Garmin Oregon 2000 Geocache Limit

[+intrepidca]

If you exceed the 2000 geocache limit on the Garmin Oregon 300, it will warn you when you turn it on. What I would like to know, however, is which 2000 geocaches it loads if that limit is exceeded. If it tries to load the nearest 2000, then I'll just load all my pocket queries in and let it figure it out. Even if I have to power cycle it when I drive a long distance to get it to reload, that's fine. If it just loads them in an arbitrary order and takes the first 2000, that's more of an issue. Does anyone happen to know the answer to this one?

 

Thanks in advance.

[+Red90]

Nobody knows... Most likely, it just starts indexing the files and when it hits 2000, it stops. It won't be by distance, but by file name or date.

[+fegan]

Nobody knows...

I would agree with that.

 

If you can get Garmin to make an official statement, I would love to hear their response.

 

I will say this...once those 2,000 caches are loaded simply cycling the power won't change what's loaded as none of the files you placed on the GPS will have changed. It takes a refresh of the files (updated date time stamp, or removal of a file followed by a power cycle followed by replacing the file) to cause a reload. The files you put on the GPS never get changed...they get loaded into an internal database, which we don't have direct access to, and that's where all the magic happens.

 

Me...I don't have time to scroll through 2,000 caches to figure out which ones are missing, so I just keep it under 2,000 and avoid the issue...it's the easiest, safest, way to know what's loaded.

[+OienLabs]

It is very likely that the 2000 caches will be the ones that are read first from the consecutive gpx-file.

 

Example: Make a filter in GSAK returning 2001+ caches. Sort by name then export to Oregon (ctrl g). GSAK eksports to gpx in the current sortet order.

 

Power on the Oregon and be patient. The initial boot may take a few minutes. It is not hanging.

Go to find a cache. Select ABC an type in the name of cache #2000 (as seen in GSAK) and it will show. Then do the same for #2001 and it will not show.

[+fegan]

It is very likely that the 2000 caches will be the ones that are read first from the consecutive gpx-file.

Sure, the assumption for a single file would be the first 2,000 get loaded and those 2,001 or higher are ignored...I'll buy that. But what's the point of generating a file of over 2,000 geocaches when you know the GPS will only load 2,000?

 

I wouldn't have the patience to test what happens when you have over 20 GPX files on the GPS (I currently have 32, most are less than 100 caches, some are more than 100, a few are single caches). Would they load by date/time order, alphabetic order, size order? Too many possibilities for me to be bothered testing...I just keep it under 2,000 total and everything loads.

[+SgtSue]

Don't forget the POI feature. I load the cache I am most likely to be searching for as geocaches. I then load caches I probably won't but maybe look for if I decide to go a differnt direction. They still have all the information you just can't use the geocaching feature with them. Gives me a ton of caches to choose from.

[+fegan]

Don't forget the POI feature. I load the cache I am most likely to be searching for as geocaches. I then load caches I probably won't but maybe look for if I decide to go a differnt direction. They still have all the information you just can't use the geocaching feature with them. Gives me a ton of caches to choose from.

I already use POIs for caches I've Found/Hidden...helps when placing caches.

 

But with 2,000 (or 5,000 if you have the Oregon 550t) geocaches on the GPS there just doesn't seem to be a need for me to have more unfound caches loaded as POIs...I can drive about 90 miles in almost any direction (about 300 if I stick to major highways) and still have caches to find. Even if I found 100 caches a day, that's almost 3 weeks worth of unfound caches. Do you really need more? For me, that's far too many to choose from.

[+SgtSue]

Don't forget the POI feature. I load the cache I am most likely to be searching for as geocaches. I then load caches I probably won't but maybe look for if I decide to go a differnt direction. They still have all the information you just can't use the geocaching feature with them. Gives me a ton of caches to choose from.

I already use POIs for caches I've Found/Hidden...helps when placing caches.

 

But with 2,000 (or 5,000 if you have the Oregon 550t) geocaches on the GPS there just doesn't seem to be a need for me to have more unfound caches loaded as POIs...I can drive about 90 miles in almost any direction (about 300 if I stick to major highways) and still have caches to find. Even if I found 100 caches a day, that's almost 3 weeks worth of unfound caches. Do you really need more? For me, that's far too many to choose from.

 

When I make a major trip I bookmark those caches I want to find and load those as geocaches. Then I build in options. If it's raining I may go in another direction, if the area isn't what I thought I can skip it and have a choice. Also all those JOEs, I don't get off the interstate (if that is what I am on) for each of those, but if I am getting off for gas and there is a cache there I have it. I personally don't have a need to carry around what I've found so it's all about what works for each of us. If 2000 caches isn't enough for intrepidca then this is another option for him to explore to see if it meets his needs.

[+intrepidca]

I sent an email to Garmin and I'm still awaiting a response. My feeling was that it would take the first 2000 in some undefined order (i.e., it just starts reading files and stops when it hits 2000). I just thought I'd post the question in case someone else had some more concrete knowledge about this. It's more about the convenience than about any particular need for >2000. I regularly travel between two areas that are very dense (you don't have to zoom out very far before you exceed the 500 cache limit on the maps!), and it would be nice to have a larger coverage area.

[+Rockin Roddy]

Maybe I don't understand, but why not just set up 4 PQs of 500 and load them. You'd know what caches you have without fear of leaving any out.

[+Red90]

Purchase a second SD card. Put the caches for one area on one and the other on the other card. Swap cards when you get to the area and the unit will load all of the ones on the card. Just make sure there are no files in internal memory.

[+Acme.Ink]

I've sent garmin a couple of suggestions, this was one of them

 

#4 I would love the option to select either an file / or an directory

from there to load my .gpx-files, and have that

linked to the profile I am using.

I realy don't have to break the max 2000 waypoints limit (that could

be done with an function like this) ,

but it would be nice to filter out waypoints (caches), dependent on

what I am are doing right now...

Today I have to have two sd-cards to mimic that functionality.

It would be nice if that type of function also works for custom poi's,

ie select a poi-file to be active.

 

If more people requested this, then maybe that would come true...

[+twinjayhawks]

Maybe I don't understand, but why not just set up 4 PQs of 500 and load them. You'd know what caches you have without fear of leaving any out.

 

I am not sure the best way to do this for a large city. If you do 4 PQ's for each quadrant of a city how do you know that you got them all? The PQ's may or may not overlap... if they do you might have significantly less than 2000 total and leave home without some. What are your recommendations ???

[+webscouter.]

Maybe I don't understand, but why not just set up 4 PQs of 500 and load them. You'd know what caches you have without fear of leaving any out.

 

I am not sure the best way to do this for a large city. If you do 4 PQ's for each quadrant of a city how do you know that you got them all? The PQ's may or may not overlap... if they do you might have significantly less than 2000 total and leave home without some. What are your recommendations ???

 

The general consensus is to create the PQ's by date. Start at the beginning of time and create a query that returns 490 caches by adjusting the end date. The next query starts with that end date and return another 490 caches. So on and so forth.

 

BTW in most big cities this still won't cover the city but it should give you a pretty good coverage. When you run out of caches to find then create a couple more only using the caches you have not found.

[+twinjayhawks]

 

The general consensus is to create the PQ's by date. Start at the beginning of time and create a query that returns 490 caches by adjusting the end date. The next query starts with that end date and return another 490 caches. So on and so forth.

 

BTW in most big cities this still won't cover the city but it should give you a pretty good coverage. When you run out of caches to find then create a couple more only using the caches you have not found.

 

Can I ask why 490? Should I do the query as "I have not found" only? Should I not select "Active" to keep from missing some caches that come back on-line later?

[+fegan]

 

The general consensus is to create the PQ's by date. Start at the beginning of time and create a query that returns 490 caches by adjusting the end date. The next query starts with that end date and return another 490 caches. So on and so forth.

 

BTW in most big cities this still won't cover the city but it should give you a pretty good coverage. When you run out of caches to find then create a couple more only using the caches you have not found.

 

Can I ask why 490? Should I do the query as "I have not found" only? Should I not select "Active" to keep from missing some caches that come back on-line later?

 

http://www.markwell.us/geofaq.htm

http://www.markwell.us/pq.htm