Fight for Magellan!

[Class of '08]

I think that on the geocaching pages where it gives you the option to "SEND TO GPS" , that you should be able to not just send it to Garmin products, but to the Magellan products to with the magellan USB cable.

 

I hope many of you will help me argue for this change

[+Dgwphotos]

I think that on the geocaching pages where it gives you the option to "SEND TO GPS" , that you should be able to not just send it to Garmin products, but to the Magellan products to with the magellan USB cable.

 

I hope many of you will help me argue for this change

 

I doubt it will happen. There are better ways to download caches to the GPS anyway.

[+Markwell]

I don't think it's a conscious decision by Groundspeak to favor one brand over another, but rather that ability that Garmin allowed that Magellan hasn't. I'd say take the case to Magellan.

[+tozainamboku]

I think that on the geocaching pages where it gives you the option to "SEND TO GPS" , that you should be able to not just send it to Garmin products, but to the Magellan products to with the magellan USB cable.

 

I hope many of you will help me argue for this change

You need to write to Magellan to have them create the an applet that can talk to their models. Garmin developed one for their units and made it available for GC.com to use. If Magellan did the same, I'm sure GC.com would make it available for the Magellan users.

 

In the meantime you can use gpsbabel. The gpsbabel site has instruction on how to set up so when you click on the download .LOC button, it will automatically convert the LOC file and load a Magellan serial GPS. If you have a newer Magellan that uses the USB port, you'll have to modify the command slightly. Also these are instructions for Netscape, so if you have problems ask here and I'm sure you'll find someone to help for your specific browser.

[+WestbrooksByTheSea]

I don't think it's a conscious decision by Groundspeak to favor one brand over another, but rather that ability that Garmin allowed that Magellan hasn't. I'd say take the case to Magellan.

 

And I'm sure they'll jump on it right after they deal with the 150,000 backlogged customer complaints about simple things like frozen screens and dial-an-Indian. I love my Magellan GPS, but I HATE Magellan! If I treated my customers like they do, I'd have to close the doors.

 

Just my two cents

[Keystone]

This is not a "Getting Started" issue. Moving to the GPS Units and Software forum, where lobbying efforts can coalesce.

[NightTracker]

I'm with WestbrooksByTheSea. I've owned 2 magellans, the 300 and now the 500. I've had no problems with freezing or buttons not working. I use mine quite a lot for geocaching, fishing, drives and it has never failed me. BUT, with the geocaching it is a bit of a process to get the geocaches you want, and as for magellan customer support I just gave up in contacting them for anything. There is more information on these forums from users than any technical support person could or would ever tell you.

[+northernpenguin]

We're asking Magellan, the company that didn't even realize PQs went up to 500, to write a convienience applet for single cache listing transfers to the GPS units?

 

This is the company that randomly drops geocaches from the eXplorists without warning you when you load 201 caches on a GPS. The same company that feels hints should never exceed 50 characters. Or that Mapsend should recognize waypoint names longer than 10 characters (well for the first two years the eXplorist was out). This company also feels that the Geocaching details that are most important in the field include "Placed By" but not "Difficulty/Terrain".

 

It'll never happen, even if Groundspeak went and pounded on their door, it wouldn't happen.

[+Team Wolf Clan]

We're asking Magellan, the company that didn't even realize PQs went up to 500, to write a convienience applet for single cache listing transfers to the GPS units?

 

This is the company that randomly drops geocaches from the eXplorists without warning you when you load 201 caches on a GPS. The same company that feels hints should never exceed 50 characters. Or that Mapsend should recognize waypoint names longer than 10 characters (well for the first two years the eXplorist was out). This company also feels that the Geocaching details that are most important in the field include "Placed By" but not "Difficulty/Terrain".

 

It'll never happen, even if Groundspeak went and pounded on their door, it wouldn't happen.

 

Garmin has made a web site so cachers can download caches from geocaching.com directly to there Garmin GPS'es. So theres another reason to buy a Garmin, and I think you can download them several at a time. I haven't used the site yet but I'm going to try it out as soon as I have time to.

 

my.garmin.com

[+northernpenguin]

 

Garmin has made a web site so cachers can download caches from geocaching.com directly to there Garmin GPS'es. So theres another reason to buy a Garmin, and I think you can download them several at a time. I haven't used the site yet but I'm going to try it out as soon as I have time to.

 

my.garmin.com

 

I switched two weeks ago from using my eXplorist 600 to using a Garmin Colorado 400t. Big difference. I just copy my PQs to the unit and if a cache gets published before I head out, then I just hit that Send to GPS link and I'm good. A key point here that needs to be mentioned though is the technical differences!

 

My Colorado understands GPX files, so it is mind numbingly simple for Groundspeak to add a "Send to GPS" option. Contrast this with the eXplorist - which requires the GPX to be processed to a .gs "Magellan Geocaching SD" format. Also, on the eXplorist, the end user activates a particular file for use, and one off caches would be a pain - either the end user would have to activate caches one at a time, or the web applet would have to open the .gs file on the GPS and modify it. This becomes a lot more work for Magellan/Groundspeak than the Garmin method which is basically just a file copy.