peelster

Thanks Red90 - pass. I'm not buying a PC in order to install a map on a GPSr. It's worked fine in the past with previous garmins/maps, so it's not the mac. Used a PC at home for 15 years and am infinitely happier with the mac I've used for the last 4.

Great, thanks for thoughts. Nfennie -> you've given me a couple of things to try. I'll start by reformatting the MicroSD card. Red90 -> Understand what you are saying ... it does not allow me to select anything in the wizard to upload the 2010.20 upgrade. Click on map ... nothing selected. Coincidentally, I sent a Nuvi in with warranty problems and received a replacement a couple of days ago. Yesterday, I went to register the new Nuvi with MyGarmin and it offered me (for zero days only) a free update to 2010.30 for the Nuvi. I followed the step by step on that through the wizard and it worked fine. When I got to the window to select a region, it had North America prepopulated on the drop down list and selected. When trying the same just 2 days before with 2010.20 unlocked to the Oregon, the list was empty and nothing could be selected. One thing that strikes me as odd ... the free upgrade didn't download a map file to my computer that I can use MapInstall to reference and load. It gives me a disk image with an install file that must have the map file baked into it. Rather than going through MapInstall, it takes me through it's own screen by screen wizard which is where I run into the problem that I can't go any further because the drop down list is blank, the continue button is grey, and the little map on the screen is unselectable. Dead end for the Oregon; sailed through it for the Nuvi update. Any other ideas are appreciated -- it's just driving me bonkers. Thanks!

OK, since my question resulted in no suggestions, I started fooling around more with this and I have a couple of updates. The CN I purchased was 2010.10 however when I went on-line to unlock it, the Garmin website offered me a free limited period of time upgrade to 2010.20, which I downloaded and (apparently) unlocked. So, now when I go on-line, it shows my Oregon affiliated with the 2010.20 maps (and not any affiliation with the 2010.10 maps). Seems easy, then -- I double-click on Instal CN North America NT 2010.20 map update and start moving through the dialog boxes, but I get to a screen that says "Please select the region you would like to install on your GPS" with a picture of a map of north america and a drop down list. The drop down list doesn't drop down (there must be nothing on the list), I can't click on the map, and the "continue" button is greyed out. i.e., I can't get any further to install the maps. At the same time, if I go back to trying to install 2010.10, I can get them installed, but that's when I get the "Can't Unlock Maps" message on the GPSr. I went back to MyGarmin to try to unlock the 2010.10 maps and it tells me "that code has already been used." What kind of mess have I created? Anybody had a similar experience? Any ideas? I'm desperate and Garmin's customer support line won't be open again until Monday. Thanks in advance.

Brand new Oregon 550 with a 4Gb MicroSD card. Brand new CN North America NT 2010.10. Successfully unlocked it with the Oregon 550. Used MapInstall to transfer the maps to the MicroSD card. The transfer occurred successfully. I can see the map file on the card. When I turn on the GPSr, it says "Can't Unlock Maps." What dumb thing have I done wrong? A few other details: I use a MacBook Pro with Leopard; I have the most current version of MapInstall for Mac; I successfully have transferred maps from my Mac to my previous GPSr (60CSx). Oh, and one more thing - I did search the forum for possible previous postings, but this was difficult as most relevant words I'd use in the search have less than 5 letters -- drives me nutty! Anyway, thanks in advance for help.

I've tried both and I actually use both -- it's a little clunky, but they each do different things well. With GeoJournal, I like the itinerary feature. I'm able to order caches the way I want and if I'm going someplace unfamiliar, it's easier for me and my spouse to print out the itinerary and refer to it as we go. I also like the journal feature, especially for Puzzle caches. When I solve the puzzle, I capture the corrected coordinates there (I understand GSAK does this, but haven't seen that either Mac option accommodates it). Anyway, it's pretty user friendly and I just generally prefer the interface. For MacCaching, the best part about it is the ease with which you can export GCs to the Mac Address Book to facilitate paperless caching. Other than that, I don't really find that there is much I would use in MacCaching that I don't prefer how it's handled in GeoJournal. But that's just me ... you probably can't go horribly wrong with either. I'm just darn glad there is something for the Mac. Good luck with your selection.

Tragically, my travel bug - The Big Blue Chip - appears to be the victim of a whole cache gone missing. And I should have known not to put it there. It was the second stage of a multi, with the first stage several miles away. It just didn't get that many finds in the first place, never moved on (though I did - out of state - and didn't get a chance to rescue the guy before we had to go), and vanished. So it goes -- the most irritating part is that when the cache owner went out and replaced his cache and kicked my TB out of his inventory, did he bother to drop me a note saying "Hey, sorry, my whole cache went missing and your TB with it," which would be a nice thing to do? NOPE - I found out when I checked my modest inventory of TBs and I see it one day with UNKNOWN posted as its current location. That totally stinks. RIP - The Big Blue Chip Caches Visited - 1 Miles Traveled - 0 *sigh* I hope you are up playing that big poker table in the sky.

Having recently been where you are now, I might also suggest spending some time in the Getting Started section of this Forum. When I first started geocaching in earnest, I couldn't quite piece together some of the ins and outs you are mentioning. So I went back and read A LOT of posts in Getting Started and slowly but surely put some details together. I started slowly (e.g., entered coordinates by hand) and worked my way up to doing Pocket Queries and downloading info via my Mac into my GPSr. You'll get there, but read as much as you can in these early days and it will begin to sink in. Good luck!

I do think there are 2 distinctly different needs. iPhone people have the benefit of internet accessibility much more of the time than iPod touch people. I'm a touch user (and I love it ... and I have a blackberry for work where the iPhone can't be used for company e-mail, so no drivers to switch). Right now, I go through a painful little dance to do paperless caching. I take my PQs and load them into GeoJournal, which has a number of features I really like (I forgot to mention I'm a mac user in my non-work life). I use that to export coordinates to my GPSr. Then I load my PQs to MacCaching, solely for the purpose of exporting caches to my AddressBook, which I then sync to my iPod touch. It's fine, except that it is time consuming and there are a few things I'd like to see on the iPod touch that I can't see this way, like the last 5 log entries (lots of frownies?) and the full length of an entry if it happens to be a bit long. I'd be really interested in something that is more of a direct conduit to getting my PQs onto a separate viewer on the touch. Without the more persistent internet connection, I don't have as many options as some of the iPhone users. So maybe I have different needs from an iPhone owner. Nonetheless, I look forward to seeing some of your new ideas.

I'm new to this gig -- typically, how long before you see it for sale on some place like GPS City? I checked and it didn't look like it was available there yet. Of course, as I mentioned, I'm new to this gig -- did I just plain miss it?

I wholeheartedly agree with the comments about allowing the GC**** to be the waypoint name. I'd add a few other requests/recommendations: - Allow users to select fields to view in the main database area. I would like to see, for example, who placed the cache, so I could sort (or ideally filter) on that, but I wouldn't always be interested in seeing the "cache placed" date. Also might be nice to see the Lat/Long in the cache listing -- or at least have that as a field to select to be visible. - Allow users to export also to the Mac Address book. That way I can sync it with my iPod and go paperless with one stop shopping (no cachemate). Right now, I use MacCaching for this piece. Would be nice to have the great GeoJournal interface, but with the ability to sync to iPod. - It would be great to have a field to include corrected coordinates b/c all those puzzle caches drive me slightly batty. I solve the puzzle, find the new location, then have no great place to capture that info to sync to my GPSr. I'd even be ok with editing the original coords, though maybe this will get me into trouble. - One last thing - even though I changed my preference to the "deg mm.mmm" style of coordinates, it still asks me for coordinates as deg.xxxxx style when setting up a new location. Slightly vexing. If there is a way to accomplish any of the above in the existing iteration of the tool, let me know. Maybe I just missed something. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to seeing the next update. I really do like it -- nice interface (and I get to use my home mac rather than my work PC - yea!)

Maybe I should start a new topic, but following up on the automotive unlock code comment, I have something I just haven't been able to figure out. I have a Garmin C330 for the car and just bought a brand new Garmin 60 CSx. I desperately want to get beyond the base map on the 60 CSx, but I'm waiting until the MapSource 2008 issues settle down. So is there a way to use the 2nd unlock code for the C330 to get access to those MapSource maps on the 60 CSx? And if so, how do I do that? I thought that the only software that shipped with my C330 was some firmware update software, not the underlying map software. What am I missing?

Finally starting to have some success at finding caches after upgrading to a Garmin 60CSx (previous - Magellan Meridian Gold which gave me fits). I've been trying to learn more about transferring PQs to my 60CSx as well as paperless caching. I've read a ton of posts comparing EasyGPS to GSAK and installed EasyGPS as a way to get started, but have also been importing PQs to the software that came with my 60CSx. I'm struggling to understand the features EasyGPS offers that the MapSource SW doesn't offer. Can someone clarify? They seem really similar.