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#117673 - 12/27/07 04:47 PM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: Eugene]
KenK Offline
"Be Prepared"
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 06/26/04
Posts: 2208
Loc: NE Wisconsin
You'll like it A LOT! Great GPS

You WILL find yourself using it for vehicle routing - it is so good at it that I know you will. So ... I'd suggest you invest in the MapSource City Navigator NT North America. I actually got the one on the memory card so I have ALL north american maps in one card - very easy.

From a survival standpoint the on-board maps have an important utility. If you find yourself lost or stuck somewhere then the maps will tell you where the nearest features are, such as fuel, hospitals, hotels, cities, etc. Last winter we had a fellow adult Scout leader get sick on a campout. We used my 60CSx to find the nearest hotel for his lodge, the nearest drug store to get medication, and the nearest hospital just in case. It provided phone numbers to each of these so we could call ahead.

Also get a 12V cord to power it in your vehicle. I have a RAM suction cup mount - great mount - that I use for longer trips, but I for shorter trips I just put my 60CSx in the cupholder on shorter trips and pick it up when unsure of an upcoming turn.

Last, you'll want a cord to connect your PGS to a PC. I'll also strongly recommend you look at EasyGPS.com and its bigger brothers ExpertGPS.com and GeoBuddy.com (the latter two provide on-line topo maps and arial photos of the US - GeoBuddy is geared toward geocachers). EasyGPS provides a simple tool for down/up-loading waypoints/routes/tracks to your PC. EasyGPS is free. ExpertGPS cost $60 (I think VERY worthwhile for the online topo maps). Geobuddy is on holiday sale for $45 - same features as ExpertGPS plus some - great deal!

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#117679 - 12/27/07 05:15 PM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: KenK]
KenK Offline
"Be Prepared"
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 06/26/04
Posts: 2208
Loc: NE Wisconsin
Oh .. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL!!!!!!!

Go to http://www.shieldzone.com NOW and order an InvisibleShield screen protector for your eTrex - $12.95 + shipping. Order it now so you can put it on right away. The one I got saved my GPS's display from a large gash. Over time the gash seems to have self-healed and faded. People on groundspeak.com told me it would. Lifetime guarantee - they'll replace it is ever scratched.

These are fantastic protectors and amazingly easy to place on your GPS display. I've used Palm PDAs for 10+ years and used all sorts of display protectors, and the InvisibleShield is the best I've ever used. Just wash your hands, clean the GPS display (w/ Windex), peel the backing off the protector, spray the protector and GPS display with the provided spray stuff, apply the protector sticky side down, position it, squeegee bubbles out - if any, wipe dry w/ paper towel, and let set for 24 hours.

Just this morning I put one on the Geko 301 GPS that I got my son for Christmas. The protector went on without a single bubble.

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#117683 - 12/27/07 06:07 PM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: KenK]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2995
Originally Posted By: KenK
clean the GPS display (w/ Windex),


You shoudn't use Windex on anything but glass windows. It will spften plastic over time and the chemicles in it are not good to get on your hnads and in your mouth or eyes. Its actually pretty nasty stuff.

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#117689 - 12/27/07 06:29 PM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: Eugene]
Scoutdoors Offline
Stranger

Registered: 11/28/07
Posts: 12
Loc: BoBB
Amazon.com has the eTrex Vista HCx for $233 (it's a Legend HCx with an electronic compass and barometric altimeter added). With Amazon Prime shipping, it's a decent deal.
_________________________
A panicked mind is a useless mind - Lawrence Gonzales

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#117705 - 12/27/07 07:41 PM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: Eugene]
KenK Offline
"Be Prepared"
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 06/26/04
Posts: 2208
Loc: NE Wisconsin
Originally Posted By: Eugene
You shoudn't use Windex on anything but glass windows.


Good catch! We use Windex Multi-Surface spray that doesn't have ammonia, so it is safe for plastics.

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#119548 - 01/10/08 01:55 AM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: KenK]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2995
How large of a memory card did that map software come on? If I buy a 2G card myself can I drop everything from the road map and some topo maps all on one card?

geobuddy and expertgps look to be windows only

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#119556 - 01/10/08 02:50 AM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: ]
RayW Offline
Addict

Registered: 12/06/01
Posts: 601
Loc: Orlando, FL
I have the 60 series hcx and have the 2 gig card in it. Don't have any topo's yet but i installed the CONUS road map with all of the points of interest and that used almost 1 gig on the card. So there is plenty of room for more stuff on the card.

Have been impressed with the level of detail in the road maps, yes there will always be some errors but this past weekend i went out to a friends property that is out in the sticks. The "road" to the property was two tire ruts and when the GPS pointed to turn here it was right in front of the pasture gate. Still can't believe that i drove my rice rocket though a cow pasture.

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#119573 - 01/10/08 11:57 AM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: ]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2995
I'll probably buy the map on CD then as I have a 2G card in my phone thats getting low on space so I'm going to get a 4G for my phone then format and stick the 2G in the GPS.
IzzyJG99, does yours not support the USBStorage mode? Thats how I'm pulling the gpx files off of mine under Linux that way. The Garmin software for windows looks and acts like it was written in the windows 3.1 days, even on my work laptop it hangs the whole thing while detecting the GPS.
Mine is accurate on the maps, the few that came on it.

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#119576 - 01/10/08 01:00 PM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: Eugene]
falcon5000 Offline
Addict

Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 662
Eugene, I've had mine for awhile and still love the thing (HCX), my only complaint with Garmin is the size of maps you can put on the micro sd card (which newegg has good deals on them). You can only load something like 2011 maps give or take a few on an sd card, so depending on your situation you may end up buying a bunch of 1 gig sd cards instead of 2 gigs. It would be nice to put a big card in and load a bunch of maps but even with the latest firmware it won't let me do it. You can store other maps on it but you need a laptop to rename the img to use it. The potential of this unit is amazing even with the solar, I'm still tweaking on mine and the things I'm getting it to do is awesome. If you google around a little, you'll find a lot of tricks out there. Anyway here are some map examples below.


For example:

US Street NT 2008 (1- 1 gig card)

Europe 2008 NT (1-1gig card)

US Topo 2008 (4- 1 gig Cards)
4078 Megs 6735 maps

Blue chart America (3- 1 gig Cards)
484 Megs 5587 maps

Blue chart Atlantic (4- 1 gig Cards)
661 Megs 7149 maps

Blue chart Pacific (1-1 gig Card)
115 Megs 1944 maps
_________________________
Failure is not an option!
USMC Jungle Environmental Survival Training PI 1985

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#119577 - 01/10/08 01:18 PM Re: GPS recomendation - Garmin etrex Legend HCx [Re: falcon5000]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2995
I forgot about the limit. I;m confused as to how it sotres the maps on the card, I just see one map file under the garmin folder, does it create more than one file there or just merge them all together into the one? And how does it count 'maps' then. If I wanted to throw everything from the SU Streets on to one cars would that be one huge map or a bunch of small ones?
Do you have the topo cd, is it topo data for the whole US or just select locations?
I might just drive over to the local Micro Center and pick up a bunch of their cheap 1G cards then, they have the 1G for $10.
I've been reading up some some web sites on how to make your own but am finidng the road data isn't very good that way so I may just buy the road cd. I'm also finding that the USGS is limiting the size of downloads which makes getting the topo data difficult. I'm wanting to draw a line between my home and my parents home and then gat everything with a certain disatnce from that line, basically make say a 300 mile raduis of my bug out route.

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