Point Reyes CA - Garmin - Macintosh

[+point reyes chick]

Hi - I am having a heck of a time trying to understand what my GPS is doing. One of the reasons is I am a mac person, so I don't have the proper software. I don't know what software to get to complete my basic Garmin 60csx package.

 

I am hoping that someone living in my area, or is coming my way to geo-cache, would mind meeting with me and helping me understand my GPS system and give pointers on software, etc.

 

I've looked through the forums, gone to the mac sights and I'm just plain at a loss.

 

My new toy is sitting gathering dust.

 

Thank you.

Point Reyes CA - 94956

[iceycake]

Hi - I am having a heck of a time trying to understand what my GPS is doing. One of the reasons is I am a mac person, so I don't have the proper software. I don't know what software to get to complete my basic Garmin 60csx package.

 

I am hoping that someone living in my area, or is coming my way to geo-cache, would mind meeting with me and helping me understand my GPS system and give pointers on software, etc.

 

I've looked through the forums, gone to the mac sights and I'm just plain at a loss.

 

My new toy is sitting gathering dust.

 

Thank you.

Point Reyes CA - 94956

 

I'm a Mac user as well (OS X Tiger). I thought Garmin would release the Mac version of Mapsource in 2007Q1 so I bought the Garmin Vista Cx. Unfortunetly, Garmin didn't release anything for Mac yet. So basically I stucked.

 

After searching around the web, I found out I can use Google Earth to create waypoints and routes. Also, I can export the data to KML format and import back to my Garmin using GPSBabel+ (or the other way). I also use my friend's Windows machine to install the city navigation map NT to my Vista Cx.

 

I'm not sure your 60csx can use USB data cable but probably you want to check out those softwares.

 

Hope this help.

[+JohnnyVegas]

You might also post you Question in the GPS and Software area of the forums. At one time there was a web site called something like gypsy.com that had Mac GPS software.

I know one normal person (non geocacher) that also owns a Mac, he ended up buying an old PC just so he could load maps in his GPS.

[+briansnat]

You might also post you Question in the GPS and Software area of the forums.

 

Moving this there.

[+allory]

GPSy (gpsy.com) is one of the Mac GPS software packages I have used, but they are not currently supporting USB connections. My memory is that the 60CSx has both USB and serial connections, you can download a trial version to see if it will do what you need

 

MacGPSPro (macgpspro.com) does work with the Garmin USB models, but doesn't offer a downloadable trial version.

 

Either one will work fine for waypoint and track transfers, and allow you to overlay your data on maps on the Mac or send them to Google earth.

[+ms1951]

I too have the GPSMap 60CSx and a Mac. I have found 2 configurations that allow me do everything on my Macs.

 

I have a G4 powerbook that is running OS X version 10.4.8. On this system I have loaded Virtual PC version 6. Within the Virtual PC I have Windows XP running. I have loaded MapSource and GSAK in the XP enviornment and it works just like a Windows machine. The GPS is recognized through the Mac's USB port.

(Note: Version 7 of Virtual PC did not work, you must use version 6)

 

On my wife's newer IMac with the Intel processor - I have loaded Parallels Desktop and run Windows XP within that environment. Like my powerbook - I have loaded MapSource and GSAK in the XP enviornment and everything works as it should.

[+Mercury Direct]

I just posted about this topic in this thread. I haven't had a chance to us MacGPS Pro with my GPSr yet but they do offer a 30 day money back guarantee even if they don't have a trial version available.

 

It makes me cringe to think of the Dark Side's logo disgracing my beautiful Mac screen so I wanted to avoid Virtual PC or any other way of booting Windoze on my machine. From my research it sounds like I may have a working solution. Hope it helps you too, one newb to another

[Michael Cook]

I too am waiting for Garmin to bring out Mac software for my 60CSx, but in the meantime I depend on VirtualPC. For the moment there is no native Mac software for two essential things:

 

- Load maps with MapSource

- Update the unit software with the Web updater

 

If you can get hold of VirtualPC or Parallels, depending on your Mac, this is the best place to start. Otherwise, find a friend with a PC who'll let you use it to load the maps.

 

Once you've got the maps you need loaded, get a copy of the free LoadMyTracks from http://www.cluetrust.com/LoadMyTracks.html and start caching. That should be all you need for starters.

 

MacGPSPro could be useful if you want to use maps from other sources directly with a MacBook, iBook or whatever. Note that it will not load maps into the 60CSx, but you can connect the 60CSx to the Mac and see your movements in real time on any map that MacGPSPro can read. If you don't need to do this, I don't think it's worth buying MacGPSPro.

[+Mercury Direct]

 

MacGPSPro could be useful if you want to use maps from other sources directly with a MacBook, iBook or whatever. Note that it will not load maps into the 60CSx, but you can connect the 60CSx to the Mac and see your movements in real time on any map that MacGPSPro can read. If you don't need to do this, I don't think it's worth buying MacGPSPro.

 

With MacGPSPro I would think the more useful feature would be to use the available free 1:24000 USGS topo maps to map your route with waypoint and/or route information before heading out. That way you have full benefit of the 4x higher resolution of these maps compared to the 1:100000 MapSource maps on the GPSr. Otherwise you'll never see a detailed map like that of your geocaching adventures. Of course you can also print out the 1:24000 maps to take along for backup when out caching.

 

Let's just hope Garmin comes through with their Mac support in Q1 of this year as they promised (again).