Lost My Marbles

Particularly if Garmin notices the niche and releases something of their own to work with BaseCamp Mobile and their cloud. Sorry I've been slow to reply to the last few comments here. We have heard a number of comments from those that want more than just "nearby" caches. We're working on a solution involving pocket queries that will hopefully address that issue, at least for some users. We are definitely following Garmin's work with Bluetooth connectivity in the Oregon 600/650. I can't speculate what their future plans are but it looks to be initially geared towards supporting Bluetooth Low Energy sensors, much like the ANT+ sensors are supported by some models. We brought the price down to $99 for the Indiegogo campaign that we just launched. That puts ROVE's pricing more in line with other Bluetooth accessories out there and hopefully makes ROVE a little more accessible to a broader group.

There were two core problems that we really wanted to solve with ROVE 1) make it super easy to download geocaches to your GPS receiver, and 2) make it super easy to share GPS tracks of where you've been with others. We certainly plan to offer more with ROVE over time (support for Magellan and other GPS receivers, support for entirely different devices like digital cameras, etc.) but we wanted to solve those two core problems on Garmin receivers first. I think we've done that. But, we're always incorporating feedback into our development plan so, if there's something I've said that's a deal breaker for you, please let me know and we'll see what we can do.

You're right that you need a tethering-capable phone and you need to be within range of a cell network to use ROVE. Strictly speaking, the phone does not need to be "smart" but, practically, most phones capable of tethering are going to be smartphones. ROVE does not require an app on the phone. It tethers to the phone via Bluetooth much like a laptop can tether to a phone for accessing the Internet. ROVE does not currently download Pocket Query results but, if it did, you could define a Pocket Query with your phone's web browser and ROVE could transfer those down to your GPS while you're still in range of a cell network. I'll add this to our list of feature requests right now.

We're listening and, ultimately, economies of scale play a big part in pricing. If there is high demand for ROVE, we can manufacture the product in larger batches and the cost per unit will drop. At the moment, sharing of trails is via Google Maps and we have prototyped the software required to generate KML (e.g. Google Earth) from the trails as well (we will include KML export on our website as soon as it passes quality assurance for a public release). Exporting to GPX would be fairly easy for us to implement and, as you are the second poster to ask about this, I am adding GPX export to our feature requests. Not with the current firmware but that's a good feature request. We will consider how to implement that. We're a Canadian company, so, yes! We have shipping contracts in place for 20 countries when we launch. ROVE is compatible back to at least the iPhone 3G and likely earlier models as well.

Not sure what specific capabilities are covered by TomTom's patents, or how they would limit what other GOS devices could do with phones.. There are already numerous Bluetooth GPSRs that work with iOS and Android phones; including the DeLorme inReach and the Garmin Fenix. Were there ideas Rove wanted to use that were protected by TomTom or someone else's patent? We were initially concerned about some of the existing patents that cover transmitting GPS data via phones. It turned out, however, that our approach was unencumbered by existing patents. So, we filed our own application and have our own patent pending on ROVE.

The data transfer is not GPX format but it would be easy enough to generate GPX files on our servers if there is demand for that feature. ROVE does not do live tracking, sorry! You can plug ROVE into your GPS receiver multiple times during a hike to update your trail map (the new track data will be immediately reflected in the map online) but it is not designed to be left plugged into your GPS continuously.

You're right - you still need your tethering-capable phone with you to use ROVE. But, you don't need physical access to your phone to use ROVE. Typically, I'll have my phone in a waterproof bag, stashed securely somewhere in my daypack or below deck in my kayak. ROVE does its thing automatically without the need to install or use apps on the phone. Concerning battery life, most phones can sit idle for days if not actively being used. Turning on realtime navigation on my iPhone, however, causes the battery to run down very quickly, typically less than an hour in our tests (some newer phones are better but not great). When using ROVE, the battery drain on the phone is only significant for the short time (15 seconds typical) it takes to transfer data. We are, of course, watching closely to see what Garmin does with Bluetooth functionality in the new Oregon models. TomTom has held patents on integrating GPS receivers with phones and has been a leader in this area. I assume Garmin has either worked around the patents or licensed the technology. Either way, it should be interesting.

Hi user13371, thanks for the feedback and I take the blame for that item on the FAQ. I made a statement during one of our "competitive advantage" discussions that I'd be lucky to get 50m accuracy with my iPhone GPS navigation apps during some outings. That statement made its way on to our website but, of course, it's too broad a statement to imply that no smartphone could possibly do better than 50m accuracy in all circumstances. In all fairness, I have at least one dedicated GPSr (internal antenna models) that can't do much better than an iPhone in moderately dense tree cover. We'll review our FAQ early next week for other such statements. Personally, the big three reasons I use a dedicated GPSr instead of my smartphone for navigating while geocaching (as well as hiking and kayaking) are, in order: accuracy, battery life, and ruggedness. I still use the geocaching app for my iPhone, though. For looking up cache descriptions and logs, the user interface is far better on the iPhone, no question. Thanks again! We'll incorporate your suggestions early next week.

Hi northernpenguin and Red90, the $149 currently shown on the website is our tentative MSRP. We're working hard to get the price down and there will be some introductory deals when the product first becomes available for purchase. That said, ROVE is a sophisticated piece of hardware as we had more engineering challenges than you might initially consider (we'll describe some of these on our website over the coming weeks). For example, you would find that most tablets, especially the low-end models, would not be able to communicate with most GPS receivers out there for some non-obvious electrical reasons. We appreciate the input, thanks!

Hi Biquidou, I am one of the people behind ROVE and would be glad to answer your questions. However, since this forum should not be used for promoting commercial interests, I'm reluctant to provide a general "sales pitch" for ROVE here. If you have a very specific question, I can likely answer it here. If you have questions of a more general nature, feel free to look at our website's FAQ or send me a note (personal message on geocaching.com or via our website). Cheers!

Hi there, When viewing a list of caches that are nearby, found caches are identified by a checkmark and a grey background in the row. "Found" webcam caches are not identified by a checkmark/grey background, however. I suspect this has something to do with webcam caches not having a "Found it!" option but rather a "Post photo" option when found. Cheers, LMM