geocaching website

[+tomwilson74]

I have a Magellan explorist 500. I tried to send a few geocaches to the gps unit and the geocaching.com website stated that it only supports garmin. It would not let me download the geocaches to my magellan. Is there any way to get around this. I really bought the 500 so I would not have to manually load the cooridinates into the unit.

[+Team CeDo]

I have a Magellan explorist 500. I tried to send a few geocaches to the gps unit and the geocaching.com website stated that it only supports garmin. It would not let me download the geocaches to my magellan. Is there any way to get around this. I really bought the 500 so I would not have to manually load the cooridinates into the unit.

 

Downlaad GSAK, its a great program and with that you will be able to manage your geocaches as well as download them into your magellan.

Edited December 16, 2008 by Team CeDo

[+PDOP's]

See Downloading GPX/LOC Files

[+KJcachers]

GSAK with a premium membership to geocaching.com so you can get batches of caches called Pocket Queries. The GSAK program has an export feature that allows you to push them directly into your Magellan.

[+dakboy]

Garmin has developed a browser plug-in which allows the direct connection. It's not a matter of GC.com not "supporting" your Magellan - it's Magellan not making the effort to support their devices w/ a popular activity. DeLorme is presently working on a plug-in similar to Garmin's.

 

As others have pointed out, there are other very good options for getting data into your Magellan.

[+tomwilson74]

I downloaded the GSAK program but still can't figure it out. I get to the point where the caches are listed on the gsak page but when I try to send them to the gpsr, they won't transfer. ??? I need to go back to college to figure it out??

[+Team CeDo]

Garmin has developed a browser plug-in which allows the direct connection. It's not a matter of GC.com not "supporting" your Magellan - it's Magellan not making the effort to support their devices w/ a popular activity. DeLorme is presently working on a plug-in similar to Garmin's.

 

As others have pointed out, there are other very good options for getting data into your Magellan.

 

I did not know that Garmin had a direct plug-in, kinda neat!

[+dakboy]

Garmin has developed a browser plug-in which allows the direct connection. It's not a matter of GC.com not "supporting" your Magellan - it's Magellan not making the effort to support their devices w/ a popular activity. DeLorme is presently working on a plug-in similar to Garmin's.

 

As others have pointed out, there are other very good options for getting data into your Magellan.

 

I did not know that Garmin had a direct plug-in, kinda neat!

Well, it is mentioned right on the page you get when you click the "Send to GPS" button.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/sendtogps.a...84-7f43804462e5

http://www8.garmin.com/products/communicator/

Edited December 16, 2008 by dakboy

[+PDOP's]

I downloaded the GSAK program but still can't figure it out. I get to the point where the caches are listed on the gsak page but when I try to send them to the gpsr, they won't transfer. ??? I need to go back to college to figure it out??

 

See GPS Setup Dialog Box (GPS=>Setup) and check that you have the correct brand and connection selected.

 

Some troubleshooting steps for problems downloading waypoints to your GPSr

 

If you need more help there are lots of friendly folks over at the GSAK support forums or have a look at the GSAK FAQ

[+tomwilson74]

I called the Magellan tech support and they told me to download Magellan's Vantage Point. I did and still can't get the geocaches to send over to my Explorist 500. ????????? Now it is telling me that my gps is not connected. It is though. I'm about to give it up.

[yogazoo]

Suggestion: Sell your Magellan and get a Delorme or a Garmin. These two companies have excellent support for their devices and actively care about putting out a decent product (although I wonder about Garmin sometimes).

Edited December 16, 2008 by yogazoo

[+SkellyCA]

I have a Magellan Triton 400 and use Vantage Point. It's a 3 stage process.

 

1. Download the gpx files onto a folder on your hard drive

2. Import the files into Vantage Point(from the Library Tab)

3. Tranfer the Files to your GPSr(From the My GPS Tab)

[pauljsurfer1]

Suggestion: Search for the multiple topics on this issue and the how to guides that people have created. Freak out much?

 

tip: in GSAK go to GPS>Export to Magellan Explorist

[+tomwilson74]

1. Download the gpx files onto a folder on your hard drive

2. Import the files into Vantage Point(from the Library Tab)

3. Tranfer the Files to your GPSr(From the My GPS Tab)

 

Skelly, I think that is where my problem is. Something is going wrong during the loading of the gpx files to the hard drive. Can you elaborate a little more on what you do for these steps? I am not computer illiterate but have my problems at times!!!

 

pauljsurfer1, no I don't freak out much it is just aggravating the heck out of me. I used to have the explorist 200 so I bought the 500 so I wouldn't have to load caches in manually. I also bought the windshield mount, bike mount, two batteries, screen saver and cords for the 500. After spending all the money I have, I am not about to manually load caches into this thing. It will go on ebay.

[+SkellyCA]

You may need to be a premium member to download gpx files; I'm not sure, maybe someone will come along and and answer that, but it's well worth it, instead of entering all the info by hand.

 

1. On the page of a cache, click GPX eXchange File and save it to your hard drive; I organized mine into different folders, basically by city(make sure that the file name ends in .gpx)

 

2. Upload the .gpx file into Vantage point; from Vantage Point software, click the library tab, select Import to import the file into VP; then select the file from your hard drive. You can only do one file at a time, pain in the butt

 

3. Transfer the file to GPSr. Connect your unit the the computer via usb; then from VP, click the MyGps tab. Then Click Transfer From PC to My GPS on the left where it says Snyc. Then a window will popup and to can select waypoints or geocaches; I uncheck both boxes. Then click the plus sign next to geocaches; then chech the boxes next to all the caches you want to transfer; it'll do how many ever you select. Then click OK and let it do it's thing.

Edited December 17, 2008 by SkellyCA

[+Jim McDonald]

At Geocaching.com, make your PQ's LESS than 200, I usually do about 190 to allow for child waypoints The 500 will only allow a max of 200 waypoints. You will need a membership to do PQ's, but is well worth the money.

 

In GSAK, Select "Database" "New". Enter name of PQ to identify. Select "Create".

Go to "File" Select "Load GPX/ LOC/ Zip"

In pop up, browse to where your downloaded PQ's are.

Select PQ

Select database

Select "OK"

GSAK will display all waypoints.

Go to top, select "GPS"

Select "Export to Magellan explorist"

 

That should do it!

 

The explorist 500 has been a great unit for us, we've two of them, as long as you don't need support from Magellan. That said, we're moving on to a new GPS. I'm experiencing quite a learning curve on the Delorme PN40 se. I think once I get the basics down it will really be great! Still keeping the Maggis though!

Edited December 17, 2008 by Jim McDonald

[+SkellyCA]

I just went to check out the GSAK software and it doesn't support the Triton series yet.

[+tomwilson74]

Got all the way to the third step. Then when I am supposed to click on Sync, it is "greyed out" and I can't click on it. The Sync icon and the two beside of it are grey and I can't click on them. Any suggestions?

[+Team CeDo]

Suggestion: Sell your Magellan and get a Delorme or a Garmin. These two companies have excellent support for their devices and actively care about putting out a decent product (although I wonder about Garmin sometimes).

 

I agree sell it now, you will be MUCH better off in the long run. Garmin or Delorme are the best way to go.

[jholly]

Got all the way to the third step. Then when I am supposed to click on Sync, it is "greyed out" and I can't click on it. The Sync icon and the two beside of it are grey and I can't click on them. Any suggestions?

 

I think that *might* be a premium feature. At least my non-premium account also has it greyed out but my premium account it is live.

 

Jim

[+SkellyCA]

Got all the way to the third step. Then when I am supposed to click on Sync, it is "greyed out" and I can't click on it. The Sync icon and the two beside of it are grey and I can't click on them. Any suggestions?

 

I think that *might* be a premium feature. At least my non-premium account also has it greyed out but my premium account it is live.

 

Jim

 

I don't think that's it; the third step really has nothing to to with the geocaching site.

 

Was your GPS connected and turned on?

[+tomwilson74]

I upgraded to premium a few days ago. Yes the gps is connected and turned on. I even tried a different plug in the back of the computer. On the Magellan screen, it lists three different choices. File transfer, NMEA data comm and power only. Does it matter which is chosen?

[+SkellyCA]

I'm not familiar wityh the explorist, so maybe there is some menu item you need to click to get it to connect to the computer.

 

Because it sounds to me like VP isn't seeing your GPSr.

 

I know my Triton has a menu item under Settings called Connectivity; you may have something like that and need to play with it

[+dakboy]

I just went to check out the GSAK software and it doesn't support the Triton series yet.

IIRC, the newer Magellans use a proprietary, unpublished spec for waypoint formatting/transfer, so you're forced to use their software and only their software.

[+SkellyCA]

I'm not familiar with the explorist, so maybe there is some menu item you need to click to get it to connect to the computer.

 

Because it sounds to me like VP isn't seeing your GPSr.

 

I know my Triton has a menu item under Settings called Connectivity; you may have something like that and need to play with it

Edited December 17, 2008 by SkellyCA

[+SkellyCA]

I just went to check out the GSAK software and it doesn't support the Triton series yet.

IIRC, the newer Magellans use a proprietary, unpublished spec for waypoint formatting/transfer, so you're forced to use their software and only their software.

 

So there's no hope for me?

 

I do use Vantage Point and it works for me, but I've never used anything else.

Edited December 17, 2008 by SkellyCA

[+ace862]

I upgraded to premium a few days ago. Yes the gps is connected and turned on. I even tried a different plug in the back of the computer. On the Magellan screen, it lists three different choices. File transfer, NMEA data comm and power only. Does it matter which is chosen?

 

Yes, to put the caches into your explorist, it has to be in File Transfer. Then you should pick either internal or SD card if applicable.

 

I use an explorist 500 and it works great. This would be an example of my workflow.

1) Extract zipped .gpx files from emailed pocket query. Save to desktop.

2) Open GSAK then drag and drop .gpx file into the database I wish to use.

3) The in GSAK Go File -> Export -> Magellan Explorist (this can even be set up as a Macro button) I usually use the default settings for the export.

4) The file is saved in My Documents as a .gs file. Highlight file and click "Move file" The .gs file should go into the "Geocache" file on your GPS. The explorist will show up as a removable drive in Windows.

 

I hope this makes sense. I'm doing it from memory as I'm at work and don't have GSAK or my GPS with me. It's really very easy and works very well.

Good luck.

Edited December 17, 2008 by ace862

[+SkellyCA]

I upgraded to premium a few days ago. Yes the gps is connected and turned on. I even tried a different plug in the back of the computer. On the Magellan screen, it lists three different choices. File transfer, NMEA data comm and power only. Does it matter which is chosen?

 

Sory, I missed this post

 

It's not the Power Only choice; probably File Transfer, if that doesn't work, try NMEA

[+geognerd]

I follow a procedure similar to ace862's for sending caches from GSAK to my eXplorist 400. Ace's instructions should work for you, provided your eXplorist is in File Transfer mode. When you copy the .gs file to the eXplorist, make sure to put it into the Geocaches or My Geocaches folder (I forget what it's called).

 

Edited to add: If GSAK is too confusing, try EasyGPS.

Edited December 17, 2008 by geognerd

[vagabond]

Also on the exp 500 if your loading your caches to a sd card you can have as many cache files as will fit into the card but only 200 caches per file just give each file a different name.

For the triton using gsak after slicing and dicing the cache file to what you want click file in upper left hand corner click export then scroll down to gpx/loc and click on it then where ever you store the file just drag and drop into vantagepoint.

You can do about the same thing just using vantagepoint all you have to do is unzip thr pq and drag and drop it into vantagepoint

[+KJcachers]

Suggestion: Search for the multiple topics on this issue and the how to guides that people have created. Freak out much?

 

tip: in GSAK go to GPS>Export to Magellan Explorist

 

This is all I need to do to get the file into my eXplorist 210. Have you tried this yet?