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Garmin case failures are legendary....sweaty hands destroy the 62+ cases and not just the button cover, they look like they have been dragged through the briars. Put something in the button hole then guerilla tape on top ( the tape can be used in other areas as well. For some years I have been using the GPSMAP 78S for caching.....wonderful case and about as accurate as a quad ( of course they quit making it but I grabbed a good second one on ebay ) I still use my 62S and 64S but not as much.

My Garmin eTrex and my iphone are just about equally accurate. The phone sometimes "wanders" for a second or two when nearing a GZ. But that doesn't happen all the time.

As you know, the Garmin GPSMap 60CSx is an older handheld GPS unit. The City Navigator North America is a similar vintage routable mapset. The version of City Navigator that I purchased in the 2007 time frame had a license that limited the installation of the maps on two GPS devices. The licensing was tied to the serial number of the GPS device. The installation of the maps on the microSD card in the GPS device was accomplished using Garmin MapSource software. MapSource was later superseded by Garmin BaseCamp. If you have a valid unlock code for the City Navigator mapset, and have a version of MapSource with the maps installed, the maps could be installed on the new to you 60CSx. Another option is to use some of the free maps available, or purchase new maps. The installation of maps on the older Garmin GPS units was more complicated than the process for the newer units. With the newer units one may simply copy files to the microSD card. The 60CSx is limited to one mapset. The installation process from MapSource would take care of combining multiple mapsets into a single installation. If one only wants a single mapset life is easier.

I have a Garmin Oregon 450 that came with a micro SD that was 1 GB and I have another that is 8 GB (class 10). When I plugged the Garmin into my computer, It did not show any more storage on the Garmin than it had before and it also showed a greyed-out F:/ drive that "Windows can't access" I have tried plugging it into all the ports on my computer, plus others, I have formatted the card twice, I updated the firmware and updated Garmin express as well. Can somebody point out what I'm doing wrong?

Smartphones get their GPS signal from the same satellites as a Garmin. The difference is the quality of the receiver, which varies. Smartphones are much better than they used to be. Depending on your device and where you cache the difference might not be meaningful. If you go on long hikes in the woods you're more likely to notice the difference in accuracy, battery life, and durability.

My Garmin GPSMAP 65 is way more accurate than my Iphone, it will consistantly get me within 6 Feet, my cell phone around 20 feet at best. This is my experience, yours may differ.

I got a 67i a few months ago and finally got around to actually caching this weekend. We did the Chehalis/Centralia Cache Machine, https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCAGZYJ_chehalis-centralia-cache-machine-dinner My GPS was connected to my phone so every time I found a cache it was auto logged "Submitted via Garmin Live Geocaching" to GC.com. Is there a way to either create a canned log to be uploaded or not automatically upload the logs. And now that all of my finds/DNFs have been uploaded it there a way to delete those logs so that I can log via GSAK like i normally do with for Cache Machines. Thanks Jeff-

A leaking battery killed my Map60 csx and I bought a used one for less than Garmin charges to fix one. Removed the micro sd card with north american city maps on it to the new/er one but it is only showing the base map.(No streets or side roads) How to fix this please?? Thanks

When sending navigation information from any geocaching app (Geocaching app, Adventure Lab app) I get the message "No Location Information Found In The Link Provided". This only started in the later half of 2023. It was working before this. I believe it may be due to these app sending only coordinates and not addresses. Has something changed?

I did the same but with an 8 GB card instead. It did not recognize it for some reason even though I formatted it in FAT32. Help? it is a Centon 8GB Micro SDHC. I tried plugging in the sd card itself into my computer instead of plugging it in through the garmin and putting my maps and such in there, but that didn't work.

I have never heard that on the app, but I mostly use a Garmin GPS, and that still beeps to let me know I am close.

Yah...I miss it, too. I'm not sure if it disappeared solely on modern devices or if the Garmin GPSr also dropped sounds. I suspect it still works on old-school tech. I especially miss the sound when I'm moving quickly toward the GZ, like driving or riding a bike.

Ummm, yes, it IS needed, that's one of the basic ideas of this game called geocaching. I'm relatively new to the hobby, started in 2017, and have pretty much learned and used the official app for most of my "career" in geocaching. I do have a Garmin Etrex 30x, to learn how to use a GPS, for those places where there is no cell signal, or to re-verify coordinates for a find. I also teach the Geocaching Merit Badge to scouts, and part of that is learning to use a GPS, so I learned how so I could teach others. I accepted the "rule" that you have to physically sign the logsheet/logbook when you find a cache when I began. Yes, you DO have to sift through some recent logs if you simply want to grab a find for every cache you seek. Otherwise you will find soggy logs, missing caches, and damaged containers. We do read previous logs (in most cases), and skip some of those that look sketchy; we also pre-solve puzzles when heading to a new area, and load the GPS with caches we hope to find. We prepare for our cache outings. And when we do spontaneous hunts, we aren't always successful since we DIDN'T read recent logs telling us the cache was missing or damaged!! Find the cache, SIGN THE LOG (learn to carry writing utensils!), and then claim the find and tell your story, either in the app or on the website. That's geocaching.

On my Montana 700, I can see where I can see on the map set up page, where I can select a vehicle icon. Right now I have two icons visible (the defaults). I am trying to transfer a downloaded snowmobile icon from my laptop to my GPS. I was told to copy & paste the file via Windows to the 'Vehicle folder' on my GPS. That being said, when I connect my GPS to the laptop, while a folder named Garmin appears, I can't see a folder named folder. Any suggestions? Do I have to create my own folder? I have added custom waypoints to my GPS. TIA

If you like free, there's: OpenTopoMaps Garmin Maps

I am using the Amazon Basics Rechargeable batteries. Is it the case that you can only charge them outside of the Garmin? I have been putting them inside the device, and then charging through the cord. Is this wrong or am I doing it right? While charging the NiMH batteries through the coord, I have to charge them every so often, of course, and then the time between those charges is getting very short very quickly, so much so that I can't even turn the device on after a few days. After that happens, can I recharge the NiMH batteries through the wall charger and start that whole process over again?

To split the difference between a big geocache management app and chiseling on clay tablets, GPSBabel can also help with that, too. It seems obvious that GPSBabel can read pocket queries and loc files from the site, but it also knows about geocaching details beyond plain GPX. It's less obvious that it can write text files that contain the important parts of the cache data. It can similarly write html files if you want to preserve any markup that may be on the page. GPSBabel knows about difficulty, terrain, hints, cache type, container size, and all that other stuff and can write a no-frills description of the cache page in a simple form. To do this, much like you "convert" a GPX file that's a pocket query to Garmin Protocol on usb, you can convert to a text file and then scribble that in Google Docs (tip: mark it for offline use so it works when you have no reception) , mail it to yourself, print it, or whatever. gpsbabel -i gpx -f somepocketquery.gpx -o text -F - (you can do the drag & drop equivalent if that's your bag) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GCGCA8 N35 55.300 W86 51.700 (16S 512480 3975269) Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo by robertlipe - Unknown Cache / Unknown - (3 / 2) The cache is not at the coordinates above. These coords will get you to the correct park and within 1/2 mile of the cache. The cache is within 35 feet of the trail. It is not handicapped accessible. It is a nice walk in the woods th [ .. ] Hint: There Is No Hint ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GC7FA4 N46 08.000 W73 00.000 (18T 654491 5110806) Points géodésiques du Québec by Sverdrup2 - Locationless (Reverse) Cache / Virtual - (1 / 1) LES CO [ ... ] Or as HTML to get a little extra formatting, including links at the top and graphics. This is pulled into TextEdit.app where it'd be easier to reformat than in a browser, but you can choose your own adventure. It won't match Cereberus1's ability to cherry-pick the two sentences in a cache page that actually matter to condense it to a notecard, but if you DO branch into more than a few caches in a hunt, it can nicely condense things down into a pocket full of data, whether that's on your phone or a pocket-sized printout. Either print the page as-is or pull it into your favorite word processor for hand tweaking if that's your thing, but sending it to your phone is a perfectly reasonable thing to do in modern times. This feature comes from the days before GPSes recognized Pocket Queries themselves (like the Garmin 60CSx in question, though it was really the last generation that didn't) and we were often caching with PDAs. Also useful to that generation of hardware, use the smart names to get "TheTroll" instead of GC1234 on your GPS screen. That's under 'More Options' from the front page: For these two examples, that would get you "Oozy Rat" and "Points géodé" (I think it'll do the diacriticals on that model) On the command line, use -Sn for Smart Names and -Si for Smart Icons. That'll highlight multis vs. virtuals vs. puzzles on the map screen to help you decide which direction to drive when picking your next hunt. It's a bit funny to have this conversation because 22 years ago, I spent a long time looking for a cache (I think it was my fifth or sixth hunt) in the wrong place exactly because I did mistype the coordinates into the receiver. That's when I started looking for a program to do that, didn't find one I liked, and then sat out to create what became GPSBabel. Cereberes1's solution works for him and it's a fine approach if it works for you. I'm just saying there are options. The 'text' options came around when I planned a road trip to Disney (in the era before Pocket Queries) and didn't really know where I'd stop along the way. I had a big dumb box of printouts and couldn't find anything when I needed it when we stopped for a break. (Sure, it should have been sorted and in a binder. I lacked that foresight at the time because the act of printing many, many dozens of pages had already worn me out...) So I built tools that worked for me.

I am using Amazon basics rechargeable batteries in my Garmin Oregon 450, with the setting for NiMH batteries on, and they are losing their ability to hold charge extremely fast (1-2 days). Is this most likely a problem with the device or the batteries? One more thing, I got some topo map .kmz files from TopoView and they are showing up in really low resolution on my device, even though I viewed them on Google Earth and they look fine. It did have a message that "Image file too big" or something like that when I first put them on, so I'm not sure how to fix this even though they are only around 3 MB.

I contacted Garmin this week and my method of creating .gpx versions of my lists to a thumb drive was not the proper way. Long story short, if you get a new lap top, create a backup file of your current BaseCamp to a thumb drive, then use that to update BaseCamp on your new laptop. Installing it will overwrite anything already transferred. I'm in the process of transferring my waypoints (since I have done a LOT of revising/update since the purchase. Tracks will be a much easier story. I hope this helps someone in the future.

GPSBabel still supports them. For Windows USB, you may need a driver from Garmin that may be hard to find and/or may not work on contemporary OSes

What I normally carry is my iPhone and a pen; completely forgetting mycaching pack with tweezers, extra bags ,etc. I normally have in my pocketat all times a small bison tune looking tool used to rewind very small logs. I have a Garmin Etrex which at times wish I Hadith me-= but then need to remember to download caches first!

Am einfachsten ist es, die Datei geocache_visits.txt nach jedem Upload zu Groundspeak zu löschen. Das Garmingerät legt automatisch eine neue Datei an, die dann auch nur die letzten Funde, Nicht-Funde enthält. Nach dem erneuten Hochladen wird die Datei auf dem Garmin dann wieder gelöscht. (GSAK macht das übrigens automatisch ) Frohes Jagen Hans

Hi zusammen, ich habe seit einiger Zeit ein Problem (bzw. zwei Probleme, die miteinander zusammen hängen) und wollte mal wissen ob es anderen ähnlich geht: Wenn ich die geocache_visits.txt von meinem Garmin GPS Gerät unter Entwürfe hochlade, werden mir immer ALLE auf dem Gerät befindlichen logs bzw. Entwürfe (aka field notes) angezeigt – also auch solche die schon lange geloggt sind. Früher hat es mir immer nur die neuen Entwürfe angezeigt. Ich glaube das ist seit Mitte des Jahres so, bin mir beim Zeitpunkt aber nicht sicher. Ich habe mir bisher immer damit beholfen, nur die wirklich neuen logs zu machen und danach die restlichen Entwürfe (über "alle löschen") gelöscht. Das führt aber zum zweiten Problem: Alle Caches, die bereits geloggt waren und wieder über einen Entwurf hochgeladen wurden, werden nun auf der Karte mit einem Ausrufezeichen angezeigt, obwohl der Entwurf (s.o.) gelöscht wurde. Wenn ich mit der Maus drüber fahre, sehe ich dann aber das „found Smiley“ bzw. das DNF Symbol. Als Workaround für Problem 1 mache ich es mittlerweile so, dass ich das geocache_visits.txt file zwischenspeichere und bearbeite (alte einträge entfernen), so dass Entwürfe für „alte“ Caches garnicht erst erscheinen. Funktioniert zwar als workaround, finde es aber so wie es früher war viel besser. Bei Problem 2 hilft es als workaround, den vorhandenen Logeintrag zu bearbeiten und wieder zu speichern. Das ist aber echt nervig, weil das locker 300 Stück oder mehr sind. -> Geht’s anderen ähnlich oder ist das nur bei mir so? Ich vermute, Groundspeak hat irgendwas bei der Programmierung verändert. Hat jemand eine Idee, wie ich zumindest den Workaround für Problem 2 (log bearbeiten und speichern) irgendwie automatisiert machen könnte? Vielen Dank und viele Grüße!

Sounds like a similar issue to that reported by Nylimb on November 13. I am on a Windows laptop, up to date build: Windows 11 Home, Version 23H2, Build 22631.2861, Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22681.1000.0 I have tried Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox anfd MS Edge. All fail to post log with the following error message: Log failed to post Something went wrong. Stay on this page to keep your log text and try to post it later. I have updated all browsers: Google Chrome - Chrome is up to date Version 120.0.6099.130 (Official Build) (64-bit) Firefox - 121.0 (64-bit) MS Edge Version 120.0.2210.89 (Official build) (64-bit) Does anyone have any workarounds as the old version of the logging form is no longer available.

GPS: Garmin. I think a waterproof model is a must. Hiking pole. Some folks like sticks, but I prefer telescopic. Cork grip is a must (not plastic). One pole is usually sufficient, especially for poking around. You only really need a pair for long distance backpacking, mountains, or to compensate for physical problems. Pocket-size spiral notepad. Great for tracking finds, maintenance issues, and other notes for writing a proper online log later. A pen can often be tucked in the spiral. Pants or shorts depending on climate and tick prevalence. Wicking and lots of pockets.