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Magellan Explorist 500 Won't work with Windows Vista


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I have been using the Magellan Explorist 500 with Geocache Manager for a year now, and have been able to easily download waypoints and everything from last date found to the hint, with just a couple clicks of a button.

 

I just got a new computer with Windows Vista, and there are no drivers for the Magellan that work with Vista yet. There is supposed to be one in the future, but now I have to enter the waypoints in manualy.

 

I tried to take out the SD card and send the waypoints from Geocache Manager directly to the SD card, but when I put the SD card back in the unit, the GPSr won't read them.

 

Does anyone know of a program that I can use to download the GPX Exchange files directly to the SD card so it can be read by the Magellan?

 

(I also have no drivers for my Palm Pilot, so I can't even use it to download the info anymore. My printer and Scanner won't work with Vista either, and neither will older versions of MS Office. Good ol Microsoft strikes again. :) )

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Huh. I never notice that GM insisted on talking directly with the GPS if it was going to issue a .gs file.

 

GSAK would be my recommendation. It's nagware; if you are reluctant to pay the registration fee you can use the free GPSBabel. GPSBabel is command line-driven, so I would suggest downloading one the GUIs for it if you go that route.

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I have been using the Magellan Explorist 500 with Geocache Manager for a year now, and have been able to easily download waypoints and everything from last date found to the hint, with just a couple clicks of a button.

 

I just got a new computer with Windows Vista, and there are no drivers for the Magellan that work with Vista yet. There is supposed to be one in the future, but now I have to enter the waypoints in manualy.

 

I tried to take out the SD card and send the waypoints from Geocache Manager directly to the SD card, but when I put the SD card back in the unit, the GPSr won't read them.

 

Does anyone know of a program that I can use to download the GPX Exchange files directly to the SD card so it can be read by the Magellan?

 

(I also have no drivers for my Palm Pilot, so I can't even use it to download the info anymore. My printer and Scanner won't work with Vista either, and neither will older versions of MS Office. Good ol Microsoft strikes again. :anitongue: )

 

 

Yes I know no drivers yet. My laptop to go paperless is Vista. Used to do all from my XP Pro desktop. But the GSAK is the answer. I have been able to send files from GSAK on my Vista laptop to my SD card and my 400 reads them ( I have a card reader built in to laptop). But for now, because the time involved in removing the SD card. I load from the desktop. I just was told last week by Magellan, that Vista drivers are "comming soon". I expect that means about the end of the year with my luck.

 

 

Quick edit:

 

Tried something I had not tried before. Hooked the 400 up to a USB port on the laptop. Used the file sharing on the "in home network" to send from Magellan Geocaching Manager to 400 hooked up on Vista laptop. It worked and booted up the gs files on the 400. Step 1 to bypass the slow comming of Vista drivers from Magellan

Edited by teymay02
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teymay02-

 

You should be able to send the caches files to your 500 with the card installed in the GPS using GSAK. I'm in the same boat as you using Vista. I can't use Geocache Manager but I send the files to my 600 using GSAK just fine. No need to remove the card.

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teymay02-

 

You should be able to send the caches files to your 500 with the card installed in the GPS using GSAK. I'm in the same boat as you using Vista. I can't use Geocache Manager but I send the files to my 600 using GSAK just fine. No need to remove the card.

 

Thanks, I tried that, but the computer does not recognize that the GPS is connected to the USB port, so I can't download anything to it, or even see what is on the SD card.

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Huh. I never notice that GM insisted on talking directly with the GPS if it was going to issue a .gs file.

 

GSAK would be my recommendation. It's nagware; if you are reluctant to pay the registration fee you can use the free GPSBabel. GPSBabel is command line-driven, so I would suggest downloading one the GUIs for it if you go that route.

Link to comment

Huh. I never notice that GM insisted on talking directly with the GPS if it was going to issue a .gs file.

 

GSAK would be my recommendation. It's nagware; if you are reluctant to pay the registration fee you can use the free GPSBabel. GPSBabel is command line-driven, so I would suggest downloading one the GUIs for it if you go that route.

Thanks, Embra. I downloaded GSAK yesterday and have been trying to figure out how to use it. I was able to download waypoints and other info easily, but haven't tried to transfer it to the Magellan yet. I think I will still have to transfer it to the SD card for now, but so far I like GSAK much better than GM.

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I have been using the Magellan Explorist 500 with Geocache Manager for a year now, and have been able to easily download waypoints and everything from last date found to the hint, with just a couple clicks of a button.

 

I just got a new computer with Windows Vista, and there are no drivers for the Magellan that work with Vista yet. There is supposed to be one in the future, but now I have to enter the waypoints in manualy.

 

I tried to take out the SD card and send the waypoints from Geocache Manager directly to the SD card, but when I put the SD card back in the unit, the GPSr won't read them.

 

Does anyone know of a program that I can use to download the GPX Exchange files directly to the SD card so it can be read by the Magellan?

 

(I also have no drivers for my Palm Pilot, so I can't even use it to download the info anymore. My printer and Scanner won't work with Vista either, and neither will older versions of MS Office. Good ol Microsoft strikes again. :o )

 

 

Yes I know no drivers yet. My laptop to go paperless is Vista. Used to do all from my XP Pro desktop. But the GSAK is the answer. I have been able to send files from GSAK on my Vista laptop to my SD card and my 400 reads them ( I have a card reader built in to laptop). But for now, because the time involved in removing the SD card. I load from the desktop. I just was told last week by Magellan, that Vista drivers are "comming soon". I expect that means about the end of the year with my luck.

 

 

Quick edit:

 

Tried something I had not tried before. Hooked the 400 up to a USB port on the laptop. Used the file sharing on the "in home network" to send from Magellan Geocaching Manager to 400 hooked up on Vista laptop. It worked and booted up the gs files on the 400. Step 1 to bypass the slow comming of Vista drivers from Magellan

Link to comment
I have been using the Magellan Explorist 500 with Geocache Manager for a year now, and have been able to easily download waypoints and everything from last date found to the hint, with just a couple clicks of a button.

 

I just got a new computer with Windows Vista, and there are no drivers for the Magellan that work with Vista yet. There is supposed to be one in the future, but now I have to enter the waypoints in manualy.

 

I tried to take out the SD card and send the waypoints from Geocache Manager directly to the SD card, but when I put the SD card back in the unit, the GPSr won't read them.

 

Does anyone know of a program that I can use to download the GPX Exchange files directly to the SD card so it can be read by the Magellan?

 

(I also have no drivers for my Palm Pilot, so I can't even use it to download the info anymore. My printer and Scanner won't work with Vista either, and neither will older versions of MS Office. Good ol Microsoft strikes again. :o )

 

 

Yes I know no drivers yet. My laptop to go paperless is Vista. Used to do all from my XP Pro desktop. But the GSAK is the answer. I have been able to send files from GSAK on my Vista laptop to my SD card and my 400 reads them ( I have a card reader built in to laptop). But for now, because the time involved in removing the SD card. I load from the desktop. I just was told last week by Magellan, that Vista drivers are "comming soon". I expect that means about the end of the year with my luck.

 

 

Quick edit:

 

Tried something I had not tried before. Hooked the 400 up to a USB port on the laptop. Used the file sharing on the "in home network" to send from Magellan Geocaching Manager to 400 hooked up on Vista laptop. It worked and booted up the gs files on the 400. Step 1 to bypass the slow comming of Vista drivers from Magellan

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I purchased a Explorist 500 a couple months ago and have had not problems connecting, transferring data with vista. I have had no problem using the data cable or with just the SD card reader.

Wow, I wish I could say that. I tried to install the drivers from the CD that came with my Magellan, and I get a message that the drivers were not properly installed. When I connect the Magellan to the USB port and go to "My computer," the computer does not show that is connected at all. I've tried to download it to the SD card, and can see what I have downloaded when I go to the SD card file, but when I go to the SD card when it's back in the Magellan, I can't access the caches that I have downloaded.

 

I'm ready to either get rid of thi computer and go back to my old one, or gotta-geta Garmin.

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I purchased a Explorist 500 a couple months ago and have had not problems connecting, transferring data with vista. I have had no problem using the data cable or with just the SD card reader.

Wow, I wish I could say that. I tried to install the drivers from the CD that came with my Magellan, and I get a message that the drivers were not properly installed. When I connect the Magellan to the USB port and go to "My computer," the computer does not show that is connected at all. I've tried to download it to the SD card, and can see what I have downloaded when I go to the SD card file, but when I go to the SD card when it's back in the Magellan, I can't access the caches that I have downloaded.

 

I'm ready to either get rid of thi computer and go back to my old one, or gotta-geta Garmin.

 

When you put the caches on the card are you putting them into the geocache folder AND do they end in ".gs" You will not see them unless the file ends in gs. If you use GSAK then you will be able to convert them and manually add the to your card. You will see them.

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I have a new laptop with Vista, and it works well with my eXplorist 500. I did not install any drivers.

 

I connect to a USB port, set the eXplorist to file transfer (choosing internal or SD memory), and up pops Explorer showing the folder structure. I just copy files such as tracks to the computer and copy files such as geocache.gs files to the GPSr. I use GSAK to create the geocache.gs files.

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Would the GSAK program convert the .geo files that the Geocache Manager program saved for all my geocaches? I didn't look into this before getting the new laptop and now having issues after I installed Geocache Manager and spent time updating all my caches. Thanks!

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Would the GSAK program convert the .geo files that the Geocache Manager program saved for all my geocaches? I didn't look into this before getting the new laptop and now having issues after I installed Geocache Manager and spent time updating all my caches. Thanks!

GSAK will not do this.

I never used Geocache Manager. See if you can export from it in another format.

 

Magellan offers the free program Vantage Point that works well for eXplorists, and works in Windows Vista.

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Would the GSAK program convert the .geo files that the Geocache Manager program saved for all my geocaches? I didn't look into this before getting the new laptop and now having issues after I installed Geocache Manager and spent time updating all my caches. Thanks!

GSAK will not do this.

I never used Geocache Manager. See if you can export from it in another format.

 

Magellan offers the free program Vantage Point that works well for eXplorists, and works in Windows Vista.

 

Tried Vantage Point and currently have it installed on my Vista laptop, but it doesn't import the .geo files that their old program created. I was hoping that it would just import that file but it only would allow me to import .gpx or .loc files.

Unfortunately there is no other option to save the files as on the Geocahe Manager program.

 

Magellan support has also been non-existent when I sent them an email on this issue. I greatly appreciate your help and ideas!

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Just curious why you want to convert old gs cache data. Geocache manager is just a one way send to the gps. The gps never edited the data in the .gs file, and geocache manger doesn't receive data from the gps. The program always needed a source .gpx or .loc to begin with.

 

1. You will need a explorist connected to a XP computer to convert .geo to .gs file.

 

2. Then use gps babel to convert to gpx.

 

How many waypoints do you need to convert?

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