is there an option to get total elevation gain? It only shows current elevation data in the fields.

If there is, I’ve never worked it out. 🙂

You can get the total height gained when you download the tracklog to tracklogs

If there is, I’ve never worked it out.

Me neither.

trout, is tracklogs the free software that came with it?

No its Tracklogs OS mapping http://www.tracklogs.co.uk not sure about the mapsource stuff forgotten how to use that

I don’t think Mapsource can tell you the total ascent/descent.
But Garmin Basecamp can, you can download it for free.
Or SportTracks. http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/sporttracks/
Or if you just want a simple program, Jasta can tell you this (plus loads of other statistics about the track). http://www.it-pannonia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=34

Note that the accuracy of this can variable. Even if you are going along a flat road, the GPS can still record the elevation as going up or down a few metres. And all of these small fluctuations can add up. I think Basecamp and SportTracks use some sort of smoothing to improve the accuracy a bit.