Newbie witterings ...

[Predictable Bob]

Still trying to get my head round some of this stuff ... Went into Salisbury this afternoon to see if I could improve my knowledge and had limited success

Please feel free to abuse me if any of my assumptions below are off the mark !

As I understand it Garmin are the safe choice with loads of support and a decent userbase with the Satmap Active 10 being a possible contender along with Memory Map.

It appears that my thoughts about also using it as a sat nav in the second car are not particularly realistic in terms of capability when compared with a purpose made car sat nav. (Thanks again for the info Dave !)

It would appear that the base map supplied with most Garmin's is fine for Geocaching and if I want 1:25 OS maps for hillwalking etc they'll cost around £100 each which is broadly comparable with other makes

Having had a root about on here I get the impression that I can create maps from Google maps and upload them onto the GPS unit - am I right to presume that these would be suitable for finding my way round towns and, more importantly, would I be able to use POI's with them ?

A query for the guru's - I know that the OS maps are supplied on SD card but is there any copy protection on them ?

Before I get accused of being Blackbeard's better looking great, great grandson I'd like to point out that I'm merely considering the possibility of consolidating a number of maps on a single SD card and also backing them up on the PC !

My next action is to see if I can convert my local geocaches into POI's and upload them to my ancient TomTom Go so I can have a root about locally tomorrow while Jackie is at work (After the F1 has finished of course)

At the moment I'm thinking about going for the Dakota 20 but I need to get my hands on one first to be sure that I can cope with the size of the screen - like most of my body my eyes aren't what they were :lol:

Anyway if you've managed to get this far through my drivel you're to be congratulated and thoroughly deserve a beer - just like I'm about to have !

[The Wombles]

Bob, you can use POIs with any mapping since these are separate functions. There are well known free maps at http://www.openstreetmap.org/ which are getting better at roads and include some paths.

In order to load geocaches onto TomTom you'll need to convert them into OV2 files, perhaps someone can advise how to do this?

Dont know the answer to your question about OS maps but I'd be surprised if there is no copy protection.

At least you'll have plenty of time after F1 since it's in Melbourne and a 7am start.

[DrDick&Vick]

Hi Bob
the OS maps that are available for the Garmin Oregon/Dakota range are protected, you have to unlock them to use on your unit and then it is only useable on that unit.
Same with the Garmin TOPO maps for the ETREX GPS units that can use them.
You can get FREE maps by using the TALKY TOASTER open source ampping which is updated on a regular basis. SEE HERE
The custom 1:25000 OS mapping is available for FREE but you have to download a program and create them as you go.

[Predictable Bob]

:socool:

Cheers Guys - I LIKE Open Source !!!

I managed to find http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/gpsbabel/ which does all sorts of conversions including .loc to .ov2 and best of all it's FREE

I now have 175 local caches on my beat up old TomTom - the only downside is that I haven't managed to get out and do anything with them

Anyway with a bit of luck (And a reasonable tax rebate from HMRC) I think I'll be going for a Dakota 20 in the next few weeks then I'll REALLY start bothering you with questions !

:lol:

[Bear and Ragged]

Another option for POI's on TomTom is GSAK.
There is a straight GSAK conversion, or there is a Macro by BigWolf that will show the different icons for caches, including film pots for micros.

It's a paid for app, but most of the cachers that use it swear by it.
(After a lot of swearing at it, until you find your way around it! :lol: )

Any GSAK questions posted on the GSAK forums usually get a quick response, often from Clyde who wrote/writes GSAK.

[Graculus]

If you want to see how the GSAK TomTom macro works I've written a simple guide. Click here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Chris
Graculus
Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com
UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk
Geocaching.com Knowledge Books