+Bad_Jason Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Hello, new to this geocaching thing. I am looking into purchasing a handheld GPS device and was wondering which ones (if any) are supported under the Mac OS X platform. I have a new Garmin Nuvi 660 that I use in my car and it supports OS X. Are there any Garmin handhelds that will do the same? Thank ya - Thank ya! Regards, Jason Quote Link to comment
+T F T C Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Hello, new to this geocaching thing. I am looking into purchasing a handheld GPS device and was wondering which ones (if any) are supported under the Mac OS X platform. I have a new Garmin Nuvi 660 that I use in my car and it supports OS X. Are there any Garmin handhelds that will do the same? Thank ya - Thank ya! Regards, Jason I use a Magellan eXplorist 500 LE with GeoJournal (www.geojournal.net). Quote Link to comment
+Bad_Jason Posted October 2, 2007 Author Share Posted October 2, 2007 I use a Magellan eXplorist 500 LE with GeoJournal (www.geojournal.net). Excellent! Thanks man. Quote Link to comment
+TeamBarstool Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 I have good luck with the following: IMac G5 1.8 GHz OSX 10.4.10 Garmin GPSmap 60cx Palm zire 21 GPSBabel MacCMConvert cachemate LoadMyTracks TOPO! Quote Link to comment
gallet Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Don't know anything personally about the explorist but I've seen a lot of bad stuff about it, not the least of which was their customer support. Some reckon it's good though. Me, I'm really pleased with the VistaHCx, can't use mapsource yet but at least Garmin have released their communicator for mac which means I can download or upload tracks from google maps and drag and drop into google earth, which had my jaw dropping on the ground. Quote Link to comment
+dropthehammer Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Don't know anything personally about the explorist but I've seen a lot of bad stuff about it, not the least of which was their customer support. Some reckon it's good though. Me, I'm really pleased with the VistaHCx, can't use mapsource yet but at least Garmin have released their communicator for mac which means I can download or upload tracks from google maps and drag and drop into google earth, which had my jaw dropping on the ground. Where i can i get the communicator for MAC. Quick search landed me here. The text on the page just says "Mac support coming soon." Quote Link to comment
+upon3 Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 I just recently started playing with this stuff, and I'm 100% Mac-based. After trying a few different program interfaces, I settled on Mac SimpleGPS. It lacks some things that a couple of other programs I tried to use have, but it's stable and communicates very well with my Garmin eTrex Legend. I had been setting up MacCaching, and I really like the controls and interface, but it refused to see my Garmin. I got tired of screwing with it to continue to use it, so I looked for other options. Be aware that whatever GPS you buy, make sure it has USB cables and connection capability. I didn't do that before I bought my Legend, and found out later that the cable included is a Serial cable (for older PCs), and needed a $30 adapter cable with a Mac plug-in to connect to the computer. Depending on what OS you're using, the cable and plug-in compatibility could potentially be an issue. After the fact, it appears that newer and higher end GPS handhelds come with USB cords. Quote Link to comment
+Bad_Jason Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 Very good to know Teambarstool. Thanks for posting. Upon 3, I can't get MacSimple to recognize my Garmin. What preference settings are you using? Quote Link to comment
gallet Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 (edited) Where i can i get the communicator for MAC. Quick search landed me here. The text on the page just says "Mac support coming soon." Garmin are so hopeless the way they make it impossible to find stuff you know exists. http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3739 Here's the test page http://developer.garmin.com/web/communicat...ontrolDemo.html http://www.takitwithme.com/ Edited October 4, 2007 by gallet Quote Link to comment
+upon3 Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Upon 3, I can't get MacSimple to recognize my Garmin. What preference settings are you using? It didn't work for me until I gave it a baud setting. Then it worked perfectly. Type: Garmin Port: usbserial Speed: 4800 I haven't tried other speeds or baud rates, but it works flawlessly and fast, so no real need to screw with it anymore. doug Quote Link to comment
+wookie-athos Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 I've been using MacGPS Pro for years. It supports many GPS models, and I've used it for a long time with serial-port Garmins via generic USB/serial cables. Up/downloading waypoints and tracklogs is what I usually use it for, but it does a lot more besides. Quote Link to comment
+RRLover Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 I've been using MacGPS Pro for years. It supports many GPS models, and I've used it for a long time with serial-port Garmins via generic USB/serial cables. Up/downloading waypoints and tracklogs is what I usually use it for, but it does a lot more besides. congratulations on breaking 3+ years of silence, welcome aboard! Norm Quote Link to comment
+wookie-athos Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 congratulations on breaking 3+ years of silence, welcome aboard! So much to do, so little time... I looked around this forum in 2004 last time I was shopping for a GPS and picked up lots of good information. But in general my GPS stuff "Just Works" and I had forgotten about it until a conversation elsewhere pointed me over here and my browser said it knew the username/password! Quote Link to comment
+upon3 Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 I've been using MacGPS Pro for years. It supports many GPS models, and I've used it for a long time with serial-port Garmins via generic USB/serial cables. Up/downloading waypoints and tracklogs is what I usually use it for, but it does a lot more besides. $50 and no demo is unfortunate. There are lots of free/shareware solutions out there for Macs that work just fine for uploading and downloading waypoints, too. It may be a fantastic program, but I'm not dropping $50 just to see if it works. Quote Link to comment
+T F T C Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 (edited) GeoJournal is a great app and a demo is available, but it's not free. I have a web page that outlines free alternatives that work well between my Mac and my eXplorist. chimbisimo.googlepages.com EDIT: I should expound on why GeoJournal is nice. It's not just a "file converter/mover" but also a journal and planner for your geocache outings. EDIT x2: I should also point out that I'm not saying that the eXplorist is the best unit to use with Macs. But it works in my case, and I happen to like my eXplorist. Would I buy another one? Undecided. Edited October 6, 2007 by chimbisimo Quote Link to comment
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