Magellan Triton - How to load geocaches and not crash?

[CacheNCarryMA]

I loaded 209 geocaches onto my Triton 400 and disconnected the GPSr from the PC without powering down the unit, which resulted in WSOD. (Can I claim that I coined "WSOD" as a geocaching term?)

 

Does anyone know how to fix this?

 

 

I'm starting to think that Magellan should mint a "Triton Charter Owner" (like gc.com's "Charter Members") geocoin and distribute it to us beta testers.

Edited January 5, 2008 by CacheNCarryMA

[+TheBlueDog]

I did learned from Magellan Tech Support today that if you hold the Select button, ESC button and power all at the same time for 10 sec it'll do a hard reset. It took me three tries to get all three buttons at once.

[CacheNCarryMA]

I learned about the hard reset (from you). Thanks. I did that, but still got the WSOD after the hard reset.

 

I left it powered on by my window so that it will still find sats. Eventually, the regular nav screens come back, but it gets frozen on the satellite display screen. Then, I push some buttons, thinking, "what's going on?!?". The unit takes some time to process whatever it's processing, then it processes my button pushes, and then gets stuck on the satellite display screen.

 

It seems to like getting stuck on the satellite display screen.

 

Maybe for the next firmware update, Magellan could put in "Task Manager" to go along with their three-finger salute. Then I could manually do the memory management that the unit should be doing.

 

[i'm tired of inserting the rolleyes emoticon. Maybe I'll put it in my signature?]

[CacheNCarryMA]

Dear Magellan,

 

I apologize for my original post concerning the WSOD. For the past two hours, I've been working through this issue, and I realize that the unit is not "locked up" or "frozen" as some other lucky Triton owners have claimed. It's just REEEEEEAAAALLLLLLY slow.

 

After a hard reset (hold down select-esc-on/off) the screens eventually come back. And the unit is responding to button clicks. It just takes 15 minutes (yes, I timed it) from the time I click to the time the screen changes.

 

I also realized that the reason the response time degraded so rapidly was that I had loaded approximately two-hundred geocaches onto the GPSr. I don't think two-hundred waypoints is a particular large number. Maybe it is if you consider all the other info -- long descriptions, hints, etc. -- that accompanies a cache's information. There are currently two-hundred caches, that I have yet to find, within ten miles of my house.

 

For future reference, please instruct the folks in your Tech Support department to pass along the following helpful tips to any new Triton owners who might benefit from them (maybe you could even post it on magellan.com or add them to the owner's manual):

 

HARD RESET

If the GPSr does not respond when buttons are pressed, reset the unit by simultaneously pressing and holding the "Select", "ESC", and "Power" buttons.

 

DELETING MANY WAYPOINTS/GEOCACHES FROM YOUR GPSr

- Start the VantagePoint program on a PC and connect the GPS unit.

- Click the "Library" tab.

- Make sure that there are no waypoints, geocaches, tracks/trails, or routes listed. If there are any, remove them by clicking "Delete All".

- Click the "My GPS" tab.

- Click "Synchronize". This will remove all of the waypoints/geocaches from the GPSr

 

Also, it might be helpful if a recommended limit for the number of waypoints/geocaches/trails/routes is posted somewhere on magellan.com and in the owner's manual.

 

I will be careful not to load more than three or four waypoints at a time into my GPSr until a fix is found for the poor response time. I eagerly await the next firmware update that may resolve this issue and I look forward to new features, like a way to "delete all" or "delete multiple" waypoints/geocaches on the GPSr.

 

Signed,

 

Self Supporting Triton Owner

Edited January 5, 2008 by CacheNCarryMA

[+elmuyloco5]

You mentioned that you disconnected the unit while it was still powered on. Have you happened to try downloading the same amount of caches to your unit, then powering down and disconnecting then? Just curious if it would make a difference.

 

Edited to add: keep checking the Magellan site or your Vantage Point software for updates. Some were recently added for the 2000 and the 500 models. I'm sure that the other units should be close behind.

Edited January 5, 2008 by elmuyloco5

[CacheNCarryMA]

You mentioned that you disconnected the unit while it was still powered on. Have you happened to try downloading the same amount of caches to your unit, then powering down and disconnecting then? Just curious if it would make a difference.

 

Edited to add: keep checking the Magellan site or your Vantage Point software for updates. Some were recently added for the 2000 and the 500 models. I'm sure that the other units should be close behind.

 

No luck. I just tried what you suggested. Connected to VantagePoint, sync'ed up 200 geocaches, powered down the GPSr, disconnected USB, and powered up the GPSr ... WSOD.

 

The only way I know to update firmware is through VantagePoint. Is there a way to check on the magellan.com site (other than e-mail alerts to which I already subscribe)?

Edited January 5, 2008 by CacheNCarryMA

[+elmuyloco5]

You mentioned that you disconnected the unit while it was still powered on. Have you happened to try downloading the same amount of caches to your unit, then powering down and disconnecting then? Just curious if it would make a difference.

 

Edited to add: keep checking the Magellan site or your Vantage Point software for updates. Some were recently added for the 2000 and the 500 models. I'm sure that the other units should be close behind.

 

No luck. I just tried what you suggested. Connected to VantagePoint, sync'ed up 200 geocaches, powered down the GPSr, disconnected USB, and powered up the GPSr ... WSOD.

 

The only way I know to update firmware is through VantagePoint. Is there a way to check on the magellan.com site (other than e-mail alerts to which I already subscribe)?

 

Sorry it didn't work. I was hoping that might be the issue.

 

Yeah, you can check for updates for your specific unit on Magellan. Go to Products, then GPS units, then the model you have, then Product Support. This will pull up a page that has FAQs and such on it. Towards the bottom there is a section that says Updates. If your unit has any, it will tell you that there is. The one for the 2000 and 500 both say that updates are available for the units and must be downloaded through Vantage Point. I don't know if anything will ever be downloadable through the internet, but it's a place to watch for them anyway incase VP doesn't notify you.

[+Krankher]

If I remember correctly, on the product page with all of the Tritons, there is a listing for each model that has multiple tabs on it. One of these tabs is support and at the bottom of the page is update status. My 300 is showing no updates available.

[+Sarge104]

Being a new 1500 owner I was a bit dissipointed to find that the vantage point software couldn't even be installed unless it was connected to the internet. Connected to the net using my mothers computer and found that it wouldn't even boot up without going into the "We need to send this error info to microsoft" mode. I guess I'll just have to wait until I get back off of leave to have some fun with my new gps.

 

***Off Topic***Went on the tritons forums to find out if the SD card bugs and the screen cal bugs were universal, they were. Still don't like the fact that you cannot have a rechargeable battery in there and use the cable to charge it. A few other little odds and ends keep bugging me but hopefully they get taken care off when the patch comes.

[+filk]

Being a new 1500 owner I was a bit dissipointed to find that the vantage point software couldn't even be installed unless it was connected to the internet. Connected to the net using my mothers computer and found that it wouldn't even boot up without going into the "We need to send this error info to microsoft" mode. I guess I'll just have to wait until I get back off of leave to have some fun with my new gps.

 

It seems with less geocache waypoints, the responsiveness picks up. It looks like it just has trouble calculating the distances with that many points. I went from 190 to 100 and the speed was better. Still not acceptable, but better. I wonder what the optimal is? If the geocaches could be loaded as multiple files that would be better.

 

I'm off to return my Triton 300 for the Explorist 210. While I lose colour and a bit better geocache listings, at least it is more responsive.