Using Yellow eTrex with my Mac

[+OtterFan]

Howdy. I am a Mac lover (3 Macs in the house, 2 PCs), and want to use my Mac for Geocaching.

 

I have a Dell PC that does one job, about once a month: I connect my old, old yellow Garmin eTrex to it, go to Geocaching.com, use the Google map feature (absolutely love it) and use that awesome "Send to Garmin" feature. If I'm doing a batch of caches, I'll use EasyGPS and take care of them in a group.

 

My inlaws' PC has crashed, and I'm going to bless them with my Dell. The ONLY thing I'll miss it for is moving waypoints to my ancient eTrex. (I had a Legend, but its display died on me, so I bought an old eTrex on eBay.)

 

Do I have any choices for making this happen on my Mac? I have an Intel iMac, as well as an Intel MacBook Pro, and would like to use either of them.

 

Is there a cable I can buy that will allow me to connect via USB?

 

I see Garmin has the Communicator Plugin for Mac browsers...YAY!

 

What else should I have to make my caching experience most excellent on my Macs? Since I don't have maps on my GPS, I guess that's not too important.

 

I'm willing to spend a few bucks on commercial/shareware products if you think they're worthy.

 

MANY THANKS to anyone who can help get me going in the right direction!

 

cache_shoes

Edited August 19, 2008 by cache_shoes

[robertlipe]

There are several products listed in the pinned FAQ at the top of the page that work with Mac.

 

USB/Serial cables on Mac can be a bit of a crapshoot. I've had good luck with the Keyspan 19HS on Mac. I have some Prolific devices that works and some that don't.

[+OtterFan]

Has anyone out there successfully connected a yellow eTrex using a serial to USB adapter?

 

It would be nice to hear of some solutions that actually do work...thanks!

[+TeamGeoduck]

Has anyone out there successfully connected a yellow eTrex using a serial to USB adapter?

 

It would be nice to hear of some solutions that actually do work...thanks!

 

The blue legend via the Keyspan adapter

[robertlipe]

I have used GPSBabel with Keyspan (and others) on Macs (Intel and Power) with a large number of GPSes, including the yellow etrex.

[+OtterFan]

Great, thanks for the info! I've just ordered a Keyspan adapter cable.

 

What is the must-have Mac software for pushing waypoints from, say, a geocaching.com .loc file?

[andylphoto]

Depends on what you want to do with it, and the features you want. Check out the FAQ section--there is a topic on Mac software with links for you to try out. Some work better than others, IMHO.

 

I use MacGPS Pro, but it's a commercial program. There are other free programs that will work.

[+OtterFan]

OK, I borrowed a Keyspan serial-to-USB adapter to give it a try before mine arrives next week.

 

I can't get my Macbook Pro to recognize the yellow eTrex. (My eTrex is running version 2.14)

 

I connected via serial to my PC and used the web updater to make sure I have the most current version. I do.

 

So I fired up Parallels, fully expecting it would work that way. Nope.

 

The light on the Keyspan adapter is flashing green. Is that normal?

 

Not sure what to try now. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks!

[+OtterFan]

Found the problem...there was a driver needed for the Keyspan adapter. After installing that, I'm connecting happily!

 

Thanks!