USB to Serial Cables

[mikebn]

I have a Garmin Etrex Vista GPS and I’m only able to download tracks to my PC via a serial port cable. Does any one know of a serial to USB cable that actually works with this GPS. I have tried a couple but no luck getting them to work. Garmin says that the USB cables are hit and miss.

I’m also looking for some good software to work with the track files for this GPS. Any ideas? Id like to be able to merge some tracks and work with them to clean up excess data points easily.

Thanks for all your help.

Mike

[Jeff Barber]

Yo Mike, I use the Keyspan USB to Serial connector with my eTrex and it works great (even on my Mac!). I’m not sure what the model is but the part number is USA-19HS. Here it is on Amazon.com.

As far as software, I have two recommendations:

1. TopoFusion: Great windows program created by a mountain biker out in Arizona. This program has some great tools for cleaning up and combining tracks that many other programs leave out.

2. Garmin MapSource: Get the Topo version so you can send maps to your Garmin GPS (though I’m not sure if this will work with your eTrex). Either way MapSource has decent tools for cleaning up waypoints and trackpoints, though not as advanced as TopoFusion.

Best of luck, let us know how things work out!

[mikebn]

Thanks trek7k,

I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back sooner. Ill hunt down that adapter. I have Mapsource, but I need to get the Topo version.

Thanks for your input.

mike

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