+FatGaz Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Hi All... newbie here! I'm on a very tight budget (to be honest my budget went on my new Etrex Camo!) and need your advice on software.... Is the free EasyGPS on this site useful, or should I be looking at buying MapSource or Memory Map or something similar. Only got my Etrex yesterday... never had a GPS before... never done this Geocaching before but cant wait to get started. Any advice would be most welcome (on software or anything GPS / Geocaching) Thanks Guys Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 For loading waypoints into your unit, EasyGPS is all you really need. Quote Link to comment
peter Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Yes, EasyGPS should do it for loading waypoints. You may also be interested in trying USAPhotomaps (http://jdmcox.com) for displaying your tracklogs/waypoints on USGS topo maps and aerial photographic views. As with EasyGPS, the price is right. If you don't have a PC interface cable yet for your eTrex, the eBay store of GPSGeek has pretty good prices ($6.79 + $5 shipping) at http://stores.ebay.com/GPSgeek Quote Link to comment
sunpazed Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 A few months ago I purchased my first GPS on a budget, a Garmin Fortrex 101. I've used all the following free programs that are great for transferring data between your PC and the Unit: G7towin - http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/ Simple waypoint and track transfer. GPS Trackmaker - http://www.gpstm.com/ Great tool to visualise your tracklog and waypoints - and load into Google earth. Google Earth - http://earth.google.com/ Great for imagery. Topo Fusion - http://www.topofusion.com/ Great for playing back multiple tracklogs Magnalox - http://www.magnalox.net/ Perfect for sharing your tracklogs online, and playing them back Have fun! Quote Link to comment
+FatGaz Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 Thanks Guys.... really useful info Quote Link to comment
rynd Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 What they said and: Mapsource is Garmin's map managing software and in and of it's self doesn't include any maps. I think you can use it for managing wayponts and other stuff without maps. If I'm not mistaken you can down load it for free. I would down load it and give it a try tho some of the other software mentioned above would probably actually work better for what you need. Quote Link to comment
Player2 Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 1 Mapsource is the only software that will download maps to a garmin gpsr 2 Your particular gps is not capable of downloading maps 3 I found this out the hard and expensive way, and upgraded to a garmin legend for $170.00 Sorry bud, but those are the facts Player2 Quote Link to comment
sunpazed Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 1 Mapsource is the only software that will download maps to a garmin gpsr Not true. Visit http://vip.hex.net/~dougs/GPSSM/index.html for more info. Also check out GPSMapEdit (http://www.geopainting.com/en/) which I use to edit and upload maps to my Legend Cx. I'm using free maps from MapCenter (http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/). In fact, I found a highly detailed map of my city with streets, etc. A little inaccurate, but fine for my needs, and perfect for the price! Of course, nothing will beat professional GIS maps, like the ones that Garmin sell. Quote Link to comment
Jeepers4340 Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 GPS Babel is also an excellent program Quote Link to comment
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