I've Been Thunderstruck

I have created a new website aimed at showing people the best locations to take lightning and storm pictures. It’s called Lightning Shot Spots and I just launched it today! So far it’s a bare bones site while I work to collect location data (provided by users like you!), but I have plans to develop it into a world class storm photography resources. So, head over, take a look, and please contribute a location if you have one. Thanks!

For those of you living in Arizona and New Mexico, and who own Garmin GPS receivers, I have created a mapset called Southwest Trails that you may find useful on your outdoor adventures.

Southwest Trails is a transparent map overlay that you can put on your map-enabled Garmin GPS receiver. This allows you to see, and follow, trails using whatever maps you normally would on your GPSr…be it topo maps, City Navigator, or any other sort of map that you have on your GPS. Using data provided by The Trails Co-Op, as well as my own data and user submitted data, I hope to build an extensive mapset of trails across the Southwest. This should help make your outdoor experiences more enjoyable, and more safe.

Using Southwest Trails on your Gamin GPSr extends your ability to have a fun, safe time in the wilderness. No longer are you contrained to adding a few trails or tracks to your GPSr, limited by the design of the device. Since Southwest Trails is a complete mapset, you simply load it with all the other maps you want to have on your device, and any trail in the mapset is available for your use at all times. Now, the only limitation is the number of trails that come with Southwest Trails! It’s my hope that Southwest Trails will enhance your wilderness enjoyment, and keep you safe on your travels.

Southwest Trails is available for both Windows and Mac users. The current version, v0.51a, is available for download at Outdoor Resources.

Two climbers lost on Mt. Hood were rescued after they stumbled across a local geocache. The pair got lost in a whiteout while climbing on the mountain. They stumbled across a geocache as they attempted to find their way down, and rescuers were able to use the cache coordinates, along with other information, to help find the pair. It’s an amazing use of the information that comes along with geocaching!

There’s been quite a lot written lately about the Garmin Colorado series of GPS receivers lately. I decided to check out the product at their web site, and do a quick comparison of the high end Colorado, the 400t, against my 76CSx. Here are the results:

	400t	76CSx
Display Size	1.53″W x 2.55″H	1.6″W x 2.22″H
Display Resolution	240 x 400 pixels	160 x 240 pixels
Waterproof?	Yes – IPX7	Yes – IPX7
Floats?	No	Yes
High Sensitivity Receiver?	Yes	Yes
Waypoints/Favorites/Locations	1000	1000
Routes	50	50
Track Log	10,000 points, 20 saved tracks	10,000 points, 20 saved tracks
Built In Memory?	Yes	No
Data Card?	SD Card (not included)	128 microSD card (included)
Preloaded Maps?	Yes (topographic)	No
Unit-to-unit transfer (shares data wirelessly with similar units)?	Yes	No
Picture Viewer?	Yes	No

All else being equal (more or less), that sums it up. I do like that the 400t has internal memory, into which you can load maps, and that it accepts SD cards (I have more of those from my cameras than I do microSD cards). The picture viewer might be kinda cook for viewing hints or something. The fact that you can transfer info from similar units would seem to be beneficial only if you know somebody else who has one! And, since I use mine when I kayak, I certainly appreciate the fact that the 76CSx floats!

The 400t seems interesting, and I would like to get my hands on one to experience it myself. For the meantime, however, given the price of these things, I’ll stick with my trusty 76CSx. It’s helped me find my way more than once!

thun·der·struck  (thŭn’dər-strŭk’)
adj.   Affected with sudden astonishment or amazement.

This blog is about the things that astound and amaze me. Expect to see posts about the Internet, geocaching, GPS, storage, climate, software, travel, photography, outdoor recreation…whatever catches my eye that I think is worth writing about. Hopefully it’ll be fun for all.