GeekBoy.from.Illinois

As many others have said, it's well worth it. I ought it for my Palm T5 when I first started caching. Less than a year later, I replaced my Palm with a Windows Mobile device and knowing full well that I could just get a new activation code on my original purchase, I paid the (then) $8 for a whole new license for my new device. I really liked the Palm version, and I loved the PocketPC/Windows Mobile version even more. I found that the Palm version had some limitations that aren't documented, and aren't an issue for most users. If you let a single database grow to more than about 2500 records, it starts to become unstable, and if it gets over 10,000 records it will crash the app and maybe even the Palm. Knowing this and keeping the databases trimmed down, it is a great app. The PocketPC/Windows Mobile version does have this issue, but it is much slower to load the data into its internal databases.

I have a certain park where I had used my Colorado 300 several times. Every time went to that park, the "arrow" on the map screen would point 90 degrees off from the direction I was heading. The track og would come out of one of the back edge corners as I walked, so it left an accurate track log on the screen, it just didn't know which way I was moving. It always happened in that park. Since that time, I have replaced my Colorado 300 with an Oregon 400t, and this past weekend, it just did exactly the same thing (except in a different park). Talk about confusing... In my case, once I got back out of the woods and onto the trail, the map screen pointer was working properly again. One thing I did notice was that on the bushwhack to this cache, at one point, my distance to the cache was not changing, but my GPS accuracy was changing (for the worse). It went from 12 feet all the way up to 91 feet at one point, before it slowly came back towards the 21 feet range.

OK, this behavior has changed from the last time I tested it (which has been quite a while). When I last tested this, deleting the geocache_visits.txt file caused the caches to return to an "un-found" state on my GPSr. I just performed a simple test, and have verified that you are correct, and my old information is now out dated.

f you don't want to replace the pocket query with a new one, then just leave the old geocache_visits.txt file on the GPSr a well. By doing that, the previously found caches will be marked as found, and will not show up in the default "find geocache" screen.

It sounds like your compass is still disabled from the "Auto" feature. In some of the newer beta software releases on the Oregon, it would take up to 90 seconds before the compass would turn back on. It sounds like you might be seeing this behavior with your Colorado because you are just too quick to get out of your car and the movements are too small for the GPSr measurements to think you are moving. I see similar with my Oregon if I am in a rush...

You mention that you've "cleaned" the SD card, but what about the internal memory on the GPSr itself? The file could be on the unit itself, especially if you did a "send to GPS" option form the cache page at GC.com.

Another observation people have made is that it is more likely to happen if you load geocache GPX files onto your SD card rather than internal memory. I almost never load GPX files on internal memory and I do have ocassional lock-up issues during startup.

From what I understand, some of the "lower quality" (or "cheaper") cards don't always work right in the Oregon models. I have been using an 8GB Kingston SDHC (I can't remember if it's class 4 or class 6) card in my Oregon 400t for 8 months now and while it has had a few minor issues, I can't say that any of them are due to the SDHC card. I had most of the same issues happen with my previous 2GB (non-HC) SD card...

I run my Oregon 400t in "normal" battery mode, with WAAS enabled. I regularly see GPS Accuracy reported at 8 feet (when I have a good satellite constellation distribution). There are many mornings on my drive to work where I see the satellites I have locked are all almost directly overhead, so the GPS Accuracy is not as good reporting in the upper 20's or lower 30's (feet). When the satellites are spread out more, you can get a more accurate estimation of your position. With GPS Software v 3.70 the WAAS data seems to cause less drift than in the earlier revisions. Prior to v3.70 I could easily see drift by 100-300 feet from the road (and track history) over a drive as short as 5 miles. Now with v3.70 I have only seen one "drift" and it was less than 100 feet and for less than about half a mile before it corrected itself.

You can pick-up an iPod Touch for as little as $225 (new) and an app from the iTunes App Store for under $15 and have a serious paperless caching solution for under $250, plus you have an MP3 player, a video player, ... My wife has quickly converted from using Cachemate on a Palm Zire Z72 to using Geosphere on an iPod Touch and isn't looking back, and she gets the benefits of the other possible uses for the iPod as well...

Colorado 300 purchased Feb 2008. Zero Returns, but at new years 2009, had an opportunity to "upgrade" to an Oregon 400t for $250, so I took that. New owner of my old CO 300 is still using it with no issues (that I know of).

It was all an evil plot to force everyone to upgrade their Garmin Communicator Plugin module. Now that you have upgraded, they own you... That or, it could have just been a bug, that Groundspeak fixed this morning. It is already in a couple threads, so you can read those for more details...

It also depends upon your settings. For mine, it gives me the heading in degrees rather than the ordinal letters.

This method will work, as well as placing the GPX files on the same card in different directories and then using a PDA or cell phone to move the files around on the card. I use the single card technique myself, but that's because I have my PDA and cell phone with me almost all the time.

If you can find it, I believe the discontinued (but free) NRoute program from Garmin would still work with the Topo 2008 maps. If that is the case, then yes, you can use the GPS 10x with your laptop and the Topo 2008 maps. I would verify this myself, but my laptop with NRoute and my GPS 10x are currently out on load to a friend... Also keep in mind that even if the maps do display properly, there is no routing information in the Topo 2008 map data, so you will not be able to use it for routing, just for displaying where you currently are.

I have not done through testing on this yet, but it seems to be much better than before in most areas. The conversion from "ON" to "OFF" when moving appears to be working properly now. Within a few seconds of movement starting the compass is turning of and is using the GPSr readings to determine heading. Also, when you first turn the power on, the compass does appear to be working properly, but this one does need a little more testing for me to feel comfortable with saying it is "fixed". The 90 second delay to go from "OFF" to "ON" when movement stops is quite troublesome. If you walk too briskly when approaching a cache, your compass will turn off and will need another 90 seconds to turn itself back on. I would prefer if this delay were closer to 30 seconds than 90...

Look at the title bar to the image he posted. It says "registered to..." so he's paid for it...

Well, since you say you put it aside for "some time" if you didn't allow it a couple hours of access to the open sky, it's not too surprising that the accuracy was not too good. Try letting the GPSr "cook" for a while and see if the accuracy improves any...

I did not report this one as others had already reported it. I did report the compass issue to OregonBeta@garmin.com and have not gotten any response, not even an acknowledgment that it was received. I am considering reporting this compass issue to the normal support channel since it also exists in the 3.10 release software.

The guy I bought my Oregon 400t from sold it to "upgrade" to a PN-40. Just 6.5 months later, he sold his PN-40 to buy another Oregon 400t... He didn't even try for the newer Oregon 550t... That tells me something, but it might not fit with everyone else...

As others have suggested, You should really get what you want. If you want another PN-40, then that's what you should get, otherwise you will [probably] not be happy with what you get. Don't be afraid to call vendors and talk to real people. You might be amazed by what they can do for you. Free overnight shipping, third party delivery (to someone at your destination), potential in-person pickup...

Actually, the compass issue I've discovered I first saw in version 3.10. When you first turn the GPSr on, the electronic compass (assuming you have one) will always say you are heading "SE" no matter which direction you are heading. Also it doesn't seem to automatically turn it off as it should when you start moving within the first couple minutes after turning the GPSr on.

I was caching over the weekend with my wife (after she and one of our dogs completed a title at a dog show). My Oregon 400t with 3.12beta was always within 10 feet of my wife's (older SirfStar III) 60Cx running an older software (3.6 or 3.7 I think).

I have done some more detailed testing on the compass issue over the weekend. Here is a fun observation I've made. I have an Oregon 400t, the compass is set to "Auto" and the system is set to "WAAS". When the unit has been off several hours and is then turned on, the compass will point "SE" no matter what direction I am facing (when standing still). After a variable amount of time, usually 90 seconds, but I've seen as high as 270 seconds, and as short as 10 seconds, the compass will become responsive and point in the proper direction. Next, I go to "Setup" -> "System" and change the system from "WAAS" to "Normal" and the compass will once again point "SE" and remain unresponsive again (usually for about 90 seconds again). Once it resumes responding, I go back and re-enable WAAS and repeat the whole process again. I drove about 20 minutes this morning (mostly north or east) with my compass arrow pointing "SE" almost the entire time. The other thing I've noticed is that during the time the compass is "unresponsive" it stays enabled, even if moving at more than 20 mph the entire time. I do not know what the timings are supposed to be, but through this testing, I have also identified that when the "Auto" feature turns the electronic compass off/on seems a bit obscure. If I go from stationary to moving, the compass is turned off within a few seconds. If I come to a full stop, the compass stays off for 90 seconds. The timing for the compass turning off (normally) seems appropriate, but the 90 second delay to turn back on seems quite excessive. This could very easily explain the reason so many people have issues with the "jumpiness" of the compass arrow...

OK, I applied the 3.12 beta update today and when I left work to come home tonight my GPSr compass was still misbehaving. The electronic compass didn't auto disable until around 90 seconds into my drive home, then everything started acting as expected. I still don't know what the event is to trigger this major delay in the compass turning off, but I think I have enough information to contact Garmin. That is on my agenda along with the waypoint manager losing the "close" button...