+Ma & Pa Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 We have an Oregon 450 and a 62S. We were told a few years ago that our units would hold more than 1000 caches but that we could not load more than 1000 at a time. So when we take a trip we have been loading caches in groups of less than 1000. If a GSAK database held more than 1000, we have been splitting it into smaller groups using mileage for example. I now wonder if the person who gave us this info was perhaps confusing this with the PQ restriction of 1000 caches. Any comments? Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 (edited) Possibly, yes. How many caches does the unit/units hold? You should be able to send that amount via GSAK in one go... The usual limits are: Number of individual gpx files. Number of caches. Size of file (mb etc) It is possible to hit one of the limits, before one of the others... eg If you include too any logs with each cache you can hit the size (mb) limit, before the number of caches limit. Edited September 14, 2014 by Bear and Ragged Quote Link to comment
+Cache O'Plenty Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Check the specs on Garmin.com for your particular unit. I have the 450 and it will hold 2000 waypoints (sort of equivalent to caches) but, I believe that includes child waypoints if you include them. These 2000 go into your "favorites" and will show up on-screen. What you may have been told about "more than 1000" may be referring to loading them via a POI file. This process will load thousands of caches (I have over 6000 loaded) via the POI loader. They are accessible via the "Extra" menu icon. You have to use a special GSAK macro to construct the input file and then use the Garmin POI loader to convert and install them to the Garmin. They do not show up on your favorites list nor will they appear on the screen. Plus, you only get limited information; GC #, title, and coordinates. It doesn't load the description, hints, logs, etc. And they don't count as geocaches on the Garmin so you can't "find them or comment". Quote Link to comment
jholly Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Here is Garmin's answer. Quote Link to comment
+BlackRose67 Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 I've loaded about 3200 geocaches onto my 62s without a problem. Quote Link to comment
+pppingme Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Check the specs on Garmin.com for your particular unit. I have the 450 and it will hold 2000 waypoints (sort of equivalent to caches) but, I believe that includes child waypoints if you include them. These 2000 go into your "favorites" and will show up on-screen. I assume you mean Oregon 450. It will hold 5000 caches on top of 2000 way points and unlimited POI's. Caches don't count against waypoints. This process will load thousands of caches (I have over 6000 loaded) via the POI loader. They are accessible via the "Extra" menu icon. You have to use a special GSAK macro to construct the input file and then use the Garmin POI loader to convert and install them to the Garmin. GSAK is capable of exporting POI's directly, you don't need any special macro's. Quote Link to comment
+Ma & Pa Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 Thanks all So are you all saying that I can load that number of caches in one shot? We have been putting high numbers in the gps but never more than 1000 at a time. We have often had 3000 in the gps but we loaded them 1000 at a time PA Quote Link to comment
+Chrysalides Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 I regularly load about 3500 onto my Oregon 450 in one file. Every once in a while, the Oregon would choke when starting up. If you want to be extra careful, use a microSD card, and load geocaches onto the card. That way, if it chokes when loading geocaches, you power it off, take card out, power it up, down, insert card, and power it up. Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Thanks all So are you all saying that I can load that number of caches in one shot? We have been putting high numbers in the gps but never more than 1000 at a time. We have often had 3000 in the gps but we loaded them 1000 at a time PA Go ahead, do it in one shot! Quote Link to comment
+pppingme Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 So are you all saying that I can load that number of caches in one shot? We have been putting high numbers in the gps but never more than 1000 at a time. We have often had 3000 in the gps but we loaded them 1000 at a time Yeah, you can load all the way up to 5000 in a single .gpx if you want. (450 does hold 5000 caches, right? yeah, pretty sure). PQ's are limited to 1000, but if you're using something else as the centerpoint of your info (like GSAK), you can load, hash out filters the way you want, and send up to 5k to your unit. This is how I do it, so my gps doesn't end up with unsolved puzzles or stupid challenge caches that no one meets the requirements for. Quote Link to comment
+BAMBOOZLE Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 I have both units....they each hold 5000 caches and I have loaded close to that amount on both but sometimes I have trouble on start up. Its best to keep the total below 3000. You could load 5, 1000 cache PQ's into GSAK and combine them in to one file of 5000 and send this one file to your units. Or you could create 5, 1000 cache data bases in GSAK and send all 5 to each unit.....5 GPX files will be created on each unit and the units will read all 5 as if they were one. Quote Link to comment
+FunnyNose Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Using garmin POIs i still have not reached the upper limit as of yet. I can load all of Oregon and Washington on my 62s about 60,000 caches. Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the GPS forum. In passing, I note that I asked for help in the GPS forum with my 62S. I was getting "too many geocaches" errors and my GPS was crashing. Ever since I limited my downloads to well less than 5000 waypoints, everything's been fine. Quote Link to comment
+pppingme Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Using garmin POIs i still have not reached the upper limit as of yet. I can load all of Oregon and Washington on my 62s about 60,000 caches. Loading as POI's you lose so many features, like field notes, marking as found, descriptions, past logs, and I could probably name many more. As far as POI count goes, I believe Garmin has said up to available memory, so its possible to load millions. Quote Link to comment
+Cache O'Plenty Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 The "Garmin's Answer" says the Oregon 450T can hold: 2,000 waypoints 5,000 geocaches What's the difference? My understanding is that the waypoints are just the set of coordinates for a particular location plus it's name. This is the general description of a waypoint in the glossary at Garmin. Meanwhile, a geocache is also a waypoint but includes GC#, description, logs, hints, etc. A geocache is supported by the Geocache icon and can be "found","commented", etc. So, the question is: Wat is Garmin saying when they quote "2,000 waypoints vs. 5,000 geocaches"? POI is an entirely different thing, right? Quote Link to comment
jholly Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 The "Garmin's Answer" says the Oregon 450T can hold: 2,000 waypoints 5,000 geocaches What's the difference? My understanding is that the waypoints are just the set of coordinates for a particular location plus it's name. This is the general description of a waypoint in the glossary at Garmin. Meanwhile, a geocache is also a waypoint but includes GC#, description, logs, hints, etc. A geocache is supported by the Geocache icon and can be "found","commented", etc. So, the question is: Wat is Garmin saying when they quote "2,000 waypoints vs. 5,000 geocaches"? POI is an entirely different thing, right? Waypoints are what you get when you press the mark key. Geocaches are what is contained in a .gpx file. and yes, poi's are another animal. They are things like the Micky D's that show up on maps. Quote Link to comment
+Chrysalides Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 The "Garmin's Answer" says the Oregon 450T can hold: 2,000 waypoints 5,000 geocaches What's the difference? My understanding is that the waypoints are just the set of coordinates for a particular location plus it's name. This is the general description of a waypoint in the glossary at Garmin. Meanwhile, a geocache is also a waypoint but includes GC#, description, logs, hints, etc. A geocache is supported by the Geocache icon and can be "found","commented", etc. So, the question is: Wat is Garmin saying when they quote "2,000 waypoints vs. 5,000 geocaches"? You answered your own question With a geocache, in addition to all the other stuff, you can also mark it as found so that it doesn't come up in a future search without deleting it. It creates a "geocache_visits.txt" file (field notes) that you can upload to make logging easier. Quote Link to comment
+FunnyNose Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 (edited) Loading as POI's you lose so many features, like field notes, marking as found, descriptions, past logs, and I could probably name many more. I find field notes to be useless. I have always kept a small notebook keeping track of finds, imputing even a small amount of text is painfully slow on the Garmin. I tested that out once, I wrote a complete paragraph vs my friend getting a few words in his 62s. Using the proper GSAK macro I get the full cache description and as many logs as I want to see in my 62s. Automating GSAK I can update my POIs quickly so even marking it as found on the GPS is not needed. Edited September 17, 2014 by FunnyNose Quote Link to comment
+Cache O'Plenty Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 If talking about the "Comment" field available on the Garmin when marking it found/didn't find/etc. then it's useful to me to input a TB code that I've dropped in the cache. Or to make a brief note of "fav" or "wet log". These get uploaded to GSAK when I load my finds using the geocaching.com api functions. Anything more than six or seven characters is a pain on the Garmin. Quote Link to comment
+Chrysalides Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 I find the field notes invaluable when finding more than 10 caches in a day (a rare occurrence for me), especially when there are unknown caches among them. I'm a little obsessive about getting my logging order correct. So far I haven't had trouble remembering details about the cache to log, except once, when I did 64 caches on a trail (with 7 DNFs). I might put in a word or two to help jog my memory later. Quote Link to comment
the3gmen Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Loading as POI's you lose so many features, like field notes, marking as found, descriptions, past logs, and I could probably name many more. ... Using the proper GSAK macro I get the full cache description and as many logs as I want to see in my 62s. Automating GSAK I can update my POIs quickly so even marking it as found on the GPS is not needed. Which GSAK macro lets you get a full description and logs onto a 62s ? Quote Link to comment
jholly Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) Loading as POI's you lose so many features, like field notes, marking as found, descriptions, past logs, and I could probably name many more. ... Using the proper GSAK macro I get the full cache description and as many logs as I want to see in my 62s. Automating GSAK I can update my POIs quickly so even marking it as found on the GPS is not needed. Which GSAK macro lets you get a full description and logs onto a 62s ? This one. Of course you need to have that stuff loaded into your database. Edited September 18, 2014 by jholly Quote Link to comment
+ecanderson Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 We have an Oregon 450 and a 62S. We were told a few years ago that our units would hold more than 1000 caches but that we could not load more than 1000 at a time. So when we take a trip we have been loading caches in groups of less than 1000. If a GSAK database held more than 1000, we have been splitting it into smaller groups using mileage for example. I now wonder if the person who gave us this info was perhaps confusing this with the PQ restriction of 1000 caches. Any comments? I believe early units may have been more limited, but I load ~4500 to my Oregon 450 every week. Quote Link to comment
+FunnyNose Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Which GSAK macro lets you get a full description and logs onto a 62s ? This one. Of course you need to have that stuff loaded into your database. I haven't looked at that one. I've used always used This One Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.