Mio C310x

[+W4G_SOTAGoat]

Anyone have any experience with the Mio C310x? It's going to be on sale for $150 at Circuit City on Black Friday.

[+taylorsgeotracker]

Just bought a mio digiwalker c310x. Like it so far, very easy to use can definately use it for urban caching, not sure if I would recommend it for true hiking off road adventures. But am still having a bit of trouble trying to work a few bugs out! Would really appreciate any advice from anyone who knows! Thanks!

[Johnson&Johnson]

I just bought this one too, would also love some feedback from someone who has actually used it caching.

 

Thanks

 

johnson&johnson

[+TeamGage]

I also bought one...looks like it should work out, but I could also use some feedback

[+bonz555]

I recently purchased a mio c310x (black friday deal) and i have taken it caching 4 time and we found all but one. and it got us within 15 yards of the first within a few feet of the second after waiting for the arrow to stop moving!! and within a yard on the third and we never found the last but it was dark! this is the first experience i have had caching or even using a gps so i dont realy know what to expect. like i said befor sometimes i would come up to the POI and stop and the arrow would move around and after a while it would stop and follow my movements. but on two of the caches it was spot on! i recently learned that turning a gps off and turning it back on tends to cause the unit to have to "warm up" and this makes it hard to get a good position. (wich i did at those particulare caches) well i hope this helps a little and im awaiting more posts myself!! hopefully someone can compare this unit to others currently owned for a good cache review on the product!!!!

 

 

MAKE SURE TO TURN OFF LOCK TO ROAD OPTION!!!

[+bonz555]

WELL AFTER SEARCHING THE MESSAGE BOARDS AND LEARNING MORE ABOUT HOW GPS WORK AND THE AVERAGE TOLLERANCE OF A GPS I WOULD SAY I WAS NEVER MORE THAN 20 YARDS AWAY FROM MY CACHE!! EVEN UNDER HEAVY TREE COVER!! IVE ONLY DONE A FEW HUNTS BUT COMPARED TO WHAT THE OTHER POSTS SAID THATS ABOUT AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET!! i have also found out that our unit is equiped with WASS AND SiRF STARIII wich apparently helps out a lot. and having to wait for the unit to "catch up with you" is common in all gps units. so in concluson i believe we have a very versitile gps!!

 

And i still await other hands on stories!!!

 

Edited November 26, 2006 by bonz555

[+sonar23]

WELL AFTER SEARCHING THE MESSAGE BOARDS AND LEARNING MORE ABOUT HOW GPS WORK AND THE AVERAGE TOLLERANCE OF A GPS I WOULD SAY I WAS NEVER MORE THAN 20 YARDS AWAY FROM MY CACHE!! EVEN UNDER HEAVY TREE COVER!! IVE ONLY DONE A FEW HUNTS BUT COMPARED TO WHAT THE OTHER POSTS SAID THATS ABOUT AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET!! i have also found out that our unit is equiped with WASS AND SiRF STARIII wich apparently helps out a lot. and having to wait for the unit to "catch up with you" is common in all gps units. so in concluson i believe we have a very versitile gps!!

 

And i still await other hands on stories!!!

 

 

How do you enter a Lat and Long into the C310X? I was looking through the manual to see how you might do this and couldn't find it. I don't want to open the box until I know it will work well for Caching in areas without streets - where you have to enter a lat and long.

 

Thanks

[+bonz555]

The manual is not very good the cd that comes with it has a much better manual! and you can enter the cords. in manualy and make them a point of interest and save them all to a folder! i already have over 15 caches saved! and you can choose what you want the symbol to look like on the map and use this symbol to find the cache or benchmarks or whatever you choose! there is an option in the main settingsto turn off the LOCK TO ROAD wich i didnt know the first time i tried to cache!! and you can imagin how mad i was when i walked off the road to find that the arrow stayed behind. but i quickly figured it out and it works well for off road caches!! so i would say it is worth opening!!

[DowdCrowd]

Thank you so very much for your posts!!! In fact, I took our MIO off of an ebay auction after reading that you can change the map lock can be disabled. I haven't taken it geocaching yet (there is about 6 inches of snow on the ground and I am a wimp), so I would like to hear any geocaching stories so I know what to be prepared for. Does anyone know if you can change the settings from decimals to minute/second settings? I was pretty excited that it came with USB capabilities, but it doesn't look like downloading coordinates will work. Any additional information would be really appreciated...thanks!!!

[bryanarrington]

I too bought this unit on Black Friday and have just discovered GeoCaching. I just found my first cache today. This unit is more geared toward Car Navigation but you can change some of the settings on it (disable the stay on road feature) and it led me to withing 5 feet of the cache. This is my first GPS unit so while I have nothing to compare it to, I am totally satisfied.

 

Love the GPS and love Geocaching. So much fun.

[bryanarrington]

WELL AFTER SEARCHING THE MESSAGE BOARDS AND LEARNING MORE ABOUT HOW GPS WORK AND THE AVERAGE TOLLERANCE OF A GPS I WOULD SAY I WAS NEVER MORE THAN 20 YARDS AWAY FROM MY CACHE!! EVEN UNDER HEAVY TREE COVER!! IVE ONLY DONE A FEW HUNTS BUT COMPARED TO WHAT THE OTHER POSTS SAID THATS ABOUT AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET!! i have also found out that our unit is equiped with WASS AND SiRF STARIII wich apparently helps out a lot. and having to wait for the unit to "catch up with you" is common in all gps units. so in concluson i believe we have a very versitile gps!!

 

And i still await other hands on stories!!!

 

 

How do you enter a Lat and Long into the C310X? I was looking through the manual to see how you might do this and couldn't find it. I don't want to open the box until I know it will work well for Caching in areas without streets - where you have to enter a lat and long.

 

Thanks

 

You can simply enter a lat. and long. by doing the following.

 

From the "cockpit screen" touch the menu button and then touch "coordinate." This will bring you to your lat. long. location. Then, use the screen to enter your numbers. You will have to manually erase the current numbers by using the "back" button that is an arrow. Then tap done and it will show you on the map.

[+bonz555]

unfortunatly i dont think you can download anything other than mp3's but they will probobly bring out an update soon so make sure you register at the mio website!! hopefully i can go cacheing again soon but its gonna snow this weekend!!

[topografix]

Does this GPS have the ability to save or load waypoints to the data card? If it does and someone can post a sample data file, I'll begin adding support for it in EasyGPS.

[bryanarrington]

Does this GPS have the ability to save or load waypoints to the data card? If it does and someone can post a sample data file, I'll begin adding support for it in EasyGPS.

 

Not that I am aware of, no. I have been saving the coordinates of caches that I want to hit as Points of Interest on the unit, but not on an SD card. I think the Card is only for music.

[+mikesus]

The Mio C310x is running WinCE .net and is EXTREMELY modifiable.

 

You can hack the interface and get a standard WinCE interface, which allows you to run ANY WinCE compatable software including Video and photo software.

 

Here is the How To http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=69673

 

Additionally, there is a free software that allows you to turn your Mio into a traditional chart logging type GPS (requires unlocking the Mio to allow additional software) Located Here http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.a...amp;whichpage=1

[+mikesus]

The Waypoints or POI is using a DB format. However, there is a tool that is available that allows you to edit the igo.db

 

Located here http://inetcom.hu/mick/igo/iGOPOIExplorerBeta.zip

 

as quoted from pocketgpsworld

 

Well, I had a play for the first time with iGO POI Explorer (IPE), and it all seemed quite painless. What I did was:

 

1. Converted a list of a POI's from .ASC to .KML (There are programs around to do this, but they seemed a bit more complex than necessary so I knocked up my own simple utility).

2. Copied iGO.db from C710 to PC.

3. Ran iGO POI Explorer and imported iGO.db

4. Imported the .KML file into iGO.db

5. Exported the updated iGO.db to PC.

6. Copied iGO.db back to the C710

 

That's it - restart MioMap and the new POI's are in the right places under My POI's. All my settings are still there, untouched.

 

Sal

 

I have used this to add POI's (waypoints) and it works great!

 

 

Does this GPS have the ability to save or load waypoints to the data card? If it does and someone can post a sample data file, I'll begin adding support for it in EasyGPS.

 

Not that I am aware of, no. I have been saving the coordinates of caches that I want to hit as Points of Interest on the unit, but not on an SD card. I think the Card is only for music.

[+gerrylazlo]

I got the Black Friday deal, (waited in line for almost 3 hours at the register). Awesome so far for the car. I went on my first geocache today and I think it was having signal problems. It would change coordinates frequently in some areas and not at all in others. I have purchased an antenna from ebay to see if that will clear it up. Once I'm in the general area, I used the sattellite page to see my coordinates as I moved around. I'll let you know if the antenna helps.

[+dlcarrales]

I am awaiting my MIO 310X. Ordered from EBAY. Can't wait to get started with my new hobby.

[+gerrylazlo]

Well, I picked up a glisson antenna. It definitely helps with the signals, but it's still black voodoo to figure out when the coordinates are going to change when you are walking. It helps to be in open areas, but there's no guarantee it will always be tracking your motion on foot. It's perfect in the car, but I don't need that much accuracy there. Used it today to successfully find my first cache, and it handled admirably. I'm not unhappy with it, and I get the feeling I won't have any better luck than this with other units.

[+gerrylazlo]

Okay, I recently purchased a garmin sportrak pro, and it is night and day difference.

The Mio is great for the car, but doesn't even hold a candle to the sportrak. You could tell one is made for walking around with and the other 'aint'.

My recommendation is to use the c310 for the car, and use something else when you are out in the woods somewhere. IMO

[+TeamGage]

I ysed the C310x for the first time yesterday for geocaching, and it worked GREAT!!!!!! Within 2 feet on cache!!!

 

I was VERY HAPPY

[+afox50211]

I agree that the Mio might be a little fragile for geocaching but it has so much potential. I have used it to find caches and found it to be very accurate (within 10-20 feet).

 

There are a multitude of programs that can be loaded on to an unlocked C310x. These programs can all be loaded to an SD card with little if any modification to the software on the mio itself, so the potential of affecting the unit itself is almost none (as long as you follow instructions).

 

If anyone is interested in taking a look at what is possible, please look at http://www.hugginsnet.com/ilovemymio

 

There is a whole sections on Geocaching with the Mio

[+fiatster]

A great little unit for the road. Can be easily hacked and used as a windows based PDA. I have one and have it hacked, but I find that while it great to get you to where you are going in your car, I switch to my Explorist 500 for the footwork.

[+Thunderbus]

The manual is not very good the cd that comes with it has a much better manual! and you can enter the cords. in manualy and make them a point of interest and save them all to a folder! i already have over 15 caches saved! and you can choose what you want the symbol to look like on the map and use this symbol to find the cache or benchmarks or whatever you choose! there is an option in the main settingsto turn off the LOCK TO ROAD wich i didnt know the first time i tried to cache!! and you can imagin how mad i was when i walked off the road to find that the arrow stayed behind. but i quickly figured it out and it works well for off road caches!! so i would say it is worth opening!!

 

I'm a newbie, and I have the Mio 310X and have been searching everywhere in the settings for this setting for turning off the Lock to Road. I've been searching through this forum and others trying to find something, and haven't found anything. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Thunderbus

[+fiatster]

The manual is not very good the cd that comes with it has a much better manual! and you can enter the cords. in manualy and make them a point of interest and save them all to a folder! i already have over 15 caches saved! and you can choose what you want the symbol to look like on the map and use this symbol to find the cache or benchmarks or whatever you choose! there is an option in the main settingsto turn off the LOCK TO ROAD wich i didnt know the first time i tried to cache!! and you can imagin how mad i was when i walked off the road to find that the arrow stayed behind. but i quickly figured it out and it works well for off road caches!! so i would say it is worth opening!!

 

I'm a newbie, and I have the Mio 310X and have been searching everywhere in the settings for this setting for turning off the Lock to Road. I've been searching through this forum and others trying to find something, and haven't found anything. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Thunderbus

My Mio is hacked, but yours should be about the same to get to the menu to use the unit in the pedestian mode. From most screens you can click on menu or push the 2nd button down from the top on the side of the unit. Next click on the house icon. From there click on the "Route Options" icon. Here you should see an option named "Vehicle". Scroll through this option and you will see "Pedestrian". Use that setting, but be sure to change back to Auto or the Jason will be "Route Recalculating you off every highway in the country.

 

Because I hacked my unit, yours may be a bit different, but you should be able to find the screenyou need now that you know what to look for.

Good luck.

Mike

[+Team Four Paw]

fyi, this is great resource for the MIO: http://hugginsnet.com/ilovemymio/index.php

[+Thunderbus]

The manual is not very good the cd that comes with it has a much better manual! and you can enter the cords. in manualy and make them a point of interest and save them all to a folder! i already have over 15 caches saved! and you can choose what you want the symbol to look like on the map and use this symbol to find the cache or benchmarks or whatever you choose! there is an option in the main settingsto turn off the LOCK TO ROAD wich i didnt know the first time i tried to cache!! and you can imagin how mad i was when i walked off the road to find that the arrow stayed behind. but i quickly figured it out and it works well for off road caches!! so i would say it is worth opening!!

 

I'm a newbie, and I have the Mio 310X and have been searching everywhere in the settings for this setting for turning off the Lock to Road. I've been searching through this forum and others trying to find something, and haven't found anything. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Thunderbus

My Mio is hacked, but yours should be about the same to get to the menu to use the unit in the pedestian mode. From most screens you can click on menu or push the 2nd button down from the top on the side of the unit. Next click on the house icon. From there click on the "Route Options" icon. Here you should see an option named "Vehicle". Scroll through this option and you will see "Pedestrian". Use that setting, but be sure to change back to Auto or the Jason will be "Route Recalculating you off every highway in the country.

 

Because I hacked my unit, yours may be a bit different, but you should be able to find the screenyou need now that you know what to look for.

Good luck.

Mike

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Ok, I saw the Pedestrian mode, but it didn't seem to do what I was wanting it to do, but I just found another setting under Advanced Settings which I changed. I unchecked to "Keep Position on Road". That seems to have done what I hoped for. What about the Pedestrian mode? Do you think I should use it also?

Thanks again,

Thunderbus

[+brain21]

Hi, I've had this unit for about 3 months now and found 29 caches. Its pretty nice. I've hacked it so that I can use WinCE. I use MobiPocket to view those .prc files that you get when downloading the .gpx from geocaching.com. So now I can view all the text for each cache I've done a pocket query on. Really great for paperless caching!

 

Has anyone found a way to change the coordinate system on it? Recently I needed to change to NAV 27 Canada for an event, but couldn't find it on this GPS. So I had to meet up with other cachers that had garmins so they could translate it to what the c310 uses. My coords took me about 20m south of the real cache location.

[+nursenine]

The Waypoints or POI is using a DB format. However, there is a tool that is available that allows you to edit the igo.db

 

Located here http://inetcom.hu/mick/igo/iGOPOIExplorerBeta.zip

 

as quoted from pocketgpsworld

 

Well, I had a play for the first time with iGO POI Explorer (IPE), and it all seemed quite painless. What I did was:

 

1. Converted a list of a POI's from .ASC to .KML (There are programs around to do this, but they seemed a bit more complex than necessary so I knocked up my own simple utility).

2. Copied iGO.db from C710 to PC.

3. Ran iGO POI Explorer and imported iGO.db

4. Imported the .KML file into iGO.db

5. Exported the updated iGO.db to PC.

6. Copied iGO.db back to the C710

 

That's it - restart MioMap and the new POI's are in the right places under My POI's. All my settings are still there, untouched.

 

Sal

 

I have used this to add POI's (waypoints) and it works great!

 

 

Does this GPS have the ability to save or load waypoints to the data card? If it does and someone can post a sample data file, I'll begin adding support for it in EasyGPS.

 

Not that I am aware of, no. I have been saving the coordinates of caches that I want to hit as Points of Interest on the unit, but not on an SD card. I think the Card is only for music.

 

Hi....I'm having problems with getting the POI into the .kml format. I don't have goolge earth loaded on my home pc because I have dial up and it it too slow to support it. Is there anyway to convert them without it?

Thanks!

 

Also how do you export the Igo.db to the PC?

 

Thanks!

Edited May 15, 2007 by nursenine

[Geo.Jeffrey88]

My Mio C310X is great. In NYC it's alittle flakey because of the buildings. I was using it during the 2007 Five Boro Bike Tour. I got the mount online for my bike. Just search "C310x bie mount." It tooke a dive off my bike when i was in central park but it still works. I found 4 caches after the bike tour. The accuracy isn't perfect but its close enough. Also, use your eyes. anything that doesn't look like it was put there by nature is probably not.

[+gpod]

I've been using the c310x for 6 months and its great. I've found 58 geocaches so far using it with little problems, however lately as I venture further into the woods for them I have been getting quite nervous about its durability. I have been looking at a 60CSx or Cx as my geocaching GPSr so I can leave the c310x safe and sound in the car. For directions though, it is amazing. I use it for work all the time instead of a map book.