New to the Garmin eTrex 30 [Help!]

[+sntgatchaman]

Hi y'all!

I've been geocaching for the past year using the iphone app and absolutely love this new hobby! I recently cut my cell phone service all together so I purchased an eTrex 30 and an SD card. I've been reading the manual and all of the forum posts concerning it specifically and am getting very overwhelmed! gpx, gpsfiledepot, gsak, talkytoaster, packet queries, opencache, basecamp, etc. etc. I didn't have to think about or even know about any of these things!!!

 

For right now all I want to do is set up my eTrex to mirror as closely as possible the awesome geocaching iphone app. How do I go about doing this? Help!

 

A couple of specific additional questions:

1) When I download a new map, what folder should I put it in?

2) Anything that I download, can I just put it all into my SD card and will the eTrex automatically read it?

 

Obviously I haven't downloaded anything into my GPSr yet...just a little scared of screwing something up...But I'm really excited to use this thing!

 

Thanks for the help!

[+Mineral2]

So, the bad news: you can't make your eTrex mirror the iPhone app. It just doesn't work that way.

 

The good news is, once you start using the GPS, you might not go back to the app, or only use the app for logging finds in the field.

 

I'll answer your questions:

 

1. It depends.

 

Some maps come with installers (.gmapi or .exe files). These must be installed via Basecamp or the map manager (mac), but since they also install on your hard drive, you can view them in basecamp without having the GPS plugged in.

 

Some maps come pre-compiled as an .img file. For example, it might be called gmapsupp.img. These can go directly in the Garmin folder on your GPS or SD card. You will have to have your GPS plugged in to access them in Basecamp.

 

2./b] Geocache files are in the .gpx format. They go in the GPX folder inside the Garmin folder. Example:

E:/Garmin/GPX/

Where E: is the drive letter of the GPS or the SD card. In general, the file folder structure is the same on the GPS and SD card.

 

Now for the fun part:

 

Programs like Basecamp and GSAK will automatically send geocaches to your GPS or SD card and put them where they belong. Basecamp isn't the best geocache manager, it's more for managing tracks, routes, and waypoints, but it is free and does work. But for Pocket Query files, so does simply dragging and dropping the gpx files using the instructions above. GSAK is built for geocaching, but it will require a nominal additional investment. It's also a Windows-only program, so if you're a mac or linux user, you're out of luck (sort-of). To be honest, I get by just fine using pocket queries without additional programs. But I suppose if you're into power trails and are logging hundreds of caches in a day, GSAK can log them all in bulk.

Edited June 24, 2014 by mineral2

[+sntgatchaman]

Thanks mineral2 for your answers! I've been toying with my mac and my eTrex all day and think I've figured everything out thanks to your help and this forum. The more and more I toy with it, the more I like it better than the phone app. Thanks!