4evrCking

Thank you for getting back to me and your suggestion. The first post is only for setting up Windows 10 to work with the Garmin. The next post described the downloading of the Caches to the Garmin. I did remove the password, the original instructions were for my wife - thanks for letting me know. Cache4Fun, 4everCking

Hi, I just made a post and you will note I made a typo (see below)and typed Farmin 450 instead of Garmin 450 in the Topic Title field: Setting up Windows 10 for Farmin 450 The title of the post should be: Setting up Windows 10 for Garmin 450 Can you please tell me how to edit the topic title? If not, and you are an administrator, could you change it for me? Thank you, 4evrCking

TO LOAD CACHES TO GARMIN FROM WINDOWS 10 LAPTOP 1.Turn on laptop by holding down “ON” button for two seconds. 2.For wireless mouse: When the laptop turns on, hold down both mouse buttons and move it around until the pointer moves on the screen. 3.Next scroll the screen to enter password. 4.Enter password 5.Click on Windows symbol (bottom left corner) 6.Click on INTERNET EXPLORER, this comes with Windows 10. (NOT Windows EDGE) 7.When INTERNET EXPLORER comes up, search for GEOCACHING in the search field (or click on GEOCACHING if it is shown on screen). 8.When the search results come up, click on GEOCACHING 9.Use as normal. 10.When you click to EXIT, a window will pop up, select CLOSE ALL TABS when this happens. TO TURN OFF LAPTOP 1.Click on Windows symbol (bottom left corner) 2.Click on POWER 3.Click on SHUT DOWN TO DELETE CACHES ON THE GARMIN GPS NOTE: Before you do this, you will need to get the GPX file identifier number – it will start with GC and will be at the top of the screen when you select GPX FILE or SEND TO GPS. 1.Turn on the laptop and sign in – stay on the opening screen. 2.Plug in the GPS to the laptop. 3.Click in the file folder at the bottom (middle of page) 4.The FILE EXPLORER screen will come up. 5.On the left side of the screen, click on GARMIN D: (if it is not showing, scroll down till it shows) 6.In the middle screen double click on GPX. 7.This will show all the cache identifiers (numbers) 8.Select and delete the ones you want to delete with the right mouse button. 9.To close the FILE EXPLORER click on the “X” at the top of the screen. TO TURN OFF LAPTOP Same instructions as middle of page. =============== If you find any mistakes or something that needs to be changed, please let me know. Also, if you found this helpful, please let me know. Cache4Fun, 4ecrCking

Sorry - double post, removed. Skip this post.

After many searches I have finally been able to get my Garmin to work with Windows 10. This is a step by step procedure of how I had to set up Windows 10 to do to get the Garmin to work with it. My Garmin is a 450. My following post will tell how to get the Caches to retrieve the Caches and load them to the Garmin. If you fiind this helpful, or have any suggested changes to the post, please let me know. Cache4Fun, 4evrCking ================== SETTING UP WINDOWS 10 TO WORK WITH GARMIN 450 The GEOCACHING.COM web site will NOT download to the Garmin GPS with Microsoft EDGE (which is the default browser for Windows 10). You must use INTERNET EXPLORER which comes with Windows 10 – you may want to put INTERNET EXPLORER on your opening screen. First you must set the SECURITY SETTINGS to allow access to the Garmin GPS – to do this: 1.Open INTERNET EXPLORER (not Edge) 2.Type in INTERNET OPTIONS in the search area of Windows 10. When the search results come up, select INTERNET OPTIONS CONTROL PANEL (top item). 3.Next select the SECURITY TAB 4.Then set the SECURITY LEVEL FOR THIS ZONE to MEDIUM HIGH 5.Then disable ENABLE PROTECTION MODE (remove the check mark in the box) Second, you must allow access to the GARMIN COMMUNICATOR PLUG IN and XML DOM – to do this: (NOTE: You may have to download the files, if you do, go to where Caches are normally downloaded to the GPS and select the GARMIN COMMUNICATOR PLUG IN - this will download the files you need.) 1.After you have the above files, go to the INTERNET EXPLORER SEARCH are and type in MANAGE ADD-ONS. When the search results come up, select MANAGE BROWSER ADD-ONS CONTROL PANEL (top item). 2.Next select MANAGE ADD-ONS (a box about 1/2 way down page) 3.ALL ADD-ONS should be in the SHOW box, if not select it and wait a few seconds while it searches for the ADD-ONS. 4.Look under the NAME field and select GARMIN COMMUNICATOR PLUG IN. 5.The PLUG IN should be enabled, if not enable it. 6.Look under the NAME field again for the Microsoft XML DOM Document and select it. 7.This PLUG IN should be enabled as well, if not enable it. 8.When both of the PLUG INS are enabled, click on OK at the bottom of the screen. NOTE: If you do not have the PLUG INS showing in the MANAGE ADD ONS, you may have to go back to the GEOCACHING.COM site, select a cache, go to the GPS download and install the GARMIN COMMUNICATOR PLUG IN from there. The next full post will tell how to put the caches on the Garmin.

Hi, To have the username and password automatically activate when I went to the site, I had to eventually go back to Windows Explorer as my default browser, I then log into the site, then save the geocaching.com site as a favorite, and then copied it to my desktop. I tried all the above, but nothing else seemed to work for me. Thanks for all your suggestions. Best regards, 4evrCking

Hi, I tried doing the above with the following results: I could not find the following (described in the second post): "Menu >> Settings >> Show advanced settings >> [X] Offer to save your web passwords." Is the "Menu" in geocaching.com or Google Chrome? I've looked in both places but can not seem to locate where "Menu" is - can you describe where I should be looking? I've cleared cookies and nothing changed. I've tried "Private Browsing" and "Non-Private Browsing" with the same results. From what I can see, it comes up in the "Non-Private" mode until you set it. Thanks for your help, 4evrCking

Hi, I have two desktop computers, both running on WindowsXP with Google Chrome as the search engine. One of my computers it will automatically remember the geocache.com username and password and the other does not. I have entered the username and password several times and clicked on remember me on the computer that does not remember the username and password, but it does never remembers it. I have also re-entered my profile with the same results. I have also tried deleting my desktop short cut and asked Chrome to re-save it as a Bookmark with the same result. I am aware that if one computer is already on the geocaching.com site, and you try to log on with the other computer, it will remove the remembered username and password until the other computer exits the site. This only happened after I left Internet Explorer and moved to Chrome - I suspect Chrome may be automatically keeping the link open on the computer that works OK. Can anyone tell me how to have the username and password remembered? Thanks, 4evrCking

Is there a Nexus Media Exporter, and does it work? Is your OTG cable just a USB port for a USB SD card reader? I could experiment, I have an old Nexus 7 laying around. See this thread about connecting a GPSr or USB device to Android (or iPad) over wifi, using a pocket size router. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=311111 Hi Kinarion, I do have an OTG cable and I have used it with Nexus Media Importer (NMI) so I know it works. I have found a site that explains how to root a Nexus 7 and also gives a link to the software. I'll give it a try sometime this weekend and see if it will allow me to resd/write to the SD card using one of the file managers. Here is the link: http://nexus7.wonderhowto.com/how-to/root-your-nexus-7-tablet-running-android-4-4-kitkat-windows-guide-0150849/ If anyone else has already tried this, please let me know. Once I get it working, I'll have it added to my Garmin Oregon 450 "How To" document that is posted here: http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/Contact Thanks for your help, 4evrCking

Hi Yorkshire Yellow, Thanks for your input. I'm not sure but I don't think the Samsung has any problems reading SD cards, however, on the other hand, the Nexus 7 normally does not recognize the SD card. Apparently there is a way to read and write to SD cards from the Nexus 7, but I have not found out how to do it yet. Best regards, Wayne Miller

Hi Kunarion, From your post I thought it would be a simple matter of copying files to the Garmin 450 SD card from the download directory, however I can not seem to access the card from my Nexus 7 OTG cable. I do know the OTG cable is working because when I use "Nexus Media Importer" I can read movies and pictures on another card. What I did was go to geocaching.com and downloaded a GPX file, it went to the "DOWNLOAD" directory, and I can see it with all the file managers I've tried - "ES FILE EXPLORER", "ASTRO", and "X-Plore". All the managers show a SD card, however when I select the card, I seem to get the same files as in the root directory, and not the files located on the card. I then connected the SD card to my PC to see if the card works. The card does work and shows the Garmin 450 files and directories. I then powered down the Nexus 7 and powered up again just incase something needed to be reset after installing the file managers, I still had the same problem. I tried to research what was happening by searching the web, but I did not find any answers - how do I access the SD card from the Nexus 7 ? I occasionally see reference to the word "rooted", does my Nexus 7 have to be "rooted" to transfer files to the SD card? If so, how do I do this? Thanks for your help. Wayne Miller

It's a little more complicated than the Windows "send to GPS". Get an Android file manager such as the free "Astro". Save the GPX file (from a single cache or from a Pocket Query) to the Android downloads directory. Connect the GPSr, start the file manager, and copy the file from the downloads directory, paste it into the GPX directory on the GPSr.

Hi, I have a Nexus 7 Tablet, however I normally download my geocaches from this site to my GPS via a PC or Laptop. I would like to be able to use my Nexus 7 tablet to connect to this site and then download geocaches to my Garmin Oregon 450. This would be convenient when on the road and during my vacations - I would not have to take a laptop. I had read on these forums that I could download to a GPS from a Nexus Android tablet if I had a OTG (On The Go) cable for the Nexus. I have got the cable, and confirmed that I can read/write to memory sticks, connect a mouse and keyboard, as well as view movies and pictures from the memory stick. I then tried going to a geocaching.com cache, connected the Garmin to the Nexus 7 and tried and download the cache to the Garmin 450. The message I got was that the device was not supported. Further reading on the forums I found that I may need a powered USB hub - I got one, but I still could not download to the Garmin and got the same message. Does anyone know how to successfully connect a Garmin Oregon 450 to a Android tablet and then download caches from this site to it? I any help would be greatly appreciated. Cache4Fun, Wayne Miller

Hi, From what I understand, any Android tablet that has a USB port should do the trick. Thanks for your help. Best regards, 4evrCking

Hi, I have had a Blackberry Playbook Tablet for quite some time now and just recently got into geocaching. The Playbook does not have a USB port and relies souly on communication with my PC to transfer files. I would like to be able to use a tablet to connect GEOCACHING.COM through WiFi and then download/send selected sites to my GPS (Garmin Oregon 450) by the tablet's USB port for paperless caching. By doing this I would be able to eliminate the need of taking a laptop on vacations. I am willing to buy a new tablet. Does anyone know which tablet supports connection of a GPS for paperless caching? Thanks in advance. 4evrCking

Hi, When having problems with animals getting into garbage in bags, or food in bags while camping, I was told to spray the item generously with spray deodorant. It seems to work. You may want to give it a try. Best regards, 4evrCking

Hi, Thanks for the link to the distance calculator at http://www.chemical-ecology.net/java/lat-long.htm To enter the coordinates I took the coordinates from my GPS and had GPS coordinates of: First point coordinate: N 43 11.564 and W 080 26.976 Second point coordinate: N 43 11.689 and W 080 27.044 This means I had Degrees, Minutes, but no seconds so I entered: First point North: Degrees = 43 Minutes = 11.564 Seconds = left blank Compass = N and West: Degrees = 080 Minutes = 26.976 Seconds = left blank Compass = W Second point: First point North: Degrees = 43 Minutes = 11.689 Seconds = left blank Compass = N and West: Degrees = 080 Minutes = 27.044 Seconds = left blank Compass = W This seems to work OK and gave me the distance between the points. Thanks for your help, 4evrCking

Hi, I've placed a few caches now and every once in a while I get a note from the reviewer that it is too close to another cache. The last cache I placed I was told that the cache was within 161m or 528ft from another cache that I had previously placed, I don't think it is, but I'm not sure, so I want to check the distance online. Obviously the reviewer has a tool that shows him/her how close caches are from another cache in the area. I've checked online for GPS coordinate distance calculators, but none seem user friendly, which tells me I must be entering in the coordinates incorrectly or doing something wrong. Can anyone point me to a GPS distance coordinate calculator website, and give a brief description, or sample, on how to properly enter in the coordinates? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you, 4evrCking

Hi Howarthe, I have a Garmin Oregon 450 and I had some problems in setting it up and also some accuracy issues, mainly caused by how I set it up. As a result I started to put together a personal reference document with information I had gathered from different discussions and from my own personal experience. It includes set up examples, getting maps, etc. It may help you. If you are interested in a copy, click on my name and send me a personal message with your personal email address and I'll send it to you as an attachment. Unfortunately, I can't send you an a attachment sending you a message from this site. All I ask is that you review the document and give me any suggestions to make it better and let me know if there is anything else I should include in the document. Best regards, 4evrCking (Forever Seeking)

Hi, Thanks for everyone's input. I have contacted Garmin Support and looked at as many web sites as I could. After all the input the following is all the suggestions made. I thought I'd pass along these since the GPS seems to be working much better and may help someone else. If you are having a problem with your GPS giving variable readings of distance and direction (called bounce), or locking up when you get close to a cache, try changing the following settings as follows: SETUP>SYSTEM>GPS NORMAL (can use WAAS/EGNOS for better accuracy but higher battery drain). See reference: https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7Bdd8712f0-bf0a-11e0-cf56-000000000000%7D SETUP>BATTERY TYPE> (your battery type) SETUP>DISPLAY>BATTERY SAVE OFF (I understand battery save setting will cause longer time between satelite sampling) SETUP>HEADING>NORTH REFERENCE>TRUE NORTH SETUP>HEADING>COMPASS AUTO After this, calibrate the compass, it is also recommended to calibrate your compass before starting your cache hunt. Make sure your batteries are good, or freshly charged. That is, make sure all bars on the battery icon are green. When you start losing a bar, it is time to replace the batteries. If you have rechargeable batteries, and the compass needs to be calibrated often, you may have a battery problem try new rechargeable batteries or standard batteries to see if this makes a difference. If you find your problem is fixed when doing all of the above, you may want to change your settings back to the original, one at a time, to find out which setting caused your problem. Hope the above helps someone else. Best regards, 4evrCking (Forever Seeking)

Hi, I have a Garmin 450 Oregon and I am having problems understanding the compass regarding calibration, set up and when to use COMPASS OFF or AUTO during calibration. First I'll try and explain the steps leading up to my confusion. 1. I do understand the calibration procedure and how to do it. 2. According to the manual pg. 31, it states: "COMPASS - select AUTO to switch from an electronic compass to a GPS compass when you are travelling at a higher rate of speed. Select Off to turn the electronic compass off and use the GPS compass." 3. The above statement seems confusing to me and seems to put the compass mode to a GPS compass no matter what you select. 4. My understanding from the above, and trying to read between the lines, under SETUP>HEADING> I should select AUTO when travelling at a high rate of speed to switch from an electronic compass. (For a simple reference, I transalate AUTO as being in an Automobile). It also states I should select OFF to turn the electronic compass off and use the GPS compass and I assume that OFF should be used for a lower rate of speed (walking, hiking etc.). The specific questions I would like answered are: 1. Which is the more accurate mode for Geocaching - COMPASS AUTO or COMPASS OFF? 2. When calibrating the compass should I have the compass mode in COMPASS OFF or COMPASS AUTO, or should I calibrate in both modes? 3. When calibrating the compass, does it calibrate both the electronic and gps compass at the same time? 4. Does AUTO actually mean AUTOMATIC, that is, automatically switches between Electronic or GPS compass as needed? 5. When geocaching should the compass heading be set to TRUE NORTH or MAGNETIC NORTH? Can you help me with the above questions? Thank you for your help. Best regards, 4evrCking (Forever Seeking)

Here is the location of the update history: http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4524 4evrCking (forever seeking)

Hi, I have a Garmin Oregon 450 and it has been very accurate, and has always been within 1 or 2 meters of a cache. I just updated to thier new v6.20 S/W (software) and now the accuracy has deteriated tremendously. I called their tech support and was told that I should only expect the accuracy they quoted you. However, it was fine before. Maybe this is the new standard. They had me reset the unit and reload the S/W. I'm hoping this will fix the problem, but unfortunately, I'm losing confidence in the unit with the new S/W. Hopefully there will be another update very quickly! Best regards, 4evrCking (forever seeking)

Hi, I have a Garmin Oregon 450 and I see they have a new software release v6.20 for the unit. Has anyone updated their unit to the new S/W, and if so, how well is it working for you? Thanks for your comments. Best regards, 4evrCking (forever seeking)

Hi, If this is a Garmin Oregon 450: When you have a geocache on your GPS and mark it found, it no longer shows under geocaches, but is under geocaches found. You can not remove the geocaches found from the GPS directly, but you can hook the GPS up to your PC and delete the file. The file will be under the GarminOREGON(X:)\Garmin\GPX directory. The "X" will be the drive letter for your Garmin 450 GPS files. The file will look something like GC99K3G.GPX - you can find this number for the geocache you wish to delete on the geocaching.com site where the description of the cache was originally found. I have a detailed description of how to do this if you need it. I'm fairly new to geocaching and to the GARMIN OREGON 450 and so I have been writing down my own personal notes on how to do things in plain english. If anyone wants a copy of this "How To" document, please PM (personal message) me with your email address and I'll send a copy to you as an attachment. I'll need your personal email address since I don't know how to attach files to PM's here. If you do request a copy, the only thing I would like in return is your help in letting me know of any suggestions or additions that may make the document better for others to use. Best regards, Wayne Miller 4evrCking (Forever Seeking)