So, my wife bouught me a GPS for $10 today.

[PapaGPS]

My wife came home from work today with a GPS that she paid $10 for it. It's called a Magellan Meridian Gold. She bought it from a divorced woman whose ex husband said he wanted to geocache, but never did... Finally, after having it in her home for the last 5 years she decided to get rid of it.... and so my wife gave her 10 bucks for it. He must have wanted to go because there were 2 batteries in it. Thing is, it has some old fashioned PC connector cable that I am not even sure my computer has. It also has a soft case and the CD, plus the manual.

 

But at $10, I'm not even sure it was a bargain if I can't use the cable.

Edited June 14, 2011 by PapaGPS

[knowschad]

My wife came home from work today with a GPS that she paid $10 for it. It's called a Magellan Meridian Gold. She bought it from a divorced woman whose ex husband said he wanted to geocache, but never did... Finally, after having it in her home for the last 5 years she decided to get rid of it.... and so my wife gave her 10 bucks for it. He must have wanted to go because there were 2 batteries in it. Thing is, it has some old fashioned PC connector cable that I am not even sure my computer has. It also has a soft case and the CD, plus the manual.

 

But at $10, I'm not even sure it was a bargain if I can't use the cable.

 

I'm guessing the PC cable is a serial cable (like the large end of the one in this picture?) If so, you can get Serial to USB conversion cables. I am a Garmin guy, so I'm not familiar with the Magellan Meridian Gold, but from what I can see in a Google search, you hit paydirt.

[+Chrysalides]

Old fashioned. *sigh* You make me feel old.

 

Does the connector look something like this?

 

 

If so, that's a serial connector. Like knowschad mentioned, you'll need a USB to serial adapter that works on your operating system. I've used them in the past, and they're a little... temperamental. The adapter costs around $10.

 

Here's an example on Amazon. I have not tried this one, it is just to show you what they look like.

 

Edit : forgot to mention that you'll need to look for software. Looks like EasyGPS will work with it (if you're running Windows).

Edited June 14, 2011 by Chrysalides

[+briansnat]

The Meridian Gold was considered among the cream of the crop of GPS units in the early 00's. It's a good unit. I had one until very recently. A new geocacher is happily using it now and has found dozens of caches with it.

 

You need a USB/Serial adapter to use the data cable, or if you have a card reader I'm pretty sure you can send waypoints to the SD card then load them into the unit from the card (I've never tried this).

Edited June 14, 2011 by briansnat

[+Ambient_Skater]

...it has some old fashioned PC connector cable that I am not even sure my computer has.

For real? Are they that old that we don't even know the name anymore?

[AZcachemeister]

You don't even need the cable.

I/we have five Meridian series GPSrs in the house, and they all get regular use.

If you are a GSAK user (and I can't imagine not being one), you can export a Magellan protocol file of a selected group of caches, and copy that to the SD card (that you should be using) in the unit.

Keep in mind that the GPSr can only hold 500 waypoints in active memory, so the files need to be 500 or less.

Once you have the (limited in number only by the size of the card) file(s) on the card, you can load one into the usable memory from the menu (Card Utilities) of the unit.

 

File access tends to slow down with larger cards, but theoretically you could have every cache in existence loaded on your cards and ready to be found (you would need multiple cards to actually do this).

 

$10 was a bargain, you scored.

[+Dgwphotos]

The Meridian Gold was considered among the cream of the crop of GPS units in the early 00's. It's a good unit. I had one until very recently. A new geocacher is happily using it now and has found dozens of caches with it.

 

You need a USB/Serial adapter to use the data cable, or if you have a card reader I'm pretty sure you can send waypoints to the SD card then load them into the unit from the card (I've never tried this).

 

Yep, it's a classic. I used one for a long time, until it started to develop a habit of being 100 feet off, and Mount10Bike's NW Trails Project came out for Garmin.

 

Many modern computers no longer have serial ports, just like floppy drives. The problem I see with using the SD card is it's not very convenient to access the SD card. You have to go through the battery compartment and take out the batteries to access the card. Also, waypoints are stored in the GPS memory, rather than on the card. The card holds the maps.

Edited June 14, 2011 by Dgwphotos

[PapaGPS]

Old fashioned. *sigh* You make me feel old.

 

Does the connector look something like this?

 

 

If so, that's a serial connector. Like knowschad mentioned, you'll need a USB to serial adapter that works on your operating system. I've used them in the past, and they're a little... temperamental. The adapter costs around $10.

 

Here's an example on Amazon. I have not tried this one, it is just to show you what they look like.

 

Edit : forgot to mention that you'll need to look for software. Looks like EasyGPS will work with it (if you're running Windows).

 

Software for what? Other than the CD it came with?

[+CluelessnLuV]

oh my... whatever happened to the good old days of manually putting all the coordinates in? Worse comes to worse - use this GPS as swag for something nice you find in the cache, or an FTF prize . I'm sure there'd be someone happy to own one of these. (Personally, think that using old Cobra, and Basic Yellow Garming eTrex when we just started caching made us a little better if not at finding caches, then at least at being able to figure out and appreciate all the new functions of our current GPS:))

[+Chrysalides]

Software for what? Other than the CD it came with?

Software for loading coordinates (and downloading tracks, if you use it for that). The software on the CD is probably old, but might work. Look online to see if there are newer versions.

 

If you decide to use the serial cable (and get the USB adapter) you'll need the drivers for the adapter as well. But from other posters, seems like you'd be better off with a SD card (I assume it only works with SD and not SDHC since it is rather old) and GSAK.

 

Have fun with your GPSr. At $10 you can't go wrong.

[Clan Riffster]

Papa, you've got a gem on your hands! While it's true that your device has some age to it, it is still a rock solid cache finding platform. I had a Magellan SporTrak Color, that survived years of hard abuse. You will need to figure out data entry, which is so much simpler with today's newer devices, but once you cross that hurdle, you're golden. Ten bucks is a heck of a good deal.

[PapaGPS]

Thanks all... and as some of you know, I just bought a garmin about 10 days ago. And it is working fine. So I will think about whether I want to buy the cable and get it to work.... if I can, my kids will get their own GPS to share.

[+briansnat]

Thanks all... and as some of you know, I just bought a garmin about 10 days ago. And it is working fine. So I will think about whether I want to buy the cable and get it to work.... if I can, my kids will get their own GPS to share.

 

Heck 7 years ago you'd have been the envy of the geocaching community with a Meri Gold. You don't even need the cable. You can still enter coords by hand if necessary.

[+Max and 99]

oh my... whatever happened to the good old days of manually putting all the coordinates in?

 

 

I still do! There. I said it!

(But I don't have a gazillion of finds like many of you do)

[+Ambient_Skater]

If I only have a couple of caches to input or if I can't find my USB cable I will. If I have dozens of caches to input for a roadtrip then I'll do it through the computer everytime.

 

The irony is that up until recently I wasn't a premium member and couldn't download GPX files, so I had to manually type the coordinates from the cache listing into MapSource, and then transfer them.

[+Chrysalides]

The irony is that up until recently I wasn't a premium member and couldn't download GPX files, so I had to manually type the coordinates from the cache listing into MapSource, and then transfer them.

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=191339

[+Ambient_Skater]

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=191339

I knew about that. It's just that the site's way of getting the LOC files is so clunky I'd rather type them in myself.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

You don't even need the cable.

I/we have five Meridian series GPSrs in the house, and they all get regular use.

If you are a GSAK user (and I can't imagine not being one), you can export a Magellan protocol file of a selected group of caches, and copy that to the SD card (that you should be using) in the unit.

Keep in mind that the GPSr can only hold 500 waypoints in active memory, so the files need to be 500 or less.

Once you have the (limited in number only by the size of the card) file(s) on the card, you can load one into the usable memory from the menu (Card Utilities) of the unit.

 

File access tends to slow down with larger cards, but theoretically you could have every cache in existence loaded on your cards and ready to be found (you would need multiple cards to actually do this).

 

$10 was a bargain, you scored.

What he said. I have found many hundreds of caches with my Meridian Gold and my Meridian Platinum both. Still have the 'MeriGold' and use it regularly.

 

The cable is available online but I don't have a factory-made one, I built a cable myself. The Magellan end is cut out of an old credit card with the wires soldered to pins stuck through it, the pin heads make the contacts!

 

But you can order the cable online for a few bucks.

 

As AZcachemeister said, however, I load the SD Card directly more often than not.

 

Great unit, you got an excellent buy, enjoy.

[AZcachemeister]

Also, waypoints are stored in the GPS memory, rather than on the card. The card holds the maps.

 

Actually, the active map is also in the unit's memory, but you can have several maps (waiting to be loaded) residing on the card. In just the same way, you can have many files of waypoints (waiting to be loaded) on the card. Thus, the number of caches (and map files) is limited only by the 'size' and number of cards you are willing to carry around, and how often you want to swap them out.

 

Yes, you do have to shut the unit off and remove the batteries to swap the cards...takes all of about twenty seconds.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

You've got a great unit.....I own at least one of all the Meridian series including a Gold and about 8 Platinums which is what I cache with. You need to get a cable ( USB-Serial ) on ebay ( its better if you get one that comes with software in case you need it otherwise you'll have to download from a website) You need to have the latest firmware installed ( Yahoo Meridian Group )With this installed a 2G card will hold maps of the entire U.S. ( each state will be a map that can be loaded when needed) and 14,000,000 caches in files of 500 or less each which can be loaded when needed ( you need to use an older, slower SD card )

The Gold was one notch below the Platinum mainly because it lacked a three axis compass.

The Platinum is the finest geocaching GPS I've ever been around.

[+hzoi]

oh my... whatever happened to the good old days of manually putting all the coordinates in?

 

I still remember the finger cramps from loading caches into our Garmin GPS12. No coincidence that thing was shaped like a brick...it was only slightly more interactive than an actual brick. No, thanks, we're fine loading pocket queries into our Oregon 400t, thanks very much.