Easiest Way To Load Hint Info On My Vista Cx?

[+White Sage]

New cacher here with a Garmin eTrex Vista Cx. I downloaded GSAK and just loaded my first pocket query onto my GPSr and (naively) thought it would include hint info so that I could do some paperless geocaching. I've searched this forum and found a lot of options people are using here, from bringing along a PDA, to custom POIs. Honestly, I am a bit overwhelmed, and somewhat disappointed that there isn't some easy, straitforward way to get all the pertinent info for caches onto my GPS.

 

I guess my question is simple. What would be the easiest way for me to go paperless with my Vista Cx? And is there some step by step process written up anywhere that I can follow?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

White Sage

[+N8OFP - Del]

I don't believe there is anyway to load hints to a Vista Cx. There are a few GSPr units like the Garmin 60 series, Garmin Street Pilot, and some of the newer Magtellans (I'm sure I missed a few) that you can load hints into.

 

The easiest way to go paperless is to by a used Palm PDA from Ebay. You'll want to look for a Palm PDA that has at least 8 megs of Ram. You find generally find some of the older Palms for $20.00 or so.

 

Once you have a Palm PDA then you can go to Cachemate For Palm web site, download Cachemate (Registration is $8.00). Cachemate is a program written for the Palm that will allow you to import Geocache information and reveiw it in the field. It will give you the Cache Name, Coords, Description, Hint, Past logs, and a screen where you can log your find.

 

There is an Cachemate Export function build into GSAK.

 

Here is a good article on Paperless Caching

[+Sputnik 57]

You can use GSAK to load the hint directly to your Vista Cx. More info on that in the GSAK section of the FAQ. You must download .gpx files from GS.com to get the hint, not .loc files, but since you are a premium member that shouldn't be a problem. The big drawback, as stated in the FAQ, is that you are limited to about 30 characters in the notes field of the Vista.

 

 

Most people use a cheap PDA to carry cache info paperlessly. There is a great tutorial here.

[+The Furlows]

I too have used GSAK, but what I get is not the hints, but a distance alarm. What have I done wrong?

[+Miragee]

These are the settings I use for Sending the Waypoints to my GPSr.

 

 

The code for the Waypoint: %smart=6 %con1%typ1%dif1%ter1 gives me a shortened version of the name, then the Size of the cache, the Type of cache, followed by the Difficulty and Terrain based on a 10-point scale.

 

To get the hint, use the %hint code in the "Waypoint description format" form.

[+The Furlows]

Yes that is right, but I was talking about POI way of getting the caches loaded up into the GPS

[+White Sage]

Thanks you guys. That is some really helpful info. If PDAs suitable for the job are that cheap, I might just do that.

 

Miragee- I'm going to try your hint trick.

 

[+ClydeE]

I too have used GSAK, but what I get is not the hints, but a distance alarm. What have I done wrong?

This is a bug in the latest version of the POI loader. See this post

[+The Furlows]

I too have used GSAK, but what I get is not the hints, but a distance alarm. What have I done wrong?

This is a bug in the latest version of the POI loader. See this post

 

TNXS a bunch, will try it tonight. AL

[+CJOttawa]

New cacher here with a Garmin eTrex Vista Cx. I downloaded GSAK and just loaded my first pocket query onto my GPSr and (naively) thought it would include hint info so that I could do some paperless geocaching. I've searched this forum and found a lot of options people are using here, from bringing along a PDA, to custom POIs. Honestly, I am a bit overwhelmed, and somewhat disappointed that there isn't some easy, straitforward way to get all the pertinent info for caches onto my GPS.

 

I guess my question is simple. What would be the easiest way for me to go paperless with my Vista Cx? And is there some step by step process written up anywhere that I can follow?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

White Sage

 

White Sage,

 

I've tried and tried. (60CSx but same deal as the eTrex Cx's)

You get a very small text field for description if the caches are loaded as waypoints. Often, I found myself wishing for the whole description page and have DNF'd as a result.

 

Another option is to export as "Custom POI's" using Garmin's POI Loader but you're still limited to something like 88 characters and you can't just "view" a custom POI while looking at the map, you have to search for them. (or zoom to 80 meters)

 

Echoing what others have said, at least until Garmin makes Custom POI's more useful, a cheap Palm PDA is your best bet. Any unit with 8+megs of memory and/or a card slot will be great. (2MB Palm units are questionable as 1000-caches takes up 2-4megs)