400t Geocaching from SD

[+Team Condo]

Hello!

 

Just purchased my Colorado 400t recently, and I have a newb question. I'm loading my .gpx files on the sd card under Garmin/GPX folders. I can't get my colorado to read them under geocaching mode. I can definitely see them as waypoints, but this does not give me the descriptions that I need. I'm feeling like I just wasted my money on an SD card. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

Team Condo

Edited March 26, 2008 by Team Condo

[+g-o-cashers]

Hello!

 

Just purchased my Colorado 400t recently, and I have a newb question. I'm loading my .gpx files on the sd card under Garmin/GPX folders. I can't get my colorado to read them under geocaching mode. I can definitely see them as waypoints, but this does not give me the descriptions that I need. I'm feeling like I just wasted my money on an SD card. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

Team Condo

 

Does the same gpx file load as geocaches if you put it in internal memory under garmin\gpx?

 

GO$Rs

[+qlenfg]

Is the directory you created Garmin/GPX or garmin/gpx ??

 

Depending on the OS the Colorado is running, capitalizing one or more letters in the directory name may foul it up. Windoze doesn't care one way or another, but *nix based OS's do distinguish between upper and lower case letters in a filename or directory name.

[+Team Condo]

When I put the same .gpx file in the internal memory, it works just fine. It just doesn't like pulling them off of my sd card in geocaching mode. I'm really confused!

[+g-o-cashers]

When I put the same .gpx file in the internal memory, it works just fine. It just doesn't like pulling them off of my sd card in geocaching mode. I'm really confused!

 

Try deleting all of the gpx files from internal memory and the SD card in garmin\gpx, reboot the Colorado w/o any gpx files and reload the gpx files on your SD card.

 

GO$Rs

[+Team Condo]

OK.

Here is what I've figured out so far...

 

I deleted all .gpx files off of the internal memory along with the "current" folder, and put a couple of files onto the SD card. It still reads them as waypoints, and nothing shows up under geocaching.

 

I've tried changing the letters of the folders from uppercase to lowercase, with every different combination that I could think of. Nothing . Then I wondered what would happen if I just saved the .gpx directly to the sd card with no files created on it. The garmin communicator will make these folders for you: Garmin/gpx.

 

Alright. Now this is where the fun begins. When I use the "Send to GPS" button, it will give me two choices. The first is to save the .gpx to my internal memory. The second is straight to my sd card. The first option works fine, it's just that I would rather have these files on my sd card. The second option is where my problem occurs, in that it won't read as a geocache file, only as a waypoint file.

 

Now if I do a pocket query, download the .zip file, unpack it, and put the .gpx file in (SD card)/Garmin/gpx, it works just fine.

 

If I hit the "GPX eXchange File" button, and download it without using the Garmin Communicator then load it to said SD card, everything is fine.

 

These tests were all performed while the SD card was inserted into the Colorado 400t, connected to my laptop via usb. I then took the SD card out of the colorado and directly into the laptop had the same results.

 

I tried calling Garmin today, and that was a complete waste of time. /sigh The rep was very polite, but was of no help at all. He kept telling me that I should just be doing pocket queries, and my problem is solved, and he kept avoiding my Garmin communicator issues. Pocket queries are nice, but sometimes I just want to download one cache at a time...

 

Please let me know if any of you are having the same issues that I am. Am I just overlooking something silly? I love my Colorado, but it can be quite frustrating at times. Thanks!

Edited March 26, 2008 by Team Condo

[kingBLAOW]

I have an issue identical to yours. You however, had the gumption to put a bit more effort into diagnosing your problem I've been meaning to looking into mine further, just haven't as of yet.

[+g-o-cashers]

You are correct, I was able to reproduce the same behavior. For some reason when you use the Communicator to download a GPX file to the SD card it strips off the Groundspeak xml extensions that trigger the Colorado to see it as a cache. The GPX file that communicator downloads to internal memory includes these tags (similar to a PQ).

 

I guess for now you'll need to download to internal memory using SendToGPS and raise the issue with Garmin or use PQs if you want the caches to come from the SD card.

 

If you want to share this with Garmin the simplest thing to do would be to download the same cache to internal memory and SD card, copy the gpx files into an email and send it to Garmin. This is a bug in communicator - has nothing to do with the Colorado.

 

BTW, I did verify I have the latest communicator 2.4.1 (SD card support was added in 2.3.1 according to the release notes).

 

GO$Rs

[+Team Condo]

I just contacted Garmin again this afternoon. I had a chance to talk to a different rep who seemed waaaaay more knowledgeable than the first one. They are aware of this issue and are working on it now. He also told me that he would be happy to give me a call back after receiving my email with more details.

 

I highly recommend speaking with the rep named Andrew if you ever call, and he is available! Hopefully I'll be able to post some good news soon!

 

TC

[+StaticTank]

Alright. Now this is where the fun begins. When I use the "Send to GPS" button, it will give me two choices. The first is to save the .gpx to my internal memory. The second is straight to my sd card. The first option works fine, it's just that I would rather have these files on my sd card. The second option is where my problem occurs, in that it won't read as a geocache file, only as a waypoint file.

 

I might be wrong but I think the "Send to GPS" is only the .loc file and contatins to more info than the coordinates. It looks like you tried this though. I will check it out when I get home.

 

*EDIT*

I looked it up and I was wrong according to the Garmin Communicator description it says you should be able to send GPX files...

Edited March 26, 2008 by StaticTank

[+Red90]

I might be wrong but I think the "Send to GPS" is only the .loc file and contatins to more info than the coordinates. It looks like you tried this though. I will check it out when I get home.

 

*EDIT*

I looked it up and I was wrong according to the Garmin Communicator description it says you should be able to send GPX files...

 

Yes, if you have a Colorado attached and you are a premium member, you get a GPX with the same information as a pocket query.

 

The problem with sending to the SD card, is that the communicator program has no way of knowing that the SD card is part of teh Colorado, so "assumes" it is sending to something like a Nuvi, which needs very little info....

[+Vegas Gamblers]

I might be wrong but I think the "Send to GPS" is only the .loc file and contatins to more info than the coordinates. It looks like you tried this though. I will check it out when I get home.

 

*EDIT*

I looked it up and I was wrong according to the Garmin Communicator description it says you should be able to send GPX files...

 

Yes, if you have a Colorado attached and you are a premium member, you get a GPX with the same information as a pocket query.

 

The problem with sending to the SD card, is that the communicator program has no way of knowing that the SD card is part of teh Colorado, so "assumes" it is sending to something like a Nuvi, which needs very little info....

 

Is this a fixable problem, I am just wondering why I purchased a bigger SD card if it wont read the GPX files.

Also, if I send the files from GSAK is there a way to load them to the SD card and not to the internal memory and have it read the GPX files. Or how many caches can I load onto the Colorado before I run out of internal memory.

 

Sorry for the length of the questions.

[+g-o-cashers]

For me this isn't a big issue for a number of reasons:

 

1) On a 4GB 400t there is plenty of extra memory to load gpx files

2) I can download PQs or gpx files from GSAK onto the SD card, that works fine

3) If I need to download a single cache using SendToGPS I can certainly spare a few kb in internal memory. You'll run into file limits before you run out of space downloading caches this way.

 

GO$Rs

[+Red90]

Is this a fixable problem, I am just wondering why I purchased a bigger SD card if it wont read the GPX files.

Also, if I send the files from GSAK is there a way to load them to the SD card and not to the internal memory and have it read the GPX files. Or how many caches can I load onto the Colorado before I run out of internal memory.

 

Sorry for the length of the questions.

 

The problem is only with the "Send to GPS" function on Groundspeak. The GPX file needs to contain a unique "Groundspeak ID #" for the Colorado to treat the waypoints as Geocaches. The Colorado cares not if the file is on internal memory or SD card.

 

Really, GPX files take up no real room. There is currently a 2000 cache limit which is not even a drop in the pan for memory usage. SD card or internal memory does not matter.

Edited March 27, 2008 by Red90

[+Random Find]

Really, GPX files take up no real room. There is currently a 2000 cache limit which is not even a drop in the pan for memory usage. SD card or internal memory does not matter.

 

If you load the caches individually, how do you get more than the approx. 140 limit? Is there a way to use send to GPS and get the 2000 limit?

[+Red90]

If you load the caches individually, how do you get more than the approx. 140 limit? Is there a way to use send to GPS and get the 2000 limit?

 

You can't. I can not REALLY believe someone would click on "Send to GPS" on more than 128 individual cache pages. That is a huge amount of work. I suspect Groundspeak and Garmin never thought anyone would either and "assumed" 128 was way more than anyone would ever use.

 

Using Pocket Queries is a thousand times easier and quicker.

[+StaticTank]

Yes, if you have a Colorado attached and you are a premium member, you get a GPX with the same information as a pocket query.

 

The problem with sending to the SD card, is that the communicator program has no way of knowing that the SD card is part of teh Colorado, so "assumes" it is sending to something like a Nuvi, which needs very little info....

 

I see, I have never used the "Send to GPS" button since I became a premium member...

[+SqrRigger]

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to the 400T thread, it has really help me with my new unit. I too have had many problems with the 400T, but think the unit itself is very good. I called the Garmin and got to a Mac support person who was polite but no help. He gave me a quick answer to use the beta Bobcat software or return the unit. I have been very frustrated not being able to load gpx files from my MacBook Pro with Leopard to the 400T. I also tried every mac caching program out there but none would load caches to the 400T.

 

I then tried to upgrade the 400T's software and did find a new version using Garmin Web Updater. It took a couple tries but the updater did update the 400T and requested I unplug the unit and let it restart. After this I tried using the POI loader and got some caches into the 400T, but as waypoints, without the info I needed, and the geocaching mode doesn't see a single cache.

 

I checked the Garmin FAQs, for the nth time, and found this:

 

Question: When loading Geocache points to my Colorado, they appear in the waypoint folder rather than the designated Geocache folder. How can I fix this?

Answer:

If using www.geocache.com and/or myGarmin it is important to insure you have updated your Garmin Communicator to the most recent version. If sending geocache points to your device please insure you are choosing the “Send to GPS” option as well.

Last modified on: 02/28/2008

 

Notice the wrong URL they give, geocache.com, does anyone at Garmin check their own work? I am still seeking a solution to load caches as caches, not waypoints. Any other Mac/Leopard users out there, any help or experiences you can share - thanks.

[+g-o-cashers]

How exactly are you uploading the gpx files to your Colorado and where are they being saved? Are you uploading to your SD card using SendToGPS? If so, this could be the issue you are seeing (from the Issues List):

 

3/26/08: When using SendToGPS to send geocaches to the SD card of a Colorado the Groundspeak cache tags are stripped off so that the geocache does not show up as a Geocache on the Colorado, it shows up as a waypoint. The same cache sent to internal memory includes the Groundspeak extensions and does show up as a geocache.

 

GO$Rs