Uploading caches to a Bushnell

[+Sparticus06]

A friend just got a GPS and wants me to teach him and his wife about caching. I cant find any info on how to upload caches to a Bushnell Onix 200cr. The GPS companion program that came with it is of no help. The Bushnell site does not help. There are no directions on how to put caches in the unit on the PDF instruction manual.

Any help would be great.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Sparticus06

[knowschad]

Do a search over in the GPS and Tech forum. A coworker recently asked me about a different model of Bushnell GPS that he was considering buying. I did find a little bit of info over there. Unfortunately for your friend, what I found, for the model I was looking for, at least, was not very promising at all.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Moving to the GPS and Technology forum.

[+Mosaic55]

IF it's like the Onix 350,

 

1. download GPX ( or .loc) files to your PC

 

2. Use GPSbabel to convert to the Bushnell format ( one file per waypoint )

 

3. Connect the GPS to USB port, have GPS powered on. It should show up as a removeable drive.

 

4. Transfer some .wpt files to the waypoint directory on the unit. Too many waypoints will slow down the unit's start-up time. I have 700 on my 350 and it seems quite slow to start up.

 

Let us know if that works for the you.

 

(Hopefully someone will be able confirm the 200cr behaves like the 350 and 400 as far as file management.)

Edited February 15, 2010 by Mosaic55

[+TotemLake]

Wow. Thanks so much for confirming I made the right decision not to buy one.

[+Sparticus06]

Bummer. I know he is just getting started, but that just seems like alot of work, especially to upload one at a time.

[+Mosaic55]

Bummer. I know he is just getting started, but that just seems like alot of work, especially to upload one at a time.

 

Maybe I didn't explain well. You don't have to load or convert them one at a time. Let's say you have a .gpx file with 200 cache waypoints in it. Tell GPSbabel where that .gpx input file is and specifiy the "Bushnell GPS waypoint" format for output. GPSbabel will spit out 200 .wpt files. Now drag and drop all 200 .wpt's at once to the waypoint directory on the GPSr. It's really not so bad, thanks to GPSBabel. It's much easier than using Bushnell's own conversion tool.

 

(where the Onix really disappoints is in map management. That's a big PITA )

Edited February 15, 2010 by Mosaic55

[robertlipe]

The Onix 200CR is exactly like the 350 and the 400 in this regard. (I have one.)

 

While these models have their unpleasant aspects, the four step program above is actually about par with most GPSes. Models supported by the plugin thingy get the list down a little.

 

Also, per

http://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-developmen...t_bushnell.html you can coalesce steps 2 and 4. If your unix shows up as "E:" you can tell GPSBabel to write to E:\Bushnell\Waypoints (double check that last directory component) and it'll splatter the one file per waypoint thing straight to the GPS.

 

So that makes it a three step process where step one is "get the data" and step three (which I'd move above step 2 so I could take advantage of the above) is "turn on and attach GPS"

[+Sparticus06]

Ok. That makes me feel better. I will have to give it a try. I have never messed with Babel so that will be a learning experience for me too. Guess I have some work cut out for me...lol

Thanks

[+Sicorius]

IF it's like the Onix 350,

 

1. download GPX ( or .loc) files to your PC

 

2. Use GPSbabel to convert to the Bushnell format ( one file per waypoint )

 

3. Connect the GPS to USB port, have GPS powered on. It should show up as a removeable drive.

 

4. Transfer some .wpt files to the waypoint directory on the unit. Too many waypoints will slow down the unit's start-up time. I have 700 on my 350 and it seems quite slow to start up.

 

Let us know if that works for the you.

 

(Hopefully someone will be able confirm the 200cr behaves like the 350 and 400 as far as file management.)

 

What am I missing? When I try there string, gpsbabel -i gpx -f whatever.gpx -o bushnell -F e:/WAYPOINT/whatever it tells me no such format bushnell. I dont think of myself as a novice, but this is throwing me for a loop.

[robertlipe]

My guess is that you're using a version that predates the addition of bushnell. I added it Dec 20 according to http://www.gpsbabel.org/changes.html so it's been in all the betas since then.

[+Native20559]

IF it's like the Onix 350,

 

1. download GPX ( or .loc) files to your PC

 

2. Use GPSbabel to convert to the Bushnell format ( one file per waypoint )

 

3. Connect the GPS to USB port, have GPS powered on. It should show up as a removeable drive.

 

4. Transfer some .wpt files to the waypoint directory on the unit. Too many waypoints will slow down the unit's start-up time. I have 700 on my 350 and it seems quite slow to start up.

 

Let us know if that works for the you.

 

(Hopefully someone will be able confirm the 200cr behaves like the 350 and 400 as far as file management.)

 

What am I missing? When I try there string, gpsbabel -i gpx -f whatever.gpx -o bushnell -F e:/WAYPOINT/whatever it tells me no such format bushnell. I dont think of myself as a novice, but this is throwing me for a loop.

 

It may be of help to consider using the Babel edition with the GUI http://www.gpsbabel.org/screenshots.html. It's quite a bit easier to use and considerably more intuitive than writing strings of instructions: http://www.gpsbabel.org/news/20090906.html. I enjoy using it much more than the standard version.

 

Be safe.

 

N

[+Team GeoCats]

IF it's like the Onix 350,

 

1. download GPX ( or .loc) files to your PC

 

2. Use GPSbabel to convert to the Bushnell format ( one file per waypoint )

 

3. Connect the GPS to USB port, have GPS powered on. It should show up as a removeable drive.

 

4. Transfer some .wpt files to the waypoint directory on the unit. Too many waypoints will slow down the unit's start-up time. I have 700 on my 350 and it seems quite slow to start up.

 

Let us know if that works for the you.

 

(Hopefully someone will be able confirm the 200cr behaves like the 350 and 400 as far as file management.)

 

What am I missing? When I try there string, gpsbabel -i gpx -f whatever.gpx -o bushnell -F e:/WAYPOINT/whatever it tells me no such format bushnell. I dont think of myself as a novice, but this is throwing me for a loop.

[+Team GeoCats]

I tried this and it seemed to work well for me.

[+neohiocacher]

I just purchased a 200CR and am waiting for it to arrive.I got a really good deal on it and like to try these types of Handhelds with bad raps and test them out myself. I know, it is a sickness. In the meantime I installed PC Companion and GPSbabel and I have to say that saving the LOC file from Geocaching.com, converting to Busnell format with babel, then dragging them from a folder in PC Companion to a project is quite simple.

So far so good. I have a project with a several waypoints that I can upload to the 200CR when it arrives.

Once all 3 programs are up and running, (Geocaching.com, Babel, and PC Companion) it flows quite well.

NOW on the downside, It sure is easy to just bring up the phone app on my iphone and search the cache in the field BUT on the upside, it is kind of exciting to go "old school" and do this. Especially when it works.

Cache On

[+neohiocacher]

I received the 200cr yesterday and so far, every feature works good. PC Companion, downloads, and navigation work good.

Software is not too bad to navigate. Babel sure makes it easy. No maps for the onix line available since Feb 2012.

Does anyone know of another source to get these from?

I would sure like to see these aerial shots which promoted these onix models. Without them its just a handheld which is good for geocaching.