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Getting back into caching using my old Garmin 60CSx.  Had to download either Firefox or some other to get latest Garmin Communicator Plug In and now computer is still not reading it.  The more I try, the more I mess up my computer.  Are there any new GPS's out there where I can get caches' via blue tooth or some other method where I don't have to deal with all of the in-compatibility issues between plug in and browsers?  Getting VERY frustrated.

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14 hours ago, lostfleas said:

Are there any new GPS's out there where I can get caches' via blue tooth or some other method where I don't have to deal with all of the in-compatibility issues between plug in and browsers?  Getting VERY frustrated.

Yes. (*) Every GPS made after the 60csx (sorry, but you have the last model of the old family) supports GPX files and mass storage mode. You can just download a Pocket Query and drop it into the device's onboard storage (or a microSD card expansion) and be done with it. You can do the same thing with single GPX files from the cache listing page if you still prefer to load your caches one at a time.

But the answer to your question is yes. You do need to be a premium member to take advantage of pocket queries or bookmark lists to bulk load geocaches.

In my opinion, it is worth upgrading your GPS from the grossly outdated 60csx. Keep it for backup or to give to a friend when out hiking in the backcountry. But the newer GPS units are faster, have more storage capacity, and have better screens that display maps much better.

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As a slight sidebar to Mineral2 so he can continue to provide awesome help to others, I'll share my recollection of that era in the hope that it helps anyone. 200x-era Garmin USB trivial pursuit can be a tricky category.

In the 1990's, Garmin had a line of products with overlapping prices and features that were all serial ports. In 2004 They had the new 60 and 76 models (with and without Color and Sensors) that added a USB port. In that era, map transfer and track transfer were the only thing that *typically* took over a minute to transfer so that's all that went over the USB wire. After shipping for a few quarters they added the ability to read and write the SD cards as removable storage devices over the internal memoru, albeit at USB full speed and not high speed. That was the point where Garmin USB got viable for moving GPS points and racks because you could just copy files to them as you would a thumb drive. 

By 2004/5, devices on the market that were using the CSR owned SiRFStar receivers which performed their home brews in a matter of ways. In Jan of 2006, Garmin released the "X" variations of the 60c/76c. The SirfStar supplier was under constant attack for alleged patent violations and Garmin, as their biggest user, was hit hard by both supply and concern if the suit continued on, so they double-sourced and went to the very similar MediaTek products. Garmin didn't like the uncertainty, but muddled on with their two flagship handhelds.

By spring of 2007, the -other- entries in the handheld line (eTrex, Summit, Legend, + Nuvi) were looking pretty ragged. Serial port adapters and proprietary cables were costing a substantial percentage of the product. The typical user no longer even knows what a serial port is, let alone how to make one. So they ran back over those 1900-era models and re-cut Vista HC Legend HC, Summit HC, and eTrex HC Oh, and Nuvi but it's the odd duck here so we'll ignore it.

There "HC" models retain all kinds of bizarre 1990s tech (six character upper case only names? Ugh) with their namesake models; they "just" got the better Highsensitivity Chip and integrated USB. They kept the cases and holsters and bike mounts and everything as possible as they could. Code-wise, though, these models acted more like stripped down 60's than their namesakes.

You really can imagine (OK, _I_ can...) the engineering decision that this was a copy/paste exercise to put the (potentially depopulated, underrated) hardware into as close to the same case as you get - close enough to hopefully not need a new mold but just a new die flash cut (think cookie cutter) as they cooled. It would have been a very reasonable task for a small team of interns to knock down during the summer: take the schematics, source code, getber files, FCC guidance, etc, and "just" swap radios and turn off some features from the 60 to make it fit into a smaller flash EEPROM. Don't try to make Legend try lower case letters - just swap the chip and do as little to the code as possible.

There are a few other glitches in that time frame, but remembering that the 60C/76C were the first of the second gen platform (to me). They didn't look/act like anything before them in Garmin-land and almost everything after them looked the same.  Nuvi and Colorado hatched others named like states where bigger numbers == more awesome within the line, but they're totally different on the wire and in UX that in my mind they're the third gen.   (Fitness, aviation, marine, etc. could more planes to this diagram, but let's not.)

So, back to the sentence " you have the last model of the old family) supports GPX files and mass storage mode. You can just download a Pocket Query and drop it into the device's onboard storage (or a microSD card expansion) and be done with it." that's not quite true. The  Legend hcx, for example, was shipped after the 60Cx, but it acts more like the 60 and original Legend than it does a Nuvi 350, 500, or Oregon 300. which shipped AFTER the 60 with noticeable improvements, like a geocaching mode that was more awesome than animating an icon lid closing on the container. To make matters worse, the new Nuvis (err, "Drive" models) will still take your GPX files, but it doesn't mount on your computer like a file drive. You have to treat it like a 15 year old flash player or camera and transfer files to it via PTP or MTP. On the up side, your GPS won't go into charging mode and "dead" when you plug into charge and you don't have to reboot to get your points visible on a map. But you don't have those models, so let's not stay with MSTO itself being an outdated standard itself at this point in time.

Garmin isn't alone in this line of confusing product lines. The Meridian was clearly SD card hooked to code dealing with serial ports. Explorist x00. The successor to it, Triton was something totally new (and disastrous). Seeing those tank, Magellan, under the new leadership of Mitac - rolled out a less hacky Explorist and goes back to the former name, but the numbers confuse people because an X10 is newer than an X00. A 310 has more in common with a 210 than a 300. The newest Explorists (and they're going on 10 y/o at this point) have more in common with the turn of the century Magellans than either of the entire product lines that should have replaced them.|


NOW going back to the original question. The 60CSx was a lovely unit. Search and Rescue teams, in particular, love many traits about them and aren't switching.  You have to remember it's a 2007 remake of a 2004 product. It's probable that most of the geocaches between 2006 and 2010-11. It's not like site changes for, say, Giga cache are likely to impact it much as it doesn't know about geocache types; there's only found and not found. The device should work. However, as you've found, some of the software infrastructure that will cut maps and deliver geocaches in a "dumbed down" way needed by those has suffered from dry-rot.  You didn't say what OS you were on, but Windows users will need https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=1245 That driver doesn'say much about Windows 10. If you're on Linux or MacOS, GPSBabel *should* be able to talk straight to the unit, but you may be the only one that's tried it in 10 years. Buzz me if that's the case.

Garmin did their users no favors by not upgrading their browser plugins to relevant browser security stands...

Edited by robertlipe
Tried to clear bonus span with style of strike :-(
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On 1.4.2018 at 3:37 PM, lostfleas said:

Getting back into caching using my old Garmin 60CSx.  Had to download either Firefox or some other to get latest Garmin Communicator Plug In and now computer is still not reading it. [...]

I just transferred an Event to a 76CSx. Yes. these old units still rock.

Finding a serial unit:

f02c0086449ed596192cab3c32687e1a.png

Saved the cache to the unit:

0c98895f8d28580fb24dad62b7ac497f.png

The cache on the unit:

SendToGps%2076CSx.bmp?raw=1

I'm using: Firefox ESR 52.7.3 and the Garmin Communicator 4.1.0.1-signed

2be72406753630c53a20a1954d30887b.png

Caution: This PlugIn is named Garmin Communicator ... - but it is trusted and signed by Mozilla themselves. Download it from their plugin page.

Hans

Edited by HHL
Typo
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