It connect to the PC. There are at least two soft ware packages available.
One is roadmaps the other is topo maps.
I don't recall the exact memory it's limited. You can't do the whole USA
road maps. I dones have all the major interstates. I can load detailed
maps for I-5 from the Bay Area to PDX. For a road trip you have to load the
maps you need or take the laptop. The maps show all the streets and have
gas stations, restaurants, rest stops etc. For some reason the commercial
locations on the map aren't up to date. It still shows a Boston Market
about a mile from us that hasn't been there for 5 years. It does show the
Jack in The Box that's in the same building.
My daughter has the Topo maps and they show as much or more info as the
USGS maps. The screen in color. For $99 that a deal.
The soft ware will cost you more than that. They all take software of
somekind. Mapquest is about $150.
You need to shop the software (maps) as much as the GPS unit. One way or
the other you going to buy the maps. In some ways there like printers, there
cheap but the ink can kill you. REI has a pretty good write up "GPS 101"
http://www.rei.com/shop/GPS.htm
"Frank Church" wrote in message
9.11...
"BJ Conner" wrote in
news:WCVZf.1385$7Z6.1013@trnddc06:

I have a Garmin E-Trex. You can get them for $150. The little thing
is amazing. My kids were using it geocaching and it put them right on
some of the sites they were looking for. I can turn it on walk to the
bathroom and it will plot the track to and from even if I stop at
fridge for a beer. It has more features and capabilites than I have
figure out how to use. The bad feature is that it eats two AA
batteries a day ( continual use). The software I have for street maps
is out of date so It doesn't find all the restaurants. It did find an
"In-N-Out in a recent trip to California. It is also waterproof (or at
least rainproof). "Frank Church"
wrote in message

..there are some on ebay and wallieworld has them for 99 bucks. Am I right
in assuming there is no way to upload maps to this unit, and there is no
interface cable to the PC for uploading? It may very well do what I need
to
do and I may get one to play with before deciding on whether I need one
with more functions. Thanks for the info.

Frank Sr.