Downloading GPX file to Garmin GPS

[+1260smc]

How do people manage to download GPX files from either email or the Geocaching site while they don't have ready access to a laptop or computer?  I will be travelling and hope to run PQs to cache while I am away.  Unfortunately Apple Ipads don't support this, are there any of the Android tablets that do or any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

1260smc

Edited November 22, 2017 by 1260smc
typo

[+Viajero Perdido]

On Android, I use Locus Map Pro (map + caching app), which loads PQs directly from Groundspeak via the API.  "Load Pocket Queries" or somesuch; it shows a list of PQs available, select and go.  Other apps in both the Android and iOS worlds likely do this as well, maybe even the house-brand app, I dunno.

I travel with an Android phone (for caching) and tablet (for big-screen planning) with the aforementioned app, and no longer need to have a bulky netbook weighing down my carry-on bags.

EDIT: only now do I see "to Garmin GPS" in the title, not the body of your message.  If you want to do that, I can't help you.  Good luck.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Viajero Perdido

[+JohnCNA]

I gave not been able to find a reasonable app or solution to do this with an Apple phone or tablet. But it is fairly easy with an Android phone or tablet. You would just need to purchase an 'OTG' cable for a couple $$ to connect the phone/tablet to your Garmin. Download the GPX to the phone/tablet, connect the Garmin, and copy the GPX file to the Garmin. 

[+on4bam]

+1 about Apple but Android is no  problem. I have GDAK (API partner) that can import directly from GS (PQ, get from center, published last xx days...) or use GSAK databases. In the field I can connect my Oregon 600 to the tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab2) via an OTG (has full size USB and card reader) and export one or more caches (depending on filter settings in GDAK). My old ASUS tablet (Android 4.2) could write directly to my GPS, the new one (Android 7.0) can only write to the app's directory so an extra step (using a filemanager) is needed to copy the file to the GPS.

The "apps can't write outside their own folderstructure" is what Android insists is extra security but it's a PITA if you want to move files around.

 

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, 1260smc said:

How do people manage to download GPX files from either email or the Geocaching site while they don't have ready access to a laptop or computer?  I will be travelling and hope to run PQs to cache while I am away.  Unfortunately Apple Ipads don't support this, are there any of the Android tablets that do or any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

1260smc

I plan ahead and load a PQ of the places I plan to go.  A 100 mile radius is quite an area to cache. If I'm ever suprised to wake up 100 miles from where I was, Geocaching won't be my priority .  Load PQs of the main caching places, and some choice caches along the route.

Still, I've also tried ideas to get caches onto my Garmin Oregon 650, on-the-fly.

There are USB wifi routers that can send data to USB or a Micro SD card from IOS and Android.  The Apps for those are pretty bad.  As mentioned, there are adapters for Android at least, and Androids often have a built-in SD card slot.  Send PQs to the Garmin or send to an SD Card and put the card into the Garmin.

But for managing large numbers of caches, actual PC is better a fiddly phone that only kinda-sorta supports PQ transfer.  Here's a Windows 10 tablet for under $100 (just an example, not an endorsement):

https://www.amazon.com/NuVision-Touchscreen-Quad-Core-Processor-Windows/dp/B01H3B17R8/?tag=wpcentralb-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUdUnU29065

With something like that, you could even run Garmin Express and load Lists. Connect to a Hotspot or via "tether" to a phone, and you're golden.

 

Edited November 22, 2017 by kunarion

[+Viajero Perdido]

Or just cache with a phone.

[+kunarion]

20 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

Or just cache with a phone.

One simple plan, for spontaneous travelers who have phones and Garmin GPSrs, is to load caches to the phone and make do.  I can't stand caching with a phone in the sunlight, nor any of the "Apps", they've all failed me when I needed them most.  But at least there's the chance to find a cache that I hadn't loaded onto GyPSy.  Plus I can type a cache or two as waypoints, and I'm back in business.

[+hzoi]

5 hours ago, kunarion said:

One simple plan, for spontaneous travelers who have phones and Garmin GPSrs, is to load caches to the phone and make do.  I can't stand caching with a phone in the sunlight, nor any of the "Apps", they've all failed me when I needed them most.  But at least there's the chance to find a cache that I hadn't loaded onto GyPSy.  Plus I can type a cache or two as waypoints, and I'm back in business.

Given the abysmal accuracy of my phone's GPSr, this is how I often do it.

(I also refer to my GPSr as Gypsy.  She makes interesting routing decisions sometimes, but I can't blame her; she has all those higher functions to run and can't spare all her resources on giving me accurate directions.)

[+NYPaddleCacher]

22 hours ago, kunarion said:

On 11/22/2017 at 8:42 AM, 1260smc said:

How do people manage to download GPX files from either email or the Geocaching site while they don't have ready access to a laptop or computer?  I will be travelling and hope to run PQs to cache while I am away.  Unfortunately Apple Ipads don't support this, are there any of the Android tablets that do or any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

1260smc

I plan ahead and load a PQ of the places I plan to go.  A 100 mile radius is quite an area to cache. If I'm ever suprised to wake up 100 miles from where I was, Geocaching won't be my priority .  Load PQs of the main caching places, and some choice caches along the route.

That's worked for me as well.  Most of the time I travel it's for business so I always have a laptop with me but I can't remember the last time I've run a PQ while traveling to update my GPS.  On a recent trip I created and ran 6 different pocket queries, merged the results, and downloaded the caches to my handheld.  That covered areas in four countries I would be visiting.  I ran the PQs a week or so before leaving and was gone a week.  Theoretically, there may have been some new caches placed since I ran the PQs or caches that were archived or disabled, but I still had way more viable caches in my GPS that I could ever find in a week.  For a week long trip a bit of pre-planning by downloading PQs (and custom maps from OpenStreetMaps for Garmin) should satisfy even the most most avid geocacher.  The suggestion of an inexpensive laptop is a good one -- perhaps not for a week long trip, but for a 2 week or more holiday that was all about geocaching, spending $100-200 seems to me to be a justifiable purchase. 

[+on4bam]

We also prepare before trips (or just cachedays) but that doesn't mean mistakes don't happen. Just on a daytrip I have notice a missing cache, it was a bonus of a series and I must have missed setting the userflag in GSAK. Selecting the cache in GDAK it was quickly transferred to my Oregon. A few weeks ago a cacheday was prepared and the day before I had the GPS connected to the computer, deleted the old GGZ and POI's, transferred the database to GDAK and forgot to run the Garminexport macro. We arrived at the parking coordinates of the multi we were doing, switched on the GPS... no caches found... again, the selected caches were transferred from the tablet to the GPS, saving the day...

On holiday I have an up-to date database with caches within the area we're visiting and I have all these caches on the GPS but I tend to refresh the caches that are in the area we'll visit the next day in order to have latest logs and to check any NM, TA or archived logs. If a new cache pops up it's again easily loaded onto the Oregon.

 

[+dartymoor]

The Garmin Oregon 7xx series will download caches itself using an available Wifi connection.