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winston61

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Everything posted by winston61

  1. 'tother day I found a cache with a wet log. I removed the log, dried it, signed it and put it back. I made a note in the log and will leave it to the owner to repair.
  2. I've got a chance to buy a new gps and I am choosing between two Garmins. A Nuvi 550 or GPS60CSX. Both has the functions I like. The CSX has been the pipeline a long time, but the 550 looks like the way gps may go, more into the crossover realm. Any insights from the real world would be appreciated. Thanks to all.
  3. I picked up an Explorist 200 to use for caching and wondered if anyone uses the pc mobile data cable with theirs. The cable price is right at $17.00. I use EasyGps 'cause it's free. Yeah, I'm a cheap date. I save my more expensive Garmin and Magellan for fishing trips and camping.
  4. You want professional gear, not the mass market junk the rest of us use. Contact Garmin or Magellan and tell them what you need. They have pro lines that will stand up to abuse that would send the other units to the dumpster. There is a world of difference between extracting humans from life and death situations and looking for little boxes with paper and pennies in them. Plus pro equipment will stay in the parts and service pipeline for a very long time.
  5. I'm an old fan of the pawnbroker. Got both of my units at the pawn shop. Sent them both back to the manufacturer and got re-furbished models back just for the cost of one way postage. They are not brand new, but they do just fine for geocaching. We ain't splittin' the atom here, just lookin' for boxes in the bushes.
  6. We are all using civilian standard gps devices with little or no guarantee of accuracy. We can hope for the best and get pretty close, but that's about it. Just as the previous post states, there are many factors at play. Relax, we ain't splittin' the atom here, just lookin' for boxes in the bushes.
  7. Similar experiences myself. Don't rely just on the GPS. When you get the general area, start looking around. Remember that sometimes hints can be meaningless. Take a look at the last time someone else found the cache. Has the weather changed? Has the season changed? Leaves and trees do fall and hide caches. Floods do happen and wash caches away. Groundskeepers do throw containers away. Do not forget that civilian model GPS devices can sometime have large errors. Old chip sets, more errors. When I go out to an old grave yard and I see deep leaves I know there's a good chance no cache will be found. I'm not taking a leaf rake and a metal detector or a dip net to find a cache. You can be TOO clever and hide the cache so well that no one will find it. Don't hesitate to report an unfound cache. It may not be there anymore. Geocaching can be a pleasant excuse for exercise and to play with your toy, but when it get frustrating, it's time to search for something else.
  8. Hello to all- I recently purchased a second hand Meridian Gold. I upgraded the firmware myself. The back light screen was blotchy, so I sent it into Magellan for an exchange. The base map was not upgraded. The base map loaded into the unit is labeled NA M Land- 1.03 in the about screen. Using Hyperterminal I found the file is actually called NA_G103.BIN. After some research into upgrading the basemap (Yes, I know I have not done enough to find out for myself) I found another base map file on a Russian website. After extracting this file I see it is called na_110 (meri & st).mgn. Is this an appropriate base map file for a Meridian Gold? Do I need to rename the file to something else with an *.img extension? Is this process as simple as erasing th current base map and using Magup to load the new map? Should I just forget about doing this myself and send it back to Magellan(another nightmare in itself)? Is upgrading the base map something I should care about to begin with? I know I am asking a lot but I do think that everyone had to be new at this at one time. Thanks to all.
  9. Yeah, I read the manual. It's amazing what you can learn. When you are ready to throw it over the fence, sit down calmly with the user guide and all will be revealed. quote name='SgtSue' date='Dec 28 2006, 12:19 PM' post='2633772'] Read the manual? That takes the fun, challange, and adventure out of it. If someone is smart enough to build this thing, I should be at lest smart enough to figure out how to work it.
  10. Hello to all- Does anyone have GPS reception problems through the windows of General Motors trucks and SUVs? When I drive my bosses Suburban my garmin does not seem to perform as well. Anyone else?
  11. Hello to all- Just a quick question. Are re-radiating antennas generally a good product? Any thoughts. opinions, experiences good or bad?
  12. Check this out- I have no idea how it performs, just found the link. http://casanovasadventures.com/catalog/maps/p1320.htm
  13. Whenever I bought something at Best Buy I thought it was just annoying to be asked for my telephone number. Turns out there is a reason. I lost a receipt on a Best Buy purchase. I called customer support to ask what my options were. The rep asked for my phone number. He told me what I purchased, the date and time, the cash register number and the employee number. I could get a duplicate receipt just by walking into the the store. I bought a Magellan GPS device in a pawn shop. God knows who had owned it. I called Magellan support with a problem. It took fours calls but I finally got an RMA and an offer of a free repair, just pay the send in postage. 'Richard' told me that even a Magellan purchased second hand has a 90 day warranty. Not too shabby. So, moral of the story, call the store where you bought the gadget. They may have a record. It's worth the effort for a potentially free repair.
  14. Thank you very much for this information. Last week it took four calls to Magellans 'level one' support to get the answer and RMA I needed.
  15. No, perhaps I did not make myself clear. What I have is a gps power/data cable with two leads leading away from the cigarette lighter plug. One for power, one for data with a 9 pin serial connector. I would prefer not to have to roll up the other cable with the serial connector when I want to use the power/data cable in my car. I would like to dis-connect this part of the cable. It is a power/data cable with two leads. One is for the power connector that goes to the gps device and the other cable has the nine pin serial connector at the end. What I want to do is remove the data cable close to the cigarette lighter plug. Anyway I believe I already have a solution. Thank you though for your reply. I will in future more carefully phrase my questions so as to be more better understood.
  16. I've got a data/cigarette lighter cable for my Garmin GPS12. The serial connector portion of the cable is not detachable. I'd like to cut and splice a connector into the line so it can be removed for auto use. Can anyone suggest a connector type for this? Something I can pick up at Rat Shack or the local DIY? Thanks to all.
  17. Hello to all- I just got one of the diabetes travel bugs. And of course I promptly threw away the envelope it came. I want to cache the bug, but I can't register it without the two codes. What can I do? Thanks to all.
  18. Hello and Thanks to all for your very fine suggestions. I got my power/data cable in the afternoon mail. Hooked everything up, upgrade the firmware. I had to remove/reinstall the batteries to get the device to power up after upgrade. Put the SD card in the unit and powered it up and bingo! There was the card and card utilities selection on the menus. Re-formatted and scanned and it seems good to go. Again thanks for the ideas. For what it is worth, the Magellan tech on my last call told me that even a Magellan unit purchased second hand has a 90 day warranty. Just get an RMA and photocopy the receipt from whoever you bought it from. Not too shabby. Back to the woods! Ed
  19. Hello- I picked up a Meridian Gold at the local resale shop last week. It functions well and as soon as I get a data cable I will upgrade the firmware (still running 3.08). I thought I would try a memory card. I've got a Sandisk 64 MB Sd card. So read the pages in the users manual, and put the card in. No card utilities on the menu, no indication at all the unit knew it had a card in it. It's a good card, it works in other devices. It only took four calls to Magellan tech support to be told that the unit needed repair. Got an MRA number and the address for the repair center. Does anyone else have a Meridian that would not read a card? Anyone else have this kind of problem with Magellan tech support? I know it's a crap shoot buying any electronics second hand, but at least there won't be any charge for the repair, just postage one way. No real point to the story just be sure you know what you are getting when you buy second hand.
  20. I bought a Magellan and was frustrated with the inadequate users manual.So I got my money back and went to a local pawn shop and bought an old Garmin GPS 12. Put new batteries in it and 15 minutes later I was on the trail. Just my $0.02 worth. Garmin rules.
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