Ifinder® H2o

[SamTheMan]

Is this any good for Geocaching? My gps now is just a Etrex yellow so i am not expecting it to be awsome or any thing.

[+roygpa]

I've been using one for about a year. I like it alot. I will admit that the new Mapcreate 6.3 Topo software and card reader gave me fits at first but it works well now.

The H2O works well under tree cover, and rarely loses signal.

 

The SD card is located inside the battery compartment and if you want to load a bunch of different waypoints... a bunch of different times... you might get frustrated having to remove bateries it get at the card. Anymore I just load waypoints in manully, but I rarely find more than 4 to 6 caches at most per trip.

 

Would I buy another if my wife or kids asked for a GPS'r? YEP.

 

RoyGPa

[Hoary]

Yes it's good.

 

Here are some links to read:

 

Review in "Todays Cacher" (down at the moment, but I hope will be up soon):

 

http://www.todayscacher.com/2005/aug/reviews.asp

 

Topic "Lowrance Users, Show your stuff" by briansnat

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=97546

 

And there is a Yahoo iFinder Group with lot of helpful info:

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ifinder_gps/

[+megamapper]

The H2O is pretty darn good, I have the PhD, which I love.

 

Other threads about the H2O

 

The GPS can be a little difficult to figure out (complicated menus with stuff all over). Other then that, it's an awsome GPS that is over-all well thought out (2AA's for power, low power consumption, SD card capable). You'll find that once you figure it out, you'll be very happy. You may curse it as you fight with the poor menu setup initially.

 

The stock antenna is quite good in forest canopy, steep mountains etc. Later I added the RAA-3 amplified antenna. Experimentation with the ifinder GPS and RAA-3 in the same location +/- 3 inches, simply hooking up the RAA-3 causes a 25-50% gain in signal strengths. The GPS turns into 'super GPS'.

 

Storage on these units is like nutty huge! With one hundred tracks, and each track storing up to Ten Thousand data points, well, you aren't going to be running out of track storage space anytime in this lifetime. I've been out dirt biking for weeks, and I've only recently manage to get one track semi-close to full. So for backwoods mapping the unit is 'amazing'.

 

My PhD is not as water proof as they say, only rain proof, not submercable even 3 inches! I would hope the H2O fairs better.

 

I don't think you'll go wrong for this one.

 

Regards,

---- Robb ----

[+user13371]

...the new Mapcreate 6.3 Topo software and card reader gave me fits at first but it works well now...

Could you elaborate on this - and whatyou ultimate;y did to fix it? I've just gotten this version myself and am having problems with their d@mned reader.

[+Indotguy]

QUOTE: I've been using one for about a year. I like it alot. I will admit that the new Mapcreate 6.3 Topo software and card reader gave me fits at first but it works well now.

 

I too had problems at first with my H20 and MapCreate. Having purchased the GPS and software first and the card reader separately, the older version of MapCreate GPSCity had shipped me turned out to be incompatiable with the card reader. Once Lowrance was kind enough to send me the right version of MapCreate it worked. I also had some problems with SD card registration but finally got that fixed by talking to Lowrance support and getting a better (i.e. ScanDisk Brand) memory card.

 

All in all, I'm not a big fan of Lowrance's map software setup. I've loaded maps a couple times so far and each time had some problems but eventually got them loaded. Hopefully I have enough map coverage on my card now and won't have to load another for quite a while.

Other than the items mentioned, I think the H20 is a great unit and am well satisfied with it.

[+briansnat]

Its an excellent unit for geocaching. The learning curve is a bit higher than Gargellan units because the Lowrance user interface isn't the most intuitive, but overall its a great unit. Reception is excellent and the the screen has great resolution.

 

Look for the H20 Plus package that includes MapCreate Topo software, a LEI card reader and a memory card.

[+roygpa]

Lee:

 

My wife bought me Mapcreate 6.3 Topo USA as a Christmas present last year and I spent two weeks trying to get it to work. I couldn't get my computer to recognize the LEI card reader and couldn't save the maps, but I was determined I would fix it myself. That was mistake number 1. Then I had the bright idea to e-mail Lowrance and ask for help. Mistake Number 2. They took 3 weeks to answer. Then I decided to call Lowrance Customer Service, which I usually avoid because most of the customer service numbers I call keep me on hold for hours. After about 5 minutes on hold, I was able to speak to a real human being and she kindly suggested that I download and install the newest firmware for the LEI card reader. I did that and it works fine as can be.

 

The firmware is called "NEW! MMCI-USB Firmware Upgrade (LEI)" and is available here:

 

Lowrance Softwate Updates

 

THen I went out and bought a new notebook and it works better on it.

 

I hope this helps

 

Roy

[+user13371]

...I couldn't get my computer to recognize the LEI card reader... I decided to call Lowrance Customer Service... I was able to speak to a real human being and she kindly suggested that I download and install the newest firmware for the LEI card reader....

Thanks, but ... already tried the updates (and a couple of other suggestions from Lowrance support) bu they didn't help.

 

I'll give them credit for trying, but ultimately came up with a work-around on my own.