Re: PC/GPS interface

From: Dave Wissenbach (davewissenbach_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 02/25/05 

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 20:13:40 -0700

"Stan Gosnell" <murkuhn@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96059892CCFF6mework@204.52.135.8...
> "BAD" <byby925@comcast.net> wrote in
> news:R-ednQbAloZHw4bfRVn-uA@comcast.com:
>
>> I am all set to buy a Garmin eTrex Legend GPS for use in hiking and
>> GeoCaching. In reading the specs I notice that the PC interface is a
>> Serial Port. My laptop doesn't have a serial port. You can buy USB
>> to RS 232 cable converter from Garmin, but that costs $60. I can get
>> the unit for about $140, but the cable pushes the price up to $200!
>>
>> Is there another fix or are there comparable GPS units that come with
>> a USB interface?
>
> The Legend C and Vista C have USB. This means that you can't use
> standard NMEA protocol to send the GPS data to other programs; you're
> limited to the rather quirky and poorly documented Garmin protocol, which
> means you're limited to (expensive) Garmin mapping products. You can get
> a perfectly adequate USB-serial adapter for ~$30 at almost any place that
> sells computer components. That's the way to go.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Stan

I myself wouldn't call the Garmin protocol quirky and poorly documented.
I've found the Garmin documentation fairly well written (the USB interface
was an exception, but they made up for that by furnishing source code as an
example for third-party developers.)

The USB interface makes a big difference when downloading and uploading
simple track and waypoint data. There's no waiting for the data transfer.
Another nice feature of USB is that the (supplied) cable is the same
standard (inexpensive) cable which is used by Digital Cameras.

Many third-party programs, including my freeware, already support the Garmin
USB protocol.

See

http://gpsinformation.us/vistacolor/etrexvistacolor.html

for a review and an incomplete list of third-party programs which support
these devices.

Dave
http://www.gpstrailmaps.com/map3d/

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