GSVNoFixedAbode

Factory reset did the trick. Now for a bit of a rebuild. Most of the profiles can be recovered too.

Help! My Oregon 550 suddenly decided to go nuts yesterday after a power off / on. Symptoms: - location displays correctly when stationary - maps show when stationary - position in compass screen shows correctly - maps vanish (grey area) when moving - position in compass screen shows 00:00:00 (lat&Long) when moving - satellite reception shows good (5m) and correct position when both moving and stationary Maps and WPs are all stored on the microSD card and I've done the power off/remove card/power on+off/replace card sequence but no change. A reload of the firmware and clearing then reloading the gpx file also didn't fix things. Final drastic step will be a factory reset but I'm loathe to do that just yet I'd lose the profiles. Anyone else struck this problem?

Another option - create a local event (perhaps an afternoon on one the weekend). If you post it they will come!

I'll add my 2 cents here too - just upgraded the iPhone app and the date problem still exists for me as well: posted a note from my phone 18:15 12 March NZDT, and log was posted 11 March. This does make for a problem when logging from the field, especially on Notable days.

Last time I was in the Riccarton Westfield (ok, that was pre 22/02/11), the screen was near the entrance closest to the McDs across the carpark.

Hi MonKeyKeys, There are a few power trails developing around both Auckland and Wellington, and some good new ones on the South coast hills of Wellington. You'll probably get more of a response posting in the locals' watering hole: http://forums.gps.org.nz BTW, any reason you're not taking the Campervan south of Christchurch? West Coast, Mid-Canterbury, Central Otago, Fiordland: probably all rate higher than the Auckland - Wellington drive. Cheers, G.

That sounds fun! There a live video screen at Westfield Mall in Riccarton that I think is linked to a similar one in Auckland. I could see a potential linking of a couple of flashmobs, or perhaps a synchronised greeting queue in both spots

Bumping a slightly wizened thread here. I loaded the 5.2 firmware for my Oregon 550 hoping the old 'vanish-on-boot' problem would be fixed but it seems to have gotten worse! More often than not, if I start the unit in Automotive mode, it won't load the gpx file (in memory, from GSAK), nor any individual gpx files, and reports 'No geocaches found' when tapping the Find a Cache button. To force a reload I need to switch profile to recreational or geocaching, and cold reboot (batteries out/in) before it'll see the gpx files and load the caches. That works after 2-3 cycles. The only way avoid it when out in the field is once it's loaded ok, DO NOT TURN OFF until day's end. The only other correlation seems to be that it'll do the first wipe when plugged into the car power, and ignition key/engine start turns the unit on.

Hi Jack, Most of the Kiwis tend to hang out in the NZ GPS forum (also see other links pinned at the top of this forum). For the maps, there are excellent FREE auto-routing maps to be had at the NZ Open GPS Maps site. Their forums also have links to topo and Dept. of Conservation trail maps as well. If you plan to travel around the country, I always use a rule of thumb of 2:1 for South island:North Island. So if you've got (for example) 3 weeks, then plan for 2 of those in the South Island. Cheers, G.

Hope you had your winter woolies on for the snow!

Hi Clare and Irene, Most of the Dunedin-based cachers tend to lurk in http://forums.gps.org.nz rather than here. Having an event in Dunedin for your big day sounds a grand idea! Here are some previous events held in the area to give you some idea of the venues and possibilities that have worked. Http://coord.info/gc2r33p Http://coord.info/gc2r03g Http://coord.info/gc2e9tb Http://coord.info/GC25HVW Http://coord.info/GC22N36 Http://coord.info/GC21Z2Q Http://coord.info/GC1M4B6 Http://coord.info/GC1HKKD Http://coord.info/GC173Y0 Http://coord.info/GCZC3V Http://coord.info/GCXHE7 Http://coord.info/GCRVD7 That early in January is still school / summer holidays so there may not be a huge crowd, but then again you may well capture other visiting cachers as well! Personally, I'd cross fingers, hope for great weather, and aim for S45° 50.994 E170° 31.612 (Mannequin) as it has a nice outdoor area as well as indoor option if you're just looking for a nibble&chat. Cheers, G.

I've got both loaded into Mapsource and will be using one or other of them in earnest next month. Question is - which one? Metroguide V8 is a few years old now, but the OSM maps, being crowd-sourced may not have as much coverage. I'll be using the autorouting on an Oregon ('tweaked' MG) Comments, bickbats, bouquets, recommendations please?

The cartwheeling Vicar inside the Abby afterwards close enough?

Could some kind Whovian cacher point me in the direction of some good Dr Who-related bookmark lists for the Cardiff area please? I'm hoping there are caches near the companions' houses (Donna, Sarah Jane r.i.p, Amy Pond) in the Cardiff region. We're on a whirlwind tour of the UK in June and have a couple of days planned for Cardiff. We were going to go on a Who-tour but the good one we found on the Web runs on a Saturday, while we arrive on the Sunday. Cheers, Gerard

Just as an aside, if there's a gpx file loaded in the main memory and another on the microSD card, do both get loaded automatically, with a shared upper limit of 5K caches?

I'd hoped the hang problem would have gone away with the 4.20 load but I still get the unit hanging (requiring a battery-pull to fix) then no caches appearing on restart. 3 or more power cycle restarts and the unit then seems to realise that there are caches to load and reads the current file. Very annoying.

The 'member only' time period has finished and we're now accepting orders from all. The limited edition silver coins for both Pike River and Canterbury quake have sold out but there are a number of the copper run for each coin still available. Cheers, G.

I've got similar hopes, but thought at least I could store photos from the GPS (Oregon 550) on the iPad. Camera attached via USB cable to the iPad worked ok, but plugging the miroSD in (using an SD adaptor) got the message 'not enough power'. Apparently Apple, bless their cotton socks, reduced the power to the port from 100ma down to 20ma in the last OS update because too many foreign devices were being plugged in and working. As Apple weren't getting a revenue stream from such wicked wicked 3rd party units they had to stop them somehow. Sadly that's seriously reduced the functionality of the iPad to the point I'll need to get a netbook to take as well, unles there's a Guru here who can provide a solution.

Please refer to the local NZ geocoin forumfor full information. We now have available and ready for delivery the NZ Recreational GPS Society geocoins for 2010. Please note: available for members only for the first 2 weeks (but you're welcome to join! ) At least $5 from every coin sale will go to the Canterbury Earthquake charity fund There are 2 coin themes available, both available in the regular Copper colour, and a Limited Edition Silver colour. The first has been struck in memory of the Pike River coalmine disaster on the West Coast late last year. The other was struck to remember the 4th of September Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake in Canterbury. Given the tragedy of the past week, this coin shows the Christchurch Cathedral as it was and as it will be once more.

Hi folks, any Christchurch cachers, please check in locally here: http://forums.gps.org.nz/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6090&p=45208#p45208 Good luck and our thoughts are with you.

Hi Rainbowfaerie, You might get more response posting in http://forums.gps.org.nz , there are a number of Auckland cachers lurking there. Cheers, G.

Not sure about other brands, but Garmin have a good range of basics: the etrex and Dakota range are good, as too the entry-level model in the 62 series: Garmin comparison

That was the really odd thing - the initial load was fine and had worked. Sequence: Loaded GPX file from GSAK using the Oregon macro, with child waypoints: everything seemed to be ok - first power on showed 'Loading' progress bar - subsequent power on came up quickly, no progress bar Left it to auto-power off after power removed in the car Had to pull batteries to get it to restart On restart, the OLD set of caches from the previous load (for a different area) showed up, NOT the currently loaded gpx, no progress bar Manually added waypoint, then power-cycled. Showed 'Loading' progress bar this time and current gpx file of caches appeared (thankfully) No dead horses flogged, but I do NOT let it auto-power-off in the car now!

Add one more twist to this puzzle: since I updated to the 4.00 version I've also had the occasional hang, but it would normally come right after removing the batteries. However, there's also now a problem when using the car power cord and then ignition turned off. If I touch the 'TURN OFF NOW' everything is fine. If I leave it the 30 seconds to auto power off it then hangs on restart (progress bar gets about 70% through). Battery removal is required to restart, but after that it reports NO CACHES loaded. Last time this happened in the field (day 1 of a multiday trip - arrrgh!), by manually adding a waypoint then power cycling it seemed to force a re-read of the gpx files into memory and all was right again. Most odd.

Same topic under discussion here, but quick answer: if you're logging a number of caches for 1 day, correct the date in the first log and the following logs will keep this date. By default I assume it takes Seattle time. Alternately, if you can use Field Notes from a suitable GPSr, they seem to load up the correct date/time for each log.