GeekBoy.from.Illinois

My OR 400t came with v2.80 software on it when I got it, and I would [very infrequently] manage to get a WAAS lock. After upgrading to v2.85, v2.86 and now v2.93 I see that I get WAAS lock much more easily. I still the lock drop in conditions which I wouldn't expect, but it seems to lock in less tan 5 minutes. My GPSr consistently reports an accuracy of 8 feet (with or without WAAS), and my cache finding seems to be in agreement with that.

I have been using my OR 400t win v2.93 since it was released on 3/10. I had one power off while using a Garmin external power that afternoon, but none since. On Sat (03/14) I used my OR for several hours with WAAS lock, and again on Sun (03/15). The set of batteries I used those two days was a partially charged low-discharge NiMH Kodak branded, and they appear to have lasted about 6-8 hours wen starting with an unknown charge level. I know they had been used all day on Friday in my bluetooth mouse, and I'm not sure what their charge level was before that...

While the software features are the same except for the included basemap, there is one other minor difference that the wiki linked above tells you. This difference is in the amount of internal memory in the unit. The Oregon 300 only includes 1GB memory (about 850MB user available), where the Oregon 400t includes 4GB memory (about 1.25GB user available). This difference seems minor, but it is a difference and may matter to you.

I think that your problem is caused by some Garmin software bugs that have been fixed, resurfaced, then fixed again in the different Colorado software version releases. You specify that the files are in L:\Colorado\GPX, when in fact they should be in L:\Garmin\GPX. If the files are not in the \Garmin\GPX folder they are not supposed to be displayed on the Colorado. The bugs that have been seen in the various software versions cause the GPSr to see GPX files anywhere on the device. When I was still using my Colorado 300, I had been using it for months with GPX files in a \Support\Caches folder and it did not try to load them, then suddenly one day it started loading those GPX files too. In the most recent software release that problem was fixed for me, but I never knew what caused it to flake out and start showing them when it had ignored them for so long in the other folder. I would start by moving the files into L:\Garmin\GPX (on your computer) and see if that fixes it for you.

My Oregon had batteries in it at the time, as my Colorado 300 did every time it had the random power off issues. As for the "do you want to remain on" option, while it is supposed to display, experience has shown that on the Colorado it did not always do what it was supposed to do. I had reported a problem to Garmin on my Colorado with the [seemingly] random power off when disconnecting external power. They never did anything other than send me an email that it should not do that and that it didn't do that on their unit they tested with. That report was almost 5-6 months ago now, but since I no longer own that GPSr I am less worried about it, other than that the same bug might be creeping its way into the Oregon line...

I loaded the new beta yesterday afternoon and only had the GPSr on for the drive home from work yesterday and back to work today. I did see the quicker lock on the WAAS satellite #51, then it dropped the lock. Out of shear coincidence, about the time it was just about to re-acquire #51 the unit lost power (on external Garmin power adapter). I hit the power button nearly immediately and the unit was back on and reporting a 12 foot GPS Accuracy as soon as the screen came up, and had a WAAS lock on #51 within about 30-45 seconds. It kept the WAAS lock for the last half of my 20 mile drive home with no problems. It also appeared to keep teh lock for the full 20 mile drive to work this morning. I do not think the power issue was related to the update, but this was the first time that my Oregon had done this. I used to see it in spells on my Colorado 300. The CO would lose power once or twice on the way home from work, then maybe again once or twice more in the same week, then it would got for over a month with no problems...

I have stated before that I use the barometer in the barometric altimeter to provide me with weather trends. I set the barometer/altimeter to "record always" then I can look back at the graph and see if the pressure is trending upwards or downwards and get a good indication of the weather I will be facing in the near future... Seldom do I require an accurate altimeter, so as for a barometric altimeter I have little use, but I do like having the barometer feature that is needed to provide the barometric altimeter.

I vaguely remember helping my brother-in-law when he had this issue in the past. I seem to recall that I had to "prime" the GPSr by scrolling the map to be close to where he lived, then selecting that to be the starting location for the satellite search (look in the menus off the satellite screen). Even then, it took about 20-30 minutes to get a fix, but once it did, we left it on for an hour or so, and it seemed to be working fine after that.

How you handle it depends upon your GPSr. Since you mention a '1000 limit" I assume you are using a moderately new Garmin GPSr. If that is accurate, your idea of using Custom POIs might be your "best" option. Using a Garmin Colorado or Oregon, it is very easy. Using a Magellan eXplorist is also quite easy. Those all support multiple files containing geocaches and then you can store those on an SD card where you can change what files you look at fairly easily. Another consideration might be for you to take a laptop or netbook computer along with you and at rest stops along the way, clear the data from the GPSr and load a new segment of data. I am hearing more and more cachers talk about using the netbook method...

I use that one and I know 3 or 4 others who also use it. I use Cachemate and really like the features that the Windows Mobile version offers over the Palm version. I especially like the voice note options. I can record a voice note while walking away from a cache, whereas entering one on the keyboard/handwriting is nearly impossible while walking (at least for me). The 2490B is a little slow if you have a large database, but it works. I especially like the embedded wifi and bluetooth, allowing me to use my bluetooth GPSr to find the nearest cache to where I currently am (within Cachemate). It is also nice to use an SD card as well as a Compact Flash card at the same time. One side note. The 2490b does have a reputation for the wifi card going bad. I have read that probably 2 out of 3 will go bad within 1.5-2 years of use. Mine went out in about that same time frame, but I still use it.

I use CacheMate on my PDA. I started using it on my Palm device (Tungsten T5) only because I already had one I used for everything else. I found that the Palm version of CacheMate has some limitations, and becomes very unstable if you have a single "database" with more than 3000 caches in it. Unstable to the point of crashing the PDA and causing loss of data in other apps as well as in CacheMate. For that Reason I had upgraded to an HP iPaq hx2490b I got for a decent deal refurbished. I have had as many as 12000 caches loaded in a single database on the iPaq, and other than a slow startup time it is very solid. A local cacher to me strongly recommends the Palm IIIxe. This Palm has plenty of memory to hold caches (within the limits of what CacheMate can safely use). The other nice feature of the IIIxe is that it uses "AAA" batteries, so if they go dead on you in the field, you can just replace them and keep going. This route is a very cost effective way to go as you can generally pick them up on-line for under $30. Oh, and for those using Vista, the Palm IIIxe uses a serial interface, so it is supposed to work with Vista too.

As I have told many others, if you have done your research, go for the unit you feel most compelled to go with. None of us knows what you want more than you do. If you want the PN-40 then get it. If you spend the extra money for the Oregon, then you will [sooner or later] regret not getting the PN-40. I was recently in a similar debate as you. I ended up choosing the Oregon because I got a deal on one from someone who bought the PN-40 and loved it. I seriously thought about the PN-40, but just couldn't bring myself to give-up the serious flexibility I have with my Oregon. With the Oregon, you load geocaches onto the unit in GPX files. These files can be stored on the external SD card as well as internal memory. By saving the GPX files on the SD card, I can use my [work] cell phone (a blackberry) or my PDA to move the files around and essentially have unlimited geocaches on my Oregon, thus allowing me to cache anywhere within 100 miles of my home in virtually no advanced notice. I just take my GPSr and cell phone to move the files around so that the ones for the area I am in are in the active geocache folder when I put the card back into the GPSr. This style fits very well with my caching style that is "I have some time now, are there any caches near here?". I can also use my iPhone with the Groundspeak Geocaching app to tell me if there are any caches nearby, then use the GPSr to hunt them.

Do you have more than 200 GPX files in that folder? While the GPSr can handle up to 2000 geocaches, it does have a limit of 200 GPX files as well, so if you are loading caches one at a time, then you will hit the 200 file limit far before you hit the 2000 geocache limit.

Thanks. That is what I have been doing. I just wasn't sure if the Groundspeak Field Notes interface had something in place for this or if it was supposed to be as you had just said. Now that I know, I can report this to Garmin as an issue I would like them to deal with. I had the suspicion that this was a Garmin issue. I just wanted to verify that the Geocaching.com Field Notes interface wasn't supposed to handle this.

Thanks Nate! I wasn't sure if this was a Garmin issue or not. Since the GC.com log types does not include "Unattempted" this could easily have been a Garmin issue. I have sent Field Notes files with all log types that the manual log page offers in the drop down and those all work fine, but since this s not one of the options I didn't know if this was supposed to be supported. I have no problem reporting this issue to Garmin if they should handle it on their end (i.e. remove the previous "Found" log rather than add the "Unattempted" log note).

I recently encountered an issue with uploading my Field Notes file from my Garmin Oregon 400t. I had accidentally marked a cache found, then using the Garmin marked the cache as "Unattempted". When I uploaded the Field Notes to the GC.com web site, the accidental found log was there, but it appears that the web site ignored/dropped the "Unattempted" note. I did look into the "geocache_visits.txt" file and saw that there was an entry in there for the "Unattempted" note. Now, I ask, is this a GC.com issue, or a Garmin issue? It looks like Garmin did everything right, but I do not know if "Unattempted" is a valid note type on the GC.com site. Should I ask GC.com to fix this, or should I be talking to Garmin about this?

From the way I read what the original poster was asking for is a way to edit the geocache_visits.txt file directly on the GPSr without attaching to a computer. They seem to be wanting a way to delete an accidental "Found" log. I know I have heard other people request a way to view/edit the log notes on the GPSr once they are entered, but I do not recall anyone saying they need to be able to delete the log entirely. Marking a "Found" cache as "Unattempted" returns it back to the geocaches list, and at that point is is as if it was never marked found (at least as far as I can tell).

Once you mark it found, can you not "Show Found Geocaches" and then make a "Log Attempt" of "Unattempted" for that cache? I seem to recall that doing this does almost exactly what you want. I do not know if the Oregon has the same bug that the Colorado had/has which causes the hint to not be available if it has been marked "Found" then "Unattempted". I just did a quick test on my Oregon (beta ver 1.86 software) and it seems to work just as you seem to want... Just a side note. After posting the original, I thought to test the Field Notes upload, and much to my surprise, that seems to ignore the "Unattempted" log on the cache that had been marked "Found". This looks to be a Groundspeak web server issue more than a Garmin issue to me though. The GPSr did properly enter the entry into the geocache_visits.txt file, and then treated it as if I had never marked it before. The web site showed me the "Found" log/note and dropped the "Unattempted" one. Perhaps we need to contact Groundspeak to have them properly handle the "Unattempted" log...

I will add a word of caution. There are several people out there who have been waiting more than 5 weeks without their GPSr waiting on Garmin to repair or replace them, and no indications from Garmin as to when to expect one back...

Along with some of the other suggestions, you could also try using a command prompt ("DOS Box") to do the delete. I would start by renaming all the other GPX files you want to save to some other extension (like GXP). Then in the command prompt try the commend "DEL *.GPX" when in the E:\Garmin\GPX folder. That might do it for you.

I got my Oregon with software v2.80 and have had each newer [beta] release on it. I regularly see accuracies in the 8-16 feet range with or without WAAS. I don't recall ever seeing that number lower than 8 feet with any of my GPSr's in the past (60CSx, Colorado 300, and now Oregon 400t). I have since heard from the new owner of my old 60CSx that she has seen accuracies in the 4-7 feet range a couple times.

I happened to have the opportunity to compare the Topo base map files included in a Colorado 400t and an Oregon 400t. Using the "FC" command to perform a binary file compare, the two maps returned to be identical.

I was under the impression that there was a 4GB limit to what can be used in the Oregon. You are right about a 4GB limit, but it is not for the SD card size. The 4GB limit is on the file size for the map set file. You can use larger cards in the GPSr, but the maps file must be 4GB or less in size. There are some SD cards that the Garmin GPSr units don't seem to like, but in general you can use 8GB micro-SDHC cards in the Oregon units. I have one in mine. As for our original question: I have not tried it with the Oregon 400t, but I had done it with my Colorado 300 last year. I removed the provided basemap file and replaced it with a set of maps covering the 6 states I am most likely to be in at any time. As long as you keep a backup copy of the pre-loaded map files, you should be able to test away and replace the originals if you don't like the results.

To be honest with you, I would have to put both units side-by-side to really see a difference in the screen brightness. When the two are right next to each other, the OR is a little dimmer than the Colorado, but when I am out in the field using either unit for geocaching, the difference is negligible to me. What I find more awkward than screen brightness is the font size. When viewing a cache description, the font is a fixed size, and I have not seen a way to change that font size to make it easier to read. I guess the smaller font is forcing me to increase the screen back light level more to be able to read the text, but not really to see the map screen. Everyone appears to be grumbling about using the OR (or the CO) in direct sun light. I don't have a problem with the unit in direct sun light, I have more issues with seeing the screen in the dim light of the early morning or early evening. It is at that time that I need to use the back light a more than I feel my wife needs on her 60Cx.

Close. You can get the 400t, and them load the street maps on the internal memory as well. This will use almost all of the memory on the GPSr, but you can do that. Then I can assume that if you go the 300 route you have one card with topo and one with roads and swap them out as needed? Going with the 300, I would make one card with the entire US streets, and half of the US Topo, and a second card wit all the US streets & the other half of the US Topo. That way I would always have street maps, and I may have to swap cards out to get the correct Topo maps. (To be honest, I would probably have a state or two overlap in the Topo Maps to reduce the urgency for swapping cards when in working in an area near the intersection of the map sets.) If you don't want to use 2 cards, you could also use a single card, but rename the map set files on your PC, then when out, you could use your cell phone or PDA to rename the map set files to change your set of active maps. This method assumes you have a PDA or cell phone that can be used to read the SD card, but so many of these devices can do that now...