larryc43230

Many of these posts assume that cachers actually read and pay attention to cache descriptions that give hints as to how to access the cache. I know quite a few cachers who pride themselves on never reading cache descriptions or much of anything else on the cache page. They somehow think it makes for more of a challenge. Cachers of this ilk will quickly figure out that all they need to get to your cache is a screwdriver, and that's what they'll use. And I doubt if there's anything much you can do about it, other than trying to build more "tamper-proof" caches. --Larry

This is what I do. I maintain a Bookmark List named, appropriately, "DNFs that are still haunting me." When I'm planning for a day of geocaching, I'll often use one of the caches on that list as the principal target for the day. --Larry

I could be misreading the specs, but I think the Bluetooth capability only works between a unit and BaseCamp Mobile, which only runs on iPhones and iPads and stuff. Unit-to-unit transfers use the much slower ANT+ protocol. Oregon 600 Wiki --Larry Unless I misread things, ANT runs at the same transfer rates as BT. http://electronicdes...-energy-and-ant I've never used Bluetooth with my Oregon 650, and I've rarely used ANT+, so I can't really speak to the actual experience. I based my comment on the Garmin Wiki page linked in my earlier post: Bluetooth Now you can wirelessly share larger files such as photos, geocaches, adventures, routes and Custom Maps between Oregon 6xx series devices and Garmin BaseCamp Mobile. Bluetooth technology allows your routes, waypoints and tracks to be transferred up to 50 times faster than previously possible with ANT+. This seems to claim that Bluetooth is much faster than ANT+, at least as implemented by Garmin, but I can't be sure from the wording. I'm also not sure whether unit-to-unit transfers are possible using Bluetooth as opposed to ANT+. The spiel on Garmin's Web page for the 650 is even more vague: Wireless Capable: Bluetooth ® and ANT Now you can wirelessly transfer large files such as photos, geocaches, adventures, routes and Custom Maps between Oregon 600-series devices (or with Garmin Basecamp Mobile ). Plus, new technology allows your routes, waypoints and tracks to transfer up to 50 times faster. Oregon is also ANT+ wireless compatible for heart rate, cadence, chirp ™ and tempe ™ sensors. From this, maybe ANT+ is now only used for "heart rate, cadence, chirp, and tempe sensors." --Larry

I could be misreading the specs, but I think the Bluetooth capability only works between a unit and BaseCamp Mobile, which only runs on iPhones and iPads and stuff. Unit-to-unit transfers use the much slower ANT+ protocol. Oregon 600 Wiki --Larry

For those who were following a thread I started regarding Garmin technical support (in the GPS forum), I can finally report that Garmin has responded. They basically told me what I already knew. But that's not the reason for this post. At the bottom of their message I found the following line: "Become a part of our expanding geocaching community for free by joining www.OpenCaching.com" I'm thinking somebody will need to update that automated blurb. --Larry

OK. It's free here and my VDSL modem keeps the last 400 calls in memory anyway so it's easy to see who called given you know date/time unless they hide their number (99% of "private" numbers are marketeers anyway). Most phone systems also allow callers to block their Caller ID information from going out, for privacy reasons. I know quite a few people who use this feature. --Larry

Sorry to hear you've lost your GPS. I've lost mine a couple of times, once in a store and once in the middle of the woods (it slipped out of my pocket and into the snow). In my case, fortunately, I managed to recover it both times, but I'm way too familiar with that panicky feeling. In the case of your missing GPS, at least you know that someone found it and didn't steal it (she wouldn't have called the store if she had simply stolen it). If she lives in the area of the store, with any luck she'll show up one day soon and hand the GPS to someone in the store, or call the store as she promised to do. Either way, unfortunately, I can't think of much else you can do for now. I followed geodarts' strategy and edited the startup screen on my Oregon 650. The first thing someone sees when they boot my GPS is my contact information. You'll find instructions on editing the startup screen here. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you'll get your GPS back soon! --Larry

In my 15 years or more of dealing with USB technology professionally and personally, these are the first devices I've dealt with that can't always play nice with standard, otherwise-high-quality USB cables. My issue has been resolved, in spite of the lack of any actual communication from Garmin. Because this thread has begun to devolve into name-calling (and questioning of expertise), I've requested that the thread be closed. Whether closed or not, this will be my last comment on the subject, at least until Garmin manages to aggravate me again --Larry

You don't know me, and you don't know my expertise. You might be very much surprised. I retired ten years ago after almost 20 years in tech support and Web development. I expected the two cables I used in the initial tests would still be good because they had not been subjected to most of the strains of cables I'd had in active use for years. They were "official" Garmin cables that came with two Garmin GPS units. Since I already had an "official" Garmin cable, they were pretty much never used for anything. Why would I expect cables to go bad when they were simply hanging from a hook on the wall of my office? And who at Garmin was correct about anything regarding the problem I had? My post on the Garmin forums was first rejected and not published, then, when it was published, no one ever responded to it. I also sent an e-mail to their technical support address and never, right up until today, got anything other than their automated "we got your message" response. My opinion about Garmin has only been reinforced through this experience. --Larry

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that and wondered exactly what meaning of BM he was going for. --Larry

For all these tests, I was using two original Garmin cables I hadn't used in a long time. A third is, and always has been up until now, connected to my Windows 7 PC. I decided to try using the known-good original Garmin cable (the one I use on the Windows 7 PC) with the Windows 10 laptop, and, to my great surprise, it worked, the first time and for several ensuing tests. This is the first time I've had one, let alone two, Garmin cables fail, but that appears to be the case here. The PC-end connectors on both cables seem looser than they should be; that could be the root of the problem. Oddly, these two now-known-bad cables continue to work fine on my Windows 7 PC. Windows 10 might be more persnickety when it comes to these cables, who knows? I'm not apologizing for my attitude toward Garmin, my opinion hasn't changed. I would suggest they look into presenting a friendlier, more helpful face to their customers in the future and skip the knee-jerk "It's not our fault, it's your problem" attitude. --Larry

I found a device listed as "Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)". I deleted that entry. I connected the Oregon using an original cable . Same Windows error message about the device not being recognized. The "Unknown USB Device" entry reappeared in Device Manager. Tried it multiple times, got the same result. Any other suggestions? --Larry Edited to add that after the Windows error message appeared, the unit immediately went into normal (non-mass-storage) mode. Edited to add that that the Oregon still connects correctly to my Windows 7 PC, 100% of the time.

There's nothing passive about my opinion regarding Garmin support. Every time I've had difficulty with a Garmin unit, I've had to wade through multiple posts and/or e-mail messages and/or phone calls before I could get past the "it's you fault, not ours" attitude and finally deal with the issue. Sorry, but this incident just reinforces that opinion. --Larry

When I get that "does not recognize" error message from Windows, my Oregon boots into "normal" mode, not mass storage mode, so there's no "catching up" possible. The Interface is set to Garmin Spanner. --Larry

Thanks for offering an actual possible solution, I appreciate it. Finding out whether it resolves the issue will have to wait until I have the time to try it; real life has suddenly gotten in the way. I'll get back with whether it improves anything. I'm still extremely puzzled as to why the upgrade to Windows 10 clobbered my ability to connect my Oregon to the laptop.... --Larry

I have four "original cables", to go with the four Garmin GPS units I've purchased over the years. I've never had any difficulty using other decent-quality USB cables with the correct connectors,but for these tests I made sure to use the "original Cables". It isn't the cables. --Larry

As far as I can determine, at least in my case it is a problem with Windows 10. The laptop I've been referring to is my "test bed" for the upgrade to the new OS. Simply upgrading from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 (I'm aware the process is anything but simple, but that's all I've done on that machine) caused my Garmin GPS to no longer connect via USB. My workhouse PC is currently running Windows 7. Until I can get the Garmin USB connection glitch resolved on the laptop, I'm not about to upgrade the workhouse PC. It's the only machine I have now that allows me to load caches into my Oregon. Now that the obligatory finger-pointing from Garmin and its apologists has been taken care of, does anyone have a constructive suggestion as to how I can resolve this? I couldn't care less whether the issue was caused by Microsoft or by Garmin, I just need it to be fixed. --Larry

I have called Garmin tech support quite a few times over the years. From my experience, and from that of others who have posted about it in this forum, for the typical problem (especially a complex one), if you talk to four different CSRs you will get four different answers, all of which are likely to be wrong. I'm not eager to subject myself to that again, or to make the problem worse by trying worthless remedies (I've done that a couple of times after taking a CSR's advice). My favorite response from Garmin is apparently on their official list of pat answers: "Oh, you're using GSAK? That's the problem. Don't use GSAK and you'll be fine!" --Larry

I tried connecting using half a dozen different cables, all of which work perfectly with my Windows 7 PC and the same Oregon. I made a point to test that before contacting Garmin. It's not the cable. It was only after unsuccessfully attempting to connect the Garmin several times to the laptop now running Windows 10 that I resorted in desperation to installing those USB drivers. The Oregon connected to the same machine when it was running Windows 8 (later 8.1) hundreds of times without a hitch. And I never installed those USB drivers until after the upgrade to Windows 10, in a futile attempt to get the Oregon connected. In summary: The Oregon connected via USB many times when it was running Windows 8.1, without need of any special drivers. After upgrading to Windows 10, without making any other changes, the Oregon will no longer connect. --Larry

I recently upgraded my laptop from Windows 8.1 to windows 10. When I tried to connect my Garmin Oregon 650 via USB, Windows threw up an error message complaining that "Device Descriptor Request Failed". Windows 10 refuses to recognize my Oregon, even with the latest USB drivers installed. After multiple failed attempts, I decided to visit the Garmin forums to see whether the issue has been reported. The closest forum I could find was the "Communicator Browser Plugin" forum, even though the problem has nothing to do with the plugin. If Windows doesn't recognize the device, the plugin certainly won't work. I submitted a post about the problem anyway, not seeing any other option. This morning, I found the following message in my e-mail in-box: "You've posted this in a forum which has nothing to do with your query. Sorry but unfortunately as yet there isn't a forum here for device issues like this. Please contact Product Support" This is appalling. You'd think that, after as many years as these devices have been out, they would have a forum that covers such issues. I've also learned, through personal experience and that of geocaching friends, that the people who answer the support lines at Garmin generally have no clue about these sorts of issues. As a result, I'll try their support line only if the situation becomes desperate. Come on, Garmin, you really need to provide some real, useful support for users of handheld devices. Oh, yeah: Does anyone here have any suggestions as to how to get my 650 connected to my Windows 10 laptop? I've already tried installing the latest USB drivers from this page, and that didn't change anything: Same error. --Larry Edited to add that I've already e-mailed Garmin asking about the issue. If the past is any guide, I can expect several generic responses, over the next week or more, suggesting that I try all the fixes I've already tried, and I'll be no closer to getting the issue resolved. Can you tell I'm frustrated?

I can't speak for anybody else, but whether I eventually upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 will have absolutely nothing to do with the "Send to GPS" thing or, for that matter, anything to do with geocaching. I can think of a thousand other factors that will be a lot more important to me. And "some one responsible" would not be Groundspeak. The browser plug-ins that handle the "Send to GPS" function were written by the GPS unit manufacturers, and they're the ones that would need to resolve any problems. --Larry

I keep reading here that Firefox no longer supports plug-ins. I use Firefox 40.0.2 (the latest version as of this writing) on a Windows 7 Home Premium PC. I have the Garmin Communicator plug-in installed, and I've done nothing specific to enable it (as in changing some option to make it work). Just now, as a test, I was able to use the "Send to My GPS" button to download several caches to my Garmin Oregon 650. Either I have a miracle machine, or once again the folks at Garmin don't know what they're talking about. It wouldn't be the first time. --Larry

No problem displaying the map here. Firefox 39.0.3, Windows 7 Home Premium SP1. --Larry

Is this the cache you found? It's within 100 feet of the coordinates you mentioned. Plug those coordinates into the new search page and it's the cache at the top of the list. Apiary --Larry

I use Firefox (currently at 39.0) on a Windows 7 SP1 PC. Garmin Communicator still works fine on this machine. As a test, I downloaded several GPX files to my Garmin Oregon 650 just now, and it worked fine. --Larry