ar_kayaker

Is it a flaw or a feature? I just pulled up the map for a PQ based on a bookmark list I made for a road trip I am taking and I have every cache across seven states on the map. If you look hard enough you can find the thought-ballon lightning-bolts for the caches that are actually in my bookmark list, but why are all the others there and how do I get rid of them?

I sent it back to Amazon today for a refund. They say they'll even refund the original shipping costs. If they follow thru I might buy another one from them, otherwise it's off to the REI store. But after all the hassle of loading maps via the USB port I remember the other thing I liked about the 60Cx....being able to load to the SD card directly, it's 10 times faster. So when I get another one it'll probably be a 62s, that way at least some good will come from all the hassle.

I wasn't aware that Garmin had finally gotten around to the rest of the states. Last I looked (about a 16 months ago) they were still releasing states in sets of two and only had the west coast and the rocky mountain states available. At the rate they were being released I expected to see my state around 2015. I see now that they picked up the pace and repackaged them in larger geographical areas. Unlocked? If I shell out the $700+ dollars for them I can actually load them on all my GPSr's? That's sure new! I think I'll stick with the free ones anyway, unless I hear some really impressive things about them. Maybe we are talking different software here. Before I got my Nuvi I had done a one time update for my 60Cx with CN:NT because trying to drive with the metroguide maps was just too much. I think it was the 2008.40 build. Later I was out paddling in a swap where I knew there was an old mission and cemetary on an island that I'd been to before, one that was listed in metroguide. When I tried to pull in up on NT it showed the nearest cemetery 20 miles away, a modern cemetery that is still in use. No sign of the 10 or so that I know are out in the wilderness area and that metroguide listed. Maybe the 4000 cemeteries you have are all modern ones and the historical buildings you see are ones that are still standing and on the historical register rather than just some half-colapsed walls on an island. Or maybe they got complaints and added them back in for later builds, I just don't know. I tried all the profiles that were laoded on the unit. None would display any of the non-garmin mapsets I have loaded. AK

Okay, I was away for a couple of days so I'll have to play catch-up on the questions and answers.... 1. The 3rd party topos are from GPSfileDepot, as someone else already guessed. 2. I've stuck with the 2.50 firmware so far because the Garmin website is still calling the 2.92 a beta version with a bunch of disclaimers about messing up your GPS. (I'll probably go ahead with the update over the weekend as 2.92 has been out a while without destroying any GPSr's that I've heard about. Unless I end up sending it back to Amazon (see below)) 3. The 15 year old maps I have (metroguide and the old 1:100k garmin topos) have one redeeming feature: Totally unlocked. They predate the BS with being able to only load maps onto one GPS unit. I use the metroguide in all my handhelds only as a generic reference for streets and some POIs that have been left out of City Navigator NT like old cemeteries and other historical buildings. (My Nuvi has an up-to-date version of City Navigator NT for driving and finding current restuarants.) The garmin topos I really don't use as 1:100k is a little lame when there are free maps out there that are more current, include some trail data, and are 1:24k, which you can't even get from Garmin unless you are in a National Park ($300 for the whole USA) or West of the Rockies at about $50 a state. If I can't find a fix for the problem with the 3rd party maps I'll resort to the 1:100k for a while. 4. I wouldn't have thought that a map section in ND would block the view of AR, but I guess it's possible. One problem with that though is that the file to enable/disable the topo maps doesn't even show up in the menu when they are alone in an .img file. That trick with tiles from different "products" was just one experiment I tried with map tile combinations to make the file appear. 5. Haven't tried the profile thing yet because I didn't want to mess with the settings, but I recently discovered that my GPSr wasn't a new product even though Amazon sold it as one! I went to download my weekend hiking tracks and found some tracks from Decemeber last year in New Hampshire, 3 months before I bought it and 1000 miles away from me. It's entirely possible that the profile was corupted before I got it either by the prior owner or by Amazon wiping the data they knew was incriminating (that they found) in an attempt to pawn it off as new. Will be discussing that with Amazon in the near future. I did back up all the data on the unit before making any changes, but now I don't know if that data was good to start with. Does anybody know where to find original data for a 62? AK

I think this is a Metroguide issue. It does not need to be loaded into gmapsupp.img. That file format was created for topos. I believe it will work as gmap.img and work alongside a gmapsupp.img file. Do a test in Mapsource, send a Metroguide only file to your 62, what is it named? As to official, I distinctly remember Red90 stating that Garmin does NOT want to kill 3rd party maps. While they certainly will sell fewer topos, their overall ecosystem is much stronger verses any other GPS maker. I for one will only consider a Garmin because they run the Above the Timber topos which for where I live are the maps of choice. If there was a problem with the gpsfiledepot maps and the 62, you would not have been the first person to post on the gpsfiledepot forum about the problem. You need to trouble shoot as I suggest above to narrow this down. All Garmin maps (made by Garmin or us map authors on gpsfiledepot.com, above the timber, etc) have a draw order between 1 and 31. That is what determines which map is drawn first and what covers what. The lower draw numbers draw first - that means a map with a higher draw number (with the exception of a transparent overlay) covers them up. City Navigator has a draw order of 30 which means it covers up any topo map you have loaded. In order to see any topo map, you have to go into map setup and disable CN. I do not know what the draw order for MetroGuide is, but I suspect 30. Transparent overlay maps like My Trails have a draw order of 31. That means they draw on top of any map but since they are transparent, they don't cover up the other maps. gmapsupp.img is the file created on your GPS for whatever maps you send to it (street, topo, or whatever). On the 62 and other new garmins like the OR, you can rename the file to something else. On the OR, what shows up in enable and disable the maps is based on the mapset name. For the 62 I think the name in enable and disable is based on the .img file name. Try loading just one mapset at a time, rename gmapsupp.img to the mapset name.img and see if it works. Actually I've done all of that. The first time I loaded one big set, metroguide (15 year old Garmin road maps), and the topos I wanted in one huge set just like I would on my 60Cx. It showed in the select/enable list but I couldn't see the topo and the 62 has no means of deselecting individual tiles or layers from a mapset the way the 60 series does. Next I changed that file to metroguide.img and reloaded the topos with Mapsource. It named it gmapsupp.img, I renamed it artopo.img for convienience, but when I went to the select/enable screen....no topo, just the metroguide still there. Back in USB mode I verified the artopo was still there. The 62 was just ignoring it. I deleted it and the metroguide file and reloaded just the topo without renaming it....no maps. I selected a single metroguide tile from North Dakota along with the arkansas topos and loaded that. This time it appeared in the menu and I was able to see the streets of Minot, but when I scrolled down the Arkansas....blank space! 190k file with only Minot, ND. I copied this file over to the 60Cx and poof, one tile of Minot plus arkansas topos. The 62 is ignoring the third party maps, or at least mine is. If it is just mine malfunctioning, it's the weirdest malfunction I've ever heard of. AK

Actually the "newest" maps will be on top, at least if it works like the 60Cx, but I thought of that and loaded only a single tile of metroguide, but loaded the whole state topo maps. Only the sigle tile from metroguide shows up. On the 60Cx, even if the metroguide was the newer map it would only conceal the area directly behind the one tile. I'm starting to believe 62 has some means of deciding that a map file isn't "official" and ignoring it, even when it's loaded via Mapsource. Haven't tried Basecamp yet. AK

They load to the \Garmin directory, they show up initially as gmapsupp.img, but when I go to the map select/enable screen nothing is there except the basemap. If I load something from my old metroguide maps in the same img file the file will show up on the select/enable menu, but only the tile from metroguide will display. AK

I have several topo maps I got free from GPSFileDepot that I have been using just fine in my 60Cx, but when I add them to the mapset for my new 62 it won't display them. With the 60Cx all the maps were one big file (or you could manually re-name the gmapsupp.img file via usb to swap maps) but the 62 allows you to load and re-name segments or states and then select between the ones displayed on the fly...except non-garmin maps. I even tried getting rid of all maps on the unit and then loading just the topo without renaming it and it still wouldn't show up. All these maps load to and through Mapsource and work just fine on the 60Cx so I don't know what's going on with it. I've considered tryin to load them as custom maps, but haven't figured out that process yet. Any help out there? AK

I'm not sure if/how this might apply, but the 62 series is supposed to have some nifty new feature that keeps it from "wandering" when it is sitting still. If you even looked at the track log on one of the older models you'll know what I'm refering to. I'm not sure yet how that might affect the unit's ability to home in on a spot, but depending on how they handled the wandering issue, I can see ways it might keep the unit from updating when you make small moves trying to get closer to ground zero.

Worn buttons, cracked battery cover, the rubber coming off the antenna, corrosion in the battery compartment because I didn't find out it was no longer waterproof soon enough, couple of dead pixels and a partial lighting malfunction.... It still functions, but with duct tape around the antenna instead of rubber, it can't last much longer. For a flat fee they'll take care of it all (or rather they'll send one they've already done it to.)

I'm looking to send my 60Cx back to garmin for an overhaul and I was wondering if anyone else had done this and how long it took to get their GPSr back. I've been holding off replacing it, waiting until the 62 series was really ready for the field so I could go fully paperless, but so far it looks like they are still pretty buggy so I'm thinking to overhaul the 60 instead. The problem is I don't want to be without a GPSr for too long because I use mine at least every other week most of the year, usually more. Anybody have experience with Garmin's service?

I've seen a lot of reviews on this unit that say there are still problems with software. Things like freezing up if a gpx has more than ten logs, getting stuck to a location even after you start moving again, and dumping maps. Had anything like that with it or have they finally worked out the bugs? My 60Cx is about beat to death and needs to either be replaced or sent back to Garmin for an overhaul, but if the 62 series is through with the shake-down phase I'd love to be able leave my laptop at home and go fully paperless.

That's certainly a feature that sounds "like"able. I currently don't use the notification feature for the very reason you stated. Who cares if another dozen micros have appeared in a ten block radius, I want to know if any caches at the end of a 5 mile hike have been posted.

<snip> Is there still no answer for this flaw? I'm getting really tired of clicking that *&^% ok button everytime I want to view a different GC page. I'm running XP and IE 8.0.6xxxx, with firefox the pop-up doesn't appear, but the font displayed looks really sad. I'm running IE8 with no problem. The only thing that springs to mind is maybe your security settings are too high. Tools > Internet Options > Security Tab - Click on Custom and scroll about a third of the way down to Downloads. Check that "Font Download" is Enabled. That fixed it, Thanks. It still begs the question of why the specialty font? It doesn't look different from any other website I've been to and I've never seen the font issue arise before. At least changing the settings fixed it.

Which browser? It could be a security setting, but they are in different places in different browsers. Also, are you sure there is not a check box in that window for "Don't ask me again"? Internet Explorer. No, no check box unfortunately. Is there still no answer for this flaw? I'm getting really tired of clicking that *&^% ok button everytime I want to view a different GC page. I'm running XP and IE 8.0.6xxxx, with firefox the pop-up doesn't appear, but the font displayed looks really sad.

Sometime in the last day or two every single page I try to load on GC hangs up with a pop-up from IE asking if it is okay to load a temporary font. The page loads after you agree to let it, but what's going on that IE needs permission to use a new font for every page? Firefox doesn't hang up, but all the text looks really blocky and is hard to read. Windows XP, IE 8.0.6

This FB thing may well be the last straw for me. I debated for a long time last year when my membership came due about renewing or not. What used to be a fun semi-clandestine activity has already become a soccer-mom game where if you are spotted with electronics in your hand just about anyplace people ask "are you geocaching? I've got an ap for that..." Plus I now have to spend an hour or more sorting and re-sorting PQ's to find caches worth visiting instead of powertrails across wal-mart parking lots before I can go out caching. Basically the fun-to-effort ratio has gone way down in the past four years, but not quite enough to make me quit....yet. This FB thing though? I despise FB and all it will do is draw in more of the masses who think PNG's are the coolest ever and who will hide caches with little or no thought about placement, much less proper permission. It could easily end up killing the sport, not only driving away people who dispise FB, but also by pushing it a little too far into the public eye and getting caching banned because of all the irresponible masses that FB will draw in. Just my 2¢

Sometime in the last day or two every single page I try to load on GC hangs up with a pop-up from IE asking if it is okay to load a temporary font. Firefox ignores it, but all the text looks really blocky and is hard to read. Windows XP, IE 8.0.6 Oh, and add me to the "Dislike the Like" group. FB is evil.

Victory Mike's explaination seems very detailed and so far as I can tell pretty accurate on how the military grade equiptment works except he left out what the L2 signal is for. Because different radio freqs bend at different angles through atmosphere (think prism or rainbow), L1 and L2 will arrive at your reciever at slightly different times. By comparing the timestamp in each signal and by knowing how different atmospheric conditions affect the each freq the reciever can determine the exact amount of atmospheric distortion between it and each satellite then cancel it out. However, without the cryto data (which is highly illegal for anyone outside the military to have) you can't "read" the timestamp embeded in L2. Civillian GPSr's could recieve it all day long if the makers built them to do so, but it wouldn't do jack for you without being able to decode the timestamp. Also I'm not sure where he got his information on how P-codes work, I've never heard anything on the coding and transmition of them before, but I find it hard to believe it is a 38 week long broadcast signal. First, why would you broadcast your encryption data? Second, satellites come and go all day, even with each satellite broadcasting a different segment it'd take more than a week to get it all because each satellite would only be in view a few hours each day. With a set-up like that even the military would have to leave their recivers on for weeks to get all the data they needed downloaded to the GPSr and then the first time the power goes out or the batteries fail.... That said, maybe he's right about the structure of the code, as I said I've never heard anything about the tech specs. AK

The amount of time I have available to go out in the field is very limited. My time in the field isn't limited, but I too would rather solve puzzles during my idle indoor time (that I have way too much of) and save my field time for actually finding the cache. That's not to say that I won't spend a whole day on one cache if it involves a 12 mile hike in the mountains or an extended tour of an area to find interesting locations that have info-clue (plaques, historical markers, etc). I just don't want to get to GZ and then spend an hour with my decoder ring and calculator to determine where to go next. That's the reason I made this cache. For people like me with time on their hands that can't be spent in the field. AK

The second paragraph *is* different on purpose, but not so much that a little work won't get it. The other error I may have to fix. Just knowing that at least some people are able to start solving helps. At least I know it's possible and that the star rating is about right.

Actually I cribbed it from a website that didn't credit a source either, and even then I had to edit out some comments from the text to boil it down to just the story. I've never seen or read "The Code Book." I just remembered the Beale Cypher's from years ago (about 1990) when the story went around the BBS's with files that had the DoI, all the numbers, and even a program you could manipulate the numbers with. AK

Actually no, I'm not looking for a pat on the back. It's not actually the length of time that bothers me, I've got a couple of terrain 4+ caches that have been around for a couple of years with only a few finds, especially after the FTF. It was, and is, a question of whether or not I'd gone overkill on the puzzle. We have a fairly competiative group of FTF'rs in the area so the time to FTF seemed odd and since this is the first hard puzzle I've put out I've never had an issue with people e-mailing for hints before so I didn't know if that was normal. AK

I created this cache recently and even though I know at least three local cachers have been working on it (beacuse they have e-mailed asking for hints) It has sat for two nice sunny weekends with no finds. The norm for any any cache to go unfound in this area is no more than a week, even with the puzzle caches. Did I make it too hard? AK

Does anyone know if this stuff still works and where to find the tools. Half the links above are dead and of the ones that work they refer to other links that are dead once you get there. So far Garmin hasn't fixed the segment numbers issue. I just updated to version 4.00 for my 60CSx and it still won't accept anything over 2025 segments even though they fixed the 2GB limit. AK