Magellan Explorist Help

[+BlueMINI05]

Hi all, new here. Haven't found any geocaches yet, did pick up a GPS unit tonight tho. A Magellan Explorist 500, looks pretty cool, really like the fact that it has the geocache stuff built right in. Was gonna go geocaching tomorrow. Except it isn't working. It seemed to work at first, uploaded a cache, found it in the geocache subfolder uner points of interest and clicked on a symbol that looked like the geocaching.com tupperware symbol and it showed up on the map.

 

Then played with the GPS some more and now the caches don't work anymore. I download the .loc files from geocaching.com, open them with the Magellan Geocache Manager, hit the Send to GPS button and it seems to transfer ok. But when i try and find the point of interest, it seems to be there but it acts like an empty folder. No tupperware looking symbol. Odd. No idea what i did/am doing wrong. Any ideas?

[+BlueMINI05]

OK, i've tried everything. Deleted all geocaches, both on the 'puter and the GPS, uninstalled and reinstalled the software. Reset the GPS, pulled the battery and let it sit. Tried the whole download the .loc, upload to GPS again, still no go. It'll set and retrieve points of interest, but setting geocache points does not work at all. I'm giving up and calling it quits for tonight. Might try again tomorrow.

[+embra]

Are you looking in the right folder? There is a parallel folder structure for internal and SD memory. The factory default for active setup is the geocache folder on internal memory. If you go to active setup and then select the geocache folder field, navigate up the hierarchy until you can select SD memory, and then drill down until you find your file in the geocache POI folder.

 

I'm guessing you're making this error because I did when I first got my 500...it had me perplexed for a pretty good while. I'm not certain this is your problem, though, since you seemed to get that first geocache POI up there on the map screen.

Edited January 8, 2006 by embra

[+BlueMINI05]

Are you looking in the right folder?  There is a parallel folder structure for internal and SD memory.  The factory default for active setup is the geocache folder on internal memory.  If you go to active setup and then select the geocache folder field, navigate up the hierarchy until you can select SD memory, and then drill down until you find your file in the geocache POI folder.

 

I'm guessing you're making this error because I did when I first got my 500...it had me perplexed for a pretty good while.  I'm not certain this is your problem, though, since you seemed to get that first geocache POI up there on the map screen.

Good idea, but i don't have an SD card yet. Just went to magellan.com, downloaded the latest firmware, we'll see if this helps.

 

Edited: Nope, didn't help. The really bizarre thing is i don't get any error messages. Geocache manager seems to work fine, i can add geocaches to it. When i transfer it to the GPS as the .gs file, it says it transfer's just fine. I can even find the file on the GPS with windows explorer. And i can find the .gs file with the GPS itself, but the GPS seems to think it's empty, without any geocaches in it.

Edited January 8, 2006 by volare080

[+EScout]

As Embra said, you have to make active the geocache file that you want.

 

So, put all the caches you want into the Geocache Manager, then in your send you will name a file, and it will be sent. Then, with your 500 on, Menu>Preferences>Active Setup>Geocaches, highlight, select file. The caches for this file will show on your screen, but not any caches from any other file.

[+gdps]

Just a thought you might want to check on the Map setup screen and make sure you haven't accidently turned off the show geocaches. Press Menu/Map Setup/click to the right for Display/down to Geocache Icons and Geocache Names. Make sure at least one is selected.

[+BlueMINI05]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, guys but no luck. Still no geocaches. Here's what i'm doing, in further detail:

 

1.) Downloaded 5 .loc files for some geocaches in my area

2.) Imported them into the geocache manager, saved the file on my 'puter as "Chicago. geo"

3.) Connected the GPS to the usb port, turned it on, waited until it was in USB file transfer mode and the computer recognized it

4.) Hit the transfer to GPS button, saved it as "Chicago.gs" on the GPS, got a "Transfer Completed!" message

5.) Using windows explorer, verified that Chicago.gs is indeed on the GPS (under geocaches in the root directory of the internal memory, i don't have an SD card yet)

6.) switched UPS modes on the GPS from file transfer to Power only

7.) went to Menu>Pts of Interest>Geocache Pts . The Chicago.gs file is there. Scrolled down to it, clicked on it, and it's empty.

 

Although, just noticed this now, but when i reopen the Chicago.geo on my computer, an XMLError.txt file appears and has the following message in it:

 

An invalid character was found in text content.

 

Error on line 1, position 3 in "file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Mark/My%20Documents/Location%20Files/Chicago.geo".

 

Does that mean anything?

[+BlueMINI05]

Ok, very bizarre. I uninstalled all the magellan software, reinstalled. Then did a firmware update. Then tried again... and it's working. Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre. Thanks for all the help though!

Edited January 8, 2006 by volare080

[+forman]

Why are you doing loc files? Do you get the cache discriptions on the gps? I have been doing gpx files.

[+BlueMINI05]

Why are you doing loc files? Do you get the cache discriptions on the gps? I have been doing gpx files.

doing .loc files 'cause i don't know about .gpx files. How do those work, and how do you download them from geocaching.com?

[+geognerd]

To get GPX files from geocaching.com, you have to be a premium member. It costs $3/mo (payable thru PayPal only) or $30/yr (payable thru PayPal or thru credit card at the Groundspeak store.

 

GPX files have lots more information than the loc files. GPX includes hints, previous logs, when the cache was last found, and other stuff. I think LOC only includes the GC ID, and cache name. I've never used them. When you go to a cache's page, the GPX download is right next to the loc download link. As a premium member, you can also run pocket queries, which return results in GPX format.