Amateur's Question

[cajenkins81]

Hi all. My husband and I just got started with Geocaching in April 08, and have only found 51, mostly becuase I was pregnant and became unable to cache much later in my pregnancy.

 

Anyways, I have a question about entering geocaches into my GPSr. We have an ETrex Legend. I think I remember that it came with a cable when we bought it, but the cable did not fit on my computer, so I can't hook the cable up to my computer. When we want to geocache, we have to input the cache into the GPSr manually. This isn't such a huge deal, but if there were a way to do many at a time that would be preferable.

 

So, 1) how do you "experts" input new caches into your GPSr?

 

2) Is there a cable, like a USB, that i could buy to connect my GPSr with my laptop?

 

3) if there is, how do I then go about getting the things onto my GPSr?

 

Sorry if these are really simple questions, we have found our own way of doing things and have been doing good so far, was just wondering!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[jholly]

Yes, serial ports are becoming a rare breed on computers these days. However there are USB to Serial adapters you can buy and use. These plug into the usb port on your computer and the other end has a serial connector for your eTrex cable. Now where did I put that cable? .....

 

Now how to get waypoints into the GPS.

 

Get a copy of EasyGPS. It is listed on the resource page under software, and its free. Do a search and check the caches your interested on the search page and down load the file. Use EasyGPS to read in this file and then download the waypoints to your GPS. You could also try using the garmin communicator plug in, but I'm not sure if it will work with a usb-serial adapter.

 

There are other ways, but then we are getting into premium memberships, GSAK and a host of other issues you might not want to deal with at this point.

 

Jim

[+Thrak]

GSAK all the way.

 

Geocaching Swiss Army Knife: http://gsak.net/

[+kini_ont]

Yes, serial ports are becoming a rare breed on computers these days. However there are USB to Serial adapters you can buy and use. These plug into the usb port on your computer and the other end has a serial connector for your eTrex cable. Now where did I put that cable? .....

 

Now how to get waypoints into the GPS.

 

Get a copy of EasyGPS. It is listed on the resource page under software, and its free. Do a search and check the caches your interested on the search page and down load the file. Use EasyGPS to read in this file and then download the waypoints to your GPS. You could also try using the garmin communicator plug in, but I'm not sure if it will work with a usb-serial adapter.

 

There are other ways, but then we are getting into premium memberships, GSAK and a host of other issues you might not want to deal with at this point.

 

Jim

I have used the usb-serial cable with my etrex and it works fine also used garmin communicator too.

Cable can be bought on ebay or I picked one up at radio shack.

Happy hunting those caches

[K-9Patrol]

I have a couple questions along the same line, so I won't start a new post. A friend gave me 2 older units, a Garmin Rino 110 and 130. If I buy a USB to Serial adapter, is it now plug and play just like it was a pure USB cable, or do I have to turn the computer off and on? Also, will I still be able to download the cache coordinates from this site even though these GPS units are a few years old? Thanks for any help.

[+Team_LPD]

Pocket Query -----> laptop -----> GSAK -----> 60Csx and Palm

[+Uncle T K]

I have a couple questions along the same line, so I won't start a new post. A friend gave me 2 older units, a Garmin Rino 110 and 130. If I buy a USB to Serial adapter, is it now plug and play just like it was a pure USB cable, or do I have to turn the computer off and on? Also, will I still be able to download the cache coordinates from this site even though these GPS units are a few years old? Thanks for any help.

 

I do not belive that you will have plug & play. The computer thasnks that you are using a serial port.

 

If you have a Working Cable connected to your GPS you can down load

[jholly]

I have a couple questions along the same line, so I won't start a new post. A friend gave me 2 older units, a Garmin Rino 110 and 130. If I buy a USB to Serial adapter, is it now plug and play just like it was a pure USB cable, or do I have to turn the computer off and on? Also, will I still be able to download the cache coordinates from this site even though these GPS units are a few years old? Thanks for any help.

 

I do not belive that you will have plug & play. The computer thasnks that you are using a serial port.

 

If you have a Working Cable connected to your GPS you can down load

 

Not sure quite what you mean. Once you install the drivers that come with the usb/serial converter then you have a COM port you can use with EasyGPS. Aren't all cables working cables?>

 

Jim

[K-9Patrol]

Uncle T K and jholly,

Thanks. I believe that you have answered my questions. I am manually entering the coordinates right now. Since it's the middle of winter here and I'm so new at this, I only have time to search for a cache every day or two. When I get a chance to do some serious searching I'll buy an adapter, download EasyGPS, and try to download some waypoints. Thanks again.