Legend Cx Questions

[+team5150]

Having spent hours researching, reading post after post, online shopping, etc...I have finally ordered a Garmin Legend Cx. I had the chance to use a basic b/w legend and enjoyed it, but wanted the color screen and sd card expandability. I have downloaded and browsed through the owners manual (I will save the deep reading until I have the GPS in hand), but I still have a few questions that I was hoping to find some answers/ opinions for. Any help sent my way would be deeply appreciated... ...Singledad & Team5150

 

1) I think that I remember reading somewhere that the first time that I power up the unit that should let it sit for a while and let it 'orient' itself....is that correct? How long should I let it sit, if so?

 

2) Do you recommend alkaline or rechargable batteries? If rechargables, what brand/type seems to work best?

 

3) If I use rechargables, can I recharge them via USB cable and/or a 12v car adapter?

 

4) Will EasyGPS work with the Cx models?

 

5) Can I download directly to the sd card in the GPS, or do I have to use a card reader/writer?

 

6) Any other quirks/bugs that I should look out for?

[+Miragee]

I'll try a couple of the questions.

 

2) I highly recommend rechargeable batteries, unless you need to use the unit in very cold weather where Litium Ions are the better choice.

 

I bought the 15-minute Energizer recharger which came with four 2500 Energizer batteries. I paid about $25.00 for it at Target. They have another package that includes the cigarette-lighter adapter for $10 -$15 more.

 

I purchased four additional 2500 Energizer batteries so I have plenty of spares for my GPSr and my camera.

 

These batteries last about 12 hours in my Vista C.

[rickertk]

A few other answers:

1) The first time it's powered on, letting it sit somewhere with a good view of the sky for 15-30 mins or so

is usually recommended. If you don't have a position lock by 30 minutes, something is probably wrong. Once it's got a good position lock, you don't need to let it sit any longer.

3) Neither the USB nor the 12V will recharge batteries in the unit, but they will power the unit, and so sparing the battery life. You can of course buy 12V powered AA battery chargers.

 

5) I don't have an x-series Garmin, but judging by what I've seen others post, a card reader is certainly not necessary. (It might be useful, but that's another matter). However, in the unit, it won't act like a card plugged into a card reader - you don't get a disk mounted for example. But mapsource/POI loader can certainly talk to the card while in the unit.

 

Keith

[+geofindr]

Depending on how often you use the Cx, you may want to consider regular alkaline batteries. Any rechargable will lose its charge while sitting in your unit even if it is off. That is the nature of all rechargeable batteries. Alkaline batteries don't.

 

A 15 minute charger is sure the way to go if you do choose rechargables, because you will find yourself always recharging prior to going out for the day.

 

I just decided to use alkaline for now until I see what my usage pattern is. I have the GPSMAP 60CSx. I just ordered the Legend Cx for my daughter and it will arrive today. It looks like a great GPS and I think the user interface and button position is easier than my 60Csx.

 

Just remember to set the hardware to let it know which type of battery you are using.

 

Geofindr

[sunpazed]

Got my Legend Cx a few weeks ago:

 

2) I use Energiser rechargable batteries.

 

3) You'll need to buy a seperate AA charger, or buy a charger/battery bundle.

 

4) I'm not familiar with EasyGPS. But I've used GPS Trackmaker, g7towin, GPSmapper, and TopoFusion with no problems.

 

5) Having an external reader is pointless. USB drivers are required to access the device and transfer data. This is the one achilles heel that really peeves me off.

 

6) Are you going to use an O/S other than Windows 32-bit? There are no Windows x64-86, or Linux drivers yet.

Are you going to use this GPS for live GPS data steams? The unit doesn't output standard serial NMEA data.

Thinking of saving tracklogs to the memory card? Not possible yet (future firmware might fix this)

 

Other than this, the device is great. Rates 8.5/10 in my book.

[+Milbank]

 

4) Will EasyGPS work with the Cx models?

 

 

I use ExpertGPS with my Legend Cx so I would think the easyGPS will work just fine.

[jcc123]

The USB drivers are included with Mapsource so once you load that and have maps to load you should be able to mount the card?

 

It seems to me that you can buy a 512mb card and load half of the country into it to use on the Cx.