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Colorado's Found / Not Found


shacker

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The latest firmware update looked like it had finally made geocaching support solid enough, so went for it and got a 400t the other day. Downloaded PQs for local caches, dropped them in Garmin/GPX, and .... all appeared as "Not Found."

 

I can mark ones I've found as Found and this works fine, but would really like to automate this. Tried doing two separate PQs: One for found and another for not found, but no dice. The Colorado just doesn't seem to know what a found cache symbol means.

 

I'd like to think this will be solved in a future firmware update, but am wondering whether this has something to do with the storage mode. I can't talk to the unit with GPSBabel; the only way is through the Finder. I don't mind that, but wonder if the Garmin's inability to recognize a found cache is due to a firmware bug or to its storage method (i.e. does the fact that it can only be communicated with through the file manager affect its ability to recognize found caches?)

 

Thanks,

Scot

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I haven't tried, but someone said that it will list all cahces, that are listed in the file that summarizes your activities, as found.

To me, it seems that the best thing is to not include found caches in your PQ, as they will then be listed as found as long as you have your log file in the Colorado, and the next time you install a new PQ, assuming you have logged on the net by then, they'll not be included.

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I don't really see the use of having found caches on the GPS. If you really want to do this, might I suggest you put your found caches on via the poiloader (using the GSAK macro to generate your found cache POIs). I think that would do you nicely. They would have different icons that the regular caches, and they wouldn't mess with the 2000 cache limit.

 

--Marky

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To me, it seems that the best thing is to not include found caches in your PQ, as they will then be listed as found as long as you have your log file in the Colorado, and the next time you install a new PQ, assuming you have logged on the net by then, they'll not be included.

 

Yep, that does seem to be the best way to do things, and yes, that works fine.

 

With my Vista Cx, I could more or less treat the GPSr as "in sync" with geocaching.com and think of them as mirroring each other. I kind of like having all my found caches listed in the GPSr, at least in my local area. You can still do that with the Colorado, but only if you're willing to manually mark everything you've ever found as found again (and either trust your memory on that or pull up all of your old logs on the site to confirm).

 

The plus side is that by excluding found caches from your PQs, you use less space on the unit. Ah well, I'll operate this way unless Garmin changes this behavior in the future.

 

Do you think GPSBabel and other tools will ever be able to communicate with the Colorado, or does this disk storage mode way of operating mean that it's fundamentally a different type of beast?

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I don't really see the use of having found caches on the GPS. If you really want to do this, might I suggest you put your found caches on via the poiloader (using the GSAK macro to generate your found cache POIs). I think that would do you nicely. They would have different icons that the regular caches, and they wouldn't mess with the 2000 cache limit.

 

--Marky

 

Marky - Interesting idea. If I try that method, will the POIs show up in the Found Caches list on the Colorado?

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To me, it seems that the best thing is to not include found caches in your PQ, as they will then be listed as found as long as you have your log file in the Colorado, and the next time you install a new PQ, assuming you have logged on the net by then, they'll not be included.

 

Yep, that does seem to be the best way to do things, and yes, that works fine.

 

With my Vista Cx, I could more or less treat the GPSr as "in sync" with geocaching.com and think of them as mirroring each other. I kind of like having all my found caches listed in the GPSr, at least in my local area. You can still do that with the Colorado, but only if you're willing to manually mark everything you've ever found as found again (and either trust your memory on that or pull up all of your old logs on the site to confirm).

 

The plus side is that by excluding found caches from your PQs, you use less space on the unit. Ah well, I'll operate this way unless Garmin changes this behavior in the future.

 

Do you think GPSBabel and other tools will ever be able to communicate with the Colorado, or does this disk storage mode way of operating mean that it's fundamentally a different type of beast?

 

One of the hardest things to do in geocaching is to sort out and get the best use out of all these different tools. I still have some mental hurdles to overcome and I've been caching for nearly three years.

 

I would suggest that you use GSAK to keep track, or as you say "mirror" the geocaching.com site. This is most easily done by requesting a weekly PQ of your FOUND caches and loading that into GSAK. Then, create other PQs for other places of interest (mine are Waco, Dallas, and Upper Michigan) for the unfound caches that you wish to keep tabs on. A lot of my unfound caches are ones I will never find, but I still want them in the database.

 

If you've done this correctly, you can delete all waypoints from your database and repopulate the database with these fresh pocket queries. This gives you accurate and current information. At that point, you can do exactly the same with any GPS you are using, delete all information and repopulate with information that you need to have on hand. If you want past find information, just load that info into your PDA and have that with you as well. Similar to having a library with distinct books on different subjects.

 

It might also be wise to have your owned caches in your Colorado since those will most likely not take up much space. It would be nice to see how other cachers view your caches on the Colorado.

 

As for the found geocache icon on your Colorado. Its an interesting thought, but is that practicle? (Don't take this wrong.) I'd like a scantilly clad, 22 y.o. brunette who sits in my passenger's seat and keeps track of my gas mileage, fuel level, maintenance schedule, and the nearest place to get a killer margarita ... but that's not too practicle.) I would RATHER see Garmin techies spending their time on more important issues and getting the Colorado that much more usable. I can live without open treasure chests or viewing all found caches for some time. I would rather have my calendar back, but this too may be an old way of looking at things with my GPS can simply tell me what caches I found and therefore need to log online. - Pat

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Marky - Interesting idea. If I try that method, will the POIs show up in the Found Caches list on the Colorado?

The custom POIs would be found under Where To?/Custom POIs. If you click on Options you can search by "Select Database". I create several custom POI databases with individual icons for each, one of them being my Found caches, and I have a custom icon of a treasure chest w/check mark.

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I don't really see the use of having found caches on the GPS. If you really want to do this, might I suggest you put your found caches on via the poiloader (using the GSAK macro to generate your found cache POIs). I think that would do you nicely. They would have different icons that the regular caches, and they wouldn't mess with the 2000 cache limit.

 

--Marky

 

Marky - Interesting idea. If I try that method, will the POIs show up in the Found Caches list on the Colorado?

No, but they will show up in the custom POI list as what ever you name then (i.e. Found Caches)

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I don't really see the use of having found caches on the GPS. If you really want to do this, might I suggest you put your found caches on via the poiloader (using the GSAK macro to generate your found cache POIs). I think that would do you nicely. They would have different icons that the regular caches, and they wouldn't mess with the 2000 cache limit.

 

--Marky

 

Marky - Interesting idea. If I try that method, will the POIs show up in the Found Caches list on the Colorado?

No, but they will show up in the custom POI list as what ever you name then (i.e. Found Caches)

I do the same, found caches loaded as POIs, with the smiley icon.

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The main reason the Colorado has the whole found caches thing is for the fieldnotes tool on GC. Once you upload your field notes and add your comments, the logs are added to the appropriate caches and GC marks them as found by you. Once you do another pocket query those caches are no longer in the GPX file -- just upload the new GPX file to your Colorado and go. Assuming you are using the 500 cache limit with no mileage restriction, the new pocket query would pull in additional caches to replace the ones you found.

 

I really don't see a problem with the way it works, unless you have alot of DNF's and mark them with the Colorado. Then they are removed from the haven't found list and won't show back up until you do the field notes and generate another pocket query.

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Marky's suggestion is exactly what I would recommend: If you want to keep all your Found caches loaded and with you, I'd push them as POIs. You can absolutely govern how they appear (which icon, etc) - but what you CAN'T do, today, is set a unique zoom level for 'custom POIs' vs. geocaches (both are controlled by the "User Waypoints" zoom level). So - while I considered loading all found/hidden caches as POIs - like Marky, I didn't want the screen clutter, and while it may be a nice concept - I (personally) have had fairly limited use for such information.

 

Just some thoughts...

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I'm curious, when would you use this info? I could understand having POIs of my hidden caches, but I'm not sure why I would need found caches on my GPS. (Not to mention it making my screen look too busy.)

 

--Marky

If I see a new cache in the area of where I found a cache ... if I can remember the old cache ( I have a pretty good memory ) it helps me with terrain, where to park, etc..

 

But yeah, there is clutter, but I can live with it.

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Honestly, now that I think about it more, I realize I don't need to have found caches listed - I'm just used to it because that's the way things worked with the Vista by default. When I switched to the Colorado this seemed like missing functionality - something that worked before but no longer did. I do think the CO should be smart enough to mark a found cache as found (that's pretty basic), but I'm realizing after reading this thread that it isn't really something I need - just something I'm accustomed to.

 

The only time I really need to have found caches is when I'm taking kids or visitors to caches I've been to in the past, but that should be easy to solve with POIs.

 

The "GSAK (or, presumably, MacCaching) site mirror" technique sounds really interesting. I'll try out that workflow.

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The "GSAK (or, presumably, MacCaching) site mirror" technique sounds really interesting. I'll try out that workflow.

If you're a Mac cacher, I know that gpsbabel can write directly to the POI format, so that is something you might want to look into as well (assuming you are comfortable playing with the command line).

 

edit: spelling

Edited by Marky
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The "GSAK (or, presumably, MacCaching) site mirror" technique sounds really interesting. I'll try out that workflow.

I've you're a Mac cacher, I know that gpsbabel can write directly to the POI format, so that is something you might want to look into as well (assuming you are comfortable playing with the command line).

 

Absolutely - I'm the author of gpx2ipod :laughing: I'll give it a shot.

 

Thanks again for the tips, all.

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