etrex30 cache transfer difficulties

[hewittj8]

I am new to this so bear with me. I purchased a etrex30, I have a Mac, an app called icaching and I downloaded basecamp (over kill I know) and I do NOT have a premium membership (perhaps I will purchase once I can reliable download caches). I am having difficulties transferring individual caches from the website to my GPS. I have given up using the websites buttons i.e. "Download to GPS" because that never has worked. So thus far I have tried to use both programs mentioned previously to download the LOC file from the website to the program to the GPS. This does not work, I get some caches to load at random. I have been trying to add them just one at a time for simplicities sake to make it easier to verify if it is actually moved.

 

Ok, so then I tried to do it the "drag and drop" method. I downloaded the LOC file to the computer and moved the files to the GPX file on my GPS manually. They show up there, even if I unplug the unit and plug it back in they appear to be saved in the unit, I should mention that when I use either of the programs this appears to happen as well. But on my actual GPS I can never get more than about 6 to show up at once. I have checked the filters on my GPS and there are no restrictions, I should be receiving all caches. The owners manual that comes with the unit is useless as it tells you to go to Garmin's website which then directs you to here. And after searching through many of the forums I can not seem to find anyone else with this problem. Thank-you in advance for you time.

[Stormcock8]

While I don't have a mac I have an eTrex 30x and no premium membership and here are the ways I transfer caches to my gpsr. I usually send to a usb first, then edit the gpx file with cache info and hints etc before copying to gpsr.

 

I use firefox as a browser and installed the plugin it tells you about when you try the first time to send to gps (ignore the outdated warnings and install as it works fine). With the plugin installed and your gpsr connected it will transfer to the gpsr but you will have to select the correct place if you have an extra memory card installed in the gpsr.

 

Also, with the firefox plugin if you have a usb drive plugged in you can send to that also and the plugin will create the directory if needed. You can then drag and drop when you are ready.

 

All gpx files are held in the garmin/gpx/ folder and you can just drag and drop into this folder and they will be seen. Also, if you create child folders and place gpx files in them they will also be shown. So you could have a lot of location folders to keep the directory readable and not just a load of gcxxxxx.gpx files. Also, you can rename the gpx file and it will still work fine, so instead of 'gcxxxxxx.gpx', you can have 'at the road.gpx'

 

Hope that helps a bit for you

 

Storm

[hewittj8]

Well. it sounds like I have done exactly what you are saying except I use Safari instead of Firefox. (I'm not really willing to download Firefox, too compatible with viruses and stuff.) I have downloaded the plugin for Safari. I move the files to a folder on my desktop then move them to the GPS and like I said they show up when I view the file on my computer but not when I unplug the GPS and try to view them on the device. But I did not know that you could edit the files! That is handy how do you go about doing that?

[Stormcock8]

Well. it sounds like I have done exactly what you are saying except I use Safari instead of Firefox. (I'm not really willing to download Firefox, too compatible with viruses and stuff.) I have downloaded the plugin for Safari. I move the files to a folder on my desktop then move them to the GPS and like I said they show up when I view the file on my computer but not when I unplug the GPS and try to view them on the device. But I did not know that you could edit the files! That is handy how do you go about doing that?

 

I use a text editor like notepad and just drag and drop the gpx file onto it. If I rememeber mac has a text editor so you can try that andd just drag and drop on to it.

 

Do you have the gpx files in the correct directory on the gprs? in the /garmin/gpx/ folder?

 

The only other thing I can think of is that when you are copying you are only copying a link to the gpx files and not the files themselves. If this is the case then you would see them with the gprs connected but as soon as you unplug it the link is lost and they won't show up in the gpsr. I would try a 'copy and paste' of the files and see if that works.

 

Also, if you have found the cache already and send it to your gpsr or desktop it will not show up on your gpsr because you have found it already even though the gpx file is on the gpsr and in the correct directory. You will need to edit the file and remove the 'Found' in the <sym>Geocache Found</sym> tag and then it will show up.

 

Hope that helps :-)

[+JohnCNA]

...

Also, if you have found the cache already and send it to your gpsr or desktop it will not show up on your gpsr because you have found it already even though the gpx file is on the gpsr and in the correct directory. You will need to edit the file and remove the 'Found' in the <sym>Geocache Found</sym> tag and then it will show up.

If you just change the Geocache filter setting on the handheld to include Found caches, it will show all caches, Found and not found. That's gotta be easier than editing the '...visits' file.

[hewittj8]

Hmmm, yeah I'm not looking for 'found' ones. (If I want to do that, like to have a friend try it out, I just type the coordinates in and do it that way.) I did try to open the files and type in it, but even after I saved the added info I can't get it to move to the GPS...Dunno, guess I'm missing the link.