Geomate.jr

Hi Ah, yes, the "Flash Programming Failed" message. Yep, we found a little problem on some computers (well, more the USB hardware configuration) that causes problems with the database update. Good news though! This is fixed. Please uninstall the existing Update Kit Software, go back to the web site, download the software again and install this version. You should be good to go after that. Please go ahead and email me direct at warren@apisphere.com if I can be of any further assistance. Cheers Warren

G'day Colonial Cats Sorry to keep you hanging and not getting back to you about the firmware change. But yes, very observant!! One feature of the Update Kit is the ability to upgrade the firmware at the same time as a cache list update. The differences from v1002 and v1004 are pretty unnoticeable for the average user but there are small things like making sure the "Find Clear Sky" message only shows when needed, the found list has been increased from 20 to 99 (pushing for 1000), the direction arrow now appears and flashes to begin with to help prompt people to move, and small little error message changes. For the most part however, there are changes that are needed to support future features that, well, I can't really talk about yet. Cheers Warren

G'day Sarteel Just so you know, I actually work for the company that makes the Geomate.jr and I'm here to help! I thought I would jump on this thread to help clear up any confusion or questions you may have. The way the Geomate.jr is like this. When you switch the unit on, it calculates the closest 20 to where you are currently standing and starts by showing you the first closest. You can then go to the second closest by simply hitting the NEXT button (the big one on the left) and keep hitting it until you scroll through all 20. If you want to the Geomate.jr to recalculate that list of closest 20 (say you just jumped in the car a drove to a different spot) then all you need to do is switch it off and back on again - it will then calculate the closest 20 from where you are now. So the closest 20 has actually no connection with the HOME location that you can set by holding both buttons down. The HOME location simply becomes the very first entry in your list. i.e. when scrolling through the list of 20, it will now look like this HO, 1, 2, 3....20 and then back to HO (HOME). I hope this helps? I'll keep an eye on this thread for anything else I can help with, or please feel free to email me directly at warren@apisphere.com Oh, and just one other thing. As for being able to load geocaches from geocaching.com, with the Update Kit, you effectively get EVERY traditional geocache loaded onto your Geomate.jr (with the exception of premium member caches). Cheers Warren

G'day All Yep, Colonial Cats is right - the USA-East, and the USA-West cache lists have every traditional cache (premium excluded) up to a difficulty 4 but you'll need an Update Kit to get to them. As for the factory default (the list that covers the entire US), difficulty is limited to 3. The plan is to provide a greater variety of cache list types (i.e. micro-free, etc), so if anyone has any suggestions on what they would like to see, please let me know! Either post here or flick me an email at warren@apisphere.com. I hope this helps!! Cheers Warren

Jsamundson got in touch with me directly and we worked together on the items that he was having trouble with. I thought I would share with everyone what we found... The cache in question ended up being a cache with no known size, the Geomate.jr only includes traditional caches with known sizes. We discovered that the "West USA" cache list doesn't quite reach Bloomington (by about 100 miles!). So updating the Geomate.jr with the "East USA" cache list fixed that, and we've also adjusted the cut off for the "West USA" cache list - it now goes all the way to longitude -90 degrees (or through Wisconsin) which is what the map on the web site shows. As for the other items, I can't really comment as we didn't go over it, but things seemed to be working ok. Cheers Warren

East vs West Update! Yep, as a follow up from my last post, I just confirmed that the map on the site showing where the West USA list finishes was a little out. But rather changing the map, we're changing the cutoff line! The West USA list has (up to now) stopped at longitude -95 degrees (which puts it just inside the Minnesota border, or about 100 miles from Minneapolis). As of the next update (tonight), the West USA list will go all the way to -90 degrees (which takes it through Wisconsin). Cheers Warren

Hi Team Herfel Hmmmm, have you used an Update Kit to update the database and selected West USA by chance?? The cutoff line for the West USA database is suspiciously close to Minneapolis (I think the map on the web site is a little off - I'm double checking to be sure). If you select the East USA database then the overlap extends into North and South Dakota. Otherwise, rather than using the forums as a direct support channel, please email me at warren@apisphere.com and I'm sure we'll quickly work out what is going on. Cheers Warren (Geomate.jr bloke)

G'day Mycobbwa First, sorry to hear you couldn't get though on the support line! Unfortunately we do miss calls - next time, please just leave a message and we'll be happy to call you back as soon as we can. As for the problem you are seeing, I'm happy to say that we already have a good idea of what is causing this error and are working on a fix as we speak. If you can send an email to me directly (warren@apisphere.com) I can make sure you get notified when the fix is in place. I hope this helps!! Cheers Warren

I'm happy to say that the cache lists accessible with the Update Kit are updated everyday! So you get the absolute latest (well, up to about 24 hours ago...) And yes, the process is now fully automated. As for only including geocaches that have been in place for about 6 months, this applies only to the factory-default list (USA - ALL). We do that to try to give the list a bit more staying power. Any of the other lists (such as USA - EAST) do not have this restriction and you'll get all caches up to about 24 hours ago.

Wow, some people are just never happy!! Glad you like the process though - our goal is really to keep the update side of things as simple and enjoyable as the Geomate.jr itself. And yes, more cool stuff is in the works! Cheers Warren

Thanks for letting me know about this - the list of missing geocaches helps a lot and it appears that they should be a part of the list. We have a theory and are checking into it as we speak. Standby!! Cheers Warren G'day All Well, we've taken a look, found the hiccup, and have already fixed it. Any updates from now on should contain all expected geocaches. A big thanks to the OH Team for bringing this to our attention! Cheers Warren

Thanks for letting me know about this - the list of missing geocaches helps a lot and it appears that they should be a part of the list. We have a theory and are checking into it as we speak. Standby!! Cheers Warren

Ah, yes, the bonus page... We're keeping that one in our back pocket for the moment and focusing on the core update capability to ensure it is as solid as possible. I hope you're not too disappointed! Cheers Warren

Ah, yes, the firmware update function. At the moment, we actually include any firmware update as part of the database update. So you will automatically get any firmware update every time you update your cache database and take advantage of incremental improvements to the firmware. After an update however, that message line should just tell you the current firmware version and will not say "Update Available". Cheers Warren

Does this mean that if I select the "Western US", and the "without time limit" database, then the next time I click "One Click Update" the software will know I have that database loaded and update it? If so, that's really cool - I thought the one-click would just download the latest factory-default database. Bingo! That's exactly what it does. Our thinking was that most people will end up with their favorite database type and region and hardly ever change - so this type of function made a lot of sense to us. Less clicks the better right? Oh, also, if you do change databases, it does not effect your found list. Your found list will always remain regardless of which database you load or how often you change databases.

G'day AirborneSurveyor The way we are handling loading cache lists for other countries at the moment is through large 'chucks' of the world. So rather than picking individual countries, we have setup a number of big 'squares' around different regions. At the moment these regions are Europe (so you get all of Europe and the UK in one swoop), Australasia (includes Australia, News Zealand, a little of South East Asia, and pretty much all of the South Pacific), and Canada (with a big overlap with the US). At the moment we don't really cover the Middle East, but for Germany (and any other country in Europe), you will be well and truly covered. I hope this helps! Cheers Warren

Yep, this is pretty much what it does (plus a couple other options). The 'One Click Update' basically reads what type of database you have on the device and then loads the absolute latest version of that database. So if you have the factory database, it will load the latest cache database with the same type of selection criteria applied. Now if you want to move beyond that, you can then go ahead and select a different database that has had different selection criteria applied. No worries! I'll pass your thanks onto the rest of the team - they love hearing this type of feedback! Cheers Warren

Yep, this must be the case. REI definately have Update Kits, I can only assume it takes a little time to crank the handle on their processes. At this point not really. We planning however in creating different cache list types - things like "family friendly", "for the extremist", "micro free", but not quite a fully user customizable.... Very cool. So do I!!

It's not in place yet, but supporting field notes is definately something on our list.

Everything is pretty self-explanatory on the web site. There is a Quick Start Guide that comes with the Update Kit but that's about it!

G'day All For anyone patiently awaiting the release of the Geomate.jr Update Kit, well, your wait is over!! The Update Kits are starting to show up in stores and the Update Kit web pages are live! (www.mygeomate.com/updates) As people start to poke and prod, I'm sure questions are going to come up. So here's your chance to ask those questions, get them answered, and share the information with others. I look forward to chatting! Cheers Warren (The Geomate.jr bloke)

G'day Maingray I'm terribly sorry to hear that! Let's get you back up and running ASAP. If you can send me an email at warren@apisphere.com and provide me with a postal address, I'll arrange for an immediate replacement. Cheers Warren

G'day All After not being on the forums for a little while, I was very happy to see the latest comments, pics, and shared experiences after logging in this morning. So much so, I thought I would share some pics of my own. So why haven't I been on the forums recently?? Well, I managed to escape for a road trip with friends from Germany... A couple kids, a few Geomate.jr's, and the state of Utah make for some awesome geocaching! Field testing of the Geomate.jr (complete with drying bathers...) Cheers Warren

We love hearing things like this!! For us, geocaching is fun for the whole family and a great way to get the kids outdoors. With a Geomate.jr in her hands I'm sure your daughter will be a lot more engaged and enjoy hunting those sneaky geocaches as much (if not more so) as you!! Welcome to geocaching! Many adventures await. Cheers Warren (Geomate.jr representative)

G'day GeoJunkie (and others) Yea, getting the Update Kit out the door has taken us a little longer than expected, but we want to get it right!! The latest (and fingers crossed the last) update is that we are currently on schedule to start shipping Update Kits out to retailers on the 24th of this month (August). The retailers in turn will then have to get it out on the shelves etc which is a little out of our control. But a realistic expectation is that you'll start seeing product appear during that week at places like Shop Groundspeak, Cache-Advance.com, and REI.com first and then start appearing on the shelves at REI. We really do appreciate your patience. Cheers Warren