+ginkgo100 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I am not able to update my Geomate from the update website. I read previous posts explaining how Apisphere was purchased and the Geomate is no longer supported. However, as the posts suggested, the website mygeomate.com is currently up and running. Not knowing about the problems with Apisphere, I bought a new update kit online (I had lost the old one) and tried to update my unit. The entire database on the Geomate was wiped, but the update had a "problem" so a new db was not uploaded. Now I have the problem that every time I try to access the website in Internet Explorer 7, one of the following happens: 1. Either I the software add-on is not detected (even though I manually enable it every time), or... 2. If the software add-on is detected, then I cannot use the menus to select my region and cache list type. The drop-down feature does not work. I saw that Pocket Queries are supported now, but I have a basic membership. Is there any hope for me without buying a PM and/or buying a new GPSr? Because currently my Geomate is much worse off than it was before I tried to update it. It's been wiped it's not even a very good paper weight because it is not very heavy. I am very sad I spent money on the update kit that killed my loyal Geomate. Quote Link to comment
+ginkgo100 Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 I am not able to update my Geomate from the update website. I read previous posts explaining how Apisphere was purchased and the Geomate is no longer supported. However, as the posts suggested, the website mygeomate.com is currently up and running. Not knowing about the problems with Apisphere, I bought a new update kit online (I had lost the old one) and tried to update my unit. The entire database on the Geomate was wiped, but the update had a "problem" so a new db was not uploaded. Now I have the problem that every time I try to access the website in Internet Explorer 7, one of the following happens: 1. Either I the software add-on is not detected (even though I manually enable it every time), or... 2. If the software add-on is detected, then I cannot use the menus to select my region and cache list type. The drop-down feature does not work. I saw that Pocket Queries are supported now, but I have a basic membership. Is there any hope for me without buying a PM and/or buying a new GPSr? Because currently my Geomate is much worse off than it was before I tried to update it. It's been wiped it's not even a very good paper weight because it is not very heavy. I am very sad I spent money on the update kit that killed my loyal Geomate. Yikes, forgot some details. I'm running IE7 on Windows Vista 32-bit. I tried downloading Firefox (I actually use Chrome, but it's not compatible with mygeomate.com). I got Firefox 11, the latest version, which is not compatible, apparently, with the software add-on. I guess the Firefox compatibility is only for old versions of Firefox. I suspect a problem with IE but can't figure out how to fix it (could not reinstall IE7 nor IE8). Quote Link to comment
+TeamPennyFinder Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 For me the site is iffy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does the things that you have described. It is very annoying. Luckily though I am a PM and can do the Pocket Queries. When I do the Pocket Queries I do not use the site, but the software they came up with. I think the site has a very low bandwidth limit set now that they have different owners or they keep having database problems or we may try to get new info at the same time they are updating thier database. Not for sure what it is, but it sure has been flaky. In my humble opinion a geomate jr. with out a Premium Membership and the software for PQ's will eventually be worthless and one will need a PM or a better GPS. Quote Link to comment
+ginkgo100 Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 For me the site is iffy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does the things that you have described. It is very annoying. Luckily though I am a PM and can do the Pocket Queries. When I do the Pocket Queries I do not use the site, but the software they came up with. I think the site has a very low bandwidth limit set now that they have different owners or they keep having database problems or we may try to get new info at the same time they are updating thier database. Not for sure what it is, but it sure has been flaky. In my humble opinion a geomate jr. with out a Premium Membership and the software for PQ's will eventually be worthless and one will need a PM or a better GPS. So the problem is not with my browser, but with the site itself. Thanks, that's actually helpful. I was planning to get another GPSr at some point anyway, guess I'll be pushing that up on the priority list. Quote Link to comment
ChefRd2000 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I have dropped the geomate jr also. I wish they would stop selling them if they are not going to support it correctly. Sad! Now if I could just find another gps that I can load an entire countries worth of caches with 1 click .... I would even be ok at a state level... Nope. Quote Link to comment
+TeamPennyFinder Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 For me it is despicable and poor morale business to keep selling the Jr knowing that at any moment it can be a paper weight. The sellers should at the least put a note on their selling pages as to what is going on with it. Currently with a PM and a full PQ I can use the software and load it. But it is a far cry from what it is supposed to do and cannot when the site is having problems. To get the most out of geocaching I think a Premium Membership to this site is a must. It just opens up a whole new world of geocaching when coupled with a GPS capable of paperless caching. Sadly there is no unit that I know of where you can download a whole country of caches to one with the exception of the Jr when it is working. Quote Link to comment
+korimako Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 yeah, I know technology changes, but... I was unaware of the change, but was able to update on 3/23 before a road trip (just the western US) As Geocaching.com seemed to be a big backer of these originally - would they be interested in hosting the server? Pocket queries are fine, but still not near the numbers you can stuff into these small devices. Plus I don't have to query, convert upload every outing... - my update says 3/24/2012 guess I should look if any newish caches are there. Anyone know? - Can these things hold the entire US (East West, my impression was one update overwrote the other? - Would be great to have a 'info' page as these questions will continue to arise as folks find out.. Thanks for any help Quote Link to comment
+TeamPennyFinder Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 As far as the US, it is divided into I think 3 different segments. You cannot load the entire US onto the Jr. You have to choose one of the segments. You are correct that if you load a segment that it will overwrite the previous file. I do not know about other countries if it can do the whole country or not. As far as the PQ's go, PQ's are limited to 1,000 caches and you can only load 1 PQ, because if you try to upload a second PQ it again will do the overwriting thing. So that really hampers what the Jr. is supposed to do. BUT! I have loaded close to 4,000 caches onto my grand daughters Jr. I did this by using Garmins Basecamp software to merge multiple PQ's and exporting them to a single file on my PC. The I use notepad to open the file and I edit it. You have to do that step because the Jr. will only accept a gpx file in groundspeaks (this site) layout. I did figure out that all you have to replace is the header part of the exported merged gpx file. Using notepad open one of the unzipped PQ's gpx files that you downloaded from this site and do the below. Keep in mind that below is just an example. You will have to do it from your own gpx files to get the proper information. ________________________________ start example ______________________ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <gpx xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" version="1.0" creator="Groundspeak Pocket Query" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0/gpx.xsd http://www.Groundspeak.com/cache/1/0 http://www.Groundspeak.com/cache/1/0/cache.xsd" xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0"> <name>combinedpqstest</name> <desc>Geocache file generated by Groundspeak</desc> <author>Groundspeak</author> <email>contact@Groundspeak.com</email> <time>2012-03-08T20:56:55.593511Z</time> <keywords>cache, geocache, Groundspeak</keywords> copy the above replacing everything above the first waypoint line example <wpt lat="35.60245000" lon="-84.46115000"> BELOW is what I replaced with the top <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <gpx xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1"'>http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1" version="1.1" creator="EasyGPS 4.45" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd http://www.topografix.com/GPX/gpx_overlay/0/3 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/gpx_overlay/0/3/gpx_overlay.xsd http://www.topografix.com/GPX/gpx_modified/0/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/gpx_modified/0/1/gpx_modified.xsd http://www.geobuddy.com/cache/1/1 http://www.geobuddy.com/cache/1/1/cache.xsd http://www.geobuddy.com/GPX/0/1 http://www.geobuddy.com/GPX/0/1/geobuddy.xsd"> <metadata> <bounds minlat="35.11815000" minlon="-85.03603300" maxlat="36.16960000" maxlon="-83.63588300"/> <extensions> <time xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/gpx_modified/0/1">2012-03-08T21:08:38.046Z</time> </extensions> </metadata> _____________________ end example _______________________ After the above is done you can use the Geomate Jr. software of geomateJrPQupdater.exe to load the new merged gpx file onto the Jr. But this of course is only possible if you are a PM to be able to get PQ's. Quote Link to comment
ChefRd2000 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 yeah, I know technology changes, but... I was unaware of the change, but was able to update on 3/23 before a road trip (just the western US) As Geocaching.com seemed to be a big backer of these originally - would they be interested in hosting the server? Pocket queries are fine, but still not near the numbers you can stuff into these small devices. Plus I don't have to query, convert upload every outing... - my update says 3/24/2012 guess I should look if any newish caches are there. Anyone know? - Can these things hold the entire US (East West, my impression was one update overwrote the other? - Would be great to have a 'info' page as these questions will continue to arise as folks find out.. Thanks for any help It comes out of the box with the full USA installed... And you can (could) update that with a single click. That database was designed for kids and some of the difficult caches were not included. Or you could pick east or west with all regular caches installed ( well... No d=5 ) . The rest of the world was full country install. This is what made the geomate jr so great. Quote Link to comment
+Cardinal Red Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I have dropped the geomate jr also. I wish they would stop selling them if they are not going to support it correctly. Sad! Now if I could just find another gps that I can load an entire countries worth of caches with 1 click .... I would even be ok at a state level... Nope. Another Groundspeak marketing partnership bites the dust. They sure know how to pick em. I never was overly impressed with the Geomate Jr, but at least it updated as advertised as long as I used IE. Never did get Firefox to work, and still have not figured out the new crippled update scheme. What is the current value of a Green paperweight? Quote Link to comment
ChefRd2000 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I have dropped the geomate jr also. I wish they would stop selling them if they are not going to support it correctly. Sad! Now if I could just find another gps that I can load an entire countries worth of caches with 1 click .... I would even be ok at a state level... Nope. Another Groundspeak marketing partnership bites the dust. They sure know how to pick em. I never was overly impressed with the Geomate Jr, but at least it updated as advertised as long as I used IE. Never did get Firefox to work, and still have not figured out the new crippled update scheme. What is the current value of a Green paperweight? I always hoped for a "real" gps ... With the one click cache loading feature like the geomate jr. I really hate sitting in front of the computer, trying to guess where I will geocache this month. ( I'm almost always wrong ). Without that feature... The geomate jr is just a sad reminder of how much easier (and fun) this hobby could be. Current value = ? Without the installed database, it will still mark a waypoint (car, hotel, trailhead) and return you to it, provide your altitude , heading and raw coords. This has some value as a backup device? Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 [ Speaking as myself and not a volunteer mod ] Blame Groundspeak for picking partners that go out of business if you like, but that seems a little misguided. GeoMate never made any sense to me; for the price of a GeoMate and the cable, you could always buy a better GPS from an established name brand that could design a product with a sensible UI. Open protocols/specs and documented ways to get data in and out of the device holds you less hostage tot he whims/successes of that device's vendor. Hail the devices that take open protocols (like USB mass storage) and open file formats (like GPX) and don't hold you hostage with vendor updates. Quote Link to comment
ChefRd2000 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 [ Speaking as myself and not a volunteer mod ] Blame Groundspeak for picking partners that go out of business if you like, but that seems a little misguided. GeoMate never made any sense to me; for the price of a GeoMate and the cable, you could always buy a better GPS from an established name brand that could design a product with a sensible UI. Open protocols/specs and documented ways to get data in and out of the device holds you less hostage tot he whims/successes of that device's vendor. Hail the devices that take open protocols (like USB mass storage) and open file formats (like GPX) and don't hold you hostage with vendor updates. I expect things to hit end of life ... But I have never seen a company kill a needed service for it when you can still buy one! How tacky is that!?!? That price you speak of included ( well did ) the company updating and storing those databases around the globe... Every day! For free! Going to china? Click china, click update... Your done! So, SO awesome! ( I say this as I am sitting in front of my computer trying to plan my vacation next week. Ugh ) Quote Link to comment
+TeamPennyFinder Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 The Geomate Jr's draw is simple. It can do (when site works properly) what no other GPS does. It can update with entire sections of the US and some entire countries abroad. Lets say for instance TeamPennyFinder is going on vacation to a tiny town in IL to visit their middle son. I know the name of the town so before we go I run a PQ of the surrounding area and load it onto my 450. I update the Jr. with the entire Eastern section of the US. We get up there and the motel we can afford has no Internet, neither has my son. He wants to go geocaching and we go and he has a blast around the little town which has a few. He wants to show us a park that is a quite a ways off. We bring the GPS's. OPPPSSS!!! The 450 may as well be a brick because I did not know about this area so did not PQ it. The Jr. saves the day because it has on it the entire Eastern section of the country. Granted, I miss the ease of the 450, BUT, it has no caches on it for this area. Surprise! That is the draw of the Jr. Quote Link to comment
+TeamPennyFinder Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 That is the ONLY thing that the Jr. beats other GPS's at. In all other areas of course my 450 outshines the Jr. by a far cry. It is kind of hard to load PQ's before hand for "surprise" areas. Sorry, but my crystal ball broke eons ago. Quote Link to comment
+TeamPennyFinder Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) All I am saying is that as long as the Jr's site is functioning properly the Jr can be an asset. If the site is not functioning properly (as is the case lots of times) then one is far better off with another gps, even the GC which is not much higher priced that the Jr and the update cable is better than the Jr. But in the right circumstances the Jr. can be a good tool to use. Edited April 5, 2012 by TeamPennyFinder Quote Link to comment
+korimako Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 If there's another way to download the entire US list of caches and store them in something in my hand I'd be happy for a better gps, barring that, having the geomate in the glove box is excellent for wandering road trips. Looks like there was a change of heart and the site is still running for now, For those of you having problems, remember you have to use the 32 bit version of IE and Firefox requires a security adjustment - this was buried in the Geomate Docs somewhere, but can't seem to find it at the moment. here's from another post.. You will need to change some security settings on Firefox. You will need to: 1.Type "about:config" into the URL address field and hit "enter". After saying "yes, I'll be careful", This will open up and new window. 2.Now find the entry labeled "signed.applets.codebase_principal_support" (It’s near the bottom) 3.Change the value to "true" by double clicking "false". You are now ready to go. Lets hope it continues. Quote Link to comment
cjpuma1 Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I'm a teacher who won a grant this year for a whole class set of paperweights! I can't figure out what I am supposed to "open" when I click on their helpful link, since nothing is there or suggested. sigh. Kids were supposed to go out before school ends and we can't update our geomate jrs to the new caches! Quote Link to comment
ChefRd2000 Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I'm a teacher who won a grant this year for a whole class set of paperweights! I can't figure out what I am supposed to "open" when I click on their helpful link, since nothing is there or suggested. sigh. Kids were supposed to go out before school ends and we can't update our geomate jrs to the new caches! Ugh... Sorry to hear that. I have given up on mine so I can't offer any suggestions, but I do know the geomate jr was purchased (again) by another company. I would love for them to bring the geomate back to life ... For people like you that got burned by this mess. And on that note ... If they make a geomate SR! , I would buy one immediately :-) Quote Link to comment
+1GRANDMA1 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Have a geomate Jr. & for some reason today thought I would update it. Noticed that the download was different. (did not include Eastern U.S...??) But down loaded " the rest of the world" Which apparently does NOT include our little corner of Georgia USA.!!Found the new link & even tho I was warned I got it, Got my Pocket Query & figured out how to Zip it but got a "parse error" Could not successfully download unto the Geomate device. ..Any suggestions?? I am definitely NOT a computer gurue so need basic directions. I run windows 7 & WinZip & am a Premium Member. Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment
+Fryguy1111 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Have a geomate Jr. & for some reason today thought I would update it. Noticed that the download was different. (did not include Eastern U.S...??) But down loaded " the rest of the world" Which apparently does NOT include our little corner of Georgia USA.!!Found the new link & even tho I was warned I got it, Got my Pocket Query & figured out how to Zip it but got a "parse error" Could not successfully download unto the Geomate device. ..Any suggestions?? I am definitely NOT a computer gurue so need basic directions. I run windows 7 & WinZip & am a Premium Member. Thanks for any help. Since you're a premium member, you can create PQ's . For my sons' Geomate, I run a few PQ's around the area and upload the ones we might need. I've also found the program called Watcher-A GPX Utility that will merge multiple GPX files into a single one that you can then upload to your Geomate Jr. I've loaded a GPX with 1,500 geocaches (3 PQ GPX files without any issues). You can then go to the Geomate Jr. website to upload the PQ to your Geomate Jr., or just download the stand-alone uploader app that you keep on your PC. I use that so I don't need to browse to Geomate website all the time. To use it, connect your Geomate to your PC and start it, then start the app. Press the "Select File" button and browse to the GPX file you want to load. Then press "Download" to load it. Give it a minute to load and another to refresh the status of the Geomate Jr. (the "Handy Info" field). Easy-peasy!! BTW, I myself love the Geomate Jr., too. Just 2 buttons so it's easy to use, very good accuracy, water and shock resistant, a lanyard, and less than $70. My boys use this with me using my Blackberry and CacheSense. So together, we're "paperless" . Quote Link to comment
+grandad24 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 July 16, 2012: Just checked the Geomate, Jr., Update page and all regions of the world are now listed for update. I was able to update the Eastern USA just like before. Thanks to Brand 44 , the new owners, for making this service available. Quote Link to comment
+grandad24 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Have a geomate Jr. & for some reason today thought I would update it. Noticed that the download was different. (did not include Eastern U.S...??) But down loaded " the rest of the world" Which apparently does NOT include our little corner of Georgia USA.!!Found the new link & even tho I was warned I got it, Got my Pocket Query & figured out how to Zip it but got a "parse error" Could not successfully download unto the Geomate device. ..Any suggestions?? I am definitely NOT a computer gurue so need basic directions. I run windows 7 & WinZip & am a Premium Member. Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment
+grandad24 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 July 16, 2012 Check Geomate, Jr. Update page.................thankfully it is back up and running today for all regions of the world. Quote Link to comment
+1GRANDMA1 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 July 16, 2012: Just checked the Geomate, Jr., Update page and all regions of the world are now listed for update. I was able to update the Eastern USA just like before. Thanks to Brand 44 , the new owners, for making this service available. Quote Link to comment
+1GRANDMA1 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Thanks so much Grandad24. I just went to the Geomate Jr. page & "The Eastern USA" is back. Thanks guys. 1Grandma1 Quote Link to comment
+altagal Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Just received my geomate.jr update kit. Think I was able to download geomateloadersetup.exe, but when I double click on the file nothing happens. All attempts to email the company resulted in bounced email. A telephone call to their phone number posted on their website yielded a recording that the number had not yet been activated. I'm very disappointed with my latest experience, anyone else have similar problems with this company? Quote Link to comment
+Fryguy1111 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Just received my geomate.jr update kit. Think I was able to download geomateloadersetup.exe, but when I double click on the file nothing happens. All attempts to email the company resulted in bounced email. A telephone call to their phone number posted on their website yielded a recording that the number had not yet been activated. I'm very disappointed with my latest experience, anyone else have similar problems with this company? Did you contact Brand44 info@brand44co.com, the new owners of Geomate Jr.? They have a number at 303-339-0482. Other than that, we'd need more info to help you out...details on what exactly happens when you try to run that .exe etc. Quote Link to comment
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