twolpert

You must be a premium member to use Pocket Queries. For each PQ, you specify search criteria (center point, radius, cache type/size/difficulty and so forth). The PQ runs on the gc.com servers, which find all the caches (limit 500 in a single PQ) that meet your criteria. You receive an e-mail containing a pair of .gpx files -- one for the caches and one for any additional "child waypoints" like parking areas and trailheads. gc.com saves the search criteriea in your PQ, so you can refresh the data any time you want. Although you won't be able to use it all with your units, the .gpx file contains most everything that's on the cache page -- name, coordinates, D/T rating, description, hint, and last several logs. Most everything except pictures. Now, all you need is a way to get the information in the .gpx onto your unit. There are lots of ways to do this -- Mapsource, EasyGPS, GSAK (the longtime favorite), and others. In order to take maximum advantage of all information in the PQ, you really need a GPSr that's capable of paperless caching. But even without that, PQs do provide an easy, quick way to get lots of caches onto your unit. With the units you have, you may (eventually) want something that can massage the .gpx data before downloading to the unit. That way, you can cram the information you find most useful into the limited amount of space available on your unit. GSAK is good at this, although there is something of a learning curve for those features. But if all you want is the standard stuff, GSAK is very easy to use with the default settings. I'm sure others will chime in with information on other ways to load .gpx files onto the unit.

Unfortunately, gc.com (or maybe the manufacturers communication with gc.com) is universally bad about that. The same thing is true for Garmins. For a long time, the gc.com site only listed the Colorado, although the Oregon works the same way. Now it lists CO and OR, but is missing the Dakota -- which also works the same way... Forums are your friend

CN is licensed to an individual device. Updates don't count as additional licenses. Which means that doing what you want to do would violate the license agreement.

GSAK does not track the source of the information that you add to an existing database. There are various date fields (such as the "source date" of the .gpx) that might be useful for this purpose. But they might not be unique, depending on what else you did on the same date. The easiest thing I can think of is to import the PQ again. This time, check "Set user flag" and "If matched, ONLY update user flag." Now filter on user flag and delete all waypoints in the filter. In any case, why not just "trim things down" by creating a filter in GSAK to do what you want. Then use the filtered results to load your unit? Edited to add: Be sure the clear all the user flags first. And it never hurts to either let GSAK back up your databases or make/use a copy before doing something like this.

No idea how it compares to Magellan. It is inferior to Garmin City Navigator, though. You can find general information on power consumption and battery life here: http://delormepn40.wikispaces.com/Power Those are for the PN-40. As you can see, the sensors draw very little power, so I would expect results for the PN-30 to be similar.

Never use the altimeter, especially since the unit lacks any way to display the altitude profile for a track. I do use the electronic compass while caching -- but this is definitely a matter of personal preference. The only real difference is that the electronic compass allows the unit to display the "pointer" when you are standing still. Without the compass, the unit depends on satellite position information to display the pointer -- so you must be moving. Note that even with the compass on, the unit uses satellite information when you are moving more than 1.5 miles an hour.

When I go to the Field Notes option on Geocaching.com, they don't list the PN30 as an option. Only the PN40. But you think the PN30 allows for field note uploading? That would be great as it would save me a bunch of money. 99% certain it will work just fine. As with the Garmin Colorado, Oregon and Dakota, "field notes" on the PN-series is just a text file in a standard format. To upload them to gc.com, the device mounts as a removable USB drive, you browse to the file and upload it. I guess the prices on the -30 have finally dropped. For a while there, you could get a -40 for about the same price as the -30. If you post over here, somebody who owns one will chime in shortly: http://forums.delorme.com/viewforum.php?f=131 Edited to add: You'd just use the PN-40 option on gc.com.

AFAIK, the major difference between the -30 and the -40 is that the -30 lacks the electronic compass and barometric altimeter. There is no difference in paperless geocaching capabilities. Both have the ability to upload field notes. Some kind of carrying case is probably necessary. The lanyard that comes with the unit is a little too short to be useful. And on the lanyard, the unit has a tendency to flop around so it faces your body -- which pretty much blocks the patch antenna. On the other hand, it works fine in a jacket pocket. The usefullness of the in-vehicle kit (whatever DeLorme calls it this week) depends on how you use the unit. Those who use it mostly for off-road travel swear by them. Those who use it mostly as a handheld don't find it as useful. The road-routing capabilities of the unit are pretty anemic (although the maps come with the unit, so there is no extra cost). Many people find that a dedicated automotive unit is much superior. I wouldn't invest in the windshield mount until you've tried the road routing to see if you think it's adequate. BTW, the travel kit is not the only rechargeable option. The unit accepts NiMH rechargeable AA cells, although they cannot be recharged in the unit.

I think that sums it up well, and couldn't agree more. There ought to be some fine print on these devices with info such as TL's photo depicts...sorta like the warnings on cigarette packages and alcohol containers. Good thought. But you can't fix stupid. Pretty sure the first two rescue parties for the idiots in the Grand Canyon told 'em not to abuse the service

Suspect you have already selected a cache and are now in "geocaching" mode. In that mode, the top portion of the map is covered by the semi-transparent cache header and navigation options. Even there, I think that cache icons for other caches will still show -- if they are within the bounds of the displayed map area and subject to your profile settings for zoom levels. Not positive about that, though. If you are not navigating to a cache, all the cache icons within the bounds of the displayed map area will show. However, there are profile-specific settings for the zoom level at or below which the cache icons show up. Don't remember the details for how to set this. The following instructions are for waypoints. Don't remember if there is a separate setting for caches. If so, it will be in the same general settings area as the one for waypoints. http://garmincolorado.wikispaces.com/Waypoints#toc4

I don't think the .gpx format download is available to regular members, although I'm not sure (and not in a position to test it )

Hate to rain on the parade , but I do not think that there is a Lowrance plug-in for Send to GPS. The only manufacturers who have gone the extra mile are Garmin and DeLorme. About all you can do is to download the .loc (or the .gpx when you become a premium member) and transfer it to the unit as you would a pocket query. If/when you become a premium member, you will be able to create pocket queries to download multiple caches to your GPS. Depending on how the Lowrance works (I have no experience here), you may be able to simply drop the .gpx file onto the unit when it is mounted as a removable drive. Worst case is that you will have to use some Lowrance-specific software to do it. Uploading your field notes from the Lowrance to gc.com is supported, though. Edited to add: You can create a .loc file containing more than one geocache, even as a regular member. You must do this from the cache search results page, by checking the box next to more than one of the caches. However, even as a premium member, this is always a .loc file -- so it contains only the cache GC code, name, and coordinates. It does not contain details which your paperless device can use.

There is a patch (build) for GSAK, that is required for direct loading into the PN-40, which needs to be downloaded/installed as well. I don't know how to insert a link in this post...but you can click around the GSAK forums to find it. http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...ost&p=88625 Be sure you install 7.6.1. build 27 or better (latest production build will do) before you install the version referenced in the post.

If I understand correctly, you marked a waypoint with your GPSr. Then you entered the coordinates in Google Earth. The point shown in Google Earth is not exactly where you were when you marked the waypoint. There are two possible reasons for this. First, the GPSr is not 100% accurate. Your reported position (the coordinates of your saved waypoint) are usually some distance from the correct coordinates. This distance can be anywhere from a few inches to 30 feet or so in typical conditions. A lot of factors affect the size of the error -- the satellite constellation at that time and place, environmental factors like proximty to buildings or hills, tree cover, and so forth. Usually, the reported accuracy shown on your GPSr is indicative of how bad this might be. But the reported accuracy (or error) is not an absolute guarantee. The actual error may be larger or smaller. Second, there are places where Google Earth imagery is not properly geo-referenced. This does not happen often, but it does happen. In some cases, the error is quite large (sometimes as much as a few hundred feet). In this situation, the error is consistent. As displayed, every waypoint in the mis-referenced area will be offset from the imagery by a fixed distance and direction. Best guess here is that your waypoint is simply a little bit inaccurate.

Have not used the Oregon myself. I know that some cachers consider the Colorado caching workflow superior to the Oregon. On the other hand, most of them like the touch screen better than the RnR for entering text. So YMMV You might check this out: http://www.gpsfix.net/garmin-oregon-550t-second-impression/ Scott (g-o-cashers) usually has his head screwed on straight about stuff like this.

Fascinating results all around. Interesting to note the differences between experienced and novice cachers. From what I can tell, some experienced cachers actually prefer the CO caching workflow over the OR. I can definitely see where the PN-30, with its dependency on knowing when the use the Menu button, would cause some issues for a novice user. I would have expected something of the same thing with the left soft key on the CO -- but maybe they were too busy head-scratching over the RnR I am a little surprised by the success of the OR with novices. I've not used the OR myself. At a recent Geocaching 101 class, had occasion to accompany a new cacher and her brand-new Dakota (which I believe is very similar to the OR in user interface). She was completely lost. And even though I new what functions ought to be there, I had some difficulty finding them. Obviously, your initial instruction must have been much superior to trial and error

The only way to hide your current track is turn track logging off. This hides the current track, but also prevents the unit from accumulating any additional track points.

You'll get better transfer speeds if you take the card out of the unit and put it in a card reader. The USB protocol used by the PN-series is pretty bad. No help for the Netlink download speeds, though. Overcast won't matter. What will matter is liquid water coating the canopy. The PN-40 is also known for having a hard time reacquiring if you lose the fix under cover. Maybe, but probably not. Even with the latest 2.6 firmware, WAAS use is still not up to snuff. Check your f/w version. If you do not have the latest 2.6 RTM firmware, update it. It may help, or it may not You'll find links the latest firmware download here: http://delormepn40.wikispaces.com/Firmware+Versions#toc7

Was talking about the contents of the cache description, not the contents of the child waypoint description. Regardless, you have to make a distinction between what the gc.com web page will accommodate and what the unit is capable of parsing. AFAIK, the unit is only capable of parsing HTML, not BBCode. (I'm basing that assumption on the fact that the Colorado, at least, uses third-party software to parse the HTML.) There is an additional variable here. In the places where it's supported, the gc.com web site will render the BBCode in your cache description into HTML when it displays the cache page. This is so your browser (which does not understand BBCode) will be able to display it. I am not sure how much of that re-rendering occurs when gc.com creates the .gpx file for download to your unit. The best way to find that out is to examine the .gpx file in a simple text editor like Notepad. In order for the unit to display things properly, you should see only HTML inside the descriptive portions of the .gpx file. If you see BBCode, you probably need to reformat that portion of the cache description (or child waypoint description) to avoid the use of BBCode...

AFAIK, the Garmin units parse HTML only. I don't think they recognize BBCode, although I have not tried it. That's why I suggested limiting your formatting to using the break tag (self-closing br tag) to indicate end of line. You can try the standard HTML unordered list tags (list starts with a ul tag, ends with /ul; each item in the list starts with li and ends with /li), but I'm not optimistic. Ordered (numbered) lists work the same way, except that the starting/ending list tag is ol instead of ul.

1000 waypoints plus 2000 geocaches (5000 geocaches on the 550). Not sure about a POI limit. http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Geocaching#toc4

Hmmm. Who knew it was even possible (or meaningful) to create a child waypoint without coordinates? Live and learn Given that the child waypoints have no coordinates, I don't see much point in making them child waypoints. The best way I can think of to improve the cache description is probably to just put the question text in the cache page proper. Number the questions in the cache page proper in the same order as the existing child waypoints. When you do this, be sure to reformat the choices using nothing fancier than the break tag (to start a new line) for formatting. So you come out with something like this: Object 1 (approximately 151m from cache coords) 1. If person is a politician, then A=266 a sportsman, then A=43 a soldier, then A=94 an artist, then A=243 2. If he waited 91 years, then N=55 101 years, then N=25 100 years, then N=42 90 years, then N=33 encrypted hint for object 1 goes here Object 2 (approximately 183m from cache coords) and so forth... If you really want to use coordinate-free child waypoints to emphasize the fact that there are multiple questions to answer for each location, leave the child waypoints in. Number the questions in the cache page proper to match the prefix for each child waypoint (S1, S2, etc. instead of Object 1, Object 2 etc.). For the child waypoint description, just use something short like "Answer the 2 questions listed above for S1." That will keep things neat on the cache page while minimizing the garbage clutter that will show up for the child waypoint table on a paperless device that doesn't do HTML tables.

Sorry, we're talking at cross-purposes. The macro and the utility program are both called SpoilerSync. I'm referring to the macro. http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry32601 I don't think we disagree about anything at this point

Knew I had seen the reference to spidering with regard to GSAK someplace, but could not remember where. The only images I'm referring to are the ones that GSAK will download using the "grab images" option. Although the terminology is not quite the same, I'm assuming that the GSAK help refers to the same restriction -- and that all images "grabbed" this way were grabbed without violating the ToU. And are therefore fair game for download to the device (since they can be viewed offline in GSAK). http://www.gsak.net/help/hs45400.htm Since I didn't look, I couldn't say whether or not the SpolierSync macro (referenced in the thread to which you provided a link) uses the legally "grabbed" images or spiders in violation of the ToU. Edited to add: Since Clyde appears to be the author of the macro, I'm assuming it's legal. Possibly pre-dates the image grabbing functionality in GSAK?

Well heck Lee, when you're right you're right! That's what I get for answering a question without looking to see if was already answered earlier in the thread That little icon for viewing just the new posts in a thread can be an evil thing...