2.7 Delorme Firmware for Geocaching?

[+cr4zybilly]

I've been reading up on the 2.7 firmware for my PN-30, thinking about the upgrade.

 

I'm a bit confused, though--there's some vague talk about it introducing some limitations for geocaching. Has anybody experienced that?

 

(FWIW, I use GSAK to load things)

[+dakboy]

Where's this "vague talk" you refer to?

 

The 2.7 firmware release was not targeted at geocachers at all, not even at all PN-40 users; it was really meant for XMap 7 users, but anyone can use it.

 

I've never seen/heard any limitations, but it does open up a fair number of possibilities with the introduction of GPX file management, allowing one to save waypoints, caches & tracks to the SD card you've loaded into the unit and read it back.

[+cr4zybilly]

Where's this "vague talk" you refer to?

 

Well, there's this post on the Delorme blog that says

So for those of you looking at the 2.7 firmware update, keep in mind that we did not deliver support for the geocaching.com GPX attributes or the ability to open a track file that has been saved to the SD card. These features will be made available with the 2.8 firmware update that is expected to release in the Spring.

 

It's the "we did not deliver support for geocaching.com GPS attributes" part that worries me.

 

Then again, I have no idea what that actually means

Edited April 29, 2010 by cr4zybilly

[+dakboy]

Where's this "vague talk" you refer to?

 

Well, there's this post on the Delorme blog that says

So for those of you looking at the 2.7 firmware update, keep in mind that we did not deliver support for the geocaching.com GPX attributes or the ability to open a track file that has been saved to the SD card. These features will be made available with the 2.8 firmware update that is expected to release in the Spring.

 

It's the "we did not deliver support for geocaching.com GPS attributes" part that worries me.

 

Then again, I have no idea what that actually means

What that means is that you can't take your Pocket Query GPX files, drop them on the SD card, and hit the trail; the firmware can't read them directly (certain Garmin devices can). We don't know yet if it'll be 100% true for FW 2.8 (which will also require TopoUSA 9 and a new version of Cache Register for computer connectivity) as anyone who has used it is almost certainly under NDA.

Edited April 29, 2010 by dakboy

[+cr4zybilly]

Ah...so what they're saying is "You've still got to use GSAK or CacheRegister or whatever to load it up--we didn't add the Complete Magic Feature yet."

 

Good to know. I was afraid it was something more like "we took a couple features out--it's pretty much hosed for geocaching now".

 

Sounds like I'm good to go--I'll be doing that update tonight!

[+dakboy]

Ah...so what they're saying is "You've still got to use GSAK or CacheRegister or whatever to load it up--we didn't add the Complete Magic Feature yet."

Which is part of the reason why they didn't announce it to the whole world. This update, while it works with all of DeLorme's stuff at present, was targeted at users of one desktop application in particular.

 

Sounds like I'm good to go--I'll be doing that update tonight!

I installed it a couple nights ago, after having the whole GPS go wonky on me and somehow revert back to 2.5 (I had 2.6 installed), and it's been good so far. Just be prepared to reset all of your page & info field customizations.

[+Pax42]

If you use the instructions I provided in the other thread for loading, you'll be good to go. As Dakboy said, You won't be losing any geocaching capability.