Explorist 600 Geocaching Feature

[+Bob&TheGang]

I understand that the Explorist 600 has some type of Geocaching feature build into it.

 

Can anyone explain what this is exactly?

[+D0T-C0M]

Its software to manage geocaches right on your GPS. It will accept the *.gs file that this site provides in which you can see more information on your GPS such as , name, last found, who created the cache, hints etc.

 

It is a promising feature but it has some serious limitation as its implemented presently. It has a 200 cache limit, you cannot edit the geocache in the GPS, you cannot change the icon, and theres a geocache text bug which renders the map screen useless at certain resolutions when you have more than a few geocaches displayed.

 

I had a long talk with a Magellan engineer on wednesday and discussed in quite some detail the limitations of this geocache software and was told that magellan is going to release something soon that should remedy the situation as far as geocaches goes.

 

So if you want to use the geocache feature as it stands I would recommend you use it in conjunction with GSAK thats can be bought at reasonable fee and is well worth it.

 

New explorist600 firmware is due out any day now. We talked about this in detail as well. It should remedy a few of the problems mentioned in the posts on this forum.

 

PS for those who wanted the old screens, you had better email magellan in mass because they have to intention on coding them on the explorist600. The engineer told me that from there surveys they didnt see the demand but said if people were to show an interest that they may be forced to.

[+EScout]

Dot-Com:

That is good advise to email Magellan and give them your feedback. I will, especially about additional screens and projecting a waypoint, and increasing the number of geocache points in the file.

 

One advantage not mentioned is that you can activate one geocache file and one regular waypoint file at the same time, which means that all of the points from these two files will show up on the map.

[+northernpenguin]

I tend to use the geocaching mode to identify 'opportunity' caches when I'm in an area. I use GSAK to produce 200 waypoint geocache files centered around certain areas I go every once in a while.

 

It's nice to be able to see a geocache symbol and know if it's a traditional, multi or virtual when I'm in the car. No sense stopping for a multi if I don't have the data in my PDA yet, but a traditional could coax me to stop for the quick search.

 

When I'm participating in events or group caching I tend to use a POI file instead, so I can drop/move the POI to another file and go back to the "find nearest" method.

 

One thing I like about the eXplorist is that a POI file does not have to be active in memory for me to start a "GOTO" to it.

 

I'm glad that Magellan is planning to remedy the geocaching mode (I wonder if that's a GPSr or desktop software fix). Right now GSAK+eXplorist is a great combo for me.

[+Jamie Z]

On the Explorist series, geocaches can be treated seperately from "regular" waypoints.

 

Using the supplied "Geocaching Manager" program, or preferably GSAK, you can send geocache information to the GPS. Here's a pic of the data that's shown:

 

 

Using GSAK, I also configured it to display the container size in one of the fields. The hint (or at least the first 50 characters) are shown on a separate screen.

 

Like DOT-COM said, the Geocache Manager is absurdly limited to 200 caches, and you cannot edit or delete the caches once loaded into the GPS--big flaw.

 

What's the good stuff? When loaded into the geocache manager, geocaches show up on your map screen with the proper icon (traditional, multi, virtual, etc). Also, you can make active both a geocache file as well as another waypoint file... they're completely independent.

 

Jamie

[+gpsjeep]

Like DOT-COM said, the Geocache Manager is absurdly limited to 200 caches, and you cannot edit or delete the caches once loaded into the GPS--big flaw.

Jamie Z,

I have a question because I'm considering upgrading to an E500.

Can you upload more that 200 caches to the optional sd card? Or edit and delete the caches from the sd card? While the card is in the gos?

Thanks,

-Jeffr

[+embra]

Can you upload more that 200 caches to the optional sd card? Or edit and delete the caches from the sd card? While the card is in the gos?

You can upload as many Geocache POI files as the card will hold, but each file can hold no more than 200 POIs per file.

 

No editing or deletine of Geocache POIs at present (regular POIs can be edited/deleted).

 

The card can be left in for virtually all activities; I rarely remove mine.

[+Jamie Z]

Yes, you can upload many, many separate files of up to 200 caches each. Having an SD card for the Explorist is not necessary as the Explorist has six or seven megs of internal memory. You'd never fill up six or seven megs with geocache files. But having a much larger SD card is awfully nice when you upload maps and such.

 

As I said, individual caches in geocache files cannot be edited or deleted. You can delete the whole file if you want, and upload more... but one of the flaws of the geocache manager is that the file itself cannot be edited.

 

If you really wanted the ability to edit and delete individual geocaches, you could simply upload the caches as regular waypoints... just like any other GPS.

 

Jamie

[+Mr Lost]

PS for those who wanted the old screens, you had better email magellan in mass because they have to intention on coding them on the explorist600. The engineer told me that from there surveys they didnt see the demand but said if people were to show an interest that they may be forced to.

I wrote a lengthy email about this and sent it to Magellan. I would reccomend that anyone who wants to see these features implemented do the same. Please take the five minutes necessary to do this. I believe that geocachers would like to see the new units perform to their full potential, which includes the flexibility of the older units.

[+Marky]

Like DOT-COM said, the Geocache Manager is absurdly limited to 200 caches, and you cannot edit or delete the caches once loaded into the GPS--big flaw.

The engineers that I have talked to are aware that this is an undesired limitation and I'm hoping that the next release of the firmware will address this. ::crossing fingers::

 

--Marky

[+Photom]

Well - here's one of my pet peeves and a firmware enhancement request.

 

1. You are using the Explorist in STREET ROUTE mode and you get to the end of a route. The stop sign is showing.

 

2. If this is a cache point, you now need to change to the point-to-point routing which takes "several" button pushes.

 

My request is to be able to change from Street Routing to point to point with a single click of one button.

 

(Or maybe when the stop sign pops us, add a question, "Change GOTO to point to point?")

 

Anyone else find this a little annoying?

Edited July 8, 2005 by Photom

[robertlipe]

I've fussed about the insane number of keypresses to do that since DR was released for Meridian almost two years ago, Photom. You actually have to go through the tree three times - once to street goto, once to PtP goto, and once again to delete the icon from the map so you can tell where you've been.

 

Garmin gets this much closer to right.