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How do I get Garmin Oregon 700 to display found caches with different icon on map?


da Bush Man

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Previously I had a Garmin Dakota 20.  When you found a cache, the icon on the map was automatically changed from whatever cache type it was to a yellow open treasure chest.  This made it very easy to know which caches you found and which you didn't when caching with a group.

 

Now I have a new device Garmin Oregon 700.  When you find a cache now, the icon on the map is unchanged.  Does anyone know of a way to get the map icon to AUTOMATICALLY change, similar to the Dakota 20?

 

Thanks

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11 hours ago, da Bush Man said:

Previously I had a Garmin Dakota 20.  When you found a cache, the icon on the map was automatically changed from whatever cache type it was to a yellow open treasure chest.  This made it very easy to know which caches you found and which you didn't when caching with a group.

 

Now I have a new device Garmin Oregon 700.  When you find a cache now, the icon on the map is unchanged.  Does anyone know of a way to get the map icon to AUTOMATICALLY change, similar to the Dakota 20?

 

Thanks

 

You didn't say what you've tried already.  But here are some ideas:

On my Oregon 750T, I have small green circle unopened cache box icons, and big brown open chest "Found" icons.  The chests seem out of place, and they came that way from the factory.  The reason I bring this up is, it looks like there is or was a recent bug causing this kind of thing, so maybe other new 700s developed unfinished icons.  See this for custom icons and ideas on how to get them.

 

The Oregon seems to hide "Found" caches by factory default, so I'm wondering if they are not simply being filtered out, which is why you don't see the opened boxes.  Are you seeing the Found caches on the map, and those are unopened boxes?  If so, what process are you using to mark caches as "Found"?  If you open a list of Found caches, what icons do they have?

 

Here's an example of Geocaches on my new 750T.  [Edit: Now I think I fixed it] Little green circles are "unfound" and big treasure chests are "found" caches:

 

832.jpg

 

Are you saying that the little green circles remain after you make a Found log ("Field Note") on their respective caches?

 

I did change my icon issue just now, and it was not as tough as I expected.  I downloaded the smiley-face "Geocache Found.BMP small icon", the only one I needed, and placed it into the Garmin/CustomSymbols folder, and now instead of "treasure chests", I have more compact Smilies.  Pretty cool.  Maybe something similar would work for you.  Depends on your specific situation, though.

 

57.jpg

 

Now I get the Smiley Face icon on Found caches when I load PQs of the area.  I get the cache's original icon (Green circle cache box, Mystery, etc.) only when viewing individual cache descriptions from the map.

 

 

Edited by kunarion
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Thanks for the reply.  Clarifications in same order as in response:

1.  What have I tried so far?  Nothing.  I have no idea where to start.  I just figured the Garmin software would work the same on all devices, but I guess not.

2.  What steps am I taking?  When I find a cache, I use the menu option "Geocaching | Log | Found It".  Then afterwards, I usually select "Find Next Closest", but sometimes I just select "Done".  When I go back to the Map view from main screen, the circular cache icon is still as it was before, i.e. green trad, blue unknown, etc., and not hidden.  I don't get a treasure chest or smiley instead indicating I found it.  

3.  Custom icons thread.  I don't know if this is applicable.  I don't need to change the icons themselves, they seem to be fine.  Unless you are saying there is no icon available for "Found" and I have to add it myself?  How would I check to see if it was missing?

4.  More on icons.  I am just expecting the icon to change from whatever it was (trad, multi, etc.) to treasure chest or smiley or something else so I can easily see that I already found it.  I'm not looking to change the icons manually for each cache, that's too much work.  Your example screenshot is exactly what I'm looking to accomplish.

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My Or700 shows an open chest for found caches. I load caches as a *.GGZ file with GSAK, after finding a cache I do what you do, "log" "found" and "Done". I normally don't have found caches on the map (filter is set) but when I enable founds to be shown it looks like the first image kunarion posted.

 

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9 hours ago, da Bush Man said:

Thanks for the reply.  Clarifications in same order as in response:

1.  What have I tried so far?  Nothing.  I have no idea where to start.  I just figured the Garmin software would work the same on all devices, but I guess not.

2.  What steps am I taking?  When I find a cache, I use the menu option "Geocaching | Log | Found It".  Then afterwards, I usually select "Find Next Closest", but sometimes I just select "Done".  When I go back to the Map view from main screen, the circular cache icon is still as it was before, i.e. green trad, blue unknown, etc., and not hidden.  I don't get a treasure chest or smiley instead indicating I found it.  

3.  Custom icons thread.  I don't know if this is applicable.  I don't need to change the icons themselves, they seem to be fine.  Unless you are saying there is no icon available for "Found" and I have to add it myself?  How would I check to see if it was missing?

4.  More on icons.  I am just expecting the icon to change from whatever it was (trad, multi, etc.) to treasure chest or smiley or something else so I can easily see that I already found it.  I'm not looking to change the icons manually for each cache, that's too much work.  Your example screenshot is exactly what I'm looking to accomplish.

 

Are the caches registering on the device as "Found" at all?  Are they in the Drafts (geocache_visits.txt) file?  If you select "Show Found" on the GPS, they should be in the list.  I ask because you didn't say you typed a log in the GPS and saved the "Found It" log for each cache as you found it.  Or if you download Pocket Queries containing those caches, they should be then listed as "Found", since you logged them on the site.  First be sure the device at least knows which caches are "Found".  I'm guessing that's fine, but if not, the icon thing won't help.

 

If it's merely a weird icon issue, you're a prime candidate for saving a custom icon.  The custom icons thread has a lot to read, but I simply chose the "Geocache Found.BMP small icon", downloaded it and placed it into the Garmin/CustomSymbols folder, and VIOLA!  ...instead of a big ugly brown treasure chest, I get a little smiley-face for each found cache.  I haven't messed with it since.

 

I don't know how to tell which icons are missing or whatever.  I was surprised to discover no icons in the Garmin/CustomSymbols folder.  It worked fine, but if it hadn't, my worst case scenario was to delete that downloaded smiley face icon.  But it worked.

 

I chose the round yellow smiley icon because it seemed to fit the theme.  But if you prefer, you can get an "Open Box" icon in the "Old Symbols" download.  It's called "Geocache  Found.bmp".

 

Edited by kunarion
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7 hours ago, on4bam said:

My Or700 shows an open chest for found caches. I load caches as a *.GGZ file with GSAK, after finding a cache I do what you do, "log" "found" and "Done". I normally don't have found caches on the map (filter is set) but when I enable founds to be shown it looks like the first image kunarion posted.

 

 

That's an idea!  If people go with what is pretty much the factory default, the big brown open box icons aren't even in view.  I wonder how many 700s have that big box bug (or feature, whichever it is :ph34r:)?

 

I keep them in view mainly to see where caches are in relation to each other.  Knowing "the new cache is close to X previously found cache", I have a better idea of where to park, and often, how to approach the cache.  Plus, I can see the cool spots to fit a new cache. :)

 

Edited by kunarion
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1 hour ago, kunarion said:

I keep them in view mainly to see where caches are in relation to each other.  Knowing "the new cache is close to X previously found cache", I have a better idea of where to park, and often, how to approach the cache.  Plus, I can see the cool spots to fit a new cache. :)

 

Well, I've never had the need to see where already found caches are. I also never take found caches with me on the GPS but do prepare where to park in case the CO of one of the caches we are going to do doesn't have a parking WP. Most of the time we only need one place to park for the day and make a day tour with our bikes (summer) or on foot (winter). Just in case we want to see where there's a free spot, I have my GSAK databases. This said, I'm sure we have totally different caching habits so different setups are logical. We only ever have a GGZ file with selected caches when out caching so we may even pass caches (we even have seen micro's behind a traffic sign while walking) without stopping by to log them.

 

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On 8/12/2019 at 5:38 PM, kunarion said:

Are the caches registering on the device as "Found" at all?  Are they in the Drafts (geocache_visits.txt) file?  If you select "Show Found" on the GPS, they should be in the list.  I ask because you didn't say you typed a log in the GPS and saved the "Found It" log for each cache as you found it.  Or if you download Pocket Queries containing those caches, they should be then listed as "Found", since you logged them on the site.  First be sure the device at least knows which caches are "Found".  I'm guessing that's fine, but if not, the icon thing won't help.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions.  A few days ago after loading an additional GPX file onto the device (via USB cable), when I rebooted the GPS a message popped up saying a software update was available and asked if I wanted to install it.  (I'm sure the timing was a coincidence!)  Anyway, installing the Garmin software update resolved the problem and now the treasure chests show up when I find a cache.

 

For the sake of anyone else still having the same problem, answers to your questions:

  • Yes, the device is registering "Found" caches correctly -- I can see entries added for each in the "geocache_visits.txt" file
  • I'm unable to confirm if the "Show Found" feature is working as expected now that the problem is since resolved.  But I recall playing with GPS months ago for this filter feature and it worked then.
  • I don't use the feature to type in a log on my GPS when finding caches
  • When downloading Pocket Queries to the GPS, I always use the option to not include found caches

Thanks again for everyone's help and hopefully this problem was as simple as a bug on Garmin's end that has been since resolved.

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Is there any way for me to make the geocaches I have placed come up as a different icon please? I get the found brown and green unfound, but all those I have created come up as green unfound too. Not a big issue when I zoom in but I do wonder. They looked different on my old Darwin 10. Have just got an Oregon 700. Lots to learn.

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