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I have used EasyGPS forever to download caches into my gps (GarminMap 60CSx).  Today, the caches won't download any longer.  I don't get an error message or anything, they just don't download.  Has anybody else had this problem, and does anybody have any suggestions?  (I did email EasyGPS, but got no response, yet).  Help??

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1) is there room in the Garmin folder where you're trying to put them?

2) is your cable in good condition?  

3) is the port on your computer working for other things?

4) do any of the cache titles have emojis?  if so, dump them and try the file again

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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I'm just going to repeat my point of view, which may be unpopular with the OP, but...

 

the gpsMap 60[csx] is wildly outdated. It's time for a new(er) GPS (a gpsMap 62 would do the trick, even) where none of the considerations of the old 60 series is a problem. No need for EasyGPS or other special software - GPX files can be downloaded directly to the GPS. No need to print any descriptions or logs as these newer units are truly paperless. No need to pick and choose as the new models (gpsMap 64 and newer) can hold unlimited geocaches. No need to remember which geocaches you found because you can upload a field notes / drafts file from the GPS to geocaching.com. The newest generation can access geocaching live directly. Onboard memory is large enough to store better maps. Screens are better. Access to more satellites.

It's time to modernize. 

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Over 11,000 caches found, if everything's else is working fine, I feel there's no need to "modernize"...     :laughing:

 

JIC, steben6,  was your "email" on EasyGPS' own website under "Help and Support" ?  I'd think that would be quicker than an email.

I still use a 60cxs too, but still load caches manually, adding a small notepad for stuff maybe needed.  

 

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41 minutes ago, cerberus1 said:

Over 11,000 caches found, if everything's else is working fine, I feel there's no need to "modernize"...     :laughing:

I printed many a pages on my old dot matrix printer, so I guess there's no need to get a wireless laserjet that prints clear pages at over 20 pages per minute. I'll just get a serial to usb converter and keep using that old printer from the mid-90's. 

That old Gateway 2000 running Windows 95 got me through middle school. I wrote many papers on that thing. No need to modernize. 

 

My Motorola Droid X still makes phone calls. No need to modernize.

Just because you've found 11,000 caches over the past 12 years doesn't mean there is room to improve equipment and workflow to make the process more efficient. I could still load all of my cache coordinates by hand and print out paper with the description, generating landfill waste, or I can load 10's of thousands of caches with all of the information in mere minutes. Do I need 10's of thousands of caches on my device? No, but then I'm ready for a spontaneous caching trip to anywhere within a 250 mile radius of home. You can choose to live in the [distant] past if you want, but when your outdated technology doesn't quite work with modern hardware and software, you can't complain when those of us living in the present (or recent past) point out that these problems don't exist for the rest of us.

*and yes, the gpsmap 60 (c,s,x) is the distant past by technology standards.

Edited by Mineral2
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5 hours ago, Mineral2 said:

Just because you've found 11,000 caches over the past 12 years doesn't mean there is room to improve equipment and workflow to make the process more efficient. I could still load all of my cache coordinates by hand and print out paper with the description, generating landfill waste, or I can load 10's of thousands of caches with all of the information in mere minutes. Do I need 10's of thousands of caches on my device? No, but then I'm ready for a spontaneous caching trip to anywhere within a 250 mile radius of home. You can choose to live in the [distant] past if you want, but when your outdated technology doesn't quite work with modern hardware and software, you can't complain when those of us living in the present (or recent past) point out that these problems don't exist for the rest of us.

*and yes, the gpsmap 60 (c,s,x) is the distant past by technology standards.

:laughing:

A pocket notepad for notes generates how much landfill waste exactly...   :D

You'll never see me complain about a GPSr that has enabled me to have fun since 2005, and you never have either.

 - Curious why you'd even say that.  

When it dies (I have a spare) ,  or it won't work any longer due to something with satellites (doubtful), I'll gladly find one similar.  Simple.

Right now I don't have any possibly-projected "problems".   If I ever do, it seems the 65 might be to my liking.  :)

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13 hours ago, Mineral2 said:

I'm just going to repeat my point of view, which may be unpopular with the OP, but...

 

the gpsMap 60[csx] is wildly outdated. It's time for a new(er) GPS (a gpsMap 62 would do the trick, even) where none of the considerations of the old 60 series is a problem. No need for EasyGPS or other special software - GPX files can be downloaded directly to the GPS. No need to print any descriptions or logs as these newer units are truly paperless. No need to pick and choose as the new models (gpsMap 64 and newer) can hold unlimited geocaches. No need to remember which geocaches you found because you can upload a field notes / drafts file from the GPS to geocaching.com. The newest generation can access geocaching live directly. Onboard memory is large enough to store better maps. Screens are better. Access to more satellites.

It's time to modernize. 

I wasn't asking for opinions on my gps.  I am perfectly happy with my 60csx.  Thank you for the information, however.

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11 hours ago, cerberus1 said:

Over 11,000 caches found, if everything's else is working fine, I feel there's no need to "modernize"...     :laughing:

 

JIC, steben6,  was your "email" on EasyGPS' own website under "Help and Support" ?  I'd think that would be quicker than an email.

I still use a 60cxs too, but still load caches manually, adding a small notepad for stuff maybe needed.  

 

I sent the email through the Help and Support part of the EasyGPS website.  Still no reply.

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20 hours ago, Isonzo Karst said:

1) is there room in the Garmin folder where you're trying to put them?

2) is your cable in good condition?  

3) is the port on your computer working for other things?

4) do any of the cache titles have emojis?  if so, dump them and try the file again

1.  Yes
2.  Yes

3.  I don't know

4.  No

EasyGps was working just fine for, well years, then it just wasn't working any longer two days ago.  I haven't done anything different.  I just wondered if anybody else was having the same problem.

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14 hours ago, Mineral2 said:

No need to pick and choose as the new models (gpsMap 64 and newer) can hold unlimited geocaches.

You will consider me old fashioned as I use a Garmin Etrex 30. Mostly I have extremely happy with it. I can see logs, etc on it. It fits easily into my pocket, even my females jeans, which usually have much smaller pockets than male jeans. (WHY, WHY, WHY:mad:????, we want to put things in pockets too, but that's for another discussion.) The only thing wrong with it is the limit on number of downloads. So you are saying that a Garmin gpsMap 64 and newer could hold unlimited geocaches, say all of Australia (plus caches, etc from another site), or the USA and Canada at once?

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6 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

You will consider me old fashioned as I use a Garmin Etrex 30.

 

eTrex 30 is still modern.

 

6 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

we want to put things in pockets too,

 

You also carry a purse, right?

 

6 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

So you are saying that a Garmin gpsMap 64 and newer could hold unlimited geocaches, say all of Australia (plus caches, etc from another site), or the USA and Canada at once?

 

And many other current models also. See GPSrChive to compare specs.

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5 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

You will consider me old fashioned as I use a Garmin Etrex 30. Mostly I have extremely happy with it. I can see logs, etc on it. It fits easily into my pocket, even my females jeans, which usually have much smaller pockets than male jeans. (WHY, WHY, WHY:mad:????, we want to put things in pockets too, but that's for another discussion.) The only thing wrong with it is the limit on number of downloads. So you are saying that a Garmin gpsMap 64 and newer could hold unlimited geocaches, say all of Australia (plus caches, etc from another site), or the USA and Canada at once?

 

Although there's no programmed or imposed limit, of course there's a device memory limit.  The newest GPSs can in theory load and show more than the 3 million or so existing Geocaches in the world, the limit to the world's Geocache population. So in practice, that's something like a marketing gimmick.  Loading and managing a massive number of caches is a whole other issue.  But it is cool to not have the "5000 caches" cap or whatever.  Room to breathe.  :P

 

There are even fancier models of GPS that have "Geocaching Live", where you could travel to a place, find a signal or Hotspot, and load all the caches in the area directly onto the Garmin.  I hardly ever use that feature because I pre-load everything and plan to always be "offline".  I've been dissapointed a lot by arriving at a place and having no way to use "Geocaching Live".  But it's a cool feature for everyone who has great data connections.

 

With a Garmin Oregon, I pretty much need to also wear my cache pack -- something to clip the device to.  It won't fit in most pockets and it's just a leetle too big for a belt loop or lanyard.  When Geocaching with others, I am so envious of people who pull an Etrex from their pocket.  :cute:

 

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1 hour ago, Atlas Cached said:

You also carry a purse, right?

A backpack. I presume you are referring to a handbag, not what we call a purse; basically a wallet :). I haven't carried one of those in years. Too impractical and won't hold enough, and can't be carried on the back as a backpack can be. However, it's a nuisance to need to keep digging in a backpack looking for it every time I want it on a hike, or cycling. Much easier and more at hand to have it in a pocket.

1 hour ago, Atlas Cached said:

eTrex 30 is still modern

It is! I rarely read mention of it here, and it was my first GPS way back in 2012, so I presumed most people here thought of it as 'old'.

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1 minute ago, Goldenwattle said:

It is! I rarely read mention of it here, and it was my first GPS way back in 2012, so I presumed most people here thought of it as 'old'.

It's relatively old, but modern in the sense that it belongs to the "second wave" of Garmin GPS technology in which Garmin finally adopted a true USB protocol and opened the devices up to act as mass storage devices and developed the software for paperless geocaching and full GPX file support.

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1 hour ago, kunarion said:

I hardly ever use that feature because I pre-load everything and plan to always be "offline".

I do too. I also carry a laptop (to organise my photographs and work on them) and preload all the caches onto that, and then upload them to my Garmin if I can't download the latest download. I have a newish etrex30 now, as a button broke on my old extex30. Besides that, my old extex30 still works, so I load caches onto that as well and take that as a backup. If the new extrex30 fails, I can still use the old extrex by poking a pen in the hole to click the button.

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1 hour ago, steben6 said:

Does anybody have an answer to my original question about EasyGPS (that doesn't have to do with the gps I am using)?


Possibly, yes. But you must wait for a reply:

https://www.easygps.com/support.asp

 

While you wait, try a different USB port and a different USB cable.


This doesn’t apply to your original question, but GPSBabel supports your GPS.  If, for example, it works but EasyGPS doesn’t, that would certainly be an issue with EasyGPS.

https://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-development/fmt_garmin.html
 

 

Edited by kunarion
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2 hours ago, steben6 said:

Thank you all for the delightful discussion on which is the best gps to use.  Does anybody have an answer to my original question about EasyGPS (that doesn't have to do with the gps I am using)?

 

Tell us more details about what exactly you are doing now that no longer works but did work before.  

 

Where did you get the Geocache files to start with?

 

What format are they?

 

What process are you using with EasyGPS to send geocaches to your GPSMAP 60csx?

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Hardware failure aside, could it in fact be an issue with the GPSMAP 60csx itself?  Is it possible to fill up the memory and see the effect the OP is getting?  I'd expect memory management would be the trickiest part, if lots of caches are loaded all the time.  And just how do you cleanly delete caches from a GPS that doesn't operate as a mass storage drive, using EasyGPS?  If there's a problem on a newer Garmin, sometimes you need to delete the internal database as well as the "GPX" loaded files.

 

I'm guessing the OP must have been deleting old caches to have so many finds, I'm just wondering out loud.

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I've been using Expert GPS, the paid upgrade to EasyGPS for years, pre-geocaching even. 

 

Recently I've had trouble with files from it being handled by my Garmin GPSMap 66s.  Malformed htlm is the error message. These are file downloads from Geocaching.com . When it happens I  load  to GSAK, have GSAK save, and load those files I typically load into GSAK anyway, for filtering caches. (Expert GPS is more about mapping to me.) 

As ku mentioned above, under the hood, GSAK is relying on GPS Babel. It too will load files to your Garmin.

 

I appreciate this may not help, but I have send ExpertGPS   error reports about the "malformed html" issue in the past few weeks. I'd hope/assume that they'll find a fix.    Check for an update your EasyGPS version, if you haven't already. Of course, it's possible that the upgrade is the problem, in that case, see if you've got an older version to restore ;-)

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There is a lot of seemingly well-intended chit-chat here, but 90% of this thread is off topic. Please try to offer something helpful to the OP and not just chastise them.

That generation of GPS required a driver provided by Garmin to work. I think it's this guy:
https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=591
This driver is required for any software, whether Basecamp, EasyGPS, or GPSBabel to work with that hardware on Windows. Please confirm it's installed.

 

The suggestion to try GPSBabel has merit because I think every error condition it (that isn't a crash...of which we have none reported for years) has an error message associated with it. That said, we either get packets or we don't and we can either talk to the driver above or we can't so we can really only recommend kind of hand-wavy things like rotating USB ports, different cables, cleaning the gunk out of the USB connector etc.

Good luck

 

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