Newbie with a PN-60

[+choppermike]

I have clicked on the GPS icon to send to gps, is there a way to batch load caches without doing it one at a time or am I just missing that? I see where you can check all, but I am not sure what to do with that file. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

[+mpilchfamily]

As a PM you should be using Pocket Queries to get up to 1000 caches in a .gpx file that can then be transferred to your unit.

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=118

 

How to go about loading the file into a PN-60? I don't know i don't own a Delorme.

[+twolpert]

I have clicked on the GPS icon to send to gps, is there a way to batch load caches without doing it one at a time or am I just missing that? I see where you can check all, but I am not sure what to do with that file. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

You're a premium member of gc.com. The easiest way to get what you want here is to set up a Pocket Query. This will get you all the info (type, size, D/T, description, hints, and the most recent logs) for a whole group of caches near the centerpoint of the PQ. Depending on the number of caches, the PQ will be e-mailed to you or you will need to download it from your profile's PQ page. Either way, you end up with a .zip file containing two .gpx files. One of these is for the caches themselves. The other is for child waypoints such as parking spots or trailheads. Open the .zip file and copy these two to someplace handy.

 

Now, plug in your PN-60. Menu, Menu, highlight Settings, Enter, highlight Connect to Computer, Enter. Look for the option that says "When connected" (or something like that) and highlight the current selection (which is probably "Use GPS"). Press Enter, highlight "Open SD card" or "Open internal" -- depending on where you want to store the PQ on the unit -- and press Enter. After a brief pause, the unit will show up as a removable USB "drive". Use Windows Explorer to copy the two .gpx files to the Waypoints folder on the unit. Close Windows Explorer. Back on the GPSr, highlight "Use GPS" and press Enter to dismount the "drive."

 

Now, load the cache file you just copied. Menu, Menu, highlight Geocaches, Enter, Menu, higlight File, Enter, highlight Open, Enter. Find the name of the cache file you just copied, highlight it, press Enter. Now you should see your list of geocaches.

 

The only disadvantage to this approach is that the PN-60 can only open one file at a time. So you can see the caches OR the child waypoints, but not both at the same time. The DeLorme mapping software that came with the unit (Topo North America 9) can combine the two for you. But it has its own learning curve. If you use GSAK, it can also combine them for you really easily. And GSAK 8 (still in beta, I think) can even download the PQs direct from gc.com.

 

For more help with your new GPSr, you can also visit us over here.

[+Team CowboyPapa]

I use this free widget from DeLorme to download my PQ results to my Windows PC and then onto my PN-60:

http://support.delorme.com/questions.php?questionid=114

In so doing, the results from each PQ are stored as individual GPX files on the SDHC card as my choice.

 

None of this is contradictory to that which Tom posted immediately above.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Team CowboyPapa

[+jasullyo]

I have clicked on the GPS icon to send to gps, is there a way to batch load caches without doing it one at a time or am I just missing that? I see where you can check all, but I am not sure what to do with that file. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

You need to use pocket querys on geocaching .com you can do up to 1000 at a time.

[+choppermike]

Thanks for all the help. I finally got it all figured out.