Which applications are best suited for me (Garmin e-trex legend blue)?

[+antigocache]

I have located 14 caches thus far by manually imputing the co-ordinates into my garmin e-trex legend (blue) but am ready to try downloading the co-ordinates directly from the geocaching site. I first assumed that it was as simple as connecting my serial cable (can't believe it uses a serial cable) to my legend and downloading directly from the site to my unit. However, after reading a bit further, I learn I will need to first download a program or application such as easy gps, clay watcher, or a couple of others. Is this correct? So basically my questions are:

a) Which application is the easiest and best to use with my particular gps unit? Is it pretty much foolproof after downloading the program?

I also own a palm m500 and want to know which application will work best with this unit (if possible) to start doing some paperless caching?

c) I keep reading about firmware updates, sorry to be so green about these issues, I tried to find info but none could answer how a newbie to go about it, so could someone point me in the right direction on what firmware updates are available (and what this means) for my garmin e-trex legend blue and where I go to get these updates?

 

Thank you so much in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer my 3 questions. I am hoping that once I figure these things out, my interest in the sport will grow even more. Please help a non-technical person enhance the use of thier gps in very basic terms!!!

[+MREAGLEWO1]

easy gps will help u transfer the waypoints from comp to gpsr provided that u have a cable for the gpsr

[+BlueDeuce]

EasyGPS will work just fine. GSAK is easy to use and can do some very fancy things once you are ready for more advanced waypoint management, especially when used with Pocket Queries.

 

Legend upgrade info can be found here: Unit Software

Edited April 3, 2007 by BlueDeuce

[+Miragee]

I have a Palm M500 and have used Cachemate on it without any problems for more than two years now.

 

Soon after finding my first Geocaches, I became a Premium Member for only $3.00 a month. That enabled me to create Pocket Queries.

 

Although EasyGPS works very well, and is easy to use, I use GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) to slice and dice and filter all the waypoints in my cache-rich area.

 

Here is a rudimentary GSAK tutorial in case you decide to make the jump to that program.

[+Renegade Knight]

EasyGPS is the way to go. You click on the waypoint link (or a group). Tell it to open it it loads EasyGPS and you can then upload to your GPS. Simple.

 

GSAK is a much more complex program. It does a lot, it has a steep learning curve. It's not a no muss no fuss solution. This is because it does do a lot of things.

 

When it comes to loading waypoints into your GPS when that's all you want to do, you can't beat EasyGPS.

 

Latter when you are tracking all kinds of waypoints for various reasons and sorting them different ways, then it would be time to consider GSAK.

[+antigocache]

Okay, thanks a lot to those of you who have responded, probably will be the weekend at the earliest before I attempt your suggestions, am anxious to see how this goes! I am still unsure of the whole idea of firmware updates, what exactly takes place with this, and why would I want/need to do it?