Old timer returning to geocaching question about GPSmap 60cs

[+Geo_cats]

Been away from geocaching for 12-14 years and want to start again. I now live in Mexico, Chapala area, and still posess a GPSmap 60cs. In researching the GPSmap 60cs it seems to no longer have app to load local geocaches or Mexican map data. Is it no longer a usable gps unit or can anyone help me in getting it back to usefulness? Would appreciate any help you can offer. 

[robertlipe]

GPSBabel still supports them.

 

For Windows USB, you may need a driver from Garmin that may be hard to find and/or may not work on contemporary OSes

[+cerberus1]

21 hours ago, Geo_cats said:

Been away from geocaching for 12-14 years and want to start again. I now live in Mexico, Chapala area, and still posess a GPSmap 60cs. In researching the GPSmap 60cs it seems to no longer have app to load local geocaches or Mexican map data. Is it no longer a usable gps unit or can anyone help me in getting it back to usefulness? Would appreciate any help you can offer. 

 

Doesn't look like you were a "power cacher", ever consider simply entering caches manually?

Ill for a while now, but I've entered caches manually to a 60cxs since starting this hobby (just months after you). 

I keep a small notepad (used to use index cards) for hints, additional waypoints n stuff, and I'm good.  Not in a hurry, about two minutes each.

[robertlipe]

To split the difference between a big geocache management app and chiseling on clay tablets, GPSBabel can also help with that, too.

It seems obvious that GPSBabel can read pocket queries and loc files from the site, but it also knows about geocaching details beyond plain GPX. It's less obvious that it can write text files that contain the important parts of the cache data. It can similarly write html files if you want to preserve any markup that may be on the page. GPSBabel knows about difficulty, terrain, hints, cache type, container size, and all that other stuff and can write a no-frills description of the cache page in a simple form.

To do this,  much like you "convert" a GPX file that's a pocket query to Garmin Protocol on usb, you can convert to a text file and then scribble that in Google Docs (tip: mark it for offline use so it works when you have no reception) , mail it to yourself, print it, or whatever.
 

 

gpsbabel -i gpx -f somepocketquery.gpx  -o text -F -      (you can do the drag & drop equivalent if that's your bag)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GCGCA8                             N35 55.300 W86 51.700 (16S 512480 3975269)
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo by robertlipe - Unknown Cache / Unknown - (3 / 2)

The cache is not at the coordinates above.   These coords will get you to the correct park and within 1/2 mile of the cache.  The cache is within 35 feet of the trail.   It is not handicapped accessible.   It is a nice walk in the woods th [ .. ] 


Hint: There Is No Hint

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GC7FA4                             N46 08.000 W73 00.000 (18T 654491 5110806)
Points géodésiques du Québec by Sverdrup2 - Locationless (Reverse) Cache / Virtual - (1 / 1)

LES CO [ ... ] 

Or as HTML to get a little extra formatting, including links at the top and graphics. This is pulled into TextEdit.app where it'd be easier to reformat than in a browser, but you can choose your own adventure.

 

It won't match Cereberus1's ability to cherry-pick the two sentences in a cache page that actually matter to condense it to a notecard, but if you DO branch into more than a few caches in a hunt, it can nicely condense things down into a pocket full of data, whether that's on your phone or a pocket-sized printout. Either print the page as-is or pull it into your favorite word processor for hand tweaking if that's your thing, but sending it to your phone is a perfectly reasonable thing to do in modern times.

This feature comes from the days before GPSes recognized Pocket Queries themselves (like the Garmin 60CSx in question, though it was really the last generation that didn't) and we were often caching with PDAs.

Also useful to that generation of hardware, use the smart names to get "TheTroll" instead of GC1234 on your GPS screen. That's under 'More Options' from the front page:





For these two examples, that would get you "Oozy Rat" and "Points géodé" (I think it'll do the diacriticals on that model)

On the command line, use -Sn for Smart Names and -Si for Smart Icons. That'll highlight multis vs. virtuals vs. puzzles on the map screen to help you decide which direction to drive when picking your next hunt.


It's a bit funny to have this conversation because 22 years ago, I spent a long time looking for a cache (I think it was my fifth or sixth hunt) in the wrong place exactly because I did mistype the coordinates into the receiver. That's when I started looking for a program to do that, didn't find one I liked, and then sat out to create what became GPSBabel. Cereberes1's solution works for him and it's a fine approach if it works for you. I'm just saying there are options. The 'text' options came around when I planned a road trip to Disney (in the era before Pocket Queries) and didn't really know where I'd stop along the way. I had a big dumb box of printouts and couldn't find anything when I needed it when we stopped for a break. (Sure, it should have been sorted and in a binder. I lacked that foresight at the time because the act of printing many, many dozens of pages had already worn me out...) So I built tools that worked for me.