Gps-Etrex H and Cable...

[+jacob501]

When I first went geocaching with my mom, we used a car gps. Then my parents bought me a nice handheld gps for my birthday off of Amazon. Its called a Garmin Etrex H and since my parents didn't know much about geocaching gps's and I told them to stay cheap so they got this 80-90 dollar one. It didn't come with the pc interface cable which costs 20-30 dollars. I want the cable because I am starting to get serious with geocaching and I want to find a lot more without having to enter the coordinates manually. Do you think I should buy the cable or a new, nicer gps that I can keep for a long time?...Because I haven't heard of anybody else that has my gps and it seems like it is missing a few features compared to other gps's.

 

Also, can someone explain if GSAK is actually free and what the "nag screen" actually is...I don't understand. How much does it cost?

Edited April 8, 2011 by jacob501

[+jacob501]

When I first went geocaching with my mom, we used a car gps. Then my parents bought me a nice handheld gps for my birthday off of Amazon. Its called a Garmin Etrex H and since my parents didn't know much about geocaching gps's and I told them to stay cheap so they got this 80-90 dollar one. It didn't come with the pc interface cable which costs 20-30 dollars. I want the cable because I am starting to get serious with geocaching and I want to find a lot more without having to enter the coordinates manually. Do you think I should buy the cable or a new, nicer gps that I can keep for a long time?...Because I haven't heard of anybody else that has my gps and it seems like it is missing a few features compared to other gps's.

 

Also, can someone explain if GSAK is actually free and what the "nag screen" actually is...I don't understand. How much does it cost?

nobody huh? just moving my topic up to the top so everybody can see it...

[TheCacheSeeker]

When I first went geocaching with my mom, we used a car gps. Then my parents bought me a nice handheld gps for my birthday off of Amazon. Its called a Garmin Etrex H and since my parents didn't know much about geocaching gps's and I told them to stay cheap so they got this 80-90 dollar one. It didn't come with the pc interface cable which costs 20-30 dollars. I want the cable because I am starting to get serious with geocaching and I want to find a lot more without having to enter the coordinates manually. Do you think I should buy the cable or a new, nicer gps that I can keep for a long time?...Because I haven't heard of anybody else that has my gps and it seems like it is missing a few features compared to other gps's.

 

Also, can someone explain if GSAK is actually free and what the "nag screen" actually is...I don't understand. How much does it cost?

I'm afraid I can't help with your gps question. But here's a quote from gsak website:

GSAK is FREE to download and use, but after 21 days of unrestricted use you get a nag screen. You can keep using GSAK after the 21 days, but if you want to remove the nag screen you will need to register the program

So basically, gsak is free, but then after 21 days, my guess is there will be a popup which says to register or something like that. Hope this helps.

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the GPS and Technology forum.

[+jacob501]

When I first went geocaching with my mom, we used a car gps. Then my parents bought me a nice handheld gps for my birthday off of Amazon. Its called a Garmin Etrex H and since my parents didn't know much about geocaching gps's and I told them to stay cheap so they got this 80-90 dollar one. It didn't come with the pc interface cable which costs 20-30 dollars. I want the cable because I am starting to get serious with geocaching and I want to find a lot more without having to enter the coordinates manually. Do you think I should buy the cable or a new, nicer gps that I can keep for a long time?...Because I haven't heard of anybody else that has my gps and it seems like it is missing a few features compared to other gps's.

 

Also, can someone explain if GSAK is actually free and what the "nag screen" actually is...I don't understand. How much does it cost?

I'm afraid I can't help with your gps question. But here's a quote from gsak website:

GSAK is FREE to download and use, but after 21 days of unrestricted use you get a nag screen. You can keep using GSAK after the 21 days, but if you want to remove the nag screen you will need to register the program

So basically, gsak is free, but then after 21 days, my guess is there will be a popup which says to register or something like that. Hope this helps.

Thanks but thats kind of silly isn't it...I mean who would create software that you could have for free and think that someone would pay for it just to get rid of a popup window!

[+cimawr]

When I first went geocaching with my mom, we used a car gps. Then my parents bought me a nice handheld gps for my birthday off of Amazon. Its called a Garmin Etrex H and since my parents didn't know much about geocaching gps's and I told them to stay cheap so they got this 80-90 dollar one. It didn't come with the pc interface cable which costs 20-30 dollars. I want the cable because I am starting to get serious with geocaching and I want to find a lot more without having to enter the coordinates manually. Do you think I should buy the cable or a new, nicer gps that I can keep for a long time?...Because I haven't heard of anybody else that has my gps and it seems like it is missing a few features compared to other gps's.

 

Also, can someone explain if GSAK is actually free and what the "nag screen" actually is...I don't understand. How much does it cost?

 

Checking Garmin's website, I see that the ETrex H is marked as NOT being "geocaching-friendly". However, a GPS that IS "geocaching-friendly" is going to be a lot more expensive than the cable, so I guess my answer is "it depends on your budget". I will say that if your budget is in the $150 -$180 range, you may still be able to find a GPSmap 60 or 60CX out there - a lot of vendors marked down their existing stock when the 62 series came out, and both are good geocaching units.

 

A second issue you need to consider, btw, is whether your computer has a serial port for the cable to connect to. Some newer ones don't, which means in addition to the cable, you'd need to purchase a serial-to-USB adapter.

 

GSAK is free to download and use. However, if you don't pay for it, each time you start it up, a screen will pop up "nagging" you to consider paying for it, and you will have to wait for a timer to count down before the program starts. (I believe it's 30 seconds but wouldn't swear to it since I paid for my GSAK years ago.)

[+T13]

I started with secondhand Etrex units, and am still going strong.

My first was a Legend, then a yellow Etrex (no H), then a Venture Color.

I've since acquired another yellow Etrex for use as a loaner and with groups.

 

I envy you your H, as that signifies the better reception, especially under trees.

None of mine have that, but still work just ok. Does yours have a 6-character waypoint

name limit? The basic yellow Etrex does, and it won't take maps, and the screen is a little

low-resolution...but for finding caches it works just fine.

 

You can find a direct-to-USB cable on Ebay for less than the two separate ones, and the ability

to upgrade the s/w and download larger cache quantities is nice....your money would be better

spent on the Premium upgrade so you can get PQ lists of caches. If your initial car-GPSr lets

you load POIs, then that works well as a locator to get you to caches, or tell you there's one

nearby, then use the Etrex to find the GZ...that works really well for me, even though I haven't

updated the cache lists on either device for a few months....there are already plenty in there to

find.

 

Oh, and all my GPSrs have been bought used from Craigslist, from people who upgraded or lost interest.

Never more than half-price of new models, and often less.

[+cimawr]

Thanks but thats kind of silly isn't it...I mean who would create software that you could have for free and think that someone would pay for it just to get rid of a popup window!

 

It's a technique that's been in use for a couple of decades, and if the software is good it's generally successful. If you Google the terms "freeware", "shareware", "nag screen", and "crippleware" you can learn more.

 

In the case of GSAK, lots of people pay for it simply because it's an excellent software.

[+Don_J]

When I first went geocaching with my mom, we used a car gps. Then my parents bought me a nice handheld gps for my birthday off of Amazon. Its called a Garmin Etrex H and since my parents didn't know much about geocaching gps's and I told them to stay cheap so they got this 80-90 dollar one. It didn't come with the pc interface cable which costs 20-30 dollars. I want the cable because I am starting to get serious with geocaching and I want to find a lot more without having to enter the coordinates manually. Do you think I should buy the cable or a new, nicer gps that I can keep for a long time?...Because I haven't heard of anybody else that has my gps and it seems like it is missing a few features compared to other gps's.

 

Also, can someone explain if GSAK is actually free and what the "nag screen" actually is...I don't understand. How much does it cost?

I'm afraid I can't help with your gps question. But here's a quote from gsak website:

GSAK is FREE to download and use, but after 21 days of unrestricted use you get a nag screen. You can keep using GSAK after the 21 days, but if you want to remove the nag screen you will need to register the program

So basically, gsak is free, but then after 21 days, my guess is there will be a popup which says to register or something like that. Hope this helps.

Thanks but thats kind of silly isn't it...I mean who would create software that you could have for free and think that someone would pay for it just to get rid of a popup window!

 

FWIW, while love and truly support GSAK, it has most intrusive nag popup I have ever seen. And it gets worse the longer you go without registering. It doesn't just popup when it is started. It progresses to the the point that it pops up every time you try to do something, and the popup gets longer and longer in duration.

 

Also, I see a serial data cable on eBay for $9.99, free shipping. Problem is, if you have a fairly new PC or laptop, it probably doesn't have a serial port to attach it to. A USB cable is listed for $16.89

[+TripleGCrew]

The eTrex H, along with my car GPS, is all I've ever used and we're over 250 finds now. We love our eTrex H because it's so simple. We purchased the cable off of eBay so that we could upload caches. I'd say the cable is almost a necessity because it's a real pain in the neck to punch in the coords. One word of caution: if you purchase the serial cable then you must purchase a serial-to-USB adapter. The adapter that I purchased doesn't come with drivers for Windows 7 so I have to use my old Windows 98 laptop to do my uploading. Just make sure that your cable/adapter supports your O/S.

Edited April 8, 2011 by TripleGCrew