Tech Nic

Make sure your Dakota is set to your correct time zone. I have heard that incorrect time or time zone can put you off as much as 100 meters.

That's funny, I had a problem downloading my large track from my Dakota 20 to my Mapsourse program so I contacted Garmin tehc support and I got a quick email reply back telling me I should upgrade my MapSourse to the latest version using the included link . I did that only a few hours ago, and the latest version they linked me to was 6.15.11. Hmmmm.... maybe they knew something that I didn't know.

I also was wondering about the maps on EasyGPS. I used the Help in EasyGPS and it took me to the EasyGPS forums, where I discovered that maps on the EastGPS are not an option, but instead they want you to upgrade to the Expert version of this program. One analogy was that the Adobe Reader (free program) will allow you to view PDF formatted files, but not edit them. You need to upgrade your adobe program to do that.

Your are right. Yes, I have V2.9 in now, and I emailed Garmin Tech Support and they concur that there the problem does exist in V2.9. They said the fix for now was to go back to an earlier version and they gave me a link to a file with 270 in it, so I am assuming they want you to get back to V2.7. They also said that they are working on fixing the problem with a further update. Thanks for yur help, and if the fix isn't out soon, I will go back. For now I can live with the problem, as long as it is the only one. I can still save the tracks to my PC.

I don't want to detract from the original question on this thread, but since it is about the Dakota 20, fun but frustrating, i ask the following: With the original software that was loaded onto my unit when I bought it last week, I am quite sure that when I have gone to the Track Manager and tried to save the current track, it did so. I just updated the software to V2.90, the latest for the unit. I tried to save a track and when I hit Save, the unit dies. I can turn it on again, but trying a Save Current Track, causes it to die again. I reloaded the software but the same problem exists. Any suggestions?

I have been geocaching for several years now, but I just recently bought the Dakota 20. It seems there are a lot more screens that you have to set compared to my other GPSr. With so many things to set up on your Dakota 20 to make it personalized, i can only speak of how I go about geocaching with it. First of all, I will select the geocache I want to find. Then hit Go on the map page. I will then back out of the map page by hitting the X. This will take you back to the main menu, but you are still hunting for the selected geocache. My preference is to use the compass page, so I will select it. On the compass page, depending on how you have set it up, you will see the direction to travel as indicated by the compass needle, and again depending on how many data fields you have selected for the page, and depending on what you have selected for those data fields, you can get your distance to the geocache, the lat and lon of where you are, etc. Play around with the different pages, and set up the data fields you need for those pages. Like I say, there are a lot of options. I suggest you get together with a friend who is familiar with the unit and get him to help you set it up.

I have two pairs of Energizer NiMH batteries that are over four years old. I still use them on a daily basis, giving me more than a full day of caching on each pair. When necessary, they are recharged with the charger that came with them. Never the less, don't leave home without a new pair of good brand alkaline batteries as back up, and as mentioned above, set your GPS to the type of battery you are using. It is quick and simple to do, and may add those minutes or hours that are required to find that cache which you might not otherwise find with the dead GPSr.

It appears that panning the map now works with IE Explorer again.

It seems for a time today, when I click on the map on the details page, nothing comes up. It just stays on the details page. Now clicking on the map on the details page, it brings up a Google map that is panable. I guess, if it is broke, wait five minutes.

It now takes one more step to get the information that was at hand before. That step being that you now have to select an online map from the list to the left of the Google map. It does work, that is, you get the satellite view, and can pan the map using FireFox AND Windows IE Explorer now. I guess this is how GC is getting around the map panning problem most IE Explorer users are having. Good? Bad?

I am disappointed in the cahnge in maps. I just tried both FireFox and IE Explorer, and both ae the same. I can't click on satellite view anymore, nor pan the maps. Giant leap backwards. I don't know if this is what those people had in mind when they were crying to have the old maps back.

Multi's that require you to bring a scrap of paper and a writing stick really cut into the meaning of "paperless caching", I find.

I was in the same boat a few months ago, trying to go paperless. I posted questions and also posted answers when I discovered something. Without going into all the detail again, because it is on other threads, I suggest you click on my profile and check out the posts I have made on the various forums. There are a lot of other people asking the same questions. I followed some good advise, threw out some bad advise, and am now quite happy with what I have for paperless caching. Good luck.

I don't think what you had was too out of line. I do use a similar pack if I am on a day trip, and need to pack food, water, a change of clothes (bears, you know) and the usual requirements for geocaching.. For half day trips, or even a few hour long trips, I use a fanny pack, about 2-3 litre size for the main compartment. This one came with 4 more attachments, that velcro on to the belt (and stay on). I use one for my GPS, another for my PDA, another for water and the 4th for a spare GPS. It weighs a bit, but is well worth it. In my main compartment I place some survival materials, spare batteries, swag etc. It works well. The only thing I find a draw back is the snap clip that fastens it to your waist. I find that when you are in tight spots, or bending over the clip releases and there goes your fanny pack. I am thinking of a way to retrofit it with a buckle belt so this does not happen.

I believe this has been discussed to witts end on another thread here on the forums. Lots of answers there. I had the same problem with I.E. so I was forced to change to Mozilla Firefox. Good ever since. I think the thread starts here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...p;#entry3139213

click on: http://geocacher-u.com/content/blogcategory/33/58/

That is exactly what I did several weeks ago and I am glad I did. Works great!

I know we are all looking for the most economical way to do things, including geocaching. I cached with paper for the first 4 months and got 100 caches. I also got a box full of paper, printouts of potential caches that I would look for. I don't know how much worth of paper and printer ink I went through, but I decided to get a premium membership, GSAK and CacheMate, along with a Palm PDA that I needed anyway. Not exactly free, but well worth it. One thing to remember with paperless caching is that you always get those caches such as puzzle and multi caches that require the task of note taking. So, if you don't want to fire up the PDA every time you need to make a note, be prepared to cache with a pencil and notepad anyway.

I am not sure about the eTrex Legend, but my older eTrex Vista comes with a serial cable with which I can connect it to my PC. I don't have to put the co-ordinates into it manually, but with the unit connected to the PC, I select the cache I am interested in and click on "Send to GPS" on the cache page. It will send the co-ordinates to the GPS unit automatically. I say automatically, only if you have loaded a small program before doing this. If the program is already loaded, then it will not ask you to install it. If the program is not there, it will ask you if you want to install the small program. It is your choice if you want to install it, and consequentally, send the co-ordinates to your GPSr.

I use a paid for Cachemate and a paid for GSAK. I started with a Palm Zire 31 and it worked fine. Only problem is I bought it at one of those XS freight stores and it was a refurbished unit. It calved on me after about 1 week. I decided that since the Palm offered good paperless caching, I should buy another Palm, but a new one from one of those office supply stores that sell Staples as well. I ended up with a Palm TX. It is Blue Tooth and WiFI capable. I like it. One thing to remember, as I found out during my first attempt at paperless caching, some of those puzzling, or multi cache type caches require you to either memorize hints, or write them down somewhere. It is not always convenient to get out the PDA and fire it up and make notes. A small pad of paper and a pencil are still very handy.

Your can find your ID or anyone else's for that matter by finding a cache that you or they have found. Then save the GPX file for tht cache page. Then remembering the date or some particular details of the log, view the GPX file in a text editor like WordPad and scroll down to the particulars, finding the log for you or the other person's find and locating the user ID within the file. Using the date of the cache find and thus the date of logging the find is probably the easiest way to find the section of log that contains your or the other person's ID.

Also, make sure you go to Palm's website and download the latest edition (v4.14e) of their desktop software if you want to be able to sync with Vista on the PC/laptop......if you have XP you should be fine with bundled software with the 505. John Maybe so for the 505, but it was the opposite for me, my Palm TX and Windows XP. The bundled software for the Palm TX I bought was for Vista, as I found out later. After 4 days of downloading the supposedly correct software for Palm TX and XP from the Palm site, and uninstalling all versions because they would not HotSync, I phoned palm support (if still under warranty phone 1-866-260-2178) and they advised me that the software bundled with the Palm TX was for Vista. They directed me to a site that I hadn't come across before, and advised me to download V4.1.4e. I did what they told me, and it worked. The download of v4.1.4e can be found at: http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/windesk414e.html I hope I got it correct.

Here is one of my previous posts regarding the Palm Zire 72, Zire 31 and Palm TX. I have added a link at the end to try if you haven't already. "Not sure about the Zire 72 but I bought a refurbished Zire 31 for the purpose of paperless caching. I installed the palmone software on my computer and followed all the directions and it worked. Hotsync and all. I first downloaded GSAK and looked at it. I then downloaded Cachemate and installed it on my Palm. I forget exactly how, but I think when I double clicked on the cachemate .exe it actually loaded itself into the QuickInstall of the palm software and then with a HotSync it installed itsefl on the Palm. I then went to geocaching.com and as a premium member I did a querry for unfound caches around my place. It was e-mailed to me. I then loaded that .gpx file into GSAK. In GSAK you can Export to Cachemate. I did that and the .GPX file was converted for the Palm. I did a HotSync and the .gpx file transferred to the Palm and was viewable with CacheMate on the Palm. Having said all that, my refurbished Zire 31 crapped out on me within a few days. I took it back and got my money back. I then decided to buy a new Palm TX. Before installing the software for that I was told to use Control Panel/Add/Remove to remove the previous Palm software, which I did. I installed the new software that came in the new box and it didn't work. The software worked on the PC and on the palm, but would not HotSync. I then thought to upgrade the HotSync driver. I tried several downloads but always had the same problem. When I connected the Palm to the computer via the USB cable, I got a lot of ponging and pinging sounds. Thought I just installed the latest version of the 30 year old Pong video game. I had found on the Palm web site a newer version of Palm Desktop The web site asked me for the model of Palm (Palm TX) and the operating system on my computer (Windows XP Home) and directed me to a web page for the download. It was very plain to see on the download page that this was the software to use. It was called PalmDesktop by Access 6.2 for Windows and HotSync Manager 7.0. So I downloaded it and removed all previous versions of Palm software and installed this new version. Same problem. Lots of ponging and pinging. So finally I phoned Palm Support (if warranty still valid phone 1-866-260-2178) and explained what was happening. They told me I had just installed the software for Windows Vista. Yet the web page told me that it was for XP. Anyway, they told me to uninstall all previous versions of Palm software and go to: www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/windesk414e.html and get the XP version there. I followed their advice and voila, I am in business. HotSync and all. That is my story. It took about 4 agonizing days to get to that stage." http://www.palm.com/us/support/windowsvist...tml#palmdesktop

I would still like to know how to convert British Grid to Lat Long/UTM as your original question posed. I am not sure how to convert British Grid to Lat/Lon, but the numbers in the quote are UTM coordinates converted to Lat/Lon. There are excel spreadsheets out there that will convert UTM to/from Lat/Lon. I used the geocaching.com conversion page to convert N 50 50.500 E100 10.100 to the British Grid coordinates, but it will not go backwards. Most GPSrs will handle UTM coordinates by selecting that via the setup units menu, and by selecting that, you can pan the map and find the park.

You guys must have set your clocks a few hours ahead. Anyway, Ibycus, you are indeed correct. For those of you who haven't looked at Riding Mountain National Park, take a look, in particular at the south end, at Clear Lake. There are a few caches there, and in particular GCWW1C. It is a 9 part multi and looks like a lot of thought went into this one. 14U E 417741 N 5632868 converts to N50 50.500 E100 10.100 or use your GPSr Congrats.