly (well, 30 – 60 seconds is not really “instantly”) recalculates the route from your present position to the designated destination. I don’t yet know if it will give directions for a self-created trail through the woods – I kind of doubt it – but I’m going to try anyway. If anyone has any other information on the iWay I’d appreciate a reply post. One last comment on Lowrance support. They are very courteous and patient with newbies like me who like to tinker before reading the instruction books. And when they don’t know an answer to a question they go to find someone else who supposedly does – I say supposedly because I have gotten conflicting answers to questions. One tech checked with a supervisor who said the turn-by-turn software would be updated by October of this year. Another tech support person checked with a supervisor who said there would not be an update to the turn by turn software because it was only used in the iWay 100m and that is a discontinued model.
  11. When I tried to installed the new beta google earth, I get an initial "installing screen" which disappers after 10 or 15 secs and then no further activity. Anyone else having the same problem?
  12. Drilling holes, sawing logs....sounds like Tim Taylor got himself a GPS! Just how much home-improvement equipment are you guys hauling into the woods?
  13. Those pesky brain eating cellular phone microwaves will get you even if you are hiding in a concrete block basement - why didn't they design the gps with signals that could go through leaves? After all - what's more important - knowing where I am when treaking in the wilderness or being able to order a pizza without having to get up from the couch while watching the football game?
  14. Planning on going caching for Father's day - considering a paid membership to support the site if we get hooked - but it sounds like "pocket quiries" are for use with a PAD rather than my gps. what exactly are they?
  15. Thanks for the info on creating maps lee - I just discovered that you can use the at5 maps in the H20 emulator by puting them in the map() subdirctory - the regular registered maps would not load into the emulator but the at5 ones will. The emulator is all I have now because someone broke the side window of my car and stole my H20 - had it for just 2 weeks! But I got an even better deal on a Iway 100m with the turn by turn mapcreate (now on its way here from colorodo) - which raises several question. 1. does anyone know if mapcreate 6.3 topo files work in the iway 100m or do I need to crete turn by turn files from mapcreate turn by turn? Someone on another forum said it would work because the turn by turn stuff is in the memory of the iway and it will give you turn by turn with just the base map. Tech support person at Lowrance said the turn by turn map create must be used because it creates turn by turn instructions with each created map (that seems a little odd to me). 2. Does anyone know if there is an emulator for the iway 100m- I assuming that if Lowrance had one they took it off the web site when they discontinued production of the iway 100m but because it would have been a downloadable zipfile, perhaps someone has a copy?
  16. I was told today by Lowrance tech support that the iway 100m is a discontinued product. But it stills seems like a great deal for $160 with mapcreate thrown in.
  17. Before my H20 was stolen I had a 1gb SD card with several maps - one as large as 400mb and it seemed to work fine. I did try making a map of the eastern US - it took all night to generate and save and was a little over 900mb, but it seemed to work ok. All my research seems to show that the Iway 100m is an enhanced version of the Ifinder H20 with the mapcreate software thrown in. So I must have been a fool to purchase the h20 for 170 and the mapcreate 6.3 for 90 when I could have purchased the iway 100m and mapcreate software for just 160. I can't help thinking that there must be some catch.
  18. Mapcreate 6.3 - besides having a burdensome copyright protection scheme that treats owners of the program as if the were convicted software pirates - is plagued with substantial and significant errors in the database and the road maps. I've found many incorrect address and location depictions just in my neighborhood. I've also discovered that some major roads are missing - including some of the portions of Interstate 99 that have been built since 1992! And some of the interstate highway exits with which I am familiar are incorrectly depicted. In essence, Mapcreate 6.3 is not a product you can rely on for directions. Moreover, when I contacted Lowrance technical support about the defects in their maps, their response was that I should not use the Mapcreate software for driving directions - which seems like an odd statement given that at their web site they describe Mapcreate 6.3 as follows: "Want high-detailed, highly-accurate mapping? Want to select only the regions you travel in most? How about make a custom map for a road trip vacation? Want to plot out your path before you're there? MapCreate Series 6.3 mapping software can handle anything you desire." Their web site should say "Want maps you can't rely on for driving directions? Want maps missing major highways and incorrect interstate exit depictions? Want to buy a product from a company that doesn't care that their database and maps are so incorrect that their mapping software is essentially useless? Then by all means, buy Mapcreate 6.3"
  19. Two weeks ago I bought a Lowrance H2O and the mapcreate 6.3 software to help my daughter on her first go-it-alone road trip from Buffalo to Baltimore. Today, at around noon, on a residential street in Baltimore, some drug addict broke the passenger side window to steal the unit - he unclipped it from the pda holder it was in and unhooked the external antenna and power cord. I'm guessing he thought it was some kind of ipod. So I get on the net to see if I can get a replacement and I find (on overstocked.com) an iway 100m with the map create turn by turn software for about half of what I paid for my unit and software at Gander Mountain. Looks like a great find. Seems like it will be even better for driving than the H2O - now my questions if any one can help: 1. Can I turn off the direction features and use the iway for geo caching in the same way as the H2O or will it be limited to use for driving directions? 2. Will the map create 6.3 software work on the unit or should I sell it on EBay? 3. does the map create turn by turn software have the same 5-card limit as map create 6.3? Thanks for your help. 3. Is the map create
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