ceeG

I had trouble even downloading the update. With webupdater I got the warning about updating from pre-4.8 software, then the t&c, then a box popped up that says the update file is corrupt and it went on to check for additional updates. With dashboard the download progress bar for the update got to about halfway then errored. I finally found a link on the Oregon 450 support page that took me to somewhere I could download an update to 5.7 which installed ok once I had downloaded it as an exe file so I'm now up to 5.7, hopefully a link will appear shortly where I can download 5.8 !

I used to have one of those. It will work fine but with the two provisos ollave mentioned - not having a high sensitivity reciever will pretty much mean you can't cache under trees, and the serial data port means that you'll pretty much have to key everything in manually. If you can get a cable and you have a computer with a serial port (the usb-serial adapters were pretty dodgy for this from memory) you'll be able to get waypoints on a bit more easily. Also it's not a mapping unit so all you'll get is the compass arrow and distance.

I think it is behaving now. I deleted everything in the /gpx folder on the nuvi then did a "clear user data" hard reset, it came back up with only the 3 garmin offices as favourites and no saved routes. Even better though, I then loaded a test file in mapsource with 1 waypoint and 1 route and sent it to the gps from mapsource, and now I've brought the nuvi back up both the waypoint and the route are there. So it looks as though sending routes to the nuvi is now working exactly the way we all want it to. I've had another play with loading the routes from gpx files. While it works fine and isn't giving me multiple copies any more (I'm not going to try to understand that one, it's a windows computer talking to garmin firmware, the possibilities are endless) there doesn't seem to be any advantage doing it that way over just sending them from Mapsource, so I'll just do it from Mapsource in future. What would be really good is if removing the gpx file also removed the routes (like it does with caches on the Oregon) or if we had a "remove all" option in thr trip planner but as it stands the only way to get rid of all the routes is either delete them 1 by 1 or clear all user data.

I feel like the Sorcerer's Apprentice. All I wanted was to be able to import routes into my 3760. Now I can, and all I want to be able to do now is NOT import routes ! I saved a gdb file as a gpx and dropped it into the gpx folder on my nuvi. When I rebooted YAY all my routes were in the trip planner. Next time I rebooted OOPS there are now 2 of all my routes in the trip planner. I deleted the gpx file from the nuvi and BAM 3 copies of all my routes ... I deleted all the trips 1 by 1 then rebooted, and back they came ... It seems as though the nuvi is copying the gpx route data into an internal space before parsing it and not clearing the space out when it is done. Reported to garmin support (yes the same people who told me the day after this update was released that there were no plans to develop any way of importing data into the trip planner).

Changes made from version 4.30 to 4.50: Added the ability to import .GPX route files for use in Trip Planner. Improved the data transfer speed from a PC to the device SD card over a USB cable. Fixed a WebUpdater error that caused incomplete software updates to be reported as complete. Fixed an error that caused the device not to exit sleep mode properly. Fixed an error that affected route calculation with 2011.10 maps. Fixed a Trip Planner routing error. Fixed an error the caused the German voice to skip while giving directions. Fixed an error that caused the World Clock to display a future date. Fixed an error that caused the QWERTY keyboard to appear when the numeric keyboard should have appeared. Set device to switch to night mode while in tunnels. Brightness now changes gradually between day and night in ?Auto? mode. Get it here

Good grief ... Thanks for that, will update my 3760 now. I've never liked applying updates until some of Garmin's other beta testers customers have tried them but to get route import I'll give it a shot !

Are there any 3rd party tools to get routes from mapsource into nuvis that use the trip planner instead of route planner ? e.g. the 3700 series. The official line is that trip planner file format which the gps reads is different to the route planner format mapsource and basecamp produce and Garmin has no plans to introduce any sort of converter ... Thanks Gary

Much as I love my 60Cx and wouldn't part with it, go for the 62. You'll need the description for each cache. If you go with the 60 this means printing the cache page for each cache you think you might try to find, then when you see a cache symbol on the map you have to find the correct sheet to read what you're going to be looking for (and hoping that it's one of the ones you printed). With a 62 you just run a PQ covering the general area you want to look in and drop the result file straight into the gps, then when a cache symbol appears you just tap it and everything is right there. No printing things, no deciding beforehand what you want to look for, and if you see a cache symbol you know you've got the info for it. That is the true benefit of paperless Gary

If I read his post correctly, he meant that the maps don't all have to be named "gmapsupp.img" - you can have multiple img files and selectively enable them. Sort of. You can't selectively enable actual files, the gps (at least my Oregon) loads everything that's in the right folder and has an img extension. Once the files are loaded you can toggle maps on and off from within the map setup menu as usual. Here's an example of how arbitrary file names are useful - I have topo maps and a custom map that don't change very often and autorouting maps that change every week. I uploaded just the topo maps then renamed the gmapsupp.img file to topo.img, then I uploaded just my custom map and renamed the new gmapsupp.img to mine.img, now I can update the autorouting maps as often without disturbing either of the other 2 maps.

Those all sound like awfully complicated ways to stop your existing caches being overwritten ! Once you've got the Oregon connected but before you send any new caches to it just find it in My Computer (or Windows Explorer) and go into the \Garmin\GPX folder and rename the geocaches.gpx file. Rename it anything you want, the Oregon loads all the gpx files in there no matter what they're called. 20 seconds, job done. Gary

Why can't I get a gps that has a big screen like my trusty nuvi 760 but with the intelligence and configurability of my Oregon ?

It's running firmware 3.90 (via webupdater, so non beta). There is only 1 autorouting map loaded, plus 1 non-routable topo, and the basemap. The topo map and basemap are disabled, the only active map is the autorouting one. :-(

Yes, the exact same map. I reloaded the maps onto both units just to remove any doubt about that. My Oregon 300 routes correctly, this is just a 450 thing :-(

These are the instructions from the autoroute my Nuvi 760 gave me to get across Auckland from Henderson to Manurewa. We're driving on the left down here, so "keep right on the motorway" simply means "don't exit here". - Enter motorway at Lincoln Rd - 12km, exit left onto southern motorway - 20km, keep right on southern motorway - 3.1km, keep left on Hill Rd Manurewa exit Awesome. That extraneous keep right will be something to do with the new link to the Mangere motorway and I'm not worried about it. Now here's the instructions my Oregon 450 comes up with for the same route using the same mapset. - Enter motorway at Lincoln Rd - 1.9km keep right on north western motorway - 1.5km keep right on north western motorway - 3.1km keep right on north western motorway - 2.9km keep right on north western motorway - 2.2km keep right on north western motorway - 650m exit left to southern motorway - 2.2km keep right on southern motorway - 3.9km keep right on southern motorway - 950 m keep right on southern motorway - 2.7km keep right on southern motorway - 200m keep right on southern motorway - 4.5km keep right on southern motorway - 1.6km keep right on southern motorway - 2.8km keep right on southern motorway - 900m keep right on southern motorway - 3.1km, keep left on Hill Rd Manurewa exit This produces almost continuous beeping as I drive down the motorway and gives me very little warning of when I actually need to exit compared to the Nuvi. Any suggestions on how I can stop the Oregon telling me at every interchange that I should stay on the motorway ? The Oregon is running the latest webupdater (non-beta) firmware. Thanks Gary

FWIW the only way to reset the odometer is to do a full reset. This also resets all your menu customisations, so it's not something you want to be doing every day. The odometer, as a result, is largely useless.

Glad to hear Don't forget to check out our free auto-routing maps while you're here, far more up to date and accurate than the official ones and you can't beat the price LOL. I think there's even a topo version ! http://gwprojects.org/forum/index.php Cheers Gary

Aha ! I checked that at the time and again about half an hour later and nothing had been added, but it has indeed been extended by a month now. Can I claim another 30 days for each of my other garmins ? Gary

I didn't have any problems activating the 8000 year trial membership, I just added my Oregon 450 to my devices at garmin.com then clicked the 'activate' button on the geocaching.com website, and it says I am now a premium member until 01/01/0001 Think I might investigate that one a bit further ... Gary

I have my 450 doing 1 second tracklogs. I get multiple gpx files per day, the filename is the timestamp, and it just keeps going ... I presume the limit now depends on the available memory.

it does that: "reset trip data" Nope. Oregons - doesn't matter which model, they all do it - have two odometers. A 'Trip Odometer' and an 'Odometer'. Resetting the trip data resets the Trip Odometer but not the main Odometer, the only way to reset that is to do a master reset, which also resets any menu customisation etc. On my 60Cx there is a seperate reset menu item for the main odometer so it can be easily reset independantly of the trip odometer (no point in having two of them if you can't reset them individually), but that never made it across to the Oregons. Gary

Garmin Oregons', Dakota's, and Colorado's NEED the following features added: 1. File Manager to move pocket queries from back up directories to the GPX file folder. I have almost 40 pocket queries that I work with. Heck, it could also be used to move maps from one directory to another. It is a pain to have to do this with a computer! 2. It needs to have a way of easily resetting the internal geocache database so that it doesn't hang when you add a large amount of new caches. 3. Brighter screen. 4. Better power connector - USB is not up to the task. 5. A way to save track on SD 6. The geocaching dashboard needs to work with Waypoints too so it can be used on multi's 7. A way to change coords on a cache so you have all the info right there. 8. Several hard buttons that can be custom configured. 9. A way to reset the main odometer without doing a master reset 10.

Is there any way to zero the main odometer on an Oregon without losing all the menu customisation ? The only way I know of to zero it is to do a master reset which resets the odometer, restores any waypoints I've just deleted, and resets all the menus to default. It's more trouble than it's worth. It would seem from what I've tried that both the 300 and the 450 have been blessed with this feature. Thanks Gary

Not getting a printed manual with a modern Garmin gps is no big deal, the manual is generally nothing more than an expanded quickstart guide. If you want to know anything even slightly technical or difficult, go straight to the wiki or google. Gary

Can anyone confirm definitively whether the OR 450 has made the huge leap backwards to the date-based method of storing old tracklogs and that you can keep logging until the memory is full like the 60Cx, or whether it still has the bizarre file-size based system used on the Oregon 300 where it's pure guesswork which of the 20 archive files the piece of log you want is in, always assuming it hasn't been overwritten ... I tried downloading the manual from Garmin but as usual it's just a big quick-start guide. Thanks Gary

Yes you need to be a premium member to get any real benefit from GSAK. Given what you have spent on the gps a membership is next to nothing ... I had the same problem - everybody told me how great GSAK was and what it could be made to do, but nobody thought to tell me what it's basic essential function is. So here it is (drum roll please) GC.com is an online database of caches which you can run up to 5 PQ's on each day, with certain fairly limited criteria. GSAK is an offline database of caches which you can query as often as you like, the search criteria are head and shoulders above a PQ, and once the data is in there you can also do all the other stuff. Use broad PQs to populate GSAK's database, then do specific queries on GSAK. Hope that helps Gary