GPS tips

[Alan Gibson]

Just curious if you folks have issues with corrosion on units that are supposedly waterproof?

[Alan Gibson]

What exactly is the birds eye imagery that yak master mentions? I am only familiar with large hand held laminated paper satellite images.

[Dallas]

It is satellite imagery that you can download to your GPS device. Similar to imagery from Google Earth or Google Maps. Garmin offers a yearly subscription to the service which allows you to download as much as you want to your device. I think it costs around $35.00/year. It is helpful to have an additional memory card in your device to store the imagery as the files can be quite large once you start collecting the maps. Hope that helps.

[yakmaster]

Delorme has a similar subscription

[Juan Estevez]

I have been using these free maps for awhile in my Garmin eTrex and is pretty good, no issues, very detailed, can't beat the price. I only install the sections that I'm interested, not the whole state.

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/123/

[vivian]

The subscription lets you download the sat maps? Once you have downloaded what you want do you still have to keep your yearly subscription?

[Alan Gibson]

Vivian the product is called "birds eye" and is from garmin and can overlay on garmins base camp. I looked into it a little and am quite hesitant after reading the reviews posted at amazon. Lots of "issues" with several folks wanting a refund but unable to.

[Dallas]

You can keep the maps after your subscription expires but you can't transfer them between your computer and your device any longer. So if the maps are already on your GPS when your subscription is over, you are OK.

I personally haven't had any issues with the maps. I find them very useful in fact.

vivian said:

The subscription lets you download the sat maps? Once you have downloaded what you want do you still have to keep your yearly subscription?

[vivian]

I wouldn't mind trying that out for a year and downloading maps to keep on the GPS.  Too bad my old 60csx is unable to use the technology I also think that having the birds eye view would be extremely helpful especially in areas such as Hells Bay.

[Alan Gibson]

Might be worth a shot.......even if it proves unsatisfactory the amount spent is probably worth the risk. Not exactly big bucks right?

[SteveS]

I have a 60 cSX that I've not given a whole lot of attention to after countless trips in saltwater. So far there haven't been any issues but due to the age of the unit, I keep waiting for the inevitable failure.

I do not give it any special love or attention and just keep it tethered to my kayak with a cord in the event it goes overboard.