Autorouting confusion with 76Csx and 24k Topo's

[+Hank30721]

I am sure that this is a user issue. After caching with my 76Csx with nothing other than basemaps, I was happy with the performance of the unit and my ability to use it. I bought the 24K topo's because I like to hike a bit. So far they have been great (only hiked twice with them in the back country), but I don't have this autorouting thing down. I like having the road turn-by turn especially in areas I am unfamiliar with, but how can I go to the off-road mode or "compass bearing" mode when I get out of the car automatically?

 

Since I have modified the factory settings very little, I guess I am also asking what is a more ideal set-up for geocaching?

 

Sorry for the 2 questions in the same post. I did a bit of searching and FAQ reading but I am more confused now than when I started!

[+mo_town_man]

I am sure that this is a user issue. After caching with my 76Csx with nothing other than basemaps, I was happy with the performance of the unit and my ability to use it. I bought the 24K topo's because I like to hike a bit. So far they have been great (only hiked twice with them in the back country), but I don't have this autorouting thing down. I like having the road turn-by turn especially in areas I am unfamiliar with, but how can I go to the off-road mode or "compass bearing" mode when I get out of the car automatically?

 

Since I have modified the factory settings very little, I guess I am also asking what is a more ideal set-up for geocaching?

 

Sorry for the 2 questions in the same post. I did a bit of searching and FAQ reading but I am more confused now than when I started!

 

You can't auto-route with the topo maps. The basemap is pretty much useless as it has only the very very major roads. You need city navigator if you plan to use your 76CSX for turn by turn. Sorry as its going to set you back another 100 to 120 dollars.

 

--danny

[+mo_town_man]

I am sure that this is a user issue. After caching with my 76Csx with nothing other than basemaps, I was happy with the performance of the unit and my ability to use it. I bought the 24K topo's because I like to hike a bit. So far they have been great (only hiked twice with them in the back country), but I don't have this autorouting thing down. I like having the road turn-by turn especially in areas I am unfamiliar with, but how can I go to the off-road mode or "compass bearing" mode when I get out of the car automatically?

 

Since I have modified the factory settings very little, I guess I am also asking what is a more ideal set-up for geocaching?

 

Sorry for the 2 questions in the same post. I did a bit of searching and FAQ reading but I am more confused now than when I started!

 

You can't auto-route with the topo maps. The basemap is pretty much useless as it has only the very very major roads. You need city navigator if you plan to use your 76CSX for turn by turn. Sorry as its going to set you back another 100 to 120 dollars.

 

--danny

[+Hank30721]

I am sure that this is a user issue. After caching with my 76Csx with nothing other than basemaps, I was happy with the performance of the unit and my ability to use it. I bought the 24K topo's because I like to hike a bit. So far they have been great (only hiked twice with them in the back country), but I don't have this autorouting thing down. I like having the road turn-by turn especially in areas I am unfamiliar with, but how can I go to the off-road mode or "compass bearing" mode when I get out of the car automatically?

 

Since I have modified the factory settings very little, I guess I am also asking what is a more ideal set-up for geocaching?

 

Sorry for the 2 questions in the same post. I did a bit of searching and FAQ reading but I am more confused now than when I started!

 

You can't auto-route with the topo maps. The basemap is pretty much useless as it has only the very very major roads. You need city navigator if you plan to use your 76CSX for turn by turn. Sorry as its going to set you back another 100 to 120 dollars.

 

--danny

 

I may have not made myself clear. I will list the steps as to what I am doing and my issues should be more clear:

 

-Press [Find]

- then select "Geocache"

- scroll to a cache number and press [enter]

- highlight "go to" and press [enter]

- GPSr prompts to select "Follow Road" or "Off Road"

- slect "Follow Road" and press [enter]

- GPSr displays route and starts giving directions to turn based on road (left in 0.3mi onto unpaved road, etc)

- I drive to location of trailhead or similar parking area

- get out and start walking

*** at this point the compass bearing screen would be nice ***

 

Before I loaded the 24k maps the unit would beep and tell me I was arriving at GCXXX and then at some point would switch from "map display" mode to the "compass bearing" mode by itself. Now the unit just stays in map mode and tells me to turn around if I drive to a more suitable parking location or to a known trailhead and I have to [Page] around quite a bit to get to the compass screen when I start walking.

 

I just figure I have something set-up wrong with the GPSr since it used to a bit different.

Edited November 26, 2007 by Hank30721

[+fratermus]

...don't have this autorouting thing down. I like having the road turn-by turn especially in areas I am unfamiliar with, but how can I go to the off-road mode or "compass bearing" mode when I get out of the car automatically?

 

If you are autorouting you can do Recalculate | Off-road to get the compass mode up.

 

In my opinion, when the autorouting has gotten as close as it can get you two things should happen:

 

* automagically go to off-road / no lock on road

* automagically go to Normal from Battery Saver mode

[+Hank30721]

...don't have this autorouting thing down. I like having the road turn-by turn especially in areas I am unfamiliar with, but how can I go to the off-road mode or "compass bearing" mode when I get out of the car automatically?

 

If you are autorouting you can do Recalculate | Off-road to get the compass mode up.

 

In my opinion, when the autorouting has gotten as close as it can get you two things should happen:

 

* automagically go to off-road / no lock on road

* automagically go to Normal from Battery Saver mode

 

How do I ensure that the settings on the GPSr will cause the unit to switch to off-road?

[+fratermus]

How do I ensure that the settings on the GPSr will cause the unit to switch to off-road?

 

It won't, AFAIK. That's why you do it with Recalculate | Off-Road. It might actually point to the cache if you already have lock-on-road turned off, but I cannot test it at the moment.

[+mo_town_man]

How do I ensure that the settings on the GPSr will cause the unit to switch to off-road?

 

It won't, AFAIK. That's why you do it with Recalculate | Off-Road. It might actually point to the cache if you already have lock-on-road turned off, but I cannot test it at the moment.

 

This is correct. To get the mode u want, you have to recalculate and do so off-road mode.

 

Bascially, this is what i do.

1. I make sure my road maps are selected. Then do a Find geocache or Find Trailhead/parking (under custom POI's) (Course you have to load all this good stuff in there before you could do this option.

 

This will give you turn by turn to the trailhead or area close as possible to the geocache.

 

2. Then i reselect the geocache on the find menu and tell it to find off-road this time. Now, i could also do a recalulate also, if i have it set in the settings to ask me each time if i want off-road or follow-road.

 

3. If its a trail or woods, I can then select my topo maps, so i get a better picture of the area. But if its just a guard rail catche, i don't even bother, as then i just have to switch it back to road maps, to auto route to the next geocache or location (on the road).

 

Might seem like a lot of work to go from one mode to the next, but after you do it a bunch of times, gets pretty easy to do. And if you try to tell it to auto route and you got topo maps selected instead, you just got to switch to the road maps and do a re-calculate.

 

Granted there may be easier ways to do all this then how I do it, so if someone knows of something better/cooler, feel free to chip in.

 

--danny

[+Hank30721]

Thanx for the input guys...I'm going caching tonight. I'll try out the recalculate method tonight.

Edited November 28, 2007 by Hank30721

[+Hank30721]

Thanx for the input guys...I'm going caching tonight. I'll try out the recalculate method tonight.

 

The advice helped a bunch. Picked the cache, selected autoroute follow road, got close and parked. Recalculated off road, hiked to the cache.

 

Thanx again!!!

 

BTW - mo town man you can autoroute with the 24k topo maps