I'm finally going shopping

[TeamTJ]

Having Geocached for a few years and never owning a GPS (mine were borrowed) I'm finally breaking down to get one.

 

I'm not rich so the price break on the Legend at Amazon looks awesome! $119

 

Now, it comes with a serial cable. I have 1 serial port on my PC but it is dedicated to my daughters blood sugar meter for uploading her diabetes information to the doctor. (I know, priorities...) I'm not likely to crawl on he floor, under my desk to swap them out.

 

Can the serial be converted to USB to use my USB port?

 

Thanks!

[+Airmapper]

Yes, adapters are available to convert a serial connector to a USB.

 

Here is one

[+JohnnyVegas]

You would be better spending your money on a Magellan Explorist 210, they include a USB cable, Have more memory to store maps on- 22mb vs. 8mb. THe explorist will also do auto routing, the legend will not, the explorist also has a better receiver thatn the Legand. YOu can a new explorist for about $140.00- $145.00 if you shop around- You might try TigerGPS.com

[+gpsblake]

If the owner of the unit isn't going to spend 100+ bucks extra for mapping software, the memory doesn't matter and the USB connection isn't going to really matter either. The same with auto-routing, without the mapping software, it's a non-factor. Both units use a Patch antenna and are equal in reception.

Edited September 18, 2006 by gpsblake

[+EScout]

IBoth units use a Patch antenna and are equal in reception.

No they are not, the eXplorist has much better reception than the original B&W Legend. I have had a Legend for almost 4 years and its reception does not compare to my eXplorist. Yes, they both have patch antennas, but the quality of the receiver is more important than the antenna. Some prefer the patch now, as there are some advantages compared to the helix. These advantages are the small size, allows holding unit more level, and less suseptible to multipath interference.

 

If you have only one serial port, get a switch box and place it up front. That way everything stays plugged in, and you just turn the switch. I have several of these for parallel and serial ports.

[Grasscatcher]

Or get a PCI card for your computer to add Serial port(s)

Probably $10.00 or so

[+Fhantazm]

I TOTALLY agree with gpsblake. The recpetion of the explorist is leaps and bounds better than the B/W Legend. I'm actually surprised the Legend hasnt been recalled.

 

IBoth units use a Patch antenna and are equal in reception.

No they are not, the eXplorist has much better reception than the original B&W Legend. I have had a Legend for almost 4 years and its reception does not compare to my eXplorist. Yes, they both have patch antennas, but the quality of the receiver is more important than the antenna. Some prefer the patch now, as there are some advantages compared to the helix. These advantages are the small size, allows holding unit more level, and less suseptible to multipath interference.

 

If you have only one serial port, get a switch box and place it up front. That way everything stays plugged in, and you just turn the switch. I have several of these for parallel and serial ports.