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Old 01-19-2004, 09:18 PM   #11
borgman
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Default Re:Anyone using a GPS?

Regarding small roads, we have a portion of the Medicine Bow National Forest about 15 minutes east of where we live (Laramie) which was a military training area during WW2. It is criss-crossed with old road tracks that have been officially closed and abandoned by the forest service when they took over. Many of these, along with the official "numbered" National Forest Service roads, show up on the MapSource/Garmin US Topo software which I use a lot. This is particularly convenient, since the old abandoned roads are wonderful hiking trails, and it adds interest to come upon gun emplacement pits deep in the outback.

Actually, the problem is not with the old small roads (which are usually shown), but rather with new road changes that often do not appear. About 10 or 15 years ago, the Happy Jack road from Laramie to Cheyenne through the National Forest was re-routed and made into an all weather State Highway. (The prior road was a narrow gravel one to a small local ski area, a State Park. and on to Cheyenne.) Anyway, the MapSource Topo maps still do not show the re-routing, but just give the old road placement. I guess that I am echoeing what Larry said, that it takes a few updates of the software before changes find their way into the maps.

As to my geological background, -- no, my background is not hard rock. I graduated from the Colorado School of Mines (class of 1953) in Petroleum Geology and went to work for Shell Oil in Houston. Shell put me to work in the newly developing offshore oil area and told me to become an "Ocean Engineer". I went on to get a Master's degree in Mathematics (Univ. Houston, night school) and a PhD. in Statistics (UC Berkely). Ultimately, I ended up as a University Professor, specializing in geomathematics and environmental geostatistics. Although I retired from university teaching about 5 years ago, I still do quite a bit of consulting in ocean wave and coastal storm risk methodology.

Back to the GPS topic, I think that you will enjoy using it. Garmin puts out a VHS video providing instruction for just about every model they sell. The videos are an excellent introduction to all the features built into the GPS and are a "good buy".

Incidently, the forest service roads in the "Pole Mountain" portion of the Medicine Bow National Forest (all shown on the MapSource Topo maps) permit disseminated camping anywhere within 100 feet of an officially "numbered" road. This provides a vast and uncrowded camping area for those TM Owners that like to "boondock".

Best Wishes,
WyomingRockHound
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Old 01-20-2004, 01:13 PM   #12
Larry_Loo
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Windbreaker, you'd be surprised at how many very insignificant roads are included in the GPS databases like Mapsource's City Navigator. Another thing that you can do is to input a forest service map showing the areas in which you're planning to travel into your GPS. There are quite a few, inexpensive software programs written for GPS units (mainly Garmin, I've found) that allow one to scan in a map, load it into the GPS, and finally plug in a few latitude and longitude coordinates to give the GPS unit reference points. Then you can navigate offroad with that particular map and it will show on your moving map - if you're using a unit equipped with one. I purchased a $30 program over a year ago but haven't made the time to try it out. If you're contemplating doing this kind of offroad travel, it's best to research the GPS units - and software written for them - before you purchase your new GPS. I will find the GPS information site that I used in the past and post the link to it later. Finally, there are some reputable Internet dealers who will sell you a GPS unit at a big discount. I ourchased my StreetPilot III for $770 from an Internet store when our local stores were selling it for $1,000 to $1,200.

One final consideration: the color screen, moving map GPS units consume a lot more electrical power than the handheld ones with a black and white screen. If your GPS usage is primarily for vehicular navigation, then a color, moving map GPS will suit you fine. It will be happy on its diet of DC power emanating from the cigarette lighter's outlet. Take it out of the vehicle for a hike, however, and you'll discover that it will only last about 5 or 6 hours on its onboard batteries. If you need a GPS unit for both vehicular navigation and backwoods hiking, you might compromise on a handheld unit that will run for a long time on its own batteries. The handheld unit, however, won't have all of the additional, unique features that can make highway GPS navigation such a pleasure. : :
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Old 01-20-2004, 03:12 PM   #13
Larry_Loo
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Here's the link to Joe Mehaffey's site that contains more information about GPS navigation than you'd ever believe existed:

http://gpsinformation.net/

It's worth spending a few hours reading about the various GPS units and the reviews of them before you actually plunk your money down. The links to software programs that allow one to input scanned maps into their GPS units is at the bottom of this very long first page.
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Old 01-20-2004, 05:18 PM   #14
Windbreaker
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Thanks guys, very useful information. I figure I just got my $12 dollars worth in the last 4 or 5 post here. Thanks again.
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Old 01-27-2004, 11:08 AM   #15
arknoah
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Boy GPS sounds better and better still. We haven't had the need for one yet, but I said the same thing about Palm Pilots four years ago, and you can imagine what happened after that. I especially didn't know about using it to record location when you find somethine really neat while camping or hiking.

Thanks for the link, Larry. I'll check it out soon.
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Old 01-27-2004, 11:58 PM   #16
kdrickard
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Default Re:Anyone using a GPS?

Has anyone here used a handheld GPS for Geocaching? http://www.geocaching.com I've heard about it for a while, and am beginning to get the bug to buy a GPS for this -- seems like it may be fun for the kids (and for me! ;D ). Curious...

Thanks,

Kevin
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Old 02-17-2004, 04:25 PM   #17
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In my business, we get "points" similar to camel bucks, or marlbouro miles for buying product. We've never cashed in on all the points we had aquired, so we all split up half the points to 200,000 points apiece, to get whatever we wanted. I got a Garmen Etrex Legend with my points, and I'd have to say they've come a long way since my last GPS unit which was a Lawrence. It retails about $212.00 or so, and does show most roads, as well as tell you what services are available at the next exit up ahead. I've been VERY pleased with this unit, and is MUCH more accurate, (down to 15 feet on a good day). It also supports the WAAS system, and if put in that mode, is accurate down to 3 feet if the correct satalites are available. That is every bit as accurate as the military GPS units that aren't fooled by the Selective Availability of the satalites. (Which is in place to fool civilian GPS units on purpose). For those of you that are familiar with military grid, it does support MGRS. For those of you that have never used a military GPS, or "slugger" as we affectionally called them in the infantry, they do not have any fancy screens or maps, they simply show your grid coordinate, and it's up to you to find yourself on the map in your pocket. At any rate, if anyone in here is looking for a decent GPS, at a decent price, I highly recommend the Garmin Etrex Legend, you really get a lot of bang for your buck, and it will go for hours and hours on one set of batteries. It's very small, smaller than my cell phone, and just an all around good unit. You can find this GPS at any Wallmart Store in the sporting goods section. You can also use all the Garmin software with it. Hope this helps people!


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Old 03-26-2019, 12:46 PM   #18
camp2canoe
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Hello, old and new friends - we used to be frequent posters until October of 2012 when I became a SOB (some other brand) owner. My question is whether any of the truck or RV specific GPS units advise as to whether service stops are RV friendly? We've all been there where we fuel up and then DW has to hold up traffic on a busy road so you can back out or you are stuck waiting for 20 minutes while someone inside who is parked JUST where you need to be to pull out finishes his coffee. Thanks. - Camp2Canoe

P.S. We are co-hosts of the Charter Chapter Trailblazer rally in Keiler, WI, this June and you are ALL invited to join us!
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Old 03-26-2019, 06:49 PM   #19
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Wow, talk about dredging up golden oldies! (15 years later!)

Anyway, last year I got the Garmin RV-GPS device because we were going to be travelling to Disneyland. That meant going through LA.

It worked beautifully. It shows an almost photo quality image of the exits, along with arrows showing what lanes you need to be in for the route you are taking. That was extremely helpful to us. I knew I didn't want to be doing the backup up routine in LA. Not cool.

We didn't get the traffic subscription, but it does get some traffic information. I'm not sure how it all works, it wasn't perfect for traffic, but good enough for us.

There were a few times I forgot to take it off RV mode and it would take me through long routes just to go across the street. So, if you are unhitched, you need to remember to switch it to car mode, then switch it back to RV mode when hitched up.
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Old 03-26-2019, 06:51 PM   #20
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Ah, to be more specific, I didn't get into trouble with any service stops, but most of them on the I-5 are truck friendly anyway. It will warn me sometimes that it doesn't know if a route is truck friendly, though.
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