Delorme PN-60 deleting caches?

[+teamajk]

A friend and I both use Delorme PN-60 GPS's that we got a little over two years ago. Lately we have both been noticing that they seem to be deleting caches out of our files. We get them all loaded up and confirm the caches are there, and then when we get out in the field some (or all!) of the caches have disappeared from the list. I don't think this is a bone-headed mistake we're making (like looking at the logged vs not logged caches) and I also don't think it's the well-documented bug in the plug-in where it can't handle certain XML characters (like 'TM'). Has anyone else had this type of problem? I think it's related to caches input via the "send to GPS" plug-in moreso than from pocket-queries, but I need to do some more experimentation to see if the behavior is reproducible in a systematic way. We are both PC/Windows/Internet Explorer users. Thanks-

[+TomToad]

It is from non-standard UTF-8 characters. If anyone logs from a smartphone and places a smiley face, and that log is included in your pocket query, then the PQ will be corrupted on the GPSr. You wont see the results of the corruption until you shut down the GPSr or any other function which causes it to rewrite changes to the unit. GC2M8VH has a log like that. Look for one from March 21, 2013. Sorry I can't give you a link because the servers are down for maintenance right now.

[+bpwilldo]

Are you using an SD card? I ask because, for example, I have a file with 945 caches on the SD card. Say it was the last file open when I shut the unit down. Then I hookup to the PC and open the SD card. Then I shut the unit down, prior to disconnecting the cable, the unit goes through the "saving file in GPX format" or something. Well, it is saving the file to the internal drive but only 630 caches show when that file is opened. I have never used the unit without an SD card so I'm not sure what the behavior would be without one. If you opened the file from the internal drive, I assume the unit would overwrite that file with its new copy. Maybe?

[39_Steps]

IIRC, Delorme has designed the Delorme PN-60 to manage Waypoints (including the subset of geocache symbolized points) from GPX formatted files copied to either an SD card or to the EM_User partition of internal device bulk memory.

 

Whether 'plugin' is the correct term for this gpx file copying process on the PN-60 I know not, but I thought that 'plugin' was a term previously used on earlier firmware versions of the Delorme PN-40 for waypoint transfer to internal hidden memory in Delorme proprietary format.

 

There were occasional reports of geocache overwriting issues with the original PN-40s, particularly for event caching with numerous similar long names exceeding the 31 character name field.

 

Other users above in this have pointed out potential problems in the filtering process, even if the PQ gpx file format is properly used. One additional issue that may be overlooked is to keep adequate battery power reserves in the PN-40/60 devices at the end of the day to support converting the cache data into GPX format as the devices are powered OFF.

Edited July 13, 2013 by 39_Steps