Product / Company Endorsement!!

MountainDon · July 14, 2007, 01:15:08 PM

I am super impressed with Johnson Outdoors, the Silva Compass people in the USA.

Background: About 35 years ago or thereabouts, I purchased a Silva Ranger 15 compass. (Navigation, north-south type of compass, not a drawing instrument.)

I used it a lot over the years. When I bought my first GPS unit over a decade ago it fell out of favor. A year or two ago I dug it out. At the time It had developed a large bubble in the damping fluid cell. I didn't worry too much about it, but recently I found it was interfering with taking accurate bearings.

I priced a new one and found it to now cost $55-60. I was doing research on a replacement and had a look at the Silva website. On a whim I called up the toll free customer service number a few weeks ago and told them of the problem. They gave me a return authorization and I sent it off, expecting to hear from them with an estimate of repair charges.

Today FedEx just delivered a brand spanking new Ranger 515!

Totally no charge to me (other than the $2.90 I paid to ship it to them.) It's incredible!! With service like that I can heartily reccommend purchasing anything they sell.

Of course maybe they replaced it simply because they were amazed that someone still had one of the products from way back. I mean, it had obvious signs of wear.

glenn kangiser · July 14, 2007, 08:12:38 PM

Sounds cool Don. That's some pretty good guarantee. I have one of some sort made in China -- works fine over here - I just have to remember to read it backwards on this side of the world.

How about some input on a good personal GPS - one that works as you hike around looking for mines etc.?. :-?

July 14, 2007, 09:18:20 PM

How'd ya'now I might have something to say on this, Glenn?

My first GPS was a Magellan model. It was fine for everything I wanted to do with one exception. Nearly everyone else I traveled with used Garmin. Different makes don't talk to each other well, if at all. This is important only if you wish to exchange tracks with each other. There are ways around that problem, but it involves software and converting and it's a bother.

When I finally replaced the old one a couple years ago I had a good look around. I chose Garmin as once again most of my club members use that brand. Of course by that time Garmin had changed their file system and the new ones wouldn't talk with the older models without going through the conversions. Sigh!

I chose the Garmin GPSMAP 60 series as being most suitable for myself, specifically the GPSMAP 60. It's the less expensive of the 60 series, has a gray scale display instead of color and has much better battery life. In the Jeep I use a patch cord to run it off 12 VDC, but when hiking it runs on 2 AA batteries for about 28 hours, whereas the color models poop out at about 16 hours or less.

The C and CSx models have color displays and other advantages though; barometric altimeters and electronic compass in the CSx. They also both accept microSD memory cards which is nice if you want to use the unit with the available (as in costs money) street & map software. It is cool but not something I wanted (to spend money on.) The receiver in the C models is also more sensitive according to the specs, but the monochrome model I have is so much better than my old one anyways. When using in a vehicle it is advantageous to get one of the optional exterior magnetic mount antennas. They add much sensitivity, I frequently have 8-10 out of 12 satellites showing strong signals with the unit showing accuracy to within 6 to 7 feet!

I use mine with the provided USB patch cord to dump tracks, etc to one of my computers. I also use it in conjunction with national Geographic TOPO! mapping software. I mentioned this somewhere else here before. It's very cool software that allows you to follow your route real time on the screen. The paid version of Google Earth Plus also allows connection to the GPS. Out in the boonies if you've saved the Google image info to the cache you can use those images even though not connected to the internet. The only hassle is you have to take time to zoom over the area to be visited at whatever "eye level" you want to save. Still handy though. The Google Earth cache can be increased to a maximum of 2000 MB. You can go into Explorer though and rename and save the cache under a special name and then save up a bunch more. Switching back and forth just means renaming and keeping track of what's what. :-/

It's nice to be able to compare the TOPO! maps images, which like most all of the map software is based on the USGS surveys, some of which are decades old, to the more recent satellite and aerial photo views from Google Earth.

glenn kangiser · July 14, 2007, 10:10:03 PM

You're our travel guide, Don -- there - new category for off topics. We all like to take a break from building once in a while. I just didn't want to waste my money when you could give me a hint on the best place to spend it.

I do like the perty colors though.

I'll have to get the Nat Geo Topo also.

I just got a new (old) book -- detailed info on the Mother Lode mines in 1934 - T R Sec info for all - (that puts me within a mile) -- before there were major highways up here -- one of those one in a lifetime chances to get a great used book-- had to splurge. Looks like one of the mines may be on our property -- just scratched the surface though -- wasn't a great producer - about $10 per ton of ore in 1905 dollars. It will give me something to explore though.

MountainDon · July 14, 2007, 10:18:42 PM

QuoteI do like the perty colors though.

The prices have dropped in the past couple years to where I'd consider the c or CSx. The barometric altimeter and electronic compass might be nice to have too. :-/ Just carry spare batteries when hiking, nothing much more useless than a dead GPS especially if you were counting on it pointing the way home. (reverse course is another cool feature... as long as the GPS works it provides the bread crumb trail. I've used that a few times.

I do still like my magnetic compass though for terrain to map, and vice versa, work.

July 14, 2007, 10:25:38 PM

The altimeter could be handy when wandering through the poison oak. It could help minimize the itching by limiting exposure.

MountainDon · July 14, 2007, 10:37:16 PM

Standard GPS altitude figures (depending solely upon satellite triangulation) is accurate to within a few hundred feet as a rule. Also the electronic compass gives you accurate readings when stationary. The other models rely on movement to track the position of the GPS and give directional readings.

All in all, the 60 CSx is to the rest of the 60 series sorta like the PC Variable Angle Tiger Saw is to the rest.

There are even more super-duper GPS's but I didn't explore them too much as they were either less capable or more capable and more than I would budget. YMMV

glenn kangiser · July 14, 2007, 10:37:48 PM

Have you seen all of this stuff, Don?

http://www.mindat.org/lsearch.php?loc=jemez

glenn kangiser · July 14, 2007, 10:39:44 PM

Damn -- that Tiger Claw saw is coming back to bite me in the a$$. :-/

July 14, 2007, 10:47:16 PM

We'll have to look for Spanish Queen, Church Creek and Unshagi. :-/ They're right there someplace in the "backyard"

glenn kangiser · July 14, 2007, 10:53:48 PM

Nearly all around my area are linked directly to Google maps -- even Topos. It got my interest the other day

http://www.mindat.org/maps.php?id=82487

glenn kangiser · July 14, 2007, 10:54:48 PM

QuoteWe'll have to look for Spanish Queen, Church Creek and Unshagi. :-/ They're right there someplace in the "backyard"

...and so begins another adventure.

MountainDon · July 14, 2007, 11:15:35 PM

Found the Spanish Queen Mine location on the map. Seems like we've driven right by it, oh maybe a hundred times in the last year.

Just east of the highway a little; 2/10 mile and up about 300 feet... may be through some private land :-/ Hmmmm.

glenn kangiser · July 14, 2007, 11:16:32 PM

....a clue

QuoteThe Jemez River Basin is a sub-basin of the Rio Grande Basin, located in northcentral New Mexico. Land uses in the approximately 560-square-mile Jemez River Basin include ranching, irrigated and dry-land agriculture, silviculture, recreation, mining and some urban development (Figure 1.A). One mine was developed for the extraction of copper ore, but has been abandoned. This mine, the Spanish Queen, is located between Jemez Springs and the Pueblo of Jemez and is not known to impact the Jemez River.

http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swqb/Jemez_Watershed_TMDLs/Section4.pdf

I always enjoy hearing of something -- digging up info then going to check out what's left.

July 14, 2007, 11:43:45 PM

Thanks

glenn kangiser · July 15, 2007, 12:02:48 AM

Looks interesting. I have printed off a bunch of maps using Gadwin Printscreen and put them in a notebook -- gives me clues of things to look for and do when I get a break - short day etc.

Keep us posted on what you find -- sometimes it's nothing but sometimes its real interesting.

benevolance · July 15, 2007, 02:31:44 AM

Glenn

Some of us are immune to poison oak....It is really bad here in the yard...It never bothered me though and I did not know what it was...I always chew tree leaves and the like and a neighbor almost fainted when they came over and saw me chewing on it...

I can strip down and roll around in it.... does not seem to bother me...

But one little fire ant bite and I break out like crazy!!!

glenn kangiser · July 15, 2007, 09:25:02 AM

It doesn't bother me anymore either - since I chewed a little the first year I was here -- got it pretty good before that. Some people claim chewing it could cause your throat to swell up and kill you possibly, but I didn't have that problem. Am I better at avoiding it now? I don't know. I know that many times I do touch it, and the only one it ever bothers is Sassy. :-/

She doesn't get it as bad now either.

MountainDon · December 11, 2007, 11:24:19 PM

Another company that has impressed me on more than one occasion is crucial.com. They don't sell building materials or tools. They manufacture and sell computer memory, RAM, that we all use and some of us never have enough of.

Their website states that free shipping orders will be delivered within 5 days. Sunday I ordered 4 GB for K's desktop. Today FedEx delivered the package. Astounding when you also consider that their price also beat any local prices I checked by a long shot. [as much as double Crucials price] In November I bought 2 GB for my laptop and it was the same thing; awesome delivery, excellent price.

They have an online scanner that reads what your computer has and delivers all the combinations you could upgrade to. Depending on the computer, you may be able to retain what you have and add some, or just replace it all and go for broke.

[The scanner only works through Internet Explorer browser.] If you use the scanner they guarantee compatibility.

glenn kangiser · December 11, 2007, 11:46:51 PM

I'm using Crucial memory right now. Mine had 1 gig but I wanted 2 so had to change all chips but they were fast and cheap as you say -- maybe 3 days from order it was here.

I also bought there because of their scanner -- no question - otherwise -- no clue.

December 11, 2007, 11:49:53 PM

I've actually used Crucial RAM since the late 80s when I was building custom computers.

glenn kangiser · December 11, 2007, 11:51:24 PM

You beat me by a long shot -- I wondered about them as I hadn't heard of them before but they came through with flying colors.

MountainDon · December 11, 2007, 11:57:51 PM

They used to mainly supply RAM to OEM's. Crucial is actually Micron. Now at least, not sure going back. I don't think you can buy their brand in stores. They're in Boise, Idaho.

Cucial memory always got good reports on the computer hardware nerd sites. It always worked well even in overclocking.

glenn kangiser · December 12, 2007, 12:14:32 AM

I used to have an account at Micron. I got pretty heavy into computers for Windows 95. Did Beta testing for MSN and Symantec. Studied on the early internet with a couple gals in NY and a guy in Albq.for MCSE but decided I didn't really want to do that. I was within about 3 questions of passing on the pre-test. It would have been no problem with a bit more study.