Garmin GPS V

[Guest jpaquin@frontiernet.net]

I'm curious. I use my Garmin III+ for driving, backpacking and geocaching. I'm thinking of upgrading from my III+ to a V for the address to address routing. A definite upgrade as far as using it for a driving unit. Has anyone else already switched to a V from a III+? If so, what are your impressions as far as backcountry use? Geocaching?

 

Jacques

[Guest Moun10Bike]

I'm one of those who has made the switch (although I used a Vista and a GPSMap 76 in-between). I can say enthusiastically that the Garmin GPS V is a fabulous upgrade to the III+. You will not regret making the change! It has the same great reception of the III+ but more map memory, greater display resolution, WAAS-capability and of course on-the-fly routing (which is SO COOL when you have several caches uploaded and want to find how to get from one to the other)!

 

A couple things that I have learned that you might want to be aware of if you take it geocaching (I may have some of the details wrong, as I am still learning the unit -- other V users please speak up and correct me if I have any of this wrong):

 

1) If you use the street routing to get you to the geocache, be sure to do another "Find" when you park and tell it to route you to the cache via offroad; I've found that if I don't do this, it will give me the wrong final distance to cache (presumably because it wants me to walk to the point at which it is specifying that I leave the road before heading off toward the cache).

 

2) When you park and are ready to begin your cache hunt, turn off the "lock to roads" feature in the map setup, especially if the cache is near the road. If you don't, then the V will again read the wrong distance to the cache because it is adjusting your position to place you on the nearest road.

 

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Jon (Moun10Bike)

31H/126F

N 47° 36.649', W 122° 3.616'

www.switchbacks.com/geocaching.html

[Guest jeremy]

I do the same thing as #1, but have never needed to fiddle with the issue you have in your #2 issue. Once I set it to "off road" it seems to work fine.

 

Jeremy

[Guest ScottJ]

I just bought my V today! A few words of caution about the City Select CD -- you need to: (1) Delete any version of MapSource you may be running, especially if it is pre-V4. (2) Install MapSource from the CitySelect CD, including your chosen map region, and run it once. (3) Download the 4.05 update from Garmin, and immediately install it, (4) Enter your unlock code. Apparently there are some "issues" that prevent the unlock from working properly if you install a new MapSource over an old one, or if you do the unlock via V4.03.

 

With that said, this thing is a DREAM...the auto-routing is great, although I haven't yet figured out how to save an auto-route so I don't have to calculate it every time. The only downsides are (1) no decent battery voltage indicator or gauge, and (2) no CDI unless you're on an "off-road" goto. I'm guessing Garmin's first update will fix these two bugs.

 

Love the long (15-character) waypoint names!

 

Scott

[Guest macdaddymd@aol.com]

I ugraded and find it very cool. I have a little more trouble reading the finer resolution screen when I have it on my dash. I turned on the larger fonts and that helped. On the fly routing is great, and I am able to walk to the geocache within 5 feet since it is WAAS-enabled and the screen zooms in to a 20-ft scale! I love all the extra memory... I have R&R, Topos and CitySelect all loaded and just select which I want to use. Worth the jump!

 

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Kent

Harrisonburg, VA

macdaddymd@aol.com

[Guest gstrong1]

Am I reading this correctly? In the V you have the option of having Mapsource R&R, Topos & CitySelect all loaded into the GPS at the same time & can bounce back & forth between them at will?

 

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Gary "Gimpy" Strong

Rochester,NY

[Guest macdaddymd@aol.com]

That is correct. If you select all types, they view in priority, so they do not overlay (i.e., top[s AND R&R). But you can select which type you need. I have 26 maps in mine now: 2 City Select, 19 R&R, 5 topos. Just choose which one I need for my task at hand.

GPS III+ does the same, but far less memory and fewer map type choices. It seems to be an undocumneted plus!

 

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Kent

Harrisonburg, VA

macdaddymd@aol.com

[Guest peter]

quote:

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Originally posted by gstrong1:

In the V you have the option of having Mapsource R&R, Topos & CitySelect all loaded into the GPS at the same time & can bounce back & forth between them at will?

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AFAIK, that's been a feature of all the Garmin mapping GPS receivers. It certainly works that way on my eMap and a friend's eTrex Legend.

[Guest gstrong1]

Never looked into it because if I've got, lets say, a mapset in there of topos & I go to load up a set off R&R, the Mapsource dialog box starts out with "deleting maps" before it starts to load. I've got the MAP76, III Plus & the Vista so I should have that option in all 3. Thanks for the info. Been playing with these things for 7 months & never thought it was possible to have R&R & Topos in there. .

 

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Gary "Gimpy" Strong

Rochester,NY

[Guest gstrong1]

Never looked into it because if I've got, lets say, a mapset in there of topos & I go to load up a set off R&R, the Mapsource dialog box starts out with "deleting maps" before it starts to load. I've got the MAP76, III Plus & the Vista so I should have that option in all 3. Thanks for the info. Been playing with these things for 7 months & never thought it was possible to have R&R & Topos in there. .

 

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Gary "Gimpy" Strong

Rochester,NY

[Guest peter]

quote:

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Originally posted by gstrong1:

Never looked into it because if I've got, lets say, a mapset in there of topos & I go to load up a set off R&R, the Mapsource dialog box starts out with "deleting maps" before it starts to load. .

 

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Yes, MapSource will always delete before loading new maps, so you have to load them all at once. But you can choose a variety of map types to load at one time from MapSource. E.g. select all the R&R maps you want, then go to the pull-down menu in the toolbar and select 'Topo' and select all of those that you want, etc. Then when you ask MapSource to upload to your GPSR, it will prompt you to insert CD ROM disks as needed.

[Guest peter]

quote:

---

Originally posted by gstrong1:

Never looked into it because if I've got, lets say, a mapset in there of topos & I go to load up a set off R&R, the Mapsource dialog box starts out with "deleting maps" before it starts to load. .

 

---

 

Yes, MapSource will always delete before loading new maps, so you have to load them all at once. But you can choose a variety of map types to load at one time from MapSource. E.g. select all the R&R maps you want, then go to the pull-down menu in the toolbar and select 'Topo' and select all of those that you want, etc. Then when you ask MapSource to upload to your GPSR, it will prompt you to insert CD ROM disks as needed.

[Guest Olar]

Does anyone know if there would be any advantage as far as battery conservation is concerned if the Mapsource maps (other than topos) are deselected when hunting a cache or hiking off-road?

Olar

[Guest Prime Suspect]

quote:

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Originally posted by Olar:

Does anyone know if there would be any advantage as far as battery conservation is concerned if the Mapsource maps (other than topos) are deselected when hunting a cache or hiking off-road?

Olar

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I don't have anything to back it up with, but I doubt I would make much difference. The CPU might have to work a bit harder when updating the display. But if you're off road, chances are there not going to me much difference between what the display looks like with or without the loaded maps.

[Guest Alphawolf]

quote:

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Originally posted by macdaddymd@aol.com:

That is correct. If you select all types, they view in priority, so they do not overlay (i.e., top[s AND R&R). But you can select which type you need. I have 26 maps in mine now: 2 City Select, 19 R&R, 5 topos. Just choose which one I need for my task at hand.

GPS III+ does the same, but far less memory and fewer map type choices. It seems to be an undocumneted plus!

 

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How do you select the one you need? Is it done on the GPSR or the computer?

[Guest Moun10Bike]

of the map sections loaded into the unit as well as their source (e.g. "MetroGuide USA," "City Select," etc.). Each section has a checkmark next to it -- toggle the checkmark on/off with the Enter button to select which you want to display.

 

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Jon (Moun10Bike)

31H/128F

N 47° 36.649', W 122° 3.616'

www.switchbacks.com/geocaching.html

 

[This message has been edited by Moun10Bike (edited 06 November 2001).]

[Guest Geoffrey]

Just bought my Garmin GPS V yesterday(Nov 9 at 2pm) at Sharper Image in Detroit Mich.

Great Unit.

Also check this link> http://forums.Groundspeak.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000803.html

 

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http://members.aol.com/geoffr524/myhomepage/howto.html

[Guest Geoffrey]

Now that I got the GPS V, a friend wants my 3plus.