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Oregon 450, how many caches?


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Can anyone confirm how many caches the Oregon 450 holds?

 

I'm finding two different answers, 2000 like the 300 and 400's hold, and 5000 like the 550's hold.

 

Garmin's user manual does not say.

 

According to the Wiki:

 

"GC4.) How many geocaches can I load onto my Garmin Oregon?

 

The Oregon 300 and 400 support up to a maximum of 2000 geocaches (in addition to the 1000 waypoint limit). The Oregon 450 and 550 support up to 5000 geocaches. All Oregons support a maximum of 200 gpx files. If you exceed either the geocache limit or the file limit the Oregon will warn you. If you exceed either limit, caches will be omitted from your Geocache list and it is not predicable as to which caches will be dropped."

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I've come across that wiki page too, the problem is there are both users and other sources that say 2000, which is why I question it. I've probably found more than 1/2 dozen posts in this forum alone that infer the 450 can only do 2000.

 

An email to garmin just pointed me to two faq's, one that covered the x00' units and another that covered the 550, neither covered the 450.

 

Can anyone who owns a 450 confirm that you can indeed load 5000 caches (or at least significantly more than 2000)?

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Whats the most you've loaded on your 450 and does it get sluggish with a full load?

With the 300, I've noticed it takes a while to start up when I load a fresh GPX file with close to 2000 geocaches in it. The first time it happened, I panicked and pulled the batteries. Bad mistake. The geocaches were totally whacked and I had to reload.

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Whats the most you've loaded on your 450 and does it get sluggish with a full load?

With the 300, I've noticed it takes a while to start up when I load a fresh GPX file with close to 2000 geocaches in it. The first time it happened, I panicked and pulled the batteries. Bad mistake. The geocaches were totally whacked and I had to reload.

 

thanks for that data point, (don't panic). :) I just became a premium member, and plan to load up my 450. :)

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If you use one of the Nüvi macro floting around here on the forum, you can convert cache to POI and store millions of cache on you Oregon. Boot time is not reduced. The only thing you can not do is to mark cache as found.

You do get all cache info, hints and logs.

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Hi,

 

Although the 450t can hold officially 5K caches, there is a small problem with that. As mentioned in http://searchjaunt.idizaai.be/oregon-450t-bis/, you'll need to import the caches as POI since the waypoint manager can hold only 2K

 

Eddy

 

The Oregon 450/550 hold 5,000 geocaches AND 2,000 waypoints, just like my Colorado 400t holds 2,000 geocaches AND 1,000 waypoints.

 

If there are so many multi-caches in your area that each cache requires a geocache and a one or more waypoints, perhaps you should load the child waypoints as POIs and keep the geocaches as geocaches so you can mark them as found?

 

And yes...there is a GSAK macro that can do exactly that (the Colorado/Oregon Export macro)!

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So far it looks like everyone is quoting the wiki page that someone referred to. Garmins lack of documentation doesn't help either.

 

I'm finding several people saying that they can only load 2k caches to their 450, but at the same time, I'm not sure these people aren't confusing how to load a cache vs a waypoint.

 

Is there anyone here that owns a 450 and can confirm that they have successfully loaded more than 2k caches to their unit?

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Finally, after three queries to Garmin (not sure why the question confused them) got a straight answer, and its not 5k, its 2k.

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I will be glad to help you with this. The Oregon 450 series can hold up to 2,000 geocaches. However to get to this amount you will need to use the pocket query function from Geocaches.com. If you do not use pocket query you will only be able to hold up to 200 .gpx files. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

 

Of course this answer even leaves some to be desired, with that wonderful spelling of gc.com.

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Finally, after three queries to Garmin (not sure why the question confused them) got a straight answer, and its not 5k, its 2k.

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I will be glad to help you with this. The Oregon 450 series can hold up to 2,000 geocaches. However to get to this amount you will need to use the pocket query function from Geocaches.com. If you do not use pocket query you will only be able to hold up to 200 .gpx files. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

 

Of course this answer even leaves some to be desired, with that wonderful spelling of gc.com.

You're willing to just accept an answer from some tech support guy in Garmin who has the same access to information as you? ;)

 

If you follow this link:

 

http://www8.garmin.com/outdoor/geocaching/

 

it says "up to" 5000 geocaches, but it does not say which model. So presumably, the 550/550t can store 5000 geocaches. I'd think that 450/450t can store 5000 as well, but since I don't have one to experiment with, and this is Garmin we're talking about, after all, it is possible that it only supports 2000.

 

If anyone is interested in testing this, I can devise a test:

 

1. Create a dummy GPX file, with 5000 geocaches, named 0001 through 5000. Dummy coordinates about 1 minute apart. I'd be happy to create this - there won't be any TOU violation since the file is not from geocaching.com and does not contain any geocaches.

 

2. Load into Garmin

 

3. Perform search by name to see if there are any gaps. This is going to be a rather tedious process since you need to scroll through 5000 entries (1000 page views).

 

I'd be happy to perform the testing if someone would underwrite the cost of a 450 :rolleyes:

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I'd think that 450/450t can store 5000 as well, but since I don't have one to experiment with, and this is Garmin we're talking about, after all, it is possible that it only supports 2000..

And thats the problem. Everyone answering is either guessing, or relying on one single non-garmin faq that has been heavily quoted and deemed accurate by most but seems to be wrong.

 

I currently own a 400t, and I want to upgrade with two very specific features, 3-axis compass (not a question here, I already know both the 450 and 550 have it) and 5k caches (450 ??, 550 yes). I could care less about the camera.

 

The quote I got from garmin seems to be the most authoritative, although it wouldn't surprise me if its wrong (and you seem to think it is).

 

My question is, Does anyone here own a 450 and how many caches can you load on it? As a side question, I'm also curious if having 5k caches on it makes it sluggish compared to having fewer (say 1k to 2k).

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OK, file sent. Thanks for offering to test. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

 

Note to any mods : this is pure dummy data, not from a pocket query or GPX download, with no useful information in it. Since I'm not sharing any Groundspeak GPX, there is no TOU violation. This is just a list of waypoints formatted to make display easy, named "Cache 0001" through "Cache 5000".

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OK, file sent. Thanks for offering to test. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

 

Note to any mods : this is pure dummy data, not from a pocket query or GPX download, with no useful information in it. Since I'm not sharing any Groundspeak GPX, there is no TOU violation. This is just a list of waypoints formatted to make display easy, named "Cache 0001" through "Cache 5000".

 

Just a question...have you included enough information with each point for the unit to think of them as Geocaches? They need to have unique numerical Groundspeak IDs, for instance.

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OK, file sent. Thanks for offering to test. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

 

Note to any mods : this is pure dummy data, not from a pocket query or GPX download, with no useful information in it. Since I'm not sharing any Groundspeak GPX, there is no TOU violation. This is just a list of waypoints formatted to make display easy, named "Cache 0001" through "Cache 5000".

 

Just a question...have you included enough information with each point for the unit to think of them as Geocaches? They need to have unique numerical Groundspeak IDs, for instance.

Yes. Or at least, I think so. I loaded one into my Oregon 300 and it displayed fine.

 

Here's a sample.

 

  <wpt lat="37.00000" lon="-121.0">
<time>2010-04-21T00:00:00</time>
<name>GC0001</name>
<desc>Cache 0001</desc>
<url>http://coord.info</url>
<urlname>Cache 0001</urlname>
<sym>Geocache</sym>
<type>Geocache|Traditional Cache</type>
<Groundspeak:cache id="0001" available="True" archived="False" xmlns:Groundspeak="http://www.Groundspeak.com/cache/1/0">
  <Groundspeak:name>Cache 0001</Groundspeak:name>
  <Groundspeak:placed_by>Chrysalides</Groundspeak:placed_by>
  <Groundspeak:owner id="12345">Chrysalides</Groundspeak:owner>
  <Groundspeak:type>Traditional Cache</Groundspeak:type>
  <Groundspeak:container>Micro</Groundspeak:container>
  <Groundspeak:difficulty>1</Groundspeak:difficulty>
  <Groundspeak:terrain>1</Groundspeak:terrain>
  <Groundspeak:country>United States</Groundspeak:country>
  <Groundspeak:state>California</Groundspeak:state>
  <Groundspeak:short_description html="False">Cache 0001 short description</Groundspeak:short_description>
  <Groundspeak:long_description html="False">Cache 0001 long description</Groundspeak:long_description>
  <Groundspeak:encoded_hints>
  </Groundspeak:encoded_hints>
  <Groundspeak:logs>
  </Groundspeak:logs>
  <Groundspeak:travelbugs />
</Groundspeak:cache>
 </wpt>

 

According to the GPX file, I now own the longest power trail in the history of geocaching, and I overtook King Boreas with # of caches placed :laughing:

Edited by Chrysalides
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Here is the reply I got from garmin product support on the question of cache limit:

 

Dear Joe Wessels,

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International.

 

It is my pleasure to assist you. The Oregon 450 will accept up to 5,000 geocaches, as long as internal space permits. Geocaches come in many different sizes, so this can effect how many can be downloaded. If you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

 

With Best Regards,

 

Terry M

 

Product Support Specialist

 

Outdoor/Fitness Team

 

Garmin International

 

913-397-8200

 

800-800-1020

 

913-440-8280 (fax) Att: Terry M, Associate #5708

 

Original Message Follows: ------------------------

 

Subject: Requesting confimation of how many geocaches can be loaded on Oregon 450.

Message: It is cited on a few websites the Oregon 450 can hold 5,0000 geocaches. Spec sheet says 2,000. Garmin geo-cache webpage states up to 5,000 geocaches can be loaded also. Looking for the actual number so I can settle a bet (my money is on the 2,000 limit).

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Wow, your answer from Garmin is the opposite of mine.

I did warn you about tech support answers - getting answers from them often may result in too much sodium in your diet :huh: I've known some good tech support folks, but the sad thing is that most good ones get promoted quickly to a higher level or to another function.

 

Thanks for the testing, CortandTrent.

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This topic has been a good read as I'm shopping for a new GPS and considering the 450. I'm still a novice GC'er with only 45 finds so I can't help but ask... Besides "because it can", why would you want to load 5000 caches on the device anyway? (no sarcasm inferred) Just trying to understand the full concept. :huh:

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This topic has been a good read as I'm shopping for a new GPS and considering the 450. I'm still a novice GC'er with only 45 finds so I can't help but ask... Besides "because it can", why would you want to load 5000 caches on the device anyway? (no sarcasm inferred) Just trying to understand the full concept. :huh:
Areas of extreme cache density. I've found over 2,500, most of them somewhere between north Denver and Fort Collins, from out east a bit and up into the mountains. In 4 PQs of 500 each, I can still come up with 2,000 caches in that same area that I haven't yet found, and that only covers the area from I-70 north to Fort Collins - there are probably another 2,000 south of I-70. My un-founds would easily hit 4,000 in that stretch of territory that I frequent.

 

Since I'm as likely to be driving 50 miles one way as I am the other at times, and since I like to pick up a few caches while I've got time on those trips --- well, you get the picture. Things in some places are a bit more dense than they are out your way. Not to mention the amount our folks from Colorado get around. I just pulled up one cache at random from what is more or less the center of Providence, RI - your neck of the woods, more or less - and found March '10 logs for GC21ATA from Atwell Family, OneKindWord, Joe Friday and k-lord .. all local cachers that I know.

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This topic has been a good read as I'm shopping for a new GPS and considering the 450. I'm still a novice GC'er with only 45 finds so I can't help but ask... Besides "because it can", why would you want to load 5000 caches on the device anyway? (no sarcasm inferred) Just trying to understand the full concept. :huh:

I've found about 1,000 in my immediate area already (defined as a circle of approximately 25 miles that includes places where I'm likely to be in an ordinary day). There's 3,800 more that's "findable", and probably a few hundred more puzzles that I have yet to solve.

 

I don't want to go over each individually and only load those I'm going to attempt each day. I rather just refresh the entire set about once a week. For me, it saves time.

 

5,000 is almost the perfect number for me right now. It leaves some extra headroom for loading PQs when I go on longer trips. However, my Oregon 300 only loads 2000 geocaches, so I have to filter my set of 3800 down to about 1900. I should revise my procedure to load the rest in as custom POI, but I haven't been motivated enough.

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This topic has been a good read as I'm shopping for a new GPS and considering the 450. I'm still a novice GC'er with only 45 finds so I can't help but ask... Besides "because it can", why would you want to load 5000 caches on the device anyway? (no sarcasm inferred) Just trying to understand the full concept. :rolleyes:

 

I travel a lot to visit my girlfriend up in the mountains a lot and we take a lot of day trips. Since the area is so cache dense being able to hold a lot keeps me from having to load different caches all the time. And once they up the PQ to 1000 thats even less PQs I have to deal with!

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I can assure you it will hold 5K, I've done it. There is one bug though that can cause the unit to hang if you are replacing a large gpx file with another one. Keeping in mind I use GSAK to load my caches, connect the unit to the computer. Via the mass storage mode, delete the gpx file, disconnect the unit, reboot, connect again, run the macro in GSAK. It is a slight pain, but it works.

 

I am going away on business tomorrow and currently have 4500 or so caches loaded. On this unit don't mistaken caches for waypoints, most others they are one in the same, not these units.

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My husband and I have a 450 and a 62s. They get loaded up with close to 5,000 geocaches (usually 4500-5000) and directly onto the unit (not the SD card).

 

They both have their 'Garmin hiccups' from time to time. Sometimes we'll go for months without any problems. Other times, the Garmin will shut itself off. The 62 won't boot up.... etc. It's a garmin thing.....

 

My husband uses GSAK to load them up.

Edited by Lieblweb
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I have close to 2000 geocaches loaded on my 450t. It was pretty sluggish loading and updating the map. Then I moved the caches from the SD card to the unit itself and it seems to perform a bit better. I kinda wish Garmin would build their units with larger internal storage. The cards are pretty slow. Maybe the 600 series supports faster card speeds?

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So far it looks like everyone is quoting the wiki page that someone referred to. Garmins lack of documentation doesn't help either.

 

I'm finding several people saying that they can only load 2k caches to their 450, but at the same time, I'm not sure these people aren't confusing how to load a cache vs a waypoint.

 

Is there anyone here that owns a 450 and can confirm that they have successfully loaded more than 2k caches to their unit?

 

I've loaded 4500+.....just a little slower loading, no problems.

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Just for an FYI.....

 

As I previously noted, we've been loading the Oregon & 62s with 5000 geocaches and have had 'issues' (locking up, etc) from time to time.

 

Just within the last couple months, we've experimented with loading 4000 and sometimes only 2000 - I will venture to say, the less geocaches are in it, the less amount of problems we have with it. Recently only had 2300 in it for a vacation, and it loaded up quickly, booted quickly, and didn't hiccup once.

 

So, theoretically.... it's happier with less data in it.

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I think I read somewhere that waypoints and geocaches are loaded into RAM regardless of whether they are currently displayed on the map, so if that's the case, it could slow down performance. But don't take that as fact because I can't seem to locate that source, which I think was a forum anyway.

 

Again, I noticed a performance jump when I moved my geocaches from the SD card to the unit's internal memory. However, when I first put in the (blank) SD card, my geocaches disappeared. After fiddling around, it seemed that the GPS unit only liked the geocache GPX files to be located on the card and not on the unit. Maybe a firmware update since then has fixed that issue, but so far it's reading from the unit again.

Edited by mineral2
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I think I read somewhere that waypoints and geocaches are loaded into RAM regardless of whether they are currently displayed on the map, so if that's the case, it could slow down performance. But don't take that as fact because I can't seem to locate that source, which I think was a forum anyway.

 

Again, I noticed a performance jump when I moved my geocaches from the SD card to the unit's internal memory. However, when I first put in the (blank) SD card, my geocaches disappeared. After fiddling around, it seemed that the GPS unit only liked the geocache GPX files to be located on the card and not on the unit. Maybe a firmware update since then has fixed that issue, but so far it's reading from the unit again.

 

This thread might interest you...

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=296663

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