Garmin Nuvi Favorites

[knowschad]

First, let me say that I've been caching for 3 years... and yes, I do have a real geocaching GPSr (more than one, actually). But I recently bought a Nuvi 200 for use in the car. I LOVE it for that purpose. Tonight,

I was trying to figure out how to add waypoints to it. I copied a .gpx file to the garmin\gpx folder and the new waypoints showed up gloriously! But now I can't seem to get rid of them! I've deleted the current.gpx, I've loaded current.gpx into GSAK and deleted all but the HOME waypoint, saved that, and copied it over... all to no avail.

 

Every time I start it back up, it somehow is repopulating current.gpx with the data that I had earlier installed. Anyone know where that data is stored?

 

(by the way, I have since learned that POI's are the way to go. But I'd still like to clear out the junk)

[SergZak]

The easiest way to clear out the junk you want cleared out is to reset the unit...or erase the user data. Do this by pressing and holding the bottom right corner of the screen while powering up the unit. Hold the corner of the screen until the message window "Do you really want to erase all user data?" pops up and proceed with your choice. Note that this will clear all user waypoints but at the same time, will reset the unit to an "out of box" state where you'll need to let it re-initialize. You'll also need to re-enter all of your user settings.

 

I'm afraid that there's really no other way (at least that I know of) to do a bulk waypoint deletion on the nuvi. The nuvi 750 has a way to do it easily within the menu system ("My Data" lets you -really- delete all waypoints from the unit). Simply deleting the current.gpx file from the nuvi itself does NOT delete the waypoints from the unit. A backup copy is stored in the non-user accessible memory area and is copied back to current.gpx if the file is deleted. To delete waypoints from the nuvi 200 itself, you'd need to delete each one, one at a time (time consuming to say the least). This is the reason why I mentioned the "erase user data" method.

 

I've also recently purchased a nuvi 200 (and a nuvi 750) and found that I actually like the 200 better than my nuvi 350...the screen is much better/brighter and the reception is even better (at least in my testing) than the 350's. For ~$200, the nuvi 200 is a fantastic unit.

Edited March 18, 2008 by SergZak

[knowschad]

The easiest way to clear out the junk you want cleared out is to reset the unit...or erase the user data. Do this by pressing and holding the bottom right corner of the screen while powering up the unit. Hold the corner of the screen until the message window "Do you really want to erase all user data?" pops up and proceed with your choice. Note that this will clear all user waypoints but at the same time, will reset the unit to an "out of box" state where you'll need to let it re-initialize. You'll also need to re-enter all of your user settings.

 

I've also recently purchased a nuvi 200 (and a nuvi 750) and found that I actually like the 200 better than my nuvi 350...the screen is much better and the reception is even better than the 350's. For ~$200, the nuvi 200 is simply awesome.

 

I'd prefer to not reset to factory defaults, although at this point, that probably wouldn't matter. But more importantly, I'm trying to understand how this works, and not simply to get a clean slate. That said, thanks... I did not know how to do a system reset before.

 

I dished out the few extra bucks for the 200W (wide screen). But I love the unit. Its the first dashboard GPS I've had any experience with, but I'm finding it to be a perfect companion to a handheld GPS for caching. I'd love to get to the point where I can write a GSAK macro that will dump parking waypoints only from a pocket query to the NUVI.

[+RRLover]

The easiest way to clear out the junk you want cleared out is to reset the unit...or erase the user data. Do this by pressing and holding the bottom right corner of the screen while powering up the unit. Hold the corner of the screen until the message window "Do you really want to erase all user data?" pops up and proceed with your choice. Note that this will clear all user waypoints but at the same time, will reset the unit to an "out of box" state where you'll need to let it re-initialize. You'll also need to re-enter all of your user settings.

 

I've also recently purchased a nuvi 200 (and a nuvi 750) and found that I actually like the 200 better than my nuvi 350...the screen is much better and the reception is even better than the 350's. For ~$200, the nuvi 200 is simply awesome.

 

I'd prefer to not reset to factory defaults, although at this point, that probably wouldn't matter. But more importantly, I'm trying to understand how this works, and not simply to get a clean slate. That said, thanks... I did not know how to do a system reset before.

 

I dished out the few extra bucks for the 200W (wide screen). But I love the unit. Its the first dashboard GPS I've had any experience with, but I'm finding it to be a perfect companion to a handheld GPS for caching. I'd love to get to the point where I can write a GSAK macro that will dump parking waypoints only from a pocket query to the NUVI.

After deleting things, empty the trash before moving from card to internal, or disconnecting, or

anywhere else. On Macs (anyway) the trash file is on whatever storage medium the file was,

Garmin doesn't play well w/ certain functions.

 

Norm

[knowschad]

The easiest way to clear out the junk you want cleared out is to reset the unit...or erase the user data. Do this by pressing and holding the bottom right corner of the screen while powering up the unit. Hold the corner of the screen until the message window "Do you really want to erase all user data?" pops up and proceed with your choice. Note that this will clear all user waypoints but at the same time, will reset the unit to an "out of box" state where you'll need to let it re-initialize. You'll also need to re-enter all of your user settings.

 

I've also recently purchased a nuvi 200 (and a nuvi 750) and found that I actually like the 200 better than my nuvi 350...the screen is much better and the reception is even better than the 350's. For ~$200, the nuvi 200 is simply awesome.

 

I'd prefer to not reset to factory defaults, although at this point, that probably wouldn't matter. But more importantly, I'm trying to understand how this works, and not simply to get a clean slate. That said, thanks... I did not know how to do a system reset before.

 

I dished out the few extra bucks for the 200W (wide screen). But I love the unit. Its the first dashboard GPS I've had any experience with, but I'm finding it to be a perfect companion to a handheld GPS for caching. I'd love to get to the point where I can write a GSAK macro that will dump parking waypoints only from a pocket query to the NUVI.

After deleting things, empty the trash before moving from card to internal, or disconnecting, or

anywhere else. On Macs (anyway) the trash file is on whatever storage medium the file was,

Garmin doesn't play well w/ certain functions.

 

Norm

 

Thanks, Norm. Makes sense, sort-of, but I don't see any way to empty any trash on the unit. Using Windows here, if that matters.

[SergZak]

I edited my post above...you may want to read the second paragraph I added.

 

I did an experiment just now on my 750...I deleted current.gpx. Using MapSource, I created one waypoint and sent it to the nuvi. All previous waypoints were still on the unit and the single one that I send was added onto those.

 

I'm assuming Garmin is doing the waypoints this way because in previous units (I'm not sure which), I remember that sending a single waypoint to the unit would result in all waypoints being deleted and only the new waypoint being sent. In order to keep all your previous waypoints and add the new, you would have to add the new waypoint to the existing list within MapSource and then send all of them to the unit.

 

Garmin should add a "delete all waypoints" option to *all* of the nuvi line. They just might but then they'd have to create a new nuvi model (currently 32 different nuvis) for this added feature.

Edited March 18, 2008 by SergZak

[SergZak]

 

After deleting things, empty the trash before moving from card to internal, or disconnecting, or

anywhere else. On Macs (anyway) the trash file is on whatever storage medium the file was,

Garmin doesn't play well w/ certain functions.

 

Norm

 

This does not work on Windows. You can fully delete the file "current.gpx" (not just put it in the recycle bin) on the nuvi and it will be regenerated from it's backup in non-user accessible memory on the nuvi.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

The only way on the nuvi 200 to get rid of all your Favorites is to do a hard reset.

 

For that reason, among others, you might want to explore loading your Pocket Queries as Custom POIs using Garmin's POI Loader software.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Motorcycle_Mama

[SergZak]

Another test...

 

Using the 750's built in "My Data" feature to delete all waypoints from the unit in one shot, I verified that the waypoints were in fact no longer on the unit. Then I checked the x:/Garmin/GPX folder and found current.gpx with a file size of 189k. The file was there but the waypoints were not on the 750's favorites list.

 

This is what makes me believe that the waypoints are indeed stored in a non-user accessible area of memory in the unit.

 

If anyone has a way to actually delete waypoints on the nuvi line by simply deleting a file on the unit, I'd sure like to hear about it.

Edited March 18, 2008 by SergZak

[knowschad]

I edited my post above...you may want to read the second paragraph I added.

 

I did an experiment just now on my 750...I deleted current.gpx. Using MapSource, I created one waypoint and sent it to the nuvi. All previous waypoints were still on the unit and the single one that I send was added onto those.

 

I'm assuming Garmin is doing the waypoints this way because in previous units (I'm not sure which), I remember that sending a single waypoint to the unit would result in all waypoints being deleted and only the new waypoint being sent. In order to keep all your previous waypoints and add the new, you would have to add the new waypoint to the existing list within MapSource and then send all of them to the unit.

 

Garmin should add a "delete all waypoints" option to *all* of the nuvi line. They just might but then they'd have to create a new nuvi model (currently 32 different nuvis) for this added feature.

 

Yup. Sounds like you're seeing exactly what I'm seeing. Its like "my.gpx" is "absorbed" into "current.gpx" (deleting "my.gpx" upon completion), but there's more than that. The full "current.gpx" must then be stored somewhere else and restored on every restart. Very odd. I wish I had a good file/folder comparison utility here at home... might be very obvious with something like that.

[SergZak]

The full "current.gpx" must then be stored somewhere else and restored on every restart. Very odd. I wish I had a good file/folder comparison utility here at home... might be very obvious with something like that.

 

I agree that it's odd, but I'm pretty sure Garmin did this for the reason that I mentioned in another post above. Users were wanting to send a single waypoint to their GPS using MapSource. With the previous way Garmin did waypoint transfers using MapSource, sending a single waypoint deleted all others on the unit unless the waypoint was added to the existing list within MapSource and set to the GPS in one shot.

 

Imagine being new to GPS, and having a bunch of waypoints you've saved on your unit out in the field. You proceed to use MapSource to send one or two new waypoints to the unit. After the transfer, you discover that all your previous waypoints are now gone, except for the ones you just transferred...and on top of that, you don't have a backup.

Edited March 18, 2008 by SergZak

[knowschad]

The full "current.gpx" must then be stored somewhere else and restored on every restart. Very odd. I wish I had a good file/folder comparison utility here at home... might be very obvious with something like that.

 

I agree that it's odd, but I'm pretty sure Garmin did this for the reason that I mentioned in another post above. Users were wanting to send a single waypoint to their GPS using MapSource. With the previous way Garmin did waypoint transfers using MapSource, sending a single waypoint deleted all others on the unit unless the waypoint was added to the existing list within MapSource and set to the GPS in one shot.

 

Imagine being new to GPS, and having a bunch of waypoints you've saved on your unit out in the field. You proceed to use MapSource to send one or two new waypoints to the unit. After the transfer, you discover that all your previous waypoints are now gone, except for the ones you just transferred...and on top of that, you don't have a backup.

 

What you say does make total sense, Serg; in context. And I can delete those Favorites waypoints one by one from the unit's interface itself, but that's obviously a very slow process when you have dozens or more of waypoints to delete. There has to be a secondary file that the data is loaded into that is later used to repopulate the current.gpx file. That is what I'm trying to locate!

[+RRLover]

Thanks, Norm. Makes sense, sort-of, but I don't see any way to empty any trash on the unit. Using Windows here, if that matters.

Not on the receiver, on your computer. Seriously, try it, can't hurt. Seems to work for people trying

to rid GPX./waypoints files on the Colorado. Trash bin, recycle bin . . . whatever, . . . ya never know till ya try.

 

Norm

 

EDIT : See here :

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=3367611

and follow along for a few posts.

Edited March 18, 2008 by RRLover

[SergZak]

There has to be a secondary file that the data is loaded into that is later used to repopulate the current.gpx file. That is what I'm trying to locate!

 

There *is* a backup (or secondary) copy of the current.gpx file, but as I've mentioned, it resides in the memory area within the nuvi that is not accessible to the user.

 

Another file that resides in this inaccessible memory area is the default nuvi splash screen. If you replace it with one of your own, your file overwrites the default splash screen (stored in non-user accessible RAM) which is now gone for good. This has been an early gripe of nuvi users since the first 350 was released. Since the original file was overwritten with yours, you can't go back to that truly original splash screen, which is likely a bitmap file. The "default" splash screen that is floating around out there on the web (a JPEG file) is of much lesser quality than the original one that came pre-loaded on the unit.

[+BigCarbonFootprint]

how many WPs are you all able to load on your Nuvi's. i have a friend tell me he was able to get over 3000 POI, but that does not seem right considering the spec states 500.

 

Thanks

[Motorcycle_Mama]

The number of Waypoints/Favorites that you can load to the unit is set in the firmware. For the nuvi line, it is currently 500.

 

However, these units have the ability to load virtually unlimited numbers of Custom POIs using Garmin's POI Loader software.

 

Typically, you can get 6,000 - 10,000 Custom POIs per MB of storage space.