Garmin software updates

[tat]

Brdad's suggestion to swap gpsrs is a good way to see how your technique works with an unfamiliar unit. It might also be interesting to see what each gpsr is capable of.

Place all the gpsrs on a picnic table in an open area, turn them on all at once, and see how long they take to acquire a fix, how long they take to zero in on a reading, how close they are to each other.

Perhaps a surveyor could bring a professional unit to accurately determine the location.

Then, go to another table, under some nice pines, next to a cliff, and repeat the test.

We could even video tape both tables and accurately tabulate the results.

I'll bet we could test almost every popular brand in less than an hour.

[GeoMaine]

Tat;

Now that I read your log, we actually did something very similar to what you just suggested! At "The Last Cache Bashe of Summer" there was a event cache that was released as a game, FTF got a nice door prize. There were approximately 20 of us with GPS'rs. When we got to the immediate area, the radius of users was about sixty feet and we were all frantically looking in our focus point on the GPS. (It was a good door prize!) Msteelee was the clear winner with her Legend.

The only thing left to do in this experiment was to have everyone turn off their GPS, reestablish satellite contact and see if they were brought to a different spot or the same one they had been in. Oh. and pry the Legend out of Msteelee's fingers to see if someone else could replicate the same finding.

Personally, I think that brdad (one very smart guy) must have hacked the lousy antenna out of msteelee's legend and replaced it with a home made job... one that rivals the military's 'accuracy within a foot' GPS hardware. Perhaps his attempt at a better antenna has wildly succeeded?! : )

I find it hard to believe that 'pilot error' in a experienced geocacher would be much of an issue. After all, all we really do is just go to our GPS ground zero and then start looking? Switching from the Rino to the Legend was a non-event for me in terms of using it. The GUI on it is really identical.

I've tried everything with my Legend and simply can't get even a marginal result with it in pine tree cover, even just as an experiment. (Same 'pilot' same GPS angle, same everything, all with varied results.) I can't even imagine it with a full tree canopy in the summer! Ah, but in a field or my yard, it's quick to get me to nearly the same spot every time.

My skills as a geocacher are (I think) pretty good at this point? I think that the groundwork is clearly the most important element of geocaching, but I do (heh) sort of rely on my GPS bringing me to at least a feasible distance to the area the cache is in.

I know that we all have our favorite GPS's (usually the one that we own) but I would be most curious to hear about the ones that people might have initially bought... and then returned/exchanged for another model because it worked better for them.

I'm heading to LL Bean on Tuesday to get stupid and buy ANOTHER GPS on top of the one I already have... Unless someone is so kind to point me in the direction I should be heading in. I'd love to by the entire line of GPS's but (heh) I'm not sure that's what LL bean has in mind for their return policy.

I'll buy lunch (VIA $10.00 'PayPal') for the person that offers the winning advice. : )

[Beach Comber]

I use an eTrex Vista and have liked it for the most part. My biggest complaint is that the direction arrow on the compass setting does not work well consistently. There have been times when I am caching with another person and their arrow will be pointing in the complete opposite direction as mine. Unfortunately, their's is usually right and mine is not. hmph!

I have learned to watch the distance and choose my direction accordingly. It costs me some backtracking, which I don't usually mind unless of course I am at Etna Bog in the winter with hip deep snow and no snow shoes! The path to follow is usually obvious enough that back tracking is not a significant enough an issue for me to want to change to another model. Otherwise, I find that the accuracy is quite high.

Ahhhh, but what about those DNF's that I talk about? I would give myself credit for those rather than blame my GPS - LOL!!

[brdad]

I use an eTrex Vista and have liked it for the most part. My biggest complaint is that the direction arrow on the compass setting does not work well consistently. There have been times when I am caching with another person and their arrow will be pointing in the complete opposite direction as mine. Unfortunately, their's is usually right and mine is not. hmph!

I do know with the Vista's electronic compass - if you have the electronic compass off, it performs like the basic Etex; you have to move from one spot to another in a straight line while obtaining good signals for the arrow to point correctly. If you have the electronic compass on, it needs to be calibrated and you need to hold the Vista near level, and you need a good signal where you are standing. Not owning one I can't be sure, but it seems a person is better off with the electronic compass off unless you are in a position where it can be held level. Also, the electronic compass also works like a traditional compass, so using it near ledges with high metal content or near large, incriminating, metal objects will most likely throw you for a loop.

And, for a final note - msteelee has a stock Legend. If I'm gonna doctor anyone's GPS up so it has an advantage, it's gonna be mine! She doesn't need any help!

[Beach Comber]

Ohhhhhhh, perhaps I should have turned the electronic compass off for Old 470 LOL!

[Mainiac1957]

I also use the e-trex Vista with I feel good sucsess. I leave my compass turned on most of the time,but do turn it off if it seems to be acting strangely. There are settings on the Vista to say when the compass works. Under Main Menu click on settings and then headings. You will see auto compass settings based on MPH. Maybe you could play around with those.

[Beach Comber]

I'll check that out. I have a couple of questions about the Vista - maybe you can help me.....

1. Apparently when playing with the settings one day I managed to set it so that when I am using it without the GPS active, there is a dashed line in the middle of the compass. When the GPS is active the middle portion of the arrow now separates itself from the head and the tail of the arrow and gradually moves laterally away from the it's original place in the middle of the arrow. I can't seem to figure out what I did to make THAT happen!

2. I have not used the "breadcrumbs" feature and cannot even figure out how to make it work. But then again maybe I'd rather not see the path I took sometimes - LOL. When we did Etna Bog, Diana and I not only laughed, but we gasped when we saw the trail that we took in as compared to the trail that we took out. ai yi yi - that was tooooooo funny!

Thanks in advance!!!

[WhereRWe?]

I have a Legend, not a Vista, but #1 is a FEATURE that is also on the Legend.

The center separated line is the deviation from the course - the ends of the pointer. You start out on a course, and if you drift from that course, the center portion tells you how far off you are.

To go back to the original settings, just restore the defaults.

Gotta love Garmin!

[Mainiac1957]

The bread crumbs feature is great if you go on a long hike with multiple turns on trails. It is on the Main Menu page as well. It's called tracks. I'll show you next weekend. Easy to use for sure. I don't use it as often as I should. It would make my life much easier on long hikes.

[Hiker Twins]

I'm heading to LL Bean on Tuesday to get stupid and buy ANOTHER GPS on top of the one I already have... Unless someone is so kind to point me in the direction I should be heading in. I'd love to by the entire line of GPS's but (heh) I'm not sure that's what LL bean has in mind for their return policy. I'll buy lunch (VIA $10.00 'PayPal') for the person that offers the winning advice. : )

Hi GeoMaine: I liked the Garmin Etrex so well, that I went out and bought the Garmin GPS V. It is fun to use it on the road, but I always go back to the Etrex when I am on the trail. Now I have my eye on the new Garmin GPS 60C with its special "Geocaching Navigation Mode". I am just trying to figure out how to convince my husband that I really, really need it!
Twin2