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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:56 pm 
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Location: Las Vegas, NV.
AHH! June Lake, that brings back many childhood memories. I haven't been there in about 15 years and I do miss it. My grandmother used to take Us there in the summer when I was a kid. :)

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:50 am 
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Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 9:03 pm
Posts: 174
Location: Winnemucca, NV
Justin wrote:
I bought the Garmin Etrex about 5 years ago and use it occasionaly with maps. ... It's a battery hog ...

Another nice thing about the basic eTrex w/no maps. I generally get two full days and about half of a third on a set of two AA alkali batteries on my trips, leaving the GPS turned on from the moment I fire up my truck in the morning until we select a spot to camp for the night and I park the truck for the night. I also leave batteries in the unit at all times and do periodically use it for a quick day run now and then; batteries today hold their charge so much longer than those of former days, so they're generally showing full charge or close to it by the time another big trip rolls around so that I use them up in the first day or two of the trip.

trukdj wrote:
AHH! June Lake, that brings back many childhood memories. I haven't been there in about 15 years and I do miss it. My grandmother used to take Us there in the summer when I was a kid.

I lived there 1974-1985; moving up from Big Bear Lake in southern California when I accepted my position with Mono County at June Lake.

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 2:42 pm 
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Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:55 am
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Location: Las Vegas
Then it is time to replace mine, I'm happy to get through one of our runs on a set of batteries.

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:48 pm 
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Location: Las Vegas
Was at REI today and they had the Magellan Triton 2000 on clearance for $135. they had one left when we checked out.

http://www.magellangps.com/products/pro ... rodID=1916

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:53 am 
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Location: Winnemucca, NV
Magellan Website wrote:
Magellan Triton 2000 - North America
Large color touch screen, 2 MP camera, voice recorder, LED flashlight, and SD-card expandability enable you to take pictures and capture sounds, to record your adventure as you navigate and store the information to share with others or reference yourself later. 3-axis electronic compass, built-in barometer and more 2 Mega Pixel camera
Voice recorder & flashlight
Color touch screen (2.7" QVGA)

Shoot! No wonder it's on the clearance table. Who'd want one of them if it also doesn't cook and serve you a hot breakfast in your sleeping bag every morning; and cook and serve you gourmet cuisine in camp every evening? :lol:

Basically, a camera, flashlight and voice recorder ... seems like overkill to me. I already have all of those, I don't want them in my GPS. And although it seems to have the basic goods covered, I've seen so many products loaded with additional (and in my opinion redundant) features that the basic package is lacking. Like those all in one tools my son-in-law gave me some years back. It's so full of stuff it's nearly useless and it's relegated to the junk drawer. Even using its screwdriver is a lesson in futility.

I guess I'm just a simpleton. I just like things uncomplicated and simple. And as I get older, that trait gets stronger. Don't get me wrong, I like new technology, but if it's too complicated, or to too jammed with "stuff", I'll pass it by.

If I was buying one of the Triton series unit's I'd pick one of the low end models and save money. Because I've already got several LED and regular flashlights, a 7 megapixel camera, and a digital voice recorder with likely far more memory than the Magellan has. And I like a basic GPS or a basic mapping unit that's usable - plain and simple.

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:12 pm 
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Location: Las Vegas
Oh, I hear ya. I won't be using the camera/voice/mp3 :roll: , but the 2gig SD card and ability to load it with the Nat Geo Topo software that i already have was nice at that price, can load 1:100k or 1:24k maps. It also is much more sensitive than my etrex. It was reading 8 satelites sitting in front of my computer while I was loading the software. My etrex asks if im indoors/no signal and gets lost if I set it too close to the XM antenna in the jeep. I'm going to the Ruby Range this weekend to prep for the nov hunt so will check it out then. Then I have to take Angie geocaching with it, should be much easier to load caches. Almost going to miss my worn out old etrex.... :lol:

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:28 pm 
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Location: Winnemucca, NV
I don't know if it's the lattitude or what. But ... when I lived in Big Pine, California (due west of Bonnie Claire, Nevada), I would normally lock on about four to five satellites. Here in Winnemucca, I routinely lock onto eight and occasionally nine to 10.

I don't know if it's because a more northerly lattitude, or because of the wider horizon east-west in Winnemucca as opposed to the Owens Valley hemmed in on each side by 10,000-14,000 foot peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains and Inyo Range.

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 10:40 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:26 am
Posts: 9
Location: East Las Vegas
i bought a used nextar off of craigslist, but it cost to much to buy the topo maps. then after searching the internet, i came across a site that has free topo maps for garmin. here is the link if anyone wants it.


http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/86/


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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:10 pm 
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For what it's worth, I had an old B&W etrex for a long time, then went to the color etrex HCx for a while. Now I have the Garmin Colorado with the Topo maps preloaded. I am very happy with it, but I will say that the Garmin Oregon is available at Bass Pro for about $300. The main difference is that the Colorado DOES NOT use the touch screen. The Oregon does use the touch screen. There is nothing more annoying to me than trying to hit the little thingy on the screen while the road is going bumpity bump. So, I chose to buy the Colorado. Garmin produced both at the same time, and has since discontinued the Colorado due to the touchscreen popularity of the Oregon. For another charge, you can buy all of the topo maps you might need to load onto either of the base models of those two units. Both can be car mounted, mine sits attached to my windshield with a USB power cable running to my cigarette lighter. That way I only use the batteries when I take it out of the Jeep to go walking around with it. Both do geocaching, but my old Etrex HCx seems to have had better reception. The tech nerds told me that has to do with which chip is in use for any given type of unit, and that the model 60CSx has the best chip on the most featured unit. As far as I am concerned, the Colorado seems to work just fine in the Jeep on the trail, and Garmin uses a standard interchange format, so you can send someone a file from your run that they can load up and follow on their own.

Like I said, for what it's worth.

Travis

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 Post subject: Re: GPS questions
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:49 pm 
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Location: Las Vegas
I really enjoyed having the topo maps loaded on my hunting trip to the Ruby Range. And it is easier to load with geocaches. Still don't care for the camera and mp3.

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