500/1000 Waypoint Built In Memory Standard?

[+Milbank]

Why is it that most hand held GPS units only hold 500 or 1000 waypoints on there built in memory?

 

I would think with memory being so cheap and the size of it being so small it would be nothing for manufactures to have a 5000 or 10,000 built in waypoint memory.

 

My 1000 waypoint memory if filling up fast on my Legend (use it for work too) so I'm started to look for a replacement GPS.

 

My new unit must be color (why not ) and must hold more then 1000 waypoint.

I would also like to keep it small like the Legend.

 

I don't want to use a palm/cable and gps as it's to much to cary around everyday at work.

 

I have found very few options and one options I'm looking at is the Explorist 500 and 600.

 

Are there any other current or future hand held gps units that will fit my needs?

[Alphawolf]

Wow...I have been selling these things for 6 years now and teaching GPS navigation for 4 years. You are the first person I have came across who thought 1000 waypoints was too little! How do you manage them? I am curious. Doesn't it become a real burden trying to sort them out on your GPSR? I find I hate it when I get more than about 20-50 on my unit! I keep all the others on my PC until I need them. Anyway, I am not familiar with any models that do more. They might be out there, but they are not mainstream models. Good luck. Alphawolf out.

[+Milbank]

How do you manage them?

 

Like I said I use my gps for work.

My waypoints are peoples last names.

 

I use the "find" button on my legend and search for the waypoint that way.

For example if the person I'm looking for is Anderson I click the find button, click on the A then N.

 

My list of waypoints then go to all the ones starting with An so I just scroll down the list to find Anderson.

 

 

 

Doesn't it become a real burden trying to sort them out on your GPSR?

 

No, the find button makes it really fast to find a waypoint I have stored.

Edited February 15, 2005 by Milbank

[+Konnarock Kid & Marge]

To Alphawolf:

You seem to know what you are talking about regarding GPSrs. Allow me to ask a stupid question: We have a Garmin eTrez Vista and I believe it has a 500 waypoint limit. I assume that when a waypoint is deleted you have that memory left to use for another waypoint up to the 500 limit Is that correct? Thanks

Edited February 15, 2005 by Konnarock Kid & Marge

[+Milbank]

Guess I could get another Legend and keep waypoints A-K on one unit and L-Z waypoints on the second unit.

Edited February 15, 2005 by Milbank

[+Milbank]

To Alphawolf:

You seem to know what you are talking about regarding GPSrs. Allow me to ask a stupid question: We have a Garmin eTrez Vista and I believe it has a 500 waypoint limit. I assume that when a waypoint is deleted you have that memory left to use for another waypoint up to the 500 limit Is that correct? Thanks

I'm not Alphawolf, sorry.

 

Yes you are correct about deleting a waypoint and freeing up that memory for new waypoint.

 

You can also go to the garmin website and update your Vista so it holds 1000 waypoint.

Check the software ver. on your Vista first as it may already have the newest updates from the factory.

 

If it's a preaty new Vista I would bet your book says 500 waypoints, but the software has already been updated at the factory to hold 1000 waypoints.

[+Konnarock Kid & Marge]

Thanks Milbank. I will go to the garmin site. We bought our Vista last Summer.

[+embra]

Milbank and Alphawolf's comments hilight the two aspects of waypoint lists. Sometimes it's handy to have expansive databanks of waypoints, but large groups *can* become unwieldy quickly.

 

I like to travel with a few hundred cache waypoints loaded in case the opportunity arises to chase one down in my local ramblings. I also like to have benchmark waypoints for each of the 4 to 6 counties in the greater embra metropolitan area. The expandable SD memory (as in the Meridian) has thus become an essential feature for being able to swap manageable file sizes in and out of active memory.

[+TresOkies]

Guess I could get another Legend and keep waypoints A-K on one unit and L-Z waypoints on the second unit.

You could use a Palm with CacheMate to keep track of the addresses of your customers. With the proper cable (around $25) you could blast the addresses you need into your GPSR. You wouldn't even need an expensive Palm. Just make sure to get one that is a serial unit (Palm III, V, VII, m1xx, Visor) or a USB unit with the Universal Connector (m5xx, Tungsten C, Zire 71).

 

Or splurge and get a Garmin iQue. I've seen the 3200 as low as $360. I believe the address book has a field for a waypoint and provides turn-by-turn directions.

[robertlipe]

The Meridians will let you have essentially an unlimited number on SD, but you'll only get 500 at a time and thus you'll want to do an "erase all" when flipping them around.

 

So you could create hash buckets where each of your customers is in a file starting with the first letter of their name. Erase all the waypoints, load the letter "L" when you're ready to come visit me, and pick my name from the list of folks starting with "L"

 

If you aren't ready to go quite that nuts yet, you could just divide the alphabet up by frequency like "A-K, L-R, S-Z" or something. At the other extreme, if you have more than 500 in your worst case letter, you can subdivide it like "SA-SL, SM-SZ".

[+embra]

I note your (Milbank's) interest in the hi-eXplori...they will have a hierarchal file management system like we see on our computers that will greatly facilitate organization of multiple files in SD memory. One thing that has been a bit of a drag on my Meridian with its flat, single-folder storage is that I end up with a lot of files to sort through looking for the one I want.

[+NightPilot]

IMO the way to go is a Palm, Mapopolis, and the Legend. Leave the Legend in the car all the time, carry the Palm with the contact and calendar information, and just hook them up for driving. You can just put the contact's last name into Mapopolis, and get driving directions immediately. The Palm holds more addresses than you'll ever need, and Mapopolis has every address in the US. My Palm is never far from me, but the Legend pretty much stays in the car unless I'm caching. No need for anything in the Legend but caches, and I can put them there with either GSAK or Cachemate. For driving directions, I just need a name from the address book or if the name isn't there, an address. Quick, easy, and dependable. I don't even need to look at the Palm when driving, I just follow the voice prompts most of the time.

[+benjamin921]

You can also go to the garmin website and update your Vista so it holds 1000 waypoint.

Check the software ver. on your Vista first as it may already have the newest updates from the factory.

So this update is for the Vista only and not the Vista C?

[+NightPilot]

Yep. You pay lots of money for color and a somewhat worthless USB cable, but it doesn't buy as much otherwise.

[+benjamin921]

Isn't this something that Garmin can do in a future update?

Edited February 16, 2005 by benjamin921

[+NightPilot]

Depends. I don't know the physical memory chip in the C, so while it's possible, I doubt it's likely, or they would have made it 1000 in the first place.

[+TresOkies]

Depends. I don't know the physical memory chip in the C, so while it's possible, I doubt it's likely, or they would have made it 1000 in the first place.

Not so sure about that. My Vista had 500 waypoints when I got it. A subsequent firmware upgrade got me the 1000. Perhaps someone found some extra ROM space and they decided to up the number of waypoints. Or they already had space in reserve and they decided they wouldn't use it with software features so they exposed it as waypoint memory.