Mac & Garmin

[+Electric Sparrow]

I have got a mac computer and Garmin etrex Legend GPS (not sure of age). I have tried to download the communicator for Mac it tells me it is all installed correctly on the test page, but when I try to send any caches over I get "no devices found" message.

Is this because they will never work together?

Have I done something wrong?

I am interested in getting a newer GPS (Oregon) so I can do paperless caching but I don't want to spend loads of money if the two machines won't talk to one another...

 

Please help me. I can't look on the internet any more as it tells me it works but I can't seem to get it to...

 

I would also like to know if anyone can get any of the geocaching software to work that is from the resources page on a mac?

[+sduck]

Just a guess, but are you using Safari? Communicator doesn't work in safari - get firefox.

[+John Drake]

Just a guess, but are you using Safari? Communicator doesn't work in safari - get firefox.

 

Actually, I can use Communicator quite well with Safari. I recall having troubles with older versions of the Communicator plugin and Safari -- make sure all your software is up to date.

 

You should also check if other software, such as Basecamp for the Mac can recognize your device. See the Mac OS X download page:

 

http://www8.garmin.com/macosx/

 

Cheers

[+Mole60]

I'm so non-techie, but this is my recent experience for your info: I recently bought a Colorado 300. Just followed all the prompts for waypoint downloads, downloaded the small app for Mac, and got the caches on the GPSr unit without problem.

[+Bear and Ragged]

The plug in "Flip4Mac" can be/has been trouble for some users trying to download info...

[+ecanderson]

True enough, if the OP is running Flip4Mac. Here's what I had spotted elsewhere - just move vs. uninstall. Note that there are TWO plugins involved:

 

-------------------------

Once again Safari 4.03 does not load the plug in (2.8.2) and Garmin's test page cannot detect it. Firefox 3.5.3 however loads it fine and the plug-in is detected.

 

I put Flip4Mac's plugins into a temp folder (Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin and Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.webplugin)

 

Restarted Safari and success, the plug in is detected.

Edited September 26, 2010 by ecanderson

[+Blinkdog]

Hello,

 

I have a MacBook Pro laptop running snow leopard that I use. I used to use an E-trex Legend with the serial connector. I could not get them to work together even using a serial to USB adapter. A month ago I decided that I wanted to start paperless caching. I purchased a Dakota 10. I have had no problems accessing any features on my mac laptop. I plug in the Dakota 10 and it pops up like a thumb drive. I then save my pocket queries in the GPX folder and then when I power it up there are the caches. The field notes feature also works even though it is not listed as a feature of the Dakota 10. I use Google Chrome for all my web browsing and have had no problems with it sending a single cache listing to the Dakota 10. The stand alone Garmin web updater for Mac for updating the Dakota 10 software works great as well.

From what I have read the Dakota and the Oregon pretty much use the same software so my guess is that it should work about the same.

 

Hope this helps

 

Blinkdog

Edited September 26, 2010 by Blinkdog

[+cycler48]

Just a guess, but are you using Safari? Communicator doesn't work in safari - get firefox.

 

It used to be that way and I downloaded the Camino browser to get around it. The Flip4mac plugin for the Safari browser appeared to be the problem. Updates have since been done and I'm using Safari (with flip4mac) and Communicator with no problem now.

[robertlipe]

Blinkdog and Electric Sparrow both mention failures with Legends, but don't mention precisely which Legend.

 

It used to be the case that Garmin's own software didn't suppor the serial models on Mac. Third party software - such as GPSBabel - often does. Unless Garmin explicitly says that their communicator thingy works with the exact model of unit you have (and those letters after the model name make a huge difference about the only thing a Legend Hc and a Legend have in common are a similarly shaped and colored case - they're very different products at the UI and protocol levels.

[+Electric Sparrow]

Blinkdog and Electric Sparrow both mention failures with Legends, but don't mention precisely which Legend.

 

It used to be the case that Garmin's own software didn't suppor the serial models on Mac. Third party software - such as GPSBabel - often does. Unless Garmin explicitly says that their communicator thingy works with the exact model of unit you have (and those letters after the model name make a huge difference about the only thing a Legend Hc and a Legend have in common are a similarly shaped and colored case - they're very different products at the UI and protocol levels.

 

Hello. I have tried running the communicator through both Safari & Firefox (I mainly use Firefox). The GPS device itself is blue etrex LEGEND it has no other letters or numbers on it even on the manual cover. I did discover the software it is running is 3.90 but nothing else that I can see to help identify the model.

 

I am not sure where else to look, I seem to be a bit slow, but am struggling with the change over from PC to Mac more than I thought I would...

[+Electric Sparrow]

Blinkdog and Electric Sparrow both mention failures with Legends, but don't mention precisely which Legend.

 

It used to be the case that Garmin's own software didn't suppor the serial models on Mac. Third party software - such as GPSBabel - often does. Unless Garmin explicitly says that their communicator thingy works with the exact model of unit you have (and those letters after the model name make a huge difference about the only thing a Legend Hc and a Legend have in common are a similarly shaped and colored case - they're very different products at the UI and protocol levels.

 

Hello. I have tried running the communicator through both Safari & Firefox (I mainly use Firefox). The GPS device itself is blue etrex LEGEND it has no other letters or numbers on it even on the manual cover. I did discover the software it is running is 3.90 but nothing else that I can see to help identify the model.

 

I am not sure where else to look, I seem to be a bit slow, but am struggling with the change over from PC to Mac more than I thought I would...

[robertlipe]

If it has no letters after it, that's an old black and white serial unit. As I said, I don't think that Garmin's own software supports any of the serial models and nobody so far has countered that.

[gcerullo]

It sounds like you've got the old translucent blue eTrex Legend with the serial connection.

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=167&pID=173

 

If I'm correct, those units aren't supported by the Communicator plug-in.

 

What you can try is downloading BaseCamp for the Mac and see if it recognizes the unit when it is plugged into the Mac. You'll need a serial to USB conversion cable, which I presume you already have if you are presently connecting the unit to your Mac.

 

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4449

 

If BaseCamp sees your Legend GPS unit then you can download the LOC waypoint files from the geocache web page instead and import the LOC file in to BaseCamp and then send the geocache waypoint to the Legend GPS.

 

As to your other question about the Oregon, yes it works great with the Mac and is fully supported by all of Garmin's software and the Communicator plug-in. I know this as fact as I have the Oregon 450.

[+Bikehog]

Hello,

 

I have a MacBook Pro laptop running snow leopard that I use. I used to use an E-trex Legend with the serial connector. I could not get them to work together even using a serial to USB adapter. A month ago I decided that I wanted to start paperless caching. I purchased a Dakota 10. I have had no problems accessing any features on my mac laptop. I plug in the Dakota 10 and it pops up like a thumb drive. I then save my pocket queries in the GPX folder and then when I power it up there are the caches. The field notes feature also works even though it is not listed as a feature of the Dakota 10. I use Google Chrome for all my web browsing and have had no problems with it sending a single cache listing to the Dakota 10. The stand alone Garmin web updater for Mac for updating the Dakota 10 software works great as well.

From what I have read the Dakota and the Oregon pretty much use the same software so my guess is that it should work about the same.

 

Hope this helps

 

Blinkdog

 

Hi

 

I've been using an iMac running OSX 10 .5.8 with a Dakota 20 successfully for some time. I found that it would not work when I used safari, but worked brilliantly with Firefox until I upgraded the Firefox software to 3.6.10.

 

Although I can access the Geocaching website, I cannot see the main map when searching for caches using google maps.

 

HELP!

[catseekr]

none of my chrome versions do work with my garmin etrex vista hcx on 10.5.8: no uploads possible!

maybe there's a bug in the java script code, cause on the garmin-test page the plug in has been recognized!

any ideas that might help - except changing browsers?

cheers

catseekr

[Little Miss Muffet]

I'm not a techie, but just wanted to let you know that my Oregon 450 & Mac laptop & desktop both play nice together the majority of the time. Every now and then, I have to unplug/plug back in, so that the computer can see its connected, but I have to do from time to time with my camera and other gadgets too.

 

going paperless is ***SO*** much nicer.