loading caches--Garmin etrex Venture HC

[+madmomma72]

OK, the very first time I loaded my PQ caches into my new-to-me etrex, it went into "Geocaches" right where it was supposed to go. After deleting them and running a new PQ, and sending the results to the gpsr, they loaded into "Waypoints" instead. Argh! What am I doing wrong? I've tried it three times and can't figure out what I'm screwing up.

 

Help!

 

mm72

[+BlueDeuce]

They will show in waypoints but to see them as geocaches you have to load them with the closed treasure chest icon.

[+Chrysalides]

Small clarification on what BlueDeuce said : geocaches are waypoints on the eTrex. But a waypoint can be one of many types, and a geocache is just one of them.

 

How are you sending the geocaches to your GPSr?

[ao318]

When you sent them the second time, did you happen to change the settings of the program or software that you are using to load them onto the GPSr? Next, are the geocaches that you loaded a second time greater than 50 miles from where you are? The unit will only show Geocaches within this range unless you change the viewing settings to view by name. This will list all the geocaches no matter what their distance is in alphabetical order.

 

Good luck

[+madmomma72]

I'm using GSAK, with a 100 mile search radius of where I'm going over the weekend, which is....80 miles from my home coords, which is what I usually use. So looks like I have a couple of issues, right? do I change my centerpoint in GSAK before loading the caches? I did use the waypoints the last couple of times out, but it's not nearly as helpful as having them listed in geocaches as far as helping with direction, distance, marking them found, and showing me the next nearest cache.

 

Sorry if these are dumb questions. I've only had the handheld a few weeks and only get to use it on weekends.

 

Thanks for all the input, though, I appreciate it A LOT!

 

mm72

[+smithdk]

Changing the centerpoint in GSAK will have not have any impact since the 50 mile limit is just a feature of the etrex units. On your GPS unit, is the icon set to the closed treasure chest under your Geocache setup? There is also a setting in GSAK that can affect your icons. Click on GPS and then 'send waypoints'

[+madmomma72]

OK, I'm gonna check the treasure chest thing...I'm thinking I might have messed it up when I was playing with the unit and not knowing what I was still doing. (I still don't, obviously! )

 

thanks!

 

mm72

 

ETA: It's an open treasure chest. How do I change it? I can change the icons for find (closed treasure chest/found (open treasure chest), but I can't figure out how to change it in the "Find" menu. The directions aren't very helpful for geocaching stuff.

Edited November 5, 2010 by madmomma72

[+Chrysalides]

I'm not quite sure what you're saying (sorry, end of a long tough day). But you should check this setting in GSAK:

 

Under GPS -> Send Waypoints

 

GPS Symbols : Found = Geocache Found, Not Found = Geocache.

 

That should set it correctly in GSAK. As long as it is not marked as Found on GSAK, it should show up under "Geocaches" on your Venture HC.

 

When you look at geocaches or waypoints, anything beyond 50 miles from where you are currently at will not show up. But you can find them if you search by name.

[ao318]

Ok. I'm a little confused also, so lets start from the beginning and try to get some things cleared up here.

 

First, when you see the loaded geocache on your unit under the "waypoint" option are they showing as treasure chests or as something else? If they're are showing as treasure chests under the "waypoint" option and they are not showing up at all in the "geocache" option then the caches you have loaded are greater than 50 miles from the GPS unit itself. They will not show up until you get within 50 miles or you change how you view the geocaches from "find nearest" to "find by name". You do this by selecting find>choose geocache>press the menu button>choose "find by name". This will now list and show all the caches you have loaded in alphabetical order, no matter what their distance may be.

 

If for some reason when you choose the waypoint option and the geocaches that you have loaded do not have the treasure chest icon but something else, you changed a setting in GSAK somewhere and this is messing you up. I would personally just delete the setting for my GPS unit and create a new one with the default settings and everything should be good from there. To delete your GPS settings in GSAK select GPS>send waypoints>at the bottom of the screen you will see a box that says "settings". In this box is a "delete" tab. Select it> choose your unit and delete it. Now go back to the GPS tab and select it and choose "set up" and create the default settings for your unit. This should take care of this issue.

 

Finally, if I understand the question, you want to change the found geocache icon back to an unfound icon on the unit, correct? To do this, select the geocache you want to modify and hit enter. This will bring up the page has the icon in the top left corner, then the name next to it. The bottom of the screen has "delete", "Map", and "Go to". You will need to toggle the highlight from "go to" to the "icon". Press enter and this will open up all the icons/waypoint images that are loaded onto the unit. Scroll over to the closed treasure chest and choose it. You will now have the closed treasure chest icon back.

 

Now, does this make sense and am I understanding what you are asking? If not, please clarify so that we can help you out some more.

[+badger10]

I'm using GSAK, with a 100 mile search radius of where I'm going over the weekend, which is....80 miles from my home coords, which is what I usually use. So looks like I have a couple of issues, right? do I change my centerpoint in GSAK before loading the caches? I did use the waypoints the last couple of times out, but it's not nearly as helpful as having them listed in geocaches as far as helping with direction, distance, marking them found, and showing me the next nearest cache.

 

Sorry if these are dumb questions. I've only had the handheld a few weeks and only get to use it on weekends.

 

Thanks for all the input, though, I appreciate it A LOT!

 

mm72

I also have the Venture HC. When I load a cache for the first time it goes to the geocaches folder. Once I find them and then put them back on the GPS again later (for the kids to find) they do not go in the geocache folder. They go into the Waypoints folder. I guess once they are found (or maybe deleted?) the Etrex will not let you put them in the Geocache folder.

[ao318]

I'm using GSAK, with a 100 mile search radius of where I'm going over the weekend, which is....80 miles from my home coords, which is what I usually use. So looks like I have a couple of issues, right? do I change my centerpoint in GSAK before loading the caches? I did use the waypoints the last couple of times out, but it's not nearly as helpful as having them listed in geocaches as far as helping with direction, distance, marking them found, and showing me the next nearest cache.

 

Sorry if these are dumb questions. I've only had the handheld a few weeks and only get to use it on weekends.

 

Thanks for all the input, though, I appreciate it A LOT!

 

mm72

I also have the Venture HC. When I load a cache for the first time it goes to the geocaches folder. Once I find them and then put them back on the GPS again later (for the kids to find) they do not go in the geocache folder. They go into the Waypoints folder. I guess once they are found (or maybe deleted?) the Etrex will not let you put them in the Geocache folder.

This is correct. To place an found cache back into the geocache folder, you must change them back to not found. You can do this as I mentioned in a previous post or you can change them prior to sending them in GSAK.

[+madmomma72]

First, when you see the loaded geocache on your unit under the "waypoint" option are they showing as treasure chests or as something else? If they're are showing as treasure chests under the "waypoint" option and they are not showing up at all in the "geocache" option then the caches you have loaded are greater than 50 miles from the GPS unit itself. They will not show up until you get within 50 miles or you change how you view the geocaches from "find nearest" to "find by name". You do this by selecting find>choose geocache>press the menu button>choose "find by name". This will now list and show all the caches you have loaded in alphabetical order, no matter what their distance may be.

 

If for some reason when you choose the waypoint option and the geocaches that you have loaded do not have the treasure chest icon but something else, you changed a setting in GSAK somewhere and this is messing you up. I would personally just delete the setting for my GPS unit and create a new one with the default settings and everything should be good from there. To delete your GPS settings in GSAK select GPS>send waypoints>at the bottom of the screen you will see a box that says "settings". In this box is a "delete" tab. Select it> choose your unit and delete it. Now go back to the GPS tab and select it and choose "set up" and create the default settings for your unit. This should take care of this issue.

 

Now, does this make sense and am I understanding what you are asking? If not, please clarify so that we can help you out some more.

 

I have four options in my "Find" menu -- waypoints, geocaches, cities and exits. The first time I loaded any caches, I just did a pq for the ones that were in a 100 mile radius of my home coords. After I got the caches I wanted from that list and ran a new pq for a different location and then tried to load them, they went into waypoints instead. The closest cache is about 20 miles away from where I am and it doesn't show as a cache, either, just a waypoint.

 

They show up in waypoints as an airplane icon. They DID show as treasure chests when they loaded into geocaches. I went back and reset everything I could find to default in gsak and tried it again...same result. I think there's something I must have changed that I haven't found yet to reset to default.

 

I have now uninstalled and reinstalled gsak, so my next step is to try loading the query again.

 

Oh....The only other thing I can think of that I changed was the gpx setting on geocaching. com from 1.0 to 1.01. That wouldn't have caused this, would it?

 

Everything you've written makes sense. I'm going to try this one more time (can't cache tomorrow, so have one more night to get it figured out, otherwise I'll just use the waypoints, because I can't not cache on the weekend, lol.)

 

I will let you know what happens. Thanks for the input and I'll keep trying things until I figure it out. It's definitely a learning curve and I thought I had it all figured out, ha!

 

mm72

[+madmomma72]

I also have the Venture HC. When I load a cache for the first time it goes to the geocaches folder. Once I find them and then put them back on the GPS again later (for the kids to find) they do not go in the geocache folder. They go into the Waypoints folder. I guess once they are found (or maybe deleted?) the Etrex will not let you put them in the Geocache folder.

 

These are all caches I haven't found yet. I try to pick an area to spend the weekend caching in and run the PQ accordingly, so they're all new to me caches. But I'll definitely remember this since my little partner often is not with me and she will want to do on her own some the ones I've already done. Thanks for the pointer on that.

 

mm72

[+Chrysalides]

They show up in waypoints as an airplane icon.

Can you tell me what the entries in the top left of this dialog box says on your GSAK? BTW mine looks a lot simpler :

 

Found = Geocache Found

Not Found = Geocache

Placed = Residence

Archived = Cemetery

Final Location = Airport

(and a bunch of others = Airport)

 

 

Can you also give the GC ID of some of the geocaches that show up as airports, and what are the coordinates?

Edited November 5, 2010 by Chrysalides

[+madmomma72]

Sure! I don't knw how to get a screenshhot like yours, but mine say:

 

Traditional = Airport

Multi = Amusement Park

Letterbox = Anchor

CITO = Anchor Prohibited

Event = Animal Tracks

Locationless = ATV

Virtual = Bait and Tackle

Web Cam = Ball Park

a bunch of other ones that are different things and then the rest, like Final Location = Airport, Parking Area = Airport, etc.

 

I don't see anything that says Found or Not Found in that list.

 

Here are some of the ones that show up as airports (they're all traditionals):

 

GC128XQ 100th Anniversary Cache: Brule River coords: N46 32.005 W091 35.599

 

GCG5TK 52-Pickup WWF 01 & 02 Copper Falls coords: N 46 22.320 W090 38.584

 

GC1FFWR ZFJR-O Zoma's Point coords: N46° 02.936 W 091° 22.742

 

Does the fact that there aren't any "Geocache" or "Geocache Found" here have something to do with it? I have no idea why they're such goofy icons, either. On the gps in the geocache menu, they're set to treasure chests, unfound are closed and found are open.

 

Another thing I noticed is that every time I go to the geocache menu on the gpsr, it asks me if I want to set up geocache options and although it's set right, I get the same message every time I go to that menu.

[+Chrysalides]

Sure! I don't knw how to get a screenshhot like yours, but mine say:

 

Traditional = Airport

OK, try this:

 

click on the "Change Symbols" button.

 

In the next dialog box (Change Waypoint Icon / Symbols), in the "General" tab, select the "Status Only" radio button.

 

You should see : "Found = Geocache Found, Not found = Geocache, Placed = Residence, Archived = Cemetery"

 

The downside of this is that all your geocaches, be they mystery, multistage, virtual, all show up as "Treasure Chest".

 

I'm not sure why your Venture HC asks you about geocaching mode all the time. Could be because it didn't detect any waypoints set to be geocaches. Hopefully after this that problem will go away.

[ao318]

 

Traditional = Airport

 

 

This is your problem. The first thing, have you set up your GPS in GSAK or are did you just start using GSAK as it is.

 

If you set up your GPS in the settings, I would delete that setting and create a new one. If you haven't set up your GPS yet, I would do that so you have the correct settings for your unit.

 

Directions to delete:

1) on the top of the screen, click on the GPS tab and select "send waypoints"

2) this will open up a window that states "settings". In this box there is an option to "delete", choose it.

3) This will open a new window with a list of units you have set up. You should see a name there that you created for your unit, select it and delete it. If you don not see anything listed, then you have not created a setting for your unit yet which is good because either way the next step is to set up your unit.

4) At the bottom of the screen is a tab that states, "GPSr Setup" that looks like a hammer. Click on this tab and go to the set up directions below.

 

Directions to set up:

1) After doing #4 above you will have a window that opened up asking for the GPS brand, enter Garmin.

2) Choose your unit from the next tab, e trex venture HC and now select ok at the bottom of the screen.

3) Now select the "save" button in the settings box and name your unit, something like Venture HC or just HC will do and hit ok.

4) Now look up at the box above the lists the GPS symbols. It should say "Not found = Geocache" this is the key here. This unit does not support a lot of different images.

 

Your GSAK settings are now set for this unit. I hope this helps. Just post if it does not.

[+Chrysalides]

 

Traditional = Airport

 

 

This is your problem. The first thing, have you set up your GPS in GSAK or are did you just start using GSAK as it is.

I think the instructions I gave in the post above yours is probably easier to follow.

 

He needs to get to this dialog box:

 

 

And select the second radio button "Status Only".

[+madmomma72]

ao318 and Chrysalides--

 

That worked! Thank you SO much! Now I'm ready for a full day of caching and I'll know not to touch that setting.

 

I appreciate all the help!

 

mm72