Paperless caching with 60CSx?

[+Hmnbrdlady]

The tech support at Garmin said that you can sort of make the 60CSx paperless using gsak. Can anyone give me more info about how this works or if this really helps?

[+IBcrashen]

You can load the caches as POI`s with Garmin free POI Loader and the help of GSAK and this macro ( free). There is an 88 character limit on each page so if it goes over that it will create more POI pages.

I load the caches as waypoint ( or as geocaches if you use this feature ) and POI with just the hints loaded with the POI. If I do need the hint I just do a find/POI option to look it up.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

The 60CSx is a great GPSr. It is the unit that most others are compared to.

 

However, "sort of..." is just that -- sort of.

 

You did not say -- do you have a 60CSx, or are you thinking of getting one?

 

If you already have one, then good, use it to its' full potential, as "sort of" is OK.

 

If you are trying to decide on a GPSr purchase (and you want paperless), "sort of" is not what you want.

 

Straight forward and to the point.

[+Hmnbrdlady]

You can load the caches as POI`s with Garmin free POI Loader and the help of GSAK and this macro ( free). There is an 88 character limit on each page so if it goes over that it will create more POI pages.

I load the caches as waypoint ( or as geocaches if you use this feature ) and POI with just the hints loaded with the POI. If I do need the hint I just do a find/POI option to look it up.

 

Thanks, I will see if I can get this to work. Frankly, I'm amazed that I figured out how to go geocaching with this unit--it's not as user friendly (for me, at least) as I had hoped.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Hmnbrdlady

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Thanks, I will see if I can get this to work. Frankly, I'm amazed that I figured out how to go geocaching with this unit--it's not as user friendly (for me, at least) as I had hoped.

All GPSr units are usable, and will get you to GZ. Some just do it with more bells & whistles. Each unit has a "learning curve" associated with it, the more you use it, the easier it becomes. Anytime that one moves on to another (different) GPSr, they get to need learn its' keystrokes and access points all over again. Hopefully, one doesn't have to get another one again for a while!

[+Chokecherry]

Other than my phone I have the 60CSx. And when it finally got to my house I was so completely overwhelmed with it I didn't think I'd ever get it. So I learned the basics first. I wanted to cache. i had to know how to enter coordinates and then "go to" coordinates. Then I stagnated there with learning for awhile. Then I added bits and pieces until this past weekend I sent some coordinates to my unit from the website. And then had to relearn some aspects again.

 

Just take it in baby steps and don't try to learn it all at once.

 

I looked at the units with more bells and whistles and determined I couldn't justify the price for how I knew I would use it. Different units work for different people.

[+Quossum]

I was a little overwhelmed by my 60CSx, too. When I first got it out of the box I had to walk away after messing with it just a little and take a few deep breaths. Even now I'm sure there are many bells and whistles that I haven't explored.

 

I've recently loaded GSAK and it is a wonderful program. With GSAK, I found it fairly easy to get my GPSr to display, in its "notes" for the cache, its size, difficulty, and terrain, as well as TB status (usually inaccurate, through no fault of the unit, though I always hope!) That alone was a huge help, but I wanted to be totally paperless and still be able to read details from the cache pages and old logs.

 

I already had an iTouch--not the phone, just a Touch iPod--and discovered I could use an app called Geosphere to get what I wanted. Others have found a cheap PDA to be a perfect solution. This does involve having two units rather than one, but I think it's worth it. I look at the cache page on my Touch before I head out, use the Garmin to get GZ, look for the cache, and then, if I need to, get out the Touch again for additional information.

 

Good luck in all!

 

--Q

[+Birdman-of-liskatraz]

I wrote a guide to doing this a while ago, I'm not sure if it's useful, but its in Adobe PDF format and available from....

 

OK I give up I can't link to it - but drop me a message and I'll send you the link..

 

Tries again Adding Clues to the 60CSX

Edited June 23, 2010 by Birdman-of-liskatraz

[+Stepping Stones]

I wrote a guide to doing this a while ago, I'm not sure if it's useful, but its in Adobe PDF format and available from....

 

OK I give up I can't link to it - but drop me a message and I'll send you the link..

 

Tries again Adding Clues to the 60CSX

Didn't work for me!!!

[2009girl5]

You can load the caches as POI`s with Garmin free POI Loader and the help of GSAK and this macro ( free). There is an 88 character limit on each page so if it goes over that it will create more POI pages.

I load the caches as waypoint ( or as geocaches if you use this feature ) and POI with just the hints loaded with the POI. If I do need the hint I just do a find/POI option to look it up.

 

Thanks, I will see if I can get this to work. Frankly, I'm amazed that I figured out how to go geocaching with this unit--it's not as user friendly (for me, at least) as I had hoped.

 

I was actually just looking for a way to communicate with Hmnbrdlady, I know 2 of the kids in some of your pictures. Thomas and Matthew! Haha

[+JohnCNA]

The tech support at Garmin said that you can sort of make the 60CSx paperless using gsak. Can anyone give me more info about how this works or if this really helps?

An option you should look at if you have a good smartphone is to get a geocaching app for it. Use the Garmin for navigation since it's more accurate. Use the smartphone app to get descriptions & hints, PQ's, search near you, etc. I augment my Etrex 30 with CacheSense on my company provided Blackberry. The two together augment each other nicely.

[+RoadRoach58]

It actually works well, however, what I stumbled up on is the unit will randomly throw away letters from the name and the description. It seems to target E's I's, O's, 1's. Go figger, but I've actually learned to read 60CSXese. In GSAK, you can play around with the formatting of the text of the waypoint for a bit to get what means something to you when you see it. The string I use is '%Typ1%Con1%Drop2 %Name' for the name field, and a script (POIComment.GSK) to fill in the description field in the unit. The 60CSX is typically one of the most accurate hand-held units. I know some caching partners that will defer to the 60CSx if there is a discrepancy about GZ, so sometimes, I'm glad to be the person carrying one. While limted, it offers only a 'purist's' version of paperless caching, which really only changes the icon on the waypoint, but certainly can be enhanced by some of the methods discussed above. If you start doing work-arounds, though, you'll find they chew up time while caching. It's OK if you're out in the boonies for a hike, and geocaching is coincidental. But if you're caching against the clock (for numbers), and the hiking is coincidental, having to dig through the POI's to get the little tidbit of info that might help can take a while on the keypad of the 60CSX. I tend to cache like a purist. After you've cached for a while, and have learned the methods/techniques of hide types and owners, you probably won't bother with hints or logs. Sometimes, it may take 20 or 30 POI's for the same point just to put in the description if the owner is a bit of a wordsmith. Then, if it's got long logs, that will make the count grow proportionately In the unit, you will find that you can control what is signaled as an unfound cache and what is a found cache. I set mine to turn any find into a smiley. If I want to filter on a cache type, that's a little trickier, but you can control the icon used for each cache type when you load the unit with GSAK. Then, if you only want the traditionals, set the geocache icon in the 60CSx to show only the ones with the icon that you selected for Traditionals. It isn't quite as nice as the ap in more expensive models, but do you need a better ap enough to pay the price? Is the price relevant? If you already have the 60CSx, it's usable. I've been doing so for 2 years. Sometimes, I LIKE the challenge of not having the hints or descriptions. Depends on my mood, size of the container, how hot it is, etc, etc. Too many factors determine whether I want a hint or not. What I LIKE about the ap, is that it records the finds in the order you found them, AND, you can actually change the coordinates of a cache if it's part of a multi-cache. A friend of mine has a Colorado 300, and I have two features in my 60CSx he does not. The just mentioned editing feature for multi's, AND, you can also set up the proximity detector to let you know when you are within a pre-selected distance from GZ. It's a good unit. Not great, but good. What it lacks in bells and whistles, it more than makes up for with accuracy and speed.