The Classic Geo-GPS

[+Cole and Jack]

I have been geocaching for a year now and just purchased a premium membership. I would like to take caching a step further but need a new gps to do it. My clunky Garmin Vista CX isn't going to hold out much longer and I need a device from Garmin that will allow me to view GPX files and operates smoothly. Any recommendations? Those are my only requirements. (Bluetooth would be nice but im not even sure that exists)

[+Renegade Knight]

Oregon

[+wormeyman+dianasaur]

http://gpstracklog.com/2006/05/handheld_gps_re.html

 

That's where i always send people for advice, and yes the oregon which my sister has does support bluetooth but i don't think there is an api for it?

[+RRLover]

http://gpstracklog.com/2006/05/handheld_gps_re.html

 

That's where i always send people for advice, and yes the oregon which my sister has does support bluetooth but i don't think there is an api for it?

ANT, not BlueTooth.

 

ANT is very short range, and low bandwidth, good for syncing external sensors, heart-rate, & cadence.

And moving that data from device to management software on your computer.

The Oregon, & Colorado models can exchange .loc data for waypoints between devices, it's limited so as

not to infringe upon GroundSpeaks data licensing.

 

Norm

[+Entropy512]

Oregon. As others have said, the wireless transfer is limited and a custom proprietary technology. (Garmin has been rapidly moving towards open standards, but this feature is one thing still not open. That said, it's a very rarely used feature.)

 

Everything else about the Oregon (other than the map data format, but this is so far closed for every receiver in existence) is an open standard.

 

The Oregon has a standard mini-USB connector, so if you lose or forget your cable on vacation it's easy to find a replacement. It uses the same "dumb charger" signaling convention as HTC does for their PDA phones. It doesn't use the same convention as Motorola/Blackberry unfortunately, but there's an easy settings workaround that allows these chargers to be used.

 

Memory is MicroSD. Garmin officially only supports cards up to 4GB, but 8GB cards work fine. Garmin's stated limitation is probably because map files are limited to 4GB, unless you play funky file management tricks (renaming maps to switch between map sets stored on the card), anything above 4GB doesn't buy you much unless you're storing extra stuff on the MicroSD card not related to the Oregon's operation.

 

To load caches into the Garmin, just drag and drop a GPX file onto the internal memory or MicroSD into \Garmin\GPX - The Garmin operates as a normal USB Mass Storage device. Tracklogs can be opened right into Google Earth from the internal memory if you connect the USB cable.

 

There are free legal topo maps generated from public data available for most of the US at http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/

 

If you want on-road autorouting you will need to purchase Garmin's City Navigator maps. While its on-road features will leave a Nuvi or TomTom user disappointed, its on-road routing capabilities blow away any other trail-oriented GPS I've ever used.