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At A Crossroads......


bananaskin

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We have enjoyed geocaching all over the UK for 2 years now and use a Garmin eTrex 'H',which I'm very satisfied with except that, in some instances, it won't accept the full GC alpha numeric, meaning a laborious entry by hand of Lat/Lon coords. In conjunction with the Garmin, I use Memory Map (GB Central) where I add the lat/lon coords which brings up a flag where the cache is located. This enables me to plan a suitable walking route so I can cover as many caches as possible without doubling back on myself.

 

I have been meaning to install GSAK, but the techno babble puts me off, and I'm not sure if there is much difference in what I'm doing anyway. A new all singing/all dancing GPS has been considered until I take a look at the price tag.

 

I (think) I want to upgrade to make our geocaching experience that much easier? simpler?, but don't know which way to go.

 

Any help much appreciated

 

Thanks BS

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Please take a look at my resource website, the page on GPS. I've tried to explain about the various GPS units, the features on them (in non-technical terms) and at the end of the page is a comparison table including guide prices. See if it helps. I'd appreciate any feedback.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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Try GSAK first. It's really not as hard as it sounds. It has lots of buttons and dials and menus and things, but getting the basics working is pretty simple.

 

Once it's set up, you can just drag the zipfile that Groundspeak sends you into GSAK, then use a couple of menu items to send the waypoints to Memory Map and to your GPS.

 

The main difference over what you do now is that it gives the caches "smart names", which may well prove the solution to your problem with some waypoints not being accepted. And as time goes on you might start playing with some of its other features, like being able to change the icon for certain types of caches so (for example) you don't find yourself looking for ones that have been disabled.

 

It's free to use for 21 days, so you can try it out and see how you get on.

 

Cheers

Richard

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I agree about GSAK, it's too techno babble for me too.

Do you have any local cachers that you meet at events, etc who might loan you a fancy gps for a day - there's no substitute to trying one out in the field.

 

Being an H user myself for 5 years I was loaned an Oregon for a day (thank you Maple Leaf) and was instantly hooked - had my own for over a year now.

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Thanks for the responses guys....as a start, I've downloaded GSAK and will try and navigate through it over the next days. At first glance, it looks awfullly daunting!!

 

Graculus...thanks for the link..what is your opinion on the (fairly) new? Memory Map GPS? Does this unit have UK OS Landranger maps installed as standard?

 

I fear that going for a new GPS may not allow me to plan a route avoiding doubling back?

 

Thanks again

 

BS

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The Memory Map GPS allows you to upload your own m,aps if you have Memory Map already installed on your computer. It does not seem to have a dedicated Geocaching facility so I cant see it being able to store your finds, and after 4 attempts at trying to get a definite answer from Memory Map I have given up asking them. It will accept GPX files but exactly what cache details it will display. As far as I can make out the caches show up as standard waypoints (I stand to be corrected)

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If you do get into GSAK (remember you don't need many of the features so don't be put off) you'll find it solves most of your problems. I use it to store basic cache details as Points Of Interest on an Etrex, which gives enough to find most caches, although I tend to limit the number to the closest 2000 or so. That can be done just by running a macro. Apart from that, you just load a pocket query file and there you have the cache details. Then connect a GPSr and download them.

 

There is a GSAK Forum and that's where you'll find your questions answered best.

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I found that when using GSAK for my Geko, that dropping the GC part of the code meant I got all of the waypoint code onto the GPS. Child waymarks keep all of the code, but there is less chance of the first 6 digits being the same as there is with caches such as series.

However, I haven't looked back since buying my Oregon 300, I only use GSAK for putting caches onto my TomTom now.

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Since you already have Memory Map, why not consider a pda with GPS - I use the old HP IPAQ rx5720. Memory map will install across and you can actually follow yourself on the map.

 

Of course there are disadvantages to the pda route - the main one being robustness - but it suits me.

Cheers,

Trevor

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I've not used the Memory Map GPS but have seen one in use and I recall it wasn't very fast at drawing the screen. As others have said it doesn't have specific geocaching apps and if geocaching is what you want a GPS for then it may not be ideal. Saying this it does work with Memory Map and you can easily transfer maps/routes etc. The option for Memory Map on a Garmin GPS means buying the specific version although you can load Memory Map files onto a Garmin GPS by converting them. A PDA is a good choice because it will run Memory Map directly, though battery life on a PDA is not that good and neither are they that rugged. Drop an iPhone or PDA in a stream and that's that! Drop a Garmin GPS in a stream and it should be fine.

 

I've used a smart phone (iPhone) and PDA (Mio P550) for caching but will always come back to a dedicated GPS. I've used a Garmin eTrex Legend, Vista H and now I have an Oregon and prefer a GPS to the other options. The Oregon does all the paperless caching I want, has free maps (not as good as the OS ones but they work very well though I chose to buy the OS ones for it). The battery life is excellent and it is rugged.

 

Get to an event, chat to others and play with their toys. Everyone has their own favourites. Mine is the Oregon, someone else will use a PDA and others have found thousands of caches with the good old yellow eTrex.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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Gritted my teeth with GSAK and today got as far as getting a single cache on the GSAK 'grid'. Quite content with progress so far......however, I'm now stuck at trying to export from GSAK to MM (or is that importing to MM from GSAK!!).

 

GSAK help is not very helpful on this topic and if I can just get one cache across to MM I'll be very happy.

 

Best Regards to to all present and future contributors.

 

PS: Bought Region 1 MM today (Southern England) This is in preparation for a short holiday to Wiltshire (Geocaching of course!) early May.

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GSAK to Memory map is easy if you use this macro from Rutson. Click on it and your PC should identify it as a GSAK file and install it for you in GSAK. Get a list of caches in the GSAK database and run the macro.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

Never used that Macro.... does it do anything that the GSAK 'Export to MemoryMap' function doesn't do?

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Uses Lordelphs icons. Really quick compared to the default one and you don't have to do much setting up with parameters.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

Ok... The GSAK export funtion can use Lordelph's flashy icons, too :)

I'll give it a try.

What I found with Rutson's macro was it had everything 'built in'. You didn't need to download the icons or open the created overlay in MM, it opens MM for you with the caches there.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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Oops! maybe I've spoken too soon....I have the icons for the selected caches now displayed on MM. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but none show any ID? Apart from giving lat/lon coords and elevation, there is no further info like cache GC number. I tried double clicking on icons to see if another window would open, but no. What am I not doing?

 

Regards

 

BS

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Uses Lordelphs icons. Really quick compared to the default one and you don't have to do much setting up with parameters.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

Ok... The GSAK export funtion can use Lordelph's flashy icons, too :)

I'll give it a try.

What I found with Rutson's macro was it had everything 'built in'. You didn't need to download the icons or open the created overlay in MM, it opens MM for you with the caches there.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

Yeah... it's good(ish). The only 'gripe' I have is that there is no option to 'clear' MemoryMap first. Any waypoints imported by Rutson's macro are overlaid on any that were already displayed on MemoryMap when it was last closed... Maybe not what you want. If there was a 'check-box' in the macro dialogue to 'Delete All' on MemoryMap prior to importing the new waypoints, it would be pretty good.

How about it, Ian??

Edited by Pharisee
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Oops! maybe I've spoken too soon....I have the icons for the selected caches now displayed on MM. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but none show any ID? Apart from giving lat/lon coords and elevation, there is no further info like cache GC number. I tried double clicking on icons to see if another window would open, but no. What am I not doing?

 

Regards

 

BS

Here is a screen shot from Rutson's macro. In the 'name' box you can put %code to display the GC code and %name to display the full name (which, if it is long can be visually annoying). You can also output the 'children' which are the additional waypoints (stages of multi's, parking etc). If you tick the Links to online page then double clicking the icon on the MM screen opens the cache webpage.

 

0acbb22c-3d1c-4c69-91f0-5b29a1dc6e9d.jpg

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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I've just used the rutson macro. All in all it took less than five minutes from finding the link (above in the thread) to having 2200 caches displayed in Memory Map. Bearing in mind what Pharisee said, I simply cleared any existing overlay from MM first. A great feature is that the macro identifies where you've installed MM (I have three different versions), and automatically imports the waypoints. So if you have MM open, you just run the macro and the waypoints appear within seconds.

 

Absolutely brilliant, Ian; thanks!

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I use an oregon 550, its a great GPS and it plays Wherigo! However i was slightly disipointed by its paperless caching, I find it far more diffucult to use than my old garmin etrex but its makes up for this in many other ways such as the camra and general signell strength.

Curious about your comment on paperless caching with the Oregon and that it is more difficult to use than an eTrex. Here is a screen shot of locating a geocache stored in the Oregon and navigating to it. Easy to do and you get a lot more information displayed than you can with the eTrex.

b2f19657-ecfb-4ae6-ae74-88fd5755bf89.jpg

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

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