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How important/useful is a basemap?


Guest UrbanChaosAT

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Guest UrbanChaosAT

The eTrex Summit has an electronic compass and altimeter but the eTrex Legend has a full basemap. Which is more useful? Do geocachers really need a basemap?

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Guest ClayJar

For geocaching, the basemap is probably not that important. I know with my Magellan MAP 330, if I'm on the maps page, I'm looking at detailed maps I've uploaded from the CD. I used the basemap for the first couple weeks or so, until I got the map CD, but after that...

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Guest Iron Chef

quote:
Originally posted by UrbanChaosAT:

The eTrex Summit has an electronic compass and altimeter but the eTrex Legend has a full basemap. Which is more useful? Do geocachers really need a basemap?


 

The Etrex Vista has both and the compass seems to work better on it as it isn't as sensetive as the Summit when it comes to the GPSR being level for the compass to work.

 

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-Iron Chef

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

agefive.com/geocache/ ~ Fe-26

Lets Drive Fast and Eat Cheese!

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Guest Point2Point

I use a Garmin Vista for geocaching and it has compass, altimeter and basemap. I find the compass very useful when geocaching because you can display a bearing arrow on the compass and navigate to the cache using both at the same time.

 

The basemap is kinda handy just to get a general idea of where a cache is located relative to major roads. It gives you a basic idea of where you can drive to get close.

 

The altimeter is not that helpful in geocaching, but its cool to check your change in elevation sometimes when climbing for those high caches.

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Looking at another post re: airplane usage, the basemap in my Map76 is great fun looking out the window of the airplane. People think you are a genius for 'knowing' that 'that's the Mississippi River down there' or saying 'lookie there, that's I 85 running straight to Charlotte'. If you use your toy in the car, boat, plane or train, it's nifty to have.

As far as useful for geocaching, I think it's worthless. So is my Mapsource map data. But I look at geocaching as something *else* to do with my GPS and not as my reason for having one. Being a boater and fisherman and an all around outdoors loving guy I use the heck out of my little fella. :^)

 

Cheers!

 

 

[This message has been edited by Pote (edited 01 October 2001).]

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Guest UrbanChaosAT

Thanks for the replies! I have looked at the Vista but it's a bit more than I want to spend just for geocaching icon_smile.gif So I'll probably go with the Summit.

 

Thanks again.

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Guest UrbanChaosAT

Thanks for the replies! I have looked at the Vista but it's a bit more than I want to spend just for geocaching icon_smile.gif So I'll probably go with the Summit.

 

Thanks again.

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Guest Geoffrey

The Basemap in a Garmin 3plus or Vista, which I have, is beneficial to safety. With Topo Map loaded, it helps you to navigate around areas that can be bad like, Cliffs, rivers, and helps you figure out where to park your car. There are lower priced mapping units out there than the Etrex Vista. I have turned off the basemap of the 3plus now and then, and that would make geocaching more challenging, but dont fall over that cliff, or stumble into the stream.

 

[This message has been edited by Geoffrey (edited 04 October 2001).]

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Guest ClayJar

quote:
Originally posted by Geoffrey:

The Basemap in a Garmin 3plus or Vista, which I have, is beneficial to safety. With Topo Map loaded, it helps you to navigate around areas that can be bad like, Cliffs, rivers, and helps you figure out where to park your car.


Are we on the same wavelength here? The basemap is the map that is loaded from the factory (or the firmware/basemap upgrade, if your receiver is one that supports basemap upgrades). This is not the same as the maps that you upload to your receiver.

 

As far as I've heard, there is no topo basemap for Magellan or Garmin receivers. Both companies sell topo maps in CD-ROM form that can be uploaded to their respective mapping receivers, but that has no bearing on the importance/usefulness of a basemap.

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Guest Geoffrey

u could get the Garmin GPS 12, or the GPS 2plus. Both units are non-mapping units with just a plot screen. There is also the non-mapping Garmin GPS 76. The m315 is also a good low cost GPS, but you cannot turn off the Auto-Averaging feature.

 

GPS units ive owned:

Magellan 4000xl, Magellan Colortrack, Garmin 3 with some mapping, a Garmin 3plus, and an Etrex Vista.

 

[This message has been edited by Geoffrey (edited 05 October 2001).]

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I use the base map more than a compass for geocaching. I just plot the point and use the base map until I get close and than switch over to the nav menu. All you need for land navigation is a known point, heading, a map and distance. Your gps gives you a known point and will tell you the heading and distance. You can use the base map to keep you self orientated.

 

I do carry a magnetic compass for a back up.

 

Ross

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Guest ClayJar

But in that case, you wouldn't really care about the actual basemap, just the icon(s) on screen and their scale distances (which you would have even without a basemap)?

 

Even with detail maps, lots of the caches I've done in Louisiana are flat and away from the roads, which leaves me with basically icons, a tracklog, and nothing else on the map screen (occasionally I've crossed a line, but there's really not much altitude to be changing in Louisiana).

 

If I only had the basemap, it would be basically 100% useless while on foot going for the cache. The basemap might help get near distant caches by following major roads, but it wouldn't help at all if I need to find an urban route to a cache-containing park. (I've done a few "one more cache" trips where I have to find a route to a cache I had printed, just in case, but not mapped or routed; the detail maps are gold when it comes to that.)

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Guest ClayJar

A little piece of info from Garmin's site surprised me. On the America's Highway 2.0 basemap page, it says at the end of the first paragraph, "The internal basemap cannot be updated or upgraded."

 

I know I've upgraded the basemap on my Magellan MAP 330 twice since I bought it in June. IIRC, it was 1.something when I bought it, 1.03 when I did the WAAS update, and now 1.06 with the topo update. It just seems really strange that the eTrexes can't update their basemaps.

 

Go figure. I know this isn't going to create a shift in the Garminite/Magellanite balance, but I, being a geek, found it interesting.

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Guest Geoffrey

Thanks ClayJar, now I know I cant lose the basemap on my Etrex Vista, but I cant change it either. icon_frown.gif

 

I would like a simple GPS that comes without a basemap, but where you can download maps into it.

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Guest Geoffrey

Thanks ClayJar, now I know I cant lose the basemap on my Etrex Vista, but I cant change it either. icon_frown.gif

 

I would like a simple GPS that comes without a basemap, but where you can download maps into it.

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Guest ClayJar

quote:
Originally posted by Geoffrey:

I would like a simple GPS that comes without a basemap, but where you can download maps into it.


Nobody makes it, and nobody's going to. They probably figure that they would have a very hard time marketing a mapping GPS receiver that has no maps when you get it. Also, once I actually went beyond my currently loaded detail maps, and having an outline of the coast (part of the basemap) was quite nice.

 

(By the way, Geoffrey, I hope I'm not making you think that I always disagree with you. I really don't. It's just the engineer in me that is genetically predisposed to clarify any and all details wherever possible, but my girlfriend is helping me gradually become more like a standard human. icon_wink.gif)

 

Of course, once I have my MeriGold, I don't think I'll leave my details ever again. I already have one 64MB SD card waiting for the receiver. icon_biggrin.gif

 

[This message has been edited by ClayJar (edited 06 October 2001).]

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Guest ClayJar

quote:
Originally posted by Geoffrey:

I would like a simple GPS that comes without a basemap, but where you can download maps into it.


Nobody makes it, and nobody's going to. They probably figure that they would have a very hard time marketing a mapping GPS receiver that has no maps when you get it. Also, once I actually went beyond my currently loaded detail maps, and having an outline of the coast (part of the basemap) was quite nice.

 

(By the way, Geoffrey, I hope I'm not making you think that I always disagree with you. I really don't. It's just the engineer in me that is genetically predisposed to clarify any and all details wherever possible, but my girlfriend is helping me gradually become more like a standard human. icon_wink.gif)

 

Of course, once I have my MeriGold, I don't think I'll leave my details ever again. I already have one 64MB SD card waiting for the receiver. icon_biggrin.gif

 

[This message has been edited by ClayJar (edited 06 October 2001).]

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