Garmin 60cs / Hints

[+grp318]

How do you get the Garmin 60CS to display hints from cache's you have downloaded? I uses gpx files with the gsak program.

 

Thanks

[+kgag]

Only way that I know of (and someone else might have a better answer) is to copy and paste the hint from the web into the notes field.

 

kgag.

[+Sputnik 57]

From question 2 of the Software Section of the FAQ:

The "comment" field in the 60CS is the same as the Waypoint Description field in GSAK.

Unfortunately, you are limited to about 30 characters, and many times hints are longer than that.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Sputnik 57

[+Timpat]

How do you get the Garmin 60CS to display hints from cache's you have downloaded? I uses gpx files with the gsak program.

 

Thanks

Using GSAK, go to File/Export/GPX/Loc file, then look in the lower right of the window for the "Cache description format" box. In this box enter [%hint], without my brackets of course. Now when you upload your .gpx file your 60CS will list the cache name (or code, depending on your preference), and the comment field will display up to 30 characters of the hint. If the hint is longer it will get cut off at the 30 character mark.

[+grp318]

I still can not get it to work... Any more ideas?

Edited March 2, 2006 by grp318

[+Sputnik 57]

I still can not get it to work... Any more ideas?

Can you give us some idea of what is happening (or not happening)? Are you exporting, the waypoints show up, but the note field is blank? Let us know your "symtoms"

[+grp318]

I will do my best, I bought a Magellan GPS a few days ago and used it a few times. It had an option to see hints on the screen. I would really like my new Garmin to do the same thing. When out in the field I currantly do not see the any hints, nor see how to enable the option. I use gsak, when I upload the caches to my gps I cannot see the hints. I tried to edit the program with the %hint but I can still not see hints on my gps. I hope this makes sence.

 

Thanks

[ImpalaBob]

Simply put .... The 60CS is not designed to give you hints .... other than what can be placed in the 30 character maximum "comment" field. Sure .... it looks like a nice big space for data .... but NOOOOOOO .... Garmin has limited it to 30 characters.

 

Buy a cheap Palm PDA with at least 2 MB of memory on your favorite auction site ..... or maybe a Palm Zire 72 .... get cachemate from Smittyware for $8 and you will be on your way to paperless caching with all the cache information at your fingertips.

 

If you want minimized paper useage .... try wap.geocaching.com for your printouts instead of the regular geocaching web site.

 

ImpalaBob

[HokieBird]

I thought I read a recent thread where you could load them in through the POI loader. Or was that only with the 60CSx?

[+Timpat]

I thought I read a recent thread where you could load them in through the POI loader. Or was that only with the 60CSx?

Only with the X series units discussed here that use the microSD card. The custom POIs reside on the card and there is virtually no limit to the number. I have over 14,000 custom POIs currently loaded on my 60CX, and each point can have 132 characters associated with them for name, hint, diff, terr, etc.

[+GOT GPS?]

I thought I read a recent thread where you could load them in through the POI loader. Or was that only with the 60CSx?

Only with the X series units discussed here that use the microSD card. The custom POIs reside on the card and there is virtually no limit to the number. I have over 14,000 custom POIs currently loaded on my 60CX, and each point can have 132 characters associated with them for name, hint, diff, terr, etc.

 

One of the reasons I spent the $449 on a Map60Cx, and it is so cool.

[+Sputnik 57]

I will do my best, I bought a Magellan GPS a few days ago and used it a few times. It had an option to see hints on the screen. I would really like my new Garmin to do the same thing. When out in the field I currantly do not see the any hints, nor see how to enable the option. I use gsak, when I upload the caches to my gps I cannot see the hints. I tried to edit the program with the %hint but I can still not see hints on my gps. I hope this makes sence.

Please confirm that (i) you downloaded .gpx files from the GC.com site (.loc files don't have the hint); (ii) you clicked on the "GPS" tab at the top, clicked "setup . . " and then changed the GPS brand to Garmin, checked the USB box and clicked OK. (iii) Next you clicked on GPS tab, clicked "Send waypoints . . .". Then, on the right hand side under "Waypoint description format" you typed "%hint" (without the quote marks). (iv) you sent the waypoints to the GPSr and they were received. Have you tried deleting the waypoints in the GPSr and resendign them?

 

If you did all this and still have no hint, I'm stumped. It may be time to e-mail ClydeE or try to get an answer on his forum.