So I've already worn out one set of double A's with my new GPS. Heck, I made it to the grocery store yesterday and back without getting lost. My neighbors think I've lost it. I keep going around and around the house, up and down the street, down to the school, jump in the car and take off only to return 3 minutes later and walk to Waypoint # 1 at the head of the driveway. I found my way to Waypoint 3, a.k.a. "The Bridge", without looking up. I drove to the woods(19.78 miles round trip) and marked a tree for a stand, then found my way to Waypoint # 5(my truck) without getting lost. I backtracked home to within 1.25 feet of Waypoint # 1. I'm a GPS'ing fool. My wife says I'm just a fool.[][&:] Anyway, I'm really going to like having this do dad. It will really come in handy in NY where I'm way off the road and tend to follow my nose which has lead to certain terrain features being "Misplaced" in fresh snow a couple times. It's really handy and easy to learn all the screens. I've made and deleted tons of waypoints, tracks etc. Last night I plotted a waypoint on the GPS map where I thought a point was. I walked to it this AM. I was astounded to find my eyeball calculation on flat ground was within 50 meters of where I wanted to be in this swamp. Now I have the exact spot marked...but it's good to know the thing works.

One question, do all these models give you the reading when you start of "Accurate to within XXX feet) It's usually like 20 or so. I thought they were more accurate than that. When I backtracked to my house waypoint it was within 1.25 feet.

Anyway, it's fun. I've already been touring the hunting woods in Booneville, NY from 400 miles away. One question on Garmins Topo Mapping. Is the software you buy the same as that on the websites. I mean when I scan the topos on the website they're not anything like a real topo to me. They don't have the vegetation, small ponds, fields and open areas or anything that a National Geological Topo Map has. They're really stripped. Is the $100 topo map software REAL topos or stripped down versions?