There and back again. A GPSV Holiday. 2 Weeks on the Road - a report.

[+Centaur]

There and back again, a GPSV holiday.

 

Though you might like a few observations of a 2 week driving trip I just did with my wife (Patch) and our Garmin GPSV. We got the V partly based on comments read on this forum. This forum also started us on Geocaching.

Equipment: GPSV, data/power cable, external antenna, IBM Laptop w/mapsource software.

I mounted the GPSV on the dash with the included brackets, and routed the antenna out a door and to the roof. I only used the GPSV's original antenna when handheld hunting caches outside the car. The GPSV was powered through the data/power cable, and the laptop was hooked up for data transfer.

 

 

I used the mapsource software to help break the trip up into driving chunks per day. It would figure the actual driving distances and approx times, so we could figure out stops and how much sight seeing time we had. I would save these as individual routes.

I also downloaded about 20 Geocaches we were going to hit along the way. We did get to 13 of them. Once we got in the general area of a cache, I switched the GPSV from its route to find the Geocache waypoint. It would plot us the street approach all the way close to the point. I then took the GPSV handheld and switched it to off-road to get to the cache. Worked flawlessly!

 

For the evening before each days travel, I would download the previous days new waypoints and track log, just to have it for reference, then upload any new points and mapsource data for the next days travel leg.

The GPSV has 19 megs of storage for mapsource maps, and for the western states this was enough for the days drives. For areas of high population, like around Chicago, 19 megs is just barely enough for the northern area of town. I wish it had a little more, but oh well, it is quite serviceable.

 

 

It was great to have along, and to watch the miles fly by, both as the glorious countryside passed by, and as the miles-to-go counted down. I am very happy I had the GPSV along, and Patch and I both enjoyed Geocaching along the way with it when it was not doing its street mapping duties.

 

Any questions, feel free to post here.

 

-Centuar

[+MaxEntropy]

GPS, remote antenna, cell phone, radar detector and laptop computer with mapping software.

Cool, techno-geeks hit the road!

[xWaterLilyx]

quote:

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Originally posted by MaxEntropy:

GPS, remote antenna, cell phone, radar detector and laptop computer with mapping software.

Cool, techno-geeks hit the road!

---

 

Was there every any doubt?? As long as we can have our 'techno' "Have Techno - will travel!"

 

**Try something 3 times before giving up on it! The 1st time may be bad weather, the 2nd may be dead GPS batteries, the 3rd you may spot that hiding spot!!**

[azog]

quote:

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Originally posted by Centaur:

My wife and I found ourselves talking back to the GPSV like it could "hear" us. It would beep at us when we went off course (like pulling off the interstate for gas) "Ok.. I know, I know... we'll be back on course in a bit..."

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This is a sure sign. I talk to my equipment quite often. Sometimes it helps. Most of the times I get odd looks from people around me.

 

----------

One banana, two banana, three banana, four.

Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.

[BassoonPilot]

Glad you had an enjoyable trip.

[Lyra]

What a cachemobile! I've now got some great ideas for outfitting my Jeep, unless you're willing to sell yours!

 

Always wear proper caching safety equipment!

[+Centaur]

quote:

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BassoonPilot said:

 

All that for 13 finds?

 

Glad you had an enjoyable trip.

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Well, we did have a bunch of other stuff going on as well... We did have a lot of fun on this vacation that was not caching related. (OH! the horror!

[+Centaur]

Another thing we watched a lot was the Altitude display going across the mountains out west. Here in Illinois things are basicly FLAT. We found ourselves watching the altitude numbers run up and down, sometimes approaching 100' per minute on some of the steepest routes. Im sure the numbers were accurate as at the top of the passes the Summit Level signs were within +/- 50 feet of what the GPS5 was reading, most times +/- 10 feet. A cute feature of the mapsource software, is that it will display the altitude of a downloaded track on a graph. We could see the peaks and vallys vs. distance driven on the graph.

 

Other interesting notes on the trip -

While geocaching under heavy tree cover, on the side of a mountian, we did loose lock for a minute or 2, but had 4 to 8 birds locked up under moderate cover and at any of the cache sites with the original antenna.

 

My wife, Patch, as the passenger - who would normally be playing the Navigator role, enjoyed the fact that she could sit back and relax and not have to navigate or watch for exit signs or fumble with paper maps. True, this vacation was mostly straight shots down major highways, easily something we both could have done without the GPS, but it added another layer of comfort to the "What if" if we did get off route or turned around. The compass "direction of travel" the GPSV displayed was more accurate then the car's built in magnetic compass display, which I chalk up to driving through the declination adjustment zones without readjusting the car's compass.

 

Patch's negitive comment was that we spent too much time "geeking" with the laptop and the GPS. I tried various methods for downloading tracks and uploading new maps to the GPSV. (A map upload session could take 30 minutes) Sometimes I did this in the motel room after the days drive, sometimes I did this while driving, and sometimes in the morning before setting out. I chalk it up to getting used to any new equipment, and trying various tricks.

 

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While on vacation, I also got a few others of our friends interested in geocaching by showing off the GPS. Even placed a cache in Califorina. Marble Orchard

 

Yes, we could have done the whole trip using the paper maps, and maybe even hit a cache or 2 using only maps, but this added some fun and comfort to the trip. I believe it was money well spent, and a great introduction to a fun sport.

 

Thanks!

-Centaur

 

[This message was edited by Centaur on September 14, 2002 at 08:23 AM.]

[+Centaur]

quote:

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Lyra said:

Centaur

 

What a cachemobile! I've now got some great ideas for outfitting my Jeep, unless you're willing to sell yours!

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Nope, sorry. mine mine mine mine mine. >Whaped by Patch<

Ooch. Ours Ours Ours Ours Ours.

 

Actually, one of the reasons we decided to drive was because we did have a new car, a GMC Envoy we bough just about a year ago. Our first actual new car in many a long year. We figured it could survive the 5000 mile trip, and we were right. The down side is we are now going to have to hock stuff to pay for the gas the SUV used. It is a terrible gas hog. Ah well, such is the price of vacations. The radar detector is actually on loan from a friend, and the cellphone was for emergencies, I would have rather have had a CB, but didn't have time to geek one in to the car. Patch dosent like CBs anyway.

 

Vacation over... now the bills show up. But what is the price on having fun, seeing far away friends, finding odd and wonderful places along the trip, and getting a new respect for the countryside?

 

Check out some of the vacation pictures I just uploaded for Markwell's traveling cache, Shaggy and Scooby-doo: here.

 

-Centaur

 

[This message was edited by Centaur on September 14, 2002 at 08:28 AM.]

[GeoStars]

We're heading out for a week and a half get-a-away shortly. When it's done, we'll have 3,000+ miles under our belts and hopefully a few caches. Like you, we're combining geocaching with other interests. Don't have nearly the gadgets you have though...

 

I do have a folder filled with printouts of caches that we're hoping to find and maps to each. I've decided that I definitely am asking for a Palm Pilot for Christmas! Been looking at laptops but that'll have to wait...

 

Just to torture myself, I've been doing cache searches for areas that we vacationed in last year. Yep, we missed out on some cool sounding caches since we hadn't yet discovered the game. Guess we'll have to go back!

 

GeoMedic - team leader of GeoStars

[+Gimpy]

Just got back from a weeks vacation at Cape Cod, Mass. I had the V autoroute me from NY to the Cape, all around the Cape & other areas of Mass. the whole week, to & around Stockbridge, Mass. on the way back, & then back home to NY. Never looked at a map or asked for directions once. The V never skipped a beat. City Select 4.01 in the V,Metroguide 4.01 in the Street Pilot & Topo East in the MAP76. This is the only way to travel.I was amazed, that the tiniest of back streets & the most remote points of interests were in the mapping programs. No more paper maps or getting lost..

 

"Gimpy"

[umc]

WoW, Great Stuff.

 

Quite the adventure you had there. I am interested in the -V- but will probably forego that because of the lack of expandable memory.

 

Anyway can you tell me about the 'off-road' feature and what it is/does?

 

Thanks

 

[+Centaur]

Off-road is exactly what any GPSr WITHOUT street maps does... its points you at the destination in a straight line.

 

When you load the V with street level detail maps, it will take you close to the cache as possible on the streets (which sometimes is NOT the best approach to the cache) and then say you are at the zero point. However, thats as close as you can come with your Car. You then tell it to stop using the maps, and you walk to follow the compass pointer like any non-mapped GPSr off the road and to the cache.

 

-Centaur

[umc]

Thanks for the quick reply. If you leave the maps on it will show you trailing off the road into the open area right? I use a GM100 which has the detailed maps minus the 'off-road' feature but if there isn't road there its open space on the map as far as the mapping screen goes. How far can you zoom in with the -V-?

 

Thanks again.

 

[+Centaur]

You could actually get to the cache using the map mode, you have to turn off the "lock to road" feature that keeps the car pointer on the roadways. It will show the cache in the "blank" spaces between the roads, like in parks, etc. But unless you switch things to the "off road" mode, you dont get the compass pointer display and the countdown to the cache location.

The closest zoom on the V is 20 feet on the display, and 300 feet on the mapsource data.

-Centaur

[umc]

Thanks for the info.

 

20 feet that is amazing

 

[+Firefishe]

Glad your trip with the V was enjoyable.

 

I'll be getting one soon, myself. Gotta love those 12 bars!

 

'Cache On!

 

Warm regards,

Firefishe (Stephen Brown)

thequantumfishe@chartermi.net

 

[umc]

After my trip to Cabelas today I now realize that I have to have a Garmin GPS V. I went there to compare the GPS V and the Meridian Platinum. The V blew the plat away when it came to size and screen quality. I really want more than 19MB though and would like to have it on cards like the plat but oh well. I did not buy anything today but hope to at some point.

 

My question is this. Can you partition the 19MB in anyway? Such at one meg areas of where ever you want. Can you have both the Topo map and the road map on it at the same time for the same area? I ask this because I would want to switch back and forth.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[+nscaler]

If you can find a 90 degree BNC connector, you could have a better install. These are available at ham radio stores or you could try radio shack. It has a male on one end, female on the other. It lets the cable come out in line with the case.

 

nscaler

"Anyone not here, raise your hand!".

[+Centaur]

quote:

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Originally posted by umc:

 

My question is this. Can you partition the 19MB in anyway? Such at one meg areas of where ever you want. Can you have both the Topo map and the road map on it at the same time for the same area? I ask this because I would want to switch back and forth.

 

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Not that I have tried this, because I only have the mapsource city-select that came with the V, but the V's instruction book clearly states:

 

"The Mapsource info screen shows which maps have been downloaded from the mapsource city select CD-ROM (or an optional Mapsource CD-rom).

Each map is described by name and may be deselected if you wish to retain the map in memory but not display it on the map page. This is particulary useful if the same map area is downloaded from more then one mapsource-family product."

 

 

So yea, looks like you can load the same area from city select and topo, assumign you dont exceed a total of 19meg in the combination. The V will automatically allocate the 19 meg as needed to the maps.

 

-Centaur

 

[+Gimpy]

quote:

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Originally posted by umc:

 

My question is this. Can you partition the 19MB in anyway? Such at one meg areas of where ever you want. Can you have both the Topo map and the road map on it at the same time for the same area? I ask this because I would want to switch back and forth.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

http://www.mi-geocaching.org/

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Yes you can. You can have the same map areas loaded with City Select, Metroguide,Topo R&R, etc.

But when viewing, the City Select would automatically be viewed as that takes priority over the others. When, if say, you get to the cache area via City Select, & you want to go to the Topos to head off road after the cache,you just have to go into the Mapsource info on the unit & deselect City Select. From the map page, hit menu, & from the menu items,select "Mapsource Info". You'll see all the sections of maps that are in the unit, & at the bottom, it'll tell you whether it's Topo, City Select, etc. To switch from CS to Topos, just highlight the CS map line & hit enter to de-select it. The checkmark should disappear from the associated box, & as long as the Topo line for that area is checked, you'll now be viewing Topos for the area. All this providing you've loaded the sections from Mapsource on your PC. You can load an area with City Select, that might be 5mb. Then switch to Topo, & load the same are, which might add 2mb. Then switch to Metroguide, & load the same area with that, which might add another 4mb. So for that area of the maps, you have CS, Metro. & Topos, & have used 11mb of your 19mb limit. Hope this helps more than confuses.

 

"Gimpy"

 

[This message was edited by Gimpy on September 21, 2002 at 08:32 PM.]

[umc]

That helps me tons guys. Thanks a lot.

 

I currently have a GM100 but would like something new but a big reason for me to upgrade would be to have more memory. I really wish the V used memory cards but since it doesn't how has the 19MB served you guys? I know its a pain with my GM 100 to have to upload and download when I want a different area. All and all I would probably be set if I could get all of Michigan in there but would probably want both topo and city and streets as I don't travel much and if I were to I could take my laptop. Also, Can you use the mapsource map on a laptop and the V as a reciever and have your laptop act as the GPS? so that you could follow along on the laptop apposed to the GPSr.

 

Thanks again.

 

[+Gimpy]

Another thing to keep in mind to save on memory useage. Only load detailed map areas that you need. Take Michigan,for instance. If you're in Detroit, & you want to go after caches in Battle Creek & Flint, just load map sections for Bat. Creek & Flint. Just the immediate areas you plan on heading to. You don't have to load the whole area in between. The V will still autoroute you to where you want to go. If you're in Bat. Creek, which you've got detailed maps loaded for, & want to head for Flint, the unit will route you in between the two, on major highways, via the built in base map. When you get to the area that you've got maps loaded for, the detailed maps take over. And I can't help you with the laptop thing, but I think folks here have done it, & will respond.

 

"Gimpy"

[+Centaur]

quote:

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Originally posted by umc:

That helps me tons guys. Thanks a lot.

 

I really wish the V used memory cards but since it doesn't how has the 19MB served you guys?

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I wish it had expandable memory too. On another thread someone made mention that Garmin was going to expand the memory size of the V, but a search of Garmins web site showed nothing on this topic.

My delemma is that for all the maps I want to have in my V continuously, im 500K over the 19Meg limit. I live in chicago, and around any place that has high population density and high Point-of-interest density the city-select areas are relativly small, along with being large file size. I sent in a request to garmin for a modification of city-select to be able to load it without all the Point-of-interest stuff, just the detail and autorouting data. I mean, I dont need to know where every McDonalds and Hotel is.

 

But for areas of average or low population density, the POI data is small and the mapped area covered is large. On our 2 week trip I was able to load vast areas out west, enough for 2 days (1000 miles) travel at a time, and was still under 19 megs.

 

quote:

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Also, Can you use the mapsource map on a laptop and the V as a reciever and have your laptop act as the GPS? so that you could follow along on the laptop apposed to the GPSr.

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Yes, thats why i purchased the Data/Power combined cable. I had the GPS running and there is a "tracking" option on mapsource that displayes all the major GPS info on the screen along with a map and the vehicle moving pointer. It also keeps a track of the movent, and you can save it all on the laptop. Alas, in our car's configuration for the trip, there was no place I could put the laptop where I could see it from the drivers seat, so after playing with the tracking function for a day, i didnt use it much. If i could have seen the laptop from my position, it could have served as a huge color GPS display in real time. The CitySelect will even Autoroute in the laptop itself. You can then upload that route to the GPS, or just follow it along on the realtime map, though wihtout the turn-by-turn beeps and warnins the GPS gives. The one oddball thing was that when I autorouted on the laptop, and then saved that route and uploaded it to the GPS the GPS would complain about the route not matching its maps, and ask if it could recalculate the routes. The destination would always be the same, but there must be some minor differences between the way the laptop/cityselect autoroutes and the way the GPS/cityselect autoroutes. Thats someting ill leave up to the programming gurus at Garmin. Thats also may have what lead to the oddball hangup I had at Devils Tower when the GPSV hung. It was a route I had set up on the laptop, with a bunch of manual stops along the way, that I did not let the GPSV recalculate once I had uploaded it. If i had let it recalculate, it would would have only gotten me to the endpoint, not all the other stops i wanted to make along the way.

I guess I should have made multiple routes out of it, but I was being lazy. (Isnt that what vacations are for?

 

-Centaur

 

 

[This message was edited by Centaur on September 22, 2002 at 06:53 AM.]

 

[This message was edited by Centaur on September 22, 2002 at 06:54 AM.]

 

[This message was edited by Centaur on September 22, 2002 at 06:56 AM.]

 

[This message was edited by Centaur on September 22, 2002 at 06:58 AM.]

[umc]

Thank you thank you

 

See, I'm thinking that the 19MB may be ok because I will use my laptop for the long trips with the V and just the V for the local caching/fishing stuff.

 

Thanks again you all have been very helpful.

 

[umc]

Any idea when the GPS V came out (year/month)? Just wondering if Garmin is due for a new model. I doubt it because I think that the V is it right?

 

[+Centaur]

quote:

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Originally posted by umc:

Any idea when the GPS V came out (year/month)? Just wondering if Garmin is due for a new model. I doubt it because I think that the V is it right?

 

http://www.mi-geocaching.org/

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I don't know when the V first hit the market, but I think its been out at least a year. I dont know what the lifecycle of a GPS unit is.

-Centaur