Garmin Legend HCx

[Elessar]

My new toy should arrive in the next few hours according to UPS.  I've tracked in online and Amazon shipped it yesterday and it's out for delivery today.  I'm pretty psyched.  I'm replacing my Magellan CrossOver that is still a great unit, but I have two of them, one for the card and one for my bike (motorcycle) but my new Garmin should work for all my modes of transportation including hiking.  I already have a 4GB micro SD card from an older cell phone that should work.  (I know the Garmin won't address the entire card, but hey, it's cheaper than buying an new one since this one is just laying around unused.)  I already have a RAM mounting system for my previous Magellan so I only needed the RAM mount for the Garmin and I found that on sale for $4.44.  Pretty darn cheap if'n you ask me.  I grabbed that one when I saw it.

I am ready to add some maps and was thinking about the entire 49 states in the US road map for $59 or all of North America for $79.  Then I was thinking about the section of topos that include all of Kentucky.  Does anyone have any advice for which maps to buy?



Edit:  My new GPS has arrived and I still hope to get some advice from some of y'all that are more experienced that me.  Installed my batteries and turned it on at 12:55 pm.  I have ordered the DVD for the City Navigator of North America.

[FredHiltz]

... I am ready to add some maps and was thinking about the entire 49 states in the US road map for $59 or all of North America for $79.  Then I was thinking about the section of topos that include all of Kentucky.  Does anyone have any advice for which maps to buy.

The Topo 24K has more detail at higher cost and higher storage requirement. It is good for hiking, but I find I usually load the 100K scale Topo, which still lets me see my track in relation to important features like rivers, lakes, ridge lines, cliffs, and summits. You should study a couple of areas that you know on the Garmin map viewer. Click view map on either product page.

For road cycling I definitely prefer the 100K scale. 24K has more detail than I can use (or can see at the display scales I usually set when cycling). In the mountains, I like to set up a route in City Navigator to follow roads, then switch the display to Topo to see the grades.

Fred

[Elessar]

F:

I guess I really don't understand the maps that are available.  I assumed that the 24k indicated the file size that would be loaded.  From your post it looks like something else.  I think that some of this is elementary GPS instruction and maybe there is a better place for me to read about this before I drag you through that lower level of discussion.  Let me look around at some of the GPS forums to see if I can find a primer to teach me some of this stuff.  Thanks for your advice.

[chrisch]

If you ever decide to tour in Europe you can get free maps here: http://www.team-oid.de/garmin_maps/.

[FredHiltz]

... I assumed that the 24k indicated the file size that would be loaded.  From your post it looks like something else. 

Hi Bill. 24K refers to the scale of the maps from which the Garmin maps were made, 1:24,000. The Topo US series came from 1:100,000 scale maps. For comparison, the Adventure Cycling maps are roughly 1:250,000.

Imagine a rectangle about the size of our receiver's screen taken from an ACA map. You will see some roads and maybe the next town. Now increase the scale by a factor of 10, which packs 100 times as much detail into that square. You will never see all the detail that the 24K series contains unless you zoom way in. Navigating with this would be like navigating on a 1:24,000 standard topographic quadrangle while looking through a 1" x 2" hole in black paper.

Fred

[Elessar]

F:

Thanks for that information.  I have surfed around a little today between tasks to find very little that describes with precision what you just explained in about three lines.  I'm glad I asked because the supposed experts have a hard time breaking this down into common language for common people.

b

[Elessar]

I have successfully added my 4gb micro sd card after fighting with my computer.  I think it has died and I am restoring from a back up now.  I had to dig into the manual to discover that you have to remove the back of the unit to use a pc to address the card.  Pretty sneaky trick there...

My first batter test lasted almost 24 hours on budget CVS AA's and I am running another test just to verify.  I am running the screen back lighting very low but I think this level will suffice for my needs.  So far the power consumption of this unit seems very low.  Can anyone tell me if this unit will recharge if plugged into the wall charger or a pc?

[FredHiltz]

... Can anyone tell me if this unit will recharge if plugged into the wall charger or a pc?

The owner's manual must say. I don't own and HCx, but my other Garmin units do not. I carry a small light-weight mains charger.

Fred

[Elessar]

It doesn't, as far as I can tell.  Made a shake down drive in my car this weekend using my new Garmin with my new custom GPS mount.  I found that a plain ol' rubber band will plant the GPS directly on top of the steering column in perfect position for viewing without obscuring my view of the other instruments.  It worked perfectly.

[Elessar]

I am still having problems with my Legend from Garmin.  I thought I had this figured out but I spent about two hours working with MapSource last night and I was unable to load a route to my GPSR.  I have successfully transferred routes as tracks that I can see within the tracks menu.

What I have not been able to figure out is how to use a track for a ride.  I want to plan my ride using a course that I have not ridden before, create the route and load it to my GPSR, and then mount the unit on my handlebars and follow the route.

If I have discerned correctly, a track is an event that has already taken place while a route is something that has not taken place yet.

I need help to figure this out because I would like to use MapMyRide, MapSource, BikeMap, etc to plan a ride and then hit the road using my GPSR for directions.  I have a Magellan that I have used for years that I mount in my car or on my motorcycle and can route to and "address" perfectly.  I have used my Legend for this same purpose successfully while in my car.  However, since I am on my bike and riding a circuitous route, I don't actually have an address as a destination except the address from while I am leaving.  I may be reasoning my own answer here as I type.  Maybe I need to place a way point on the route at the turn-around farthest marker to navigate to and when I get to that point, navigate back to my home as a second way point.

I would appreciate any suggestions.  Thanx

[FredHiltz]

Hi Bill. A route is a collection of waypoints in sequence. Try making a simple one on roads you know in MapSource. Use the Waypoint tool to click on four or five roads that you will ride. Then start a new route and add those waypoints in sequence. Click Show on Map to see the route in MapSource. When it's right, transfer it to the Legend and start the Legend navigating it.

This is an outline. Detail about each step are in MapSource Help and the Legend owner's manual.

Let us know how it goes, please.

Fred

[Elessar]

Fredman:

I knew you'd come through for me.  Thanks for the help.  I get on this again tonight after I get home and I'll keep you posted.  You guys are the best!

[Elessar]

F:

I spent about an hour on MapSource last night and have mapped the three routes that I want to ride and successfully transferred them to my GPSR.  I understand this process now.  What I don't understand is if I use a third party mapping tool to create a route and  then download that route.  I can see the route but I can't navigate it.  I am guessing that I have to add waypoints to an imported route to make it fully functional.  Is that about right?

[FredHiltz]

Routes by definition are sequenced collections of waypoints. When you load a route, you get the waypoints.

Could you have downloaded a track instead? A track is a series of positions, usually closely spaced, forming a "trail of bread crumbs" record of where the receiver went. Check out tracks and routes in the owner's manual. They do a better job of explaining them.

Fred

[Elessar]

Yup, you may be right.  I will spend some more time examining what I have been attempting to load.  Thanks again.