Why no more updates for Geomate Jr?

January 21, 2012

Does anyone know why there have been no more updates from them since 12-30-11? I have sent 2 Emails to them and NO response. Are they out of business? Let us know

FYI, we have found 2123 Geocaches in just under 2 years using this lttle device. We also own a Magellan explorist GC, but the compass and GPS coordinates on the little Geomate are a lot more accurate.

January 21, 2012

Does anyone know why there have been no more updates from them since 12-30-11? I have sent 2 Emails to them and NO response. Are they out of business? Let us know

FYI, we have found 2123 Geocaches in just under 2 years using this lttle device. We also own a Magellan explorist GC, but the compass and GPS coordinates on the little Geomate are a lot more accurate.

January 21, 2012

I had been in contact with a customer service person, and they were leaving the position shortly, and passed off the message to another. I resent my request to the new person and never heard anything back. Makes you wonder what is going on -

January 21, 2012

Did an update this AM before going out on skis to an area that had 4 caches. Only had one of them in the Geomate Jr. I found out after getting there. Three of them were new caches since the first of the year. Lucky my caching partner had the caches on another GPSr.

Been asking for years for some utility to let me load my own caches to the device(NOT JUST ONE PQ). If they are out of business maybe they could at least release that utility now or talk to Clyde at GSAK to allow some updating thru GSAK - that would make this device fantastic. Was always inconvenient having to upload caches thru their website. Sort of backwards in fact. Love the device though when current caches are loaded.

If the website goes down, the device will be dead though with no way to ever update it.

Anyone have any sort of utility or idea how the caches downloaded to this device are formatted?

January 23, 2012

1-23-12. I called Apisphere's main office number. It is "temporarily disconnected", according to the recording. So...it looks like they are gone as of the end of the year. I have sent an Email to the employee there that I have dealt with on prior occasions through Facebook. Let's see if he answers. His FB profile says "worked at Apisphere". This doesn't look good for all of us that purchased this device.

If anyone hears something please let us know.

Jademaria

2.1k · January 24, 2012

Apishpere was bought in October 2011 according to their website. Wouldn't be a surprise if that product line was killed off in the process - it's the only product they had that didn't fit in with the rest of their offerings.

January 24, 2012

I am trying to get some answers from REI as they are the one that I bought my JR from and they are still selling the update kit. I have receive one response from REI that says you can still update your Geomate from the web site. I responded back that the issue is that Geomate web site is supposed to have a new update every day and they stopped doing that on 12/30/11. Will post information as I find out more.

January 24, 2012

I just got the following reply back from REI "I contacted our vendor representative and he says that the company (Apisphere) has changed hands and they are aware of the updating problem and are working hard to correct it. They hope to have the problem solved within the next week or so." Hopefully this means they are working on the issue. I love using my Geomate and hope they really are working on the issue.

January 25, 2012

So where is this software? I just looked at their page and saw nothing there.

January 25, 2012

The link to the release is here: http://www.geomatejr.com/

To download the software they said they have, click the word "Here" or head to: http://geomatejr.appspot.com/geomateQtGuiApp.exe

January 25, 2012

The link to the release is here: http://www.geomatejr.com/

To download the software they said they have, click the word "Here" or head to: http://geomatejr.appspot.com/geomateQtGuiApp.exe

January 26, 2012

My Norton Antivirus wont let me load the file as it thinks it is unsafe. Let me know if anyone can get it to work.

2.1k · January 26, 2012

My Norton Antivirus wont let me load the file as it thinks it is unsafe. Let me know if anyone can get it to work.

Ditch Norton AV & use something that's worth using. Microsoft Security Essentials (free, you can get it from Windows Update) is quite good by most accounts.

January 26, 2012

It worked fine for me but sort of cripples what was a great GPS for a roadtrip. While it is nice to at least be able to load one pocket query at a time(with a limit of 1000 caches), it would be GREAT if the utility would allow is to load our own .GPX file without limit to the number of caches(the device originally came preloaded with 250000 cache or something like that).

I have a GSAK file of about 15000(yeah i'm gonna find them all) caches for an upcoming road trip. It would be nice to be able to export them to one .GPX file and use the utility to dowload them to the Geomate Jr - making it a GREAT roadtrip GPSr again.

I did this, and it sort of worked, but the utility said not all caches would be loaded to the Geomate as I had exceeded some limit built into the transfer utility. I have no idea which or how many caches ended up on the JR but some got there.

It would be REALLY nice if some info about the file transfer method and file format could be released so maybe someone else can create a more useful utility. Ideally get it to GSAK so we could send filtered .GPX files directly from there.

2.1k · January 26, 2012

It would be REALLY nice if some info about the file transfer method and file format could be released so maybe someone else can create a more useful utility. Ideally get it to GSAK so we could send filtered .GPX files directly from there.

That's up to Apisphere's new parent company and any licenses/contracts that exist with other parties for various pieces of code or technology. This forum is the entirely wrong place to be asking for it.

January 26, 2012

Seemed like entirely the wrong place to bash Norton AV too Not on topic at all. Least I'm talking about Geomate Jr. updates. Whatever.

2.1k · January 26, 2012

Seemed like entirely the wrong place to bash Norton AV too Not on topic at all. Least I'm talking about Geomate Jr. updates.

As was I. Norton AV was interfering with downloading the Geomate Jr. software. Explanation: it's not good software (I haven't had a positive experience with anything branded "Norton" in over 15 years), so if you ditch it you can get your updates easily.

January 26, 2012

I had been in contact with a customer service person, and they were leaving the position shortly, and passed off the message to another. I resent my request to the new person and never heard anything back. Makes you wonder what is going on -

Hi Dex,

This is Jo, i was the person who was helping you at Geomate.jr until all the Apisphere staff were laid off at the beginning of Jan. I actually spoke to the person who was taking over the Geomate at Airity about your request for a new Update Kit and they told me that they would handle it. Did they ever get back to you?

I am so sorry if they did not.

If any one else is reading this, please know that all these changes happened in a very short time and the staff of Geomate.jr tried everything in our power to prevent 2m/Airity from taking the Geomate.jr. As we knew that they neither understood or cared about the Geocaching community. We had worked so hard over the last few years on the Geomate.jr, and more importantly we felt that the Geomate.jr still had more to give. To see it end like this is very hard for us to watch. We had been lucky to be embraced into the geocaching community and we have met some great people along the way. So thank-you to you all and again we are deeply sorry for the ending of the Geomate.jr.

Jo

Dex, if you want an Update Kit still please PM me, i may be able to find one for you.

January 26, 2012

My first post here!

I just purchased the GeoMateJr from L.L.Bean, along with an update kit.

It arrived yesterday and today, when I went to the website, I can't access it. I found this forum (via Google) and the info that the company went under. :mad:

So, have I totally wasted my money on something I can't use??? I can't even get a user's manual on how to really understand the unit with the downed website. The fast-start user's guide is a joke.

Should I return the unit and update kit to L.L.Bean and buy some other type of geocaching unit?? This looked perfect for us as we are just starting the geocaching bug and I didn't want to spend a lot of money if it turned out this wasn't the hobby for us! Any suggestions?

Thanks, in advance!

godzilla

January 27, 2012

There is a plus here guys. The original "loader" stopped at 3/3 and would not load Premium Caches. I just loaded 1000 (I know, not enough for a road trip)caches in my home area from one of my queries. It appears there will be a learning curve since my DW has never loaded a PQ in her life, but even she is excited about having premium caches on her GMjr.

Pickatree

I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX

2.1k · January 27, 2012

Should I return the unit and update kit to L.L.Bean and buy some other type of geocaching unit?? This looked perfect for us as we are just starting the geocaching bug and I didn't want to spend a lot of money if it turned out this wasn't the hobby for us! Any suggestions?

I would return it. You've purchased a device that will get zero warranty coverage, has zero support, and zero chances of any updates/upgrades in the future. And if you can't even find a manual for it, how will you know you're using it right?

Check the "Garage sale" forum here, you can usually find someone selling their old GPSr because they're upgrading to a newer/better unit.

Edited January 27, 2012 by dakboy

January 27, 2012

Looking for the plus side, how did you load 1000 caches to your GMjr? We have found the geomateQtGuiApp.exe software file and down loaded, but do not know where to find a gpx file that the application is searching for. Has anyone got an idea of where to find the gpx files that will be accepted by GeoMate jr?

TheLibbyClan (TLC)

======================================

There is a plus here guys. The original "loader" stopped at 3/3 and would not load Premium Caches. I just loaded 1000 (I know, not enough for a road trip)caches in my home area from one of my queries. It appears there will be a learning curve since my DW has never loaded a PQ in her life, but even she is excited about having premium caches on her GMjr.

Pickatree

I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX

January 27, 2012

We found the answer!! As a premium member on Geocaching.com we can go to www.geocaching.com/pocket, create a query that will generate a gpx data file that will be e-mailed to our e-mail account. Then we download that gpx data file to our home computer, allow the geomateQtGuiApp.exe software to load that file to our GeoMate Jr. and our world is restored. No divorce on this side of the street!!

TheLibbyClan (TLC)

======================================

Looking for the plus side, how did you load 1000 caches to your GMjr? We have found the geomateQtGuiApp.exe software file and down loaded, but do not know where to find a gpx file that the application is searching for. Has anyone got an idea of where to find the gpx files that will be accepted by GeoMate jr?

TheLibbyClan (TLC)

======================================

There is a plus here guys. The original "loader" stopped at 3/3 and would not load Premium Caches. I just loaded 1000 (I know, not enough for a road trip)caches in my home area from one of my queries. It appears there will be a learning curve since my DW has never loaded a PQ in her life, but even she is excited about having premium caches on her GMjr.

Pickatree

I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX

8.3k · January 27, 2012

We found the answer!! As a premium member on Geocaching.com we can go to www.geocaching.com/pocket, create a query that will generate a gpx data file that will be e-mailed to our e-mail account. Then we download that gpx data file to our home computer, allow the geomateQtGuiApp.exe software to load that file to our GeoMate Jr. and our world is restored. No divorce on this side of the street!!

TheLibbyClan (TLC)

======================================

Looking for the plus side, how did you load 1000 caches to your GMjr? We have found the geomateQtGuiApp.exe software file and down loaded, but do not know where to find a gpx file that the application is searching for. Has anyone got an idea of where to find the gpx files that will be accepted by GeoMate jr?

TheLibbyClan (TLC)

======================================

There is a plus here guys. The original "loader" stopped at 3/3 and would not load Premium Caches. I just loaded 1000 (I know, not enough for a road trip)caches in my home area from one of my queries. It appears there will be a learning curve since my DW has never loaded a PQ in her life, but even she is excited about having premium caches on her GMjr.

Pickatree

I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX

Only PQ's of 500 or less are delivered via email. For 501 - 1,000 you need to go to the second tab on the PQ page and download the .zip file.

January 27, 2012

Here is a website I got from there Facebook page with a download so you can add PQ from http://www.geomatejr.com/

JJJFishin

January 27, 2012

Hi,

I used to work for the Geomate.jr prior to its shut down. I am not sure if the new company has much intelligence going on in regards to support, so here is a link to a new facebook group should any one need questions answered.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Fanofgeomate/348113058547155?sk=wall&filter=1

Thanks,

Jo

January 30, 2012

The software posted at the website is not passing my Norton Virus scan on download... anyone know what is wrong with it?... I don't want to infect my machine just for the the possibility of creating the pocket queries (which I want to use).

2.1k · January 30, 2012

The software posted at the website is not passing my Norton Virus scan on download... anyone know what is wrong with it?... I don't want to infect my machine just for the the possibility of creating the pocket queries (which I want to use).

It's a false positive from Norton. Ditch it and get a better AV product. I haven't had a positive experience with any Symantec or Norton product in 15 years.

January 30, 2012

Should I return the unit and update kit to L.L.Bean and buy some other type of geocaching unit?? This looked perfect for us as we are just starting the geocaching bug and I didn't want to spend a lot of money if it turned out this wasn't the hobby for us! Any suggestions?

Thanks, in advance!

godzilla

@godzilla, I have been using the Geomate for about six months. Even at its best it is no match for the geocaching.com app for the iPhone. I would send it back to LLBean and get the app.

2.1k · January 31, 2012

@godzilla, I have been using the Geomate for about six months. Even at its best it is no match for the geocaching.com app for the iPhone. I would send it back to LLBean and get the app.

Unless you don't already have a smartphone. If you don't have one, and get one just for geocaching, it'll ultimately cost you thousands of dollars instead of dropping a couple hundred on a nice GPSr.

February 6, 2012

Thank Goodness for REI's return policy. We picked up one of these for the general "we're in a random place, are there any caches around?" type caching right after the new year. Never could get the updates to run on my Win7x64 laptop (nor my wife's) and Apisphere wasn't returning my tech support emails...at least now I know why they weren't returned. {sigh}. On the upside, the local Wally World was clearancing out some Legend HCx's for only about $15 more than the Geomate w/cable, so we returned the Geomate at REI this afternoon and picked up the Legend this evening...

February 13, 2012

I hope you all have rechecked the website and have updated your geomate jr. They opened up the site and put an "End of Life" update on the website. They don't say how long it will be available, so I would hurry.

February 20, 2012

Looks like the update site is broken again. :-< I am really disapointed in the death of the GMJ. I always carried it because the kids loved to use it. I also liked having a backup to my GPSr or when my PQs failed me. I hope someone comes up with a solution.

February 21, 2012

Found a site that works. http://geomatejr.appspot.com/ I was able to update without an issue. :-O

March 15, 2012

I had been in contact with a customer service person, and they were leaving the position shortly, and passed off the message to another. I resent my request to the new person and never heard anything back. Makes you wonder what is going on -

Hi Dex,

This is Jo, i was the person who was helping you at Geomate.jr until all the Apisphere staff were laid off at the beginning of Jan. I actually spoke to the person who was taking over the Geomate at Airity about your request for a new Update Kit and they told me that they would handle it. Did they ever get back to you?

I am so sorry if they did not.

If any one else is reading this, please know that all these changes happened in a very short time and the staff of Geomate.jr tried everything in our power to prevent 2m/Airity from taking the Geomate.jr. As we knew that they neither understood or cared about the Geocaching community. We had worked so hard over the last few years on the Geomate.jr, and more importantly we felt that the Geomate.jr still had more to give. To see it end like this is very hard for us to watch. We had been lucky to be embraced into the geocaching community and we have met some great people along the way. So thank-you to you all and again we are deeply sorry for the ending of the Geomate.jr.

Jo

Dex, if you want an Update Kit still please PM me, i may be able to find one for you.

March 15, 2012

Hi Jo, I didn't see the reply for a long time. No - I didn't get any reply at all after yours. I since have acquired a new cable and things are working again. Messing around on some forums, I discovered that the update site is working again. Great news!

I have since purchased another GPS unit because I was afraid there would be no more good updates for the Geomate. You are right, the Geomate filled a need and will continue to do so as long as we can get updates. Pocket queries are OK, but covering 1/3 of the US in one download is the best!

Hope this finds you -- Best Regards - Dex

March 19, 2012

In simple language, I am very new to all of this - Is the unit we bought and the update cord I received yesterday any good? Or have we thrown away our money? What are our options ( we gotone from Target at Christmas and another one from Amazon for a gift. I see where some of you are offering suggestions but the information is Greek to me, we are as green as you can get to this activity. Help,what a way to start LOL. It looks like a wonderful family activity to get our grand kids into, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

March 21, 2012

has anyone used their Geomate Jr out of the States? we just came back from a cruise...to jamaica, cayman islands and cozumel...we were hoping to find some caches out of the country, first time, and it did not work...when we were in jamaica, it said the closest was over 500 miles away, key west, i presume, how would you be able to use this device out of the states. thank you!!

March 22, 2012

has anyone used their Geomate Jr out of the States? we just came back from a cruise...to jamaica, cayman islands and cozumel...we were hoping to find some caches out of the country, first time, and it did not work...when we were in jamaica, it said the closest was over 500 miles away, key west, i presume, how would you be able to use this device out of the states. thank you!!

Yes: Used mine in Mexico in December 2010. Just downloaded "rest of the world" option before I flew to Mexico. Worked fine. In June of 2011 downloaded Canada and cached for 10 days while on a tour bus. Again, worked fine. When I returned home I just downloaded my part of the USA.

March 22, 2012

In simple language, I am very new to all of this - Is the unit we bought and the update cord I received yesterday any good? Or have we thrown away our money? What are our options ( we gotone from Target at Christmas and another one from Amazon for a gift. I see where some of you are offering suggestions but the information is Greek to me, we are as green as you can get to this activity. Help,what a way to start LOL. It looks like a wonderful family activity to get our grand kids into, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

You can go to http://mygeomate.com and follow the directions for the update kit. This will give you the options to update your gps by region.

Have Fun!

March 22, 2012

That is what i did, i chose rest of the world.......and updated, then i did usa, and updated...to make sure everything was current....or as current as it could be....i guess cause i did usa last....it deleted rest of the world??? maybe?? but totally bummed cause i wanted to do some of my first out of country caches...

thank you!

has anyone used their Geomate Jr out of the States? we just came back from a cruise...to jamaica, cayman islands and cozumel...we were hoping to find some caches out of the country, first time, and it did not work...when we were in jamaica, it said the closest was over 500 miles away, key west, i presume, how would you be able to use this device out of the states. thank you!!

Yes: Used mine in Mexico in December 2010. Just downloaded "rest of the world" option before I flew to Mexico. Worked fine. In June of 2011 downloaded Canada and cached for 10 days while on a tour bus. Again, worked fine. When I returned home I just downloaded my part of the USA.

June 19, 2012

The Geomate Jr. was purchased again by another company this spring. They will continue to produce, sell and support the Geomate Jr. Here is an update from their Facebook site earlier today ... "The Geomate Jr. product line has been purchased by Brand 44 of Colorado. In June we completed the re-hosting of the mygeomate.com website and are busy with some fixes for the update section, specifically, Eastern US, Canada and Europe. We hope to have this completed soon. We will then begin working on browser compatibility with Safari and current Firefox for Mac (version 5 works fine).

We are in full production and shipping and we are commited to keeping the Geomate Jr. #1 with geocachers worldwide."

July 5, 2012

Haven't been able to get a download from my pc, but did get outside us download(date 5/24/12) using my sons pc today, also looked like a western or central US download would work or australia, but NO Eastern available, unfortunally that's where I live...and now I've wiped that out.

looks like I will be able to try to use in SC later this month, but no longer at home in New Jersey...not real thrilled, hopefully new company will fix this.

July 8, 2012

Haven't been able to get a download from my pc, but did get outside us download(date 5/24/12) using my sons pc today, also looked like a western or central US download would work or australia, but NO Eastern available, unfortunally that's where I live...and now I've wiped that out.

looks like I will be able to try to use in SC later this month, but no longer at home in New Jersey...not real thrilled, hopefully new company will fix this.

The easiest way is to use PQ's, then just upload it to the Geomate. For example, this weekend, my sons and I are heading out of town a good 400 miles away. So I created a PQ for the route and then a 1000 cache PQ for when we get there. I used Watcher to merge both PQ's into a single one and upload it into their Geomate. So they'll now have full use of their Geomate for the way there and once we get there too. It only takes about a minute to do and works great. To compliment their Geomate, I use my Blackberry Torch with CacheSense for all the details etc. It's a good match for us and we're very happy with the Geomate Jr.

September 7, 2012

Just a heads up, all the links posted in this thread are dead now.

I'm searching the caching sites for the exe file and will host it from the Northern Ontario Geocacher's forum once I locate the file.

September 7, 2012

well it looks like the new company has the eastern 3rd back up where you should be able to select and load it, I've tried off 2 laptops to load like I used to, but system keeps saying s/w not loaded and it won't recognize my geomate, so either it's got something to do with firefox or my cable is bad(but cable was never stressed or used much) I think I need to try loading s/w with a pc with just internet exployer as just haven't had time, but geomate s/w looks like is back to the way it was

September 18, 2012

I'm sure some others have found the answer for updating the Geomate Jr by the new method, but will review it here a bit.

Download the Geomate Loader and install it. Go to mygeomate.com site and bring up the program. I find that I have to use the newest version of Firefox now. After the site is up,use the select an update tab. Select Region, and then select cache list type. Then use the tab that says "download for Geomate loader". DO NOT USE THE BLUE UPDATE TAB. Then this will give you a file with the extension ".cry" , then save it to file or let the geomate loader use the file to send to your Geomate Jr. This worked good for me.

I do have another gps unit, but nothing beats the Geomate Jr when you are traveling, it holds so many caches at a time, you can just stop and hunt caches anytime without having to download local caches.

I'm so glad someone took the trouble to revive the file system for the Geomate Jr.

Why no more updates for Geomate Jr?

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