+Mugiwara Kaizoku Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Hey Everyone, I have a Garmin Colorado 400T that I used to use a ton. Since I've gotten the IPhone 4 with the cache app on it, that's what I prefer to use. This becomes a problem in some bad signal areas. I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to send the Geocache waypoint to the Garmin Colorado 400T wireless-ly. I know the Colorado can communicate with other Colorados, but how about an IPhone? I've searched and couldn't find anything. I'm about to start to try to learn the coding on how to get these two to communicate. Anyone interested or have any insights? I've only gotten this thought in my head yesterday... Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Nope can't do it. Upgrade to an android phone and you can. Quote Link to comment
+Atlas Cached Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Nope can't do it. Upgrade to an android phone and you can. How does an Android communicate with a Garmin Colorado 400t? Quote Link to comment
+Mugiwara Kaizoku Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Can't? How do you do it with the Android Walts Hunting? I would guess that if you can do it with an Android phone it's possible on the IPhone. Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Nope. But the new Oregons that are coming out have Bluetooth, so it may be possible with them. Existing units use ANT, which is quite rare. Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Only way is to add the waypoint manually to the GPS. May mean saving the cache info while you have a signal, or using PQ's which you can read once saved t the phone before you get out of signal range... Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Hey Everyone, I have a Garmin Colorado 400T that I used to use a ton. Since I've gotten the IPhone 4 with the cache app on it, that's what I prefer to use. This becomes a problem in some bad signal areas. I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to send the Geocache waypoint to the Garmin Colorado 400T wireless-ly. I know the Colorado can communicate with other Colorados, but how about an IPhone? I've searched and couldn't find anything. I'm about to start to try to learn the coding on how to get these two to communicate. Anyone interested or have any insights? I've only gotten this thought in my head yesterday... You do realise that you can save the the caches and maps to the phone within the Geocaching app? You do not need to have cell service to use the phone... Quote Link to comment
+Mugiwara Kaizoku Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 You do realise that you can save the the caches and maps to the phone within the Geocaching app? You do not need to have cell service to use the phone... I do. That's the kinda' way I used to do it. I used to keep a HUGE GSAK database and load in a p.q. everyday to update the caches and then pull them down to the GPSr. Using the cell phone allows me to find caches on the spot, wherever I may be at the time. The signal loss I'm concerned about is the phone's GPS service. It [the iphone] seems to be kinda' bouncy in some areas or off by at least 16 - 32 feet and I thought the Garmin Colorado would have a stronger receiver and may not bounce or be as many feet off as the IPhone. I figured if I could just shoot the waypoint over to the Colorado, it would fix that. I really love the convenience of being able to query the site, pick a cache, locate it and post a field note all at once. I guess my problem lies with the GPS reception. Darn... Guess I'm back to manual entry in those tough spots. Red90 - I've never heard of ANT (but then I don't program these kinds of things) I figured it would have been bluetooth. Thank you everyone for your responses. Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 ANT is the type of wireless communication that Garmin has been using. Garmin owns the technology. It has some advantages over Bluetooth for what Garmin uses it for. Apparently there are some smart devices that can do ANT. Anyway, it seems that Garmin is switching to using both BT and ANT in their new units. Another option, although it cost money...is to get a separate bluetooth GPS. These will get good GPS reception and work with the iPhone. Quote Link to comment
+Mugiwara Kaizoku Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 ANT is the type of wireless communication that Garmin has been using. Garmin owns the technology. It has some advantages over Bluetooth for what Garmin uses it for. Apparently there are some smart devices that can do ANT. Anyway, it seems that Garmin is switching to using both BT and ANT in their new units. Another option, although it cost money...is to get a separate bluetooth GPS. These will get good GPS reception and work with the iPhone. Cool. Thank you for the info Red90. Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 (edited) Can't? How do you do it with the Android Walts Hunting? I would guess that if you can do it with an Android phone it's possible on the IPhone. Nice opinion but not factual. There are many things an Android will do that cannot be done on iOS devices. Their closed propiety system only allows pictures and videos to be exchanged through the interface. Not matter how you hook up the device (bluetooth, ant or direct) that is all you can do. If you want to communicate with your Garmin you need to follow the below steps. Trade in iPhone for Android (the Galaxy S3 works well for me) Purchase OTG cable. (eBay or Amazon) Hook Garmin to standard USB cable Hook USB cable to OTG cable Hook OTG cable to android device You now have the same capability as you would on a full blown desktop. You can download individual caches to it. You can add or delete PQ's as needed. You can move Tracks back and forth. You can upload the geo_visits txt file to the website for field notes None of which you can do (and probably never will) on an iOS device. The iOS system is a fine system but Apple severely limits the interface capabilities and when I had to choose between the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 I went with Galaxy even though I have a iPad. Of course the SNAFU about maps (I use mine for all driving) helped me in that direction. Edited January 29, 2013 by Walts Hunting Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Hook Garmin to standard USB cable The OP was looking for a wireless solution. Obviously, you could do a wired way.... But you might as well type in the one set of coordinates at that point. Quote Link to comment
+Mugiwara Kaizoku Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Awesome Walt. I just got my wife one so I guess your wired solution would work. What about communicating via ANT, or wirelessly? Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Awesome Walt. I just got my wife one so I guess your wired solution would work. What about communicating via ANT, or wirelessly? Nope not yet. The Bluetooth feature on the Oregon shows promise though. Just a note if you have a Montana which takes three Batteriesmyou will ned the dual USB cable for enough power. Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Hook Garmin to standard USB cable The OP was looking for a wireless solution. Obviously, you could do a wired way.... But you might as well type in the one set of coordinates at that point. Why type one when you can add 1,000 in a PQ. Quote Link to comment
+user13371 Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 (edited) By themselves, there are no smartphones that will be able to wirelessly exchange Geocaching info with a Garmin Colorado. If you want to carry a mess of extra gear with you (cables, card readers, wireless routers, etc) you can kluge together a solution for almost any make or model - Android or iOS. Walt often repeats the canard that it can't be done on an iPhone or iPad-- even though we've discussed the gear I use (wireless router with USB port) to do just that. And Walt's solution of using a "standard" USB cable doesn't actually work for a lot of devices- including his until he worked out some power issues with a little help from his friends On sum, it just makes a lot more sense to copy your pocket queries from your computer to the GPS before you leave home. Unless you don't have a computer (like me) or don't have a home (like Walt). Edited January 30, 2013 by user13371 Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Why type one when you can add 1,000 in a PQ. The OP was talking about the odd time that he is at a cache and the iPhone did not have great reception and he wanted to pull out the Colorado to help him find it. He does NOT want to use it for finding caches normally.... If he wanted to dump complete PQs, he could do that at home.... IMO, the best solution is to spend a little cash on a Bluetooth GPS and leave the Colorado at home. The new Garmin GLO looks quite nice. Quote Link to comment
+user13371 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 IMO, the best solution is to spend a little cash on a Bluetooth GPS and leave the Colorado at home. The new Garmin GLO looks quite nice. That would be spending money to replace functionality he already has in the Colorado. You and I both mentioned loading PQ's at home before heading out, IMO that's really the best option for now. I'm stingy. But when the Colorado needs to be replaced? Yeah, maybe... Quote Link to comment
+Walts Hunting Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Hi Mr. Portland. Been waiting for you to show up. You are right I don't mention those methods because one requires the specific router you have and the other procedure is somewhat complicated and not something most people will want to do I. A regular basis. And here inthoughtni could sneak one past you but it was only a matter of time. 😄 Quote Link to comment
+user13371 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Hi Walt. there is more than "one specific router" that can do this; any router with USB port will do. You and I have even discussed batery powered, portable ones. I'm only pointing it out to keep you honest You're absolutely right that iOS devices don't support USB OTG -- but you invariably present this as meaning iOS devices can't transfer files to and from a GPS at all. With multiple was to get files between most smartphones and a GPS, it seems silly to me to hinge an entire purchase decision on whether or not the smartphone itself supports ONE particular way of doing that. The OP already has gear the works for him and asked how to make it work. You and others suggest to he buy OTHER gear (a different phone, a Bluetooth GPS, etc). Wouldn't it make more sense to use what he already has? Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 IMO, the best solution is to spend a little cash on a Bluetooth GPS and leave the Colorado at home. The new Garmin GLO looks quite nice. That would be spending money to replace functionality he already has in the Colorado. You and I both mentioned loading PQ's at home before heading out, IMO that's really the best option for now. I'm stingy. But when the Colorado needs to be replaced? Yeah, maybe... As I read it, he is trying to not use the Colorado.....and would be much happier with a one device option. A good BT gps is not very expensive. Quote Link to comment
John E Cache Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 If you are going to spend money, you could upgrade to the new Oregon 600 series GPS's. They have Bluetooth. Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) If you are going to spend money, you could upgrade to the new Oregon 600 series GPS's. They have Bluetooth. That is a slightly different ballpark of money!! That is like saying "If you are planning to spend money on a Kia, you could upgrade to a new Mercedes....". Edited January 31, 2013 by Red90 Quote Link to comment
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