Roo & the Bears

I had used the POI loader and GSAK macro that was posted for "paperless NUVI caching" some years back with my 1450. It worked great with my 1450, but now I have a 50LM and the wife has kept the 1450 (we have 4 different models in the family now). I've been working a lot and had gotten out of geocaching. Just retired so no I have time and want to start back up with my 50LM. The macro has not been updated since 2008 and the 50LM is not a selectable model in the macro for GSAK. Does anybody have any idea which if any of the selectable models in the macro would be best to use for a 50LM or will none of them work? Or is there a better way to do this now (remember I'm out of the loop by about 4 to 5 years and playing catch up).

I bought a Nuvi 750 last June to use in the car (already had two magellan meridian's for geocaching). I was delighted to find there was a way to upload a GPX file from this site with all the data for paperless caching. You get to upload the whole data page, not just a summary (and the hints also). I use the Nuvi in concert with my handhelds. At a certain zoom level you see all the geocaches on the screen as you drive around too. This worked great on our summer trip to Myrtle Beach. I would recommend anyone with a Nuvi to take a look at this thread & site: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=193374

Both units now show "FIX" status on the new WAAS birds. Neither is showing WAAS Averaging yet. I'm assuming it still needs to download the updated almanac so I'm going to let them run a while on the deck. Adding the longitude data made a world of difference in the time it took to find the new WAAS sats after the memory was cleared. With the correct data is was almost instant, went from searching to binary (data?) to FIX. I had also manually entered my GEO location exactly instead of the "by state" on the clear memory re-initialization. I suspect this also contributed to the fast FIX (I had manually entered it before updating the longitude data and it was still searching). I did not edit the checksum data. Just the WAAS id info and longitude. I suspect it would have found the new sats just find with the id info only, the longitude just makes the initial search faster. Now I just have to re-enter the personalized "welcome" screen I had set up in the old firmware (a project for later)

I should have refreshed the computer screen. I did not see the reply about clearing the memory. I tried that on the Gold and it WORKED!!!!! I see 138 with "FIX" in menu 03, and it is searching for 135. It found 138 within seconds after I flashed the firmware with the current longitude added to the firmware (I had uploaded it to the SD before I read the clear memory messages). I reset the Platinum and it's still searching, but it does show it is searching for the new WAAS 135 & 135 units, so I'm going to update the longitude and reflash it. Apparently if you input the longitude data it makes a difference. Thanks to all for this fix. I still love my Meridians (now if I could find a source for a display for the Platinum, the backlight is out but otherwise it's a perfect unit). And for some reason the Platnium always "says" it has greater accuracy than the Gold in side by side comparision. Not sure if it's true of just what the unit says however.

I wondered if leaving the longitude untouched in my first try contributed to the delay in success (or failure). I went and found the longitude for the two current WAAS sattelites: Galaxy 15 (135) is at 133*W or FF7B hex Anik F1R (138) is at 107.3*W or FF95 hex So I tried to mod the firmware with these two locations and reflashed. Still shows 120 & 122 in menu 03. I'll let 'em both run a while and see if they update.

Tried this with my 2 Meridian units. I still get the "120" and "122" in the hidden menu #3. One thing I notice now but did not remember before is the "120" and "122" come and go, blinking in and out like it's searching for something different (a almanac update perhaps? I sure hope so.). It did look like the firmware uploaded (neither bricked on me using the SD to upload the firmware and I did not loose my basemap in either unit), but I don't see any change and don't see WAAS averaging either. There is one issue I'm not real sure about. The checksums. In the directions it talks about recalculating the checksums, but later it says the checksum does not matter. I did not change the checksums Did I miss something? I tried modding Meridian Gold firmware 5.41 and the structure was identical to the directions. I also tried modding Platinum firmware 5.40 with the fixes. I did find the hex data in question was in a different location in the file for the Platinum, but the structure was the same. Has anybody else gotten this work on a Gold or Platinum? Just curious, but is there some reason not to post a fixed and working copy of the firmware somewhere? 5.41 for Gold is 5.41 for all the gold units, same for Platnium, so one working copy could be cloned by many. And did I miss something?

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I haven't seen anything in print that says they will. However the fact that they are planning a vehicle mount as an accessory might lead one to believe that they will. I just got off the phone with Magellan Support. The backlight in my Meridian Platnium has quit working (otherwise the unit works fine, just in daylight). Of course I got the "we no longer service that model" and their offer to upgrade me to a referbished Explorist 600 for $210. I asked about the Triton as a ugrage. They do not have that option "yet". I also asked about autoroute for street maping and they said the Tritons do have the autoroute function. I did not think to ask what software it used for autorouting however. I will keep my Platinim for now and see about an Triton upgrade later or just buy one outright if they prove to be good units

Exported them in blocks of 150 (1 to 150, 151 to 300, etc...). This leaves 50 with comment fields open for mapping and a bunch more for just waypoints manually added. Thanks to all....

Yes, you guys are too quick (posted the second one as a afterthought moments after the first). I've modified it with the "aah-ha" moment now... Thanks for the super quick responses.... PS - Clyde I love your software (registered user).

Ahhh.... So I can upload 500 waypoints, but only the first 200 can have the extra text associated with them. I guess I missed that in the Magellan manual. Plan B, create different cache groups by range, and keep them under 200 and put several different ones on the SD card to change on the fly (after clearing memory to free up the first 200). This should do what I want right? I like having the closest 500 caches available as I live in a cache rich area and never know when I will get the urge to take a stab at one.

Hmmmm, I've hit a roadblock with a problem exporting waypoints in GSAK. I've been downloading the 500 caches closest to my home via GC.com and when I go to export the waypoints to a Magellan SD card format (for a meridian) is when I've been having a problem. The output file takes the caches in order by code (which is the GC.com waypoint name) and when it reaches a certain point (about halfway through) it drops the text for the cache name. So all I get for about half the caches is "GCP132" and the position plotted. I'm only exporting about 450 of the waypoints to leave some space for manual adds while out and about. I've tried seting the number of waypoints in the export dialog screen and also by using the user flat and the select number of waypoints to view macro. I've tried changing the sort order on the display as well as the sort field and it still exports the exact same data with the "problem" starting at the exact same point everytime. It appears to drop the data after the 200th cache exported to the file. Did I miss some limitation in GSAK or GPSBabel? I have tried to export all my waypoints (about 576) in different formats and it seems to work correctly so the problem seems to be with the Magellan SD card format. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the program but it remains a 200 waypoint ceiling. Any suggestions?

I'm fairly new to GSAK and may have missed this in the instructions. Is there a way to have more than one waypoint "exported" to USAphotomaps at a time from within GSAK. For instance, if I have a local park with 4 caches in the park I would like to show them all at the same time on the map. I know I can manually enter them into USAphotomaps, but is there a way to select all 4 of them within GSAK and right click to run USAphotomaps and have them all show up as waypoints?

I don't think there is a solution to this problem. I had borrowed a friends Meridian color to try a while and ended up buying a Meridian Platinum for this very same reason. In full sunlight the color's display just plain sucks. It's beautiful in shade or dubdued light, but sunlight - well you already know... I don't think it has anything to do with glare, but with the way the color's TFT display "shows" the data. I believe it really needs to use the backlight to be seen at it's best. I'm hoping the 500/600 Explorist models have a better daylight readable display. I might consider upgrading if they do, but for me the sunlight test is a must pass before I plunk down any coinage on a new GPSr.

I had the Energizer "Family" model Nimh charger (does everything from D cell to 9v). It is still in production (I've had mine a few years) and it works great with the 2500mah Nimh's. I have not run mine all the way down yet so I don't have any idea of how many hours they last. I get a few days of casual caching out of a pair before the battery indicator shows 1/2 full when I swap them out (it's a Meridian and does not have a Alkaline/Nimh switch setting in the setup). My GPSr only needs 2, so with the pack of 4 I have two ready to go all the time which makes swapping out before caching very easy.

I suggest you look at the color unit in real life and daylight before you buy one. A friend loaned me his Meridian Color for a while and I ended up buying a Platinum instead. The Color's TFT display is difficult to read in direct sunlight and has to be held "just right" for you to see it. In subdued light or dark with the TFT backlight it looks beautiful, but direct sunlight just plain sucks IMO. I like the solid 4 color greyscale display much better. Crystal clear in sunlight and the back light for night and subdued lighting is very good. Unless you need the 3 axis compass, I suggest you take a hard look at the Meridian Gold model. Basically it's the same as a Color with the greyscale display. Bottom line is try to look at both before you decide and spend money....

Well, I've been a Deputy/Lieutenant for 27 years, and yes there was either a FBI or DHS bulletin put out quite a while back that explained the sport with the slant of "everybody walking around with a GPSr is not a terrorist".... However, I only recently (this year) got involved in the sport myself. There are quite a few at my department who either cache or at least know of the sport. It would help to have the aformentioned printouts to give the officers as well as the printed page with the cache info (or a paperless version available). That should convince pretty much any "reasonable" muggle officer. Unfortunately there are always going to be the one or two in an area that nothing will convince and they give everyone a bad rap... Trust me, 99.9% of them don't want to do the paperwork associated with hassling you and would be happy to take no action after a short field interview to satisfy any concern about suspicious activity they observed (people with GPSr or just poking around usually fits that bill)...

This is a true story.... A little off topic, but in the 1980's a local State Trooper had charged a guy with flipping him off. I just happend to be in the courtroom waiting on another case to come up and got to hear the bench trail of this guy. To make a long story short, the Judge found the guy not guilty and told the Trooper it was not an illegal act to give the "one finger wave". The Trooper just said "thank you Judge" and as he walked away from the bench promptly gave the Judge the "one finger wave". The courtroom erupted in snickers... Needless to say the Judge was livid and dismissed every State Patrol ticket for the rest of the day.

They do if you are using them for propane. Meth lab operators use them to store & transport stolen Anyhdrous Ammonia to be used as part of the chemical process. We had a big problem in our area last summer with lab operators stealing hundreds of the aluminum propane tanks used for fork lifts (look more like beer kegs than propane tanks). They were hitting every warehouse and industrial area for 5 counties around here. From what I understand they like these as the threaded connector on them is a perfect match for the hoses on commercial Anhydrous Ammonia storage tanks and they don't need to rig anything up to steal the ammonia. Which brings up another point. If you find what looks like a perfectly good propane tank from a BBQ grill in the woods "abandoned", it may very well have something else altogether inside of it!!! Besides do you think a little thing like a certification "law" will stop any geek head who's manufacturing meth?

Walmart now has the new Engergizer NiMh 2500mah AA's on the shelf. $9.94 for 4 of them. That's getting real close to the rated capacity of the Energizer Alkaline battery! I've bought some and they work great.

Do you have to use a pocket PC or PDA? I have neither, but would love to get them in large batches to sort and dump on my SD card via my PC. The checking 20 at a time is a little slow and tedious. I just got a GPSr with SD capability and had been thinking about upgrading. This would make it a must.

I had been looking at the 60CS and the Meridian Platinum. I just bought a Platinum and love it. I have maps for 6 states on a 256mb SD/MMC card with room to spare and can store tons of cache waypoints on the card organized however I choose. I also use a SD card writer instead of the cable and I can flash the whole 256mb in about 1 minute. I had looked at a friends GPSmap 60CS and thought the color display did not show up that well in daylight for my tastes. Another friend had loaned me his Meridian Color which is more or less the same as the Platinum (except for the display and the compass & weather functions). To me the Meridian was more natural to use. Their Mapsend Direct also has no problems at recalculating a route if you miss a turn or decide you don't want to turn where the GPSr suggested (it's still a machine and only follows the program - it's can't predict traffic congestion). Also don't forget neither of these two models/brands come with installed maps beyound the basic base maps. To get detailed turn by turn and street level detail you will need to buy the software which matches the GPSr you finally decide on. You might want to figure this into you budget as without the software, there is not much point in spending the extra bucks for a routing GPSr. Another thing I found the the Magellan was spot on accurate where as the 60CS wandered about a little in it's position fix before settling in on a cache location. I think the magellan software WAAS averaging was the reason (not sure if my friends 60CS was set to average or what other settings were on or off). In the end I was impressed with the Meridian so I bought a Platinum model off of Ebay for considerably under retail (under $180 used). The greyscale LCD on the platinum is leagues above the color TFT LCD's in daylight readability. As to the battery life of the Platinum, the main drain on battery power is the 3 axis compass. It can be turned off in the setup menus however if you don't need it at the moment or don't care to use it. If you don't care to use the 'real time' compass, then look at the Meridian Gold model as the Platinum is the same guts as the gold but with an extra sensor card added for the compass and weather functions. The display and other options are the same. As to dedicated geocaching mode in the Garmin, you can do 99% of the same functions in the Meridian. I import my waypoints from the geochaching.com website, and dump them to my flash memory card (or upload via cable as waypoint only takes a second). I use the default 'crosshair' icon for unfound ones and change the icon to a round bullseye for found ones. The waypoint name matches the website cache index number and the Meridian has extended comments which hold the 'regular name' of the cache to make finding the full data easier. When I find a cache, I edit the waypoint name to show "//" at the end of the name and change the waypoint icon. The meridians will do several methods of GOTO including showing you a list of waypoints closest to your current location which is great for caching. I currently have about 200 of the caches nearest my house on the SD card and they show up on my map overlay as I drive around. It's real neat to 'see' all the caches and where they are in a populated area. SD/MMC cards make a world of difference in how you store and use the data, maps, waypoints. etc... Check with friends and relatives and see if you can get a first hand look at both models and then make a decision. Also if there is a Geocache group near you that has monthly meetings I'm sure they would love to tell you of their favorite GPSr and why, as well as show theirs off.

Amen to that. Swinging a large tree branch at your head is absolutely aggravated assault (or whatever it's called in your state). And, I assure you if you had sprayed this bozo with pepper spray, he would have not reacted like a bear. He would probably gotten more violent. It might buy you a few seconds but it has been my expiereance that mental wacko's do not react to OC spray like "normal" folks (and often not at all - it just makes them madder). If it was later in the spring I might guess the guy might have already started his Ganja crop on "public land" to avoid detection, but it's early in NC for that. He may have a meth lab or still and this might be why he was screaming about the pipe, or he may have just been a nut. Glad you made it out in one piece. You need to report it to the police ASAP (if you have not already). It may prevent the next errant hiker from being seriously injured by this bozo.

And some of them are also cacher's. Only problem is I'm driving a desk & computer now after 27 years in the field. However since I was recently introduced to the sport by a friend (spouse of another cop), I've shown 4 or 5 of my cop buddies who camp and have GPSr's about the sport and they are finding it is addictive as well. Actually it would be a lot easier to explain what you were doing to the average cop if you had a cache print out or two with you as well. Paperless caching has it's drawbacks.

Not to change the subject, but since the 300, 400 & 500 came up..... I'm wondering about these as the pre-production specs which I've seen all show the entire Explorist line as using patch antenna's. Nearly every other high end and feature loaded (ie, expensive) unit from most manufacturers all seem to use the quadrifillar type antenna's. I've been using a borrowed Meridian Color and that sucker is usually putting me within 3 feet of the cache. I've also been impressed with the Meridian's ability to maintain WAAS sat lock in heavy woods so far (but I'm fortunate to be in an area where we usually see both of the WAAS birds as well). That is the main reason I may not wait on the 500 & 600 to come out. I emailed Magellan about the antenna issue but have not heard back from them yet.