Macs, Garmin, and Geocaching

[+Oilfieldtrash]

I have been out of geocaching for the last few years. The last time was quite a few years ago, 2007, and the unit I used then was a Magellan Meridian Platinum. At that time it required all kinds of programs, bells and whistles to download waypoints from my apple computer to the unit. I see that now the option is paperless with the right setup. I now have an Apple Macbook Pro and am thinking of getting back into the fun again. What Garmin GPS would be best for me and also what is the best integration between the geocaching.com website with cables, etc. to get waypoints loaded to a suitable GPS unit? Thanks. I am sure the technology has morphed substantially and I need all the help I can get to be back on the curve.

 

Oilfieldtrash

[+Wacka]

I have an etrex 20 (about $180.) It comes with a cable and has a standard USB port on one end. Just plug the GPS into the USB port and the GPS shows up as another hard drive. I download a PQ to my computer and unzip it. Drag the GPX file to the GPX folder on the GPS and voila, it is in the GPS!. Everything is available except the picture on the web page. If that is needed, that can be downloaded separately. When finding the cache, go to the Log Attemptmenu on the etrex and click Found. The cache is then put in a seperate found file and can be uploaded to the field notes section on the GC web site. They are all listed in the order found with a time stamp.

If you want to download just one or two to your GPS, download the Garmin Communicator for Mac and click the "Send to My GPS on the cache page and the app will look for the GPS. when found, it will download it directly to the GPS.

 

Much, much simpler than it used to be.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Wacka

[Pacific NW]

Running all of these below on my Mac. But beware, sometimes what is offered for download on Garmin's website is a newer version than what is offered in the App Store. (Hopefully they have fixed this by now.)

 

Garmin Base Camp - Mapping program.

Garmin Map Install - Install maps to your GPS / memory card.

Garmin Map Manager - Install maps (like those free ones from GPS File Depot) into Base Camp

Garmin POI Loader - Install POI files (or Geocaching .gpx files) onto your GPS. Not necessary if you have a newer Garmin unit that does paperless caching, unless you want to load many thousands upon thousands of caches for traveling, etc.

Garmin Web Updater - Keep GPS firmware up-to-date.