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Multicaches, waypoints and eTrex - any way to avoid manual input ?


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H all,

I have a question concerning multicaches and waypoints, specifically with the eTrex 20/30 and would like some advice please ?

I have both of these units, but find it very frustrating to have to start a multi, get to point 1, enter next stage, manually input the coordinates, get to point 2 etc.

I normally download a Pocket Query, and I can see I have all the waypoints associated with the caches.

What I find doubly frustrating is that when I enter the coordinates for the next stage, the unit shows me a pretty blue flag indicating there's a waypoint where I want to go...

I have seen mention of this in a few google searches, but have yet to see if any resolution has been reached.

I'm not basically unhappy with either model, they're serving me well, but this is one feature I would have thought should be there on the eTrex ?

If there is another make/model that has this functionality, I would certainly consider it, I'm enjoying geocaching, so investment in the right tool would be money well spent to me.

The only other factor I should mention if anyone is going to be kind enough to point me towards another unit, is that I'm a dyed in the wool Linux user, so need to be able to do straight copies to the device (using rsync) rather than any fancy bolt-ons which generally only seem to be written for the MS platform.

If anyone has any experiance or solutions to this, I would be delighted to hear them.

Also, of course, if I have missed a thread here that answers this question, then please post a link.

I should add that I'm running whatever the latest version of the devices soft/firmware is (downloaded through a windows box kept specifically for these sorts of purposes.

Thanks in advance.

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the stages of a multi are generally hidden waypoints so that you HAVE to complete the cache in order, else you could just go to the last stage and get the coordinates to the final. Therefore, you won't usually get the waypoints for a multi in the waypoints file from the PQ unless the CO made them visible on the cache listing. There's no GPS that will automatically give you the next point.

 

except

 

if you are attempting a multi that uses Chirp for its intermediate stages. Chirp devices can load coordinates directly onto your chirp enabled GPS. But those don't seem to be very common.

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Hi Chief301,

What I'm trying to do is, say, a multi that needs you to got to point 1, get info. point 2, get info. and so on, then, normally, some maths on the info. gathered to work out the final coordinates.

I'm not after the final location, as you say, that would defeat the object.

In the cases I've tried recently, the waypoints are available on the cache page, and indeed show up on the eTrex map.

What I'm trying to avoid is having to manually enter the waypoint coordinates in the "enter next stage" function, just seems it shouldn't be that hard since the waypoints are associated with the cache ?

Cheers

Simon

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For multi's of that nature, go into Basecamp, identify the waypoints associated with the multi (they have the same last 4 characters as the geocode), and create a route. Follow the route and collect all of your info, find the final coordinates, then "go to" the multi listing and enter the last set of coordinates, find the cache, and log it.

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You simply need to upload the "child" coordinates GPX file to the GPS and navigate to those waypoints, assuming the owner has included them

You hit the nail on the head. The CO probably didn't include them as child waypoints which is pretty annoying especially on one that is a tour. The original question was not really clear about whether he was talking about hidden of visible points.

 

If it is only a couple I just enter but had one last year that was a tour with seven and none as child. I used Mapsource to mark them and then added them to the GPS.

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You simply need to upload the "child" coordinates GPX file to the GPS and navigate to those waypoints, assuming the owner has included them

You hit the nail on the head. The CO probably didn't include them as child waypoints which is pretty annoying especially on one that is a tour. The original question was not really clear about whether he was talking about hidden of visible points.

 

If it is only a couple I just enter but had one last year that was a tour with seven and none as child. I used Mapsource to mark them and then added them to the GPS.

 

I think some replies didn't get the problem. So here's my version.

 

When you download a GC with waypoints into your Etrex, it will show as 1 coordinate with all the info (description, puzzels, hints, log etc) in the "Geocache" and all the included waypoints are imported as loose individual "WP's", without the GC info.

 

Now you have for example a GC puzzle with 15 descriptions of trees, and 15 waypoints where you have to spot the correct tree!

 

You have to switch to the puzzel via the menu (4 clicks) at each of the 15 WP's! And than 15 switches back to go to the next WP. It gets annoying soon.

 

Now imagine you have 10 of those multi's loaded on your Etrex because you like those puzzles soo much..(so now you have 150 WP's! to choose from wich all look the same!) Can you see the problem? You'll have RSI in no time.. <_<

 

As far as I know its just a bug (at least in the Etrex). They should have made it possible to add multiple waypoints whithin a "geocache" (ie with all the info) , instead of the possibility to MANUALY add just ONE "next stadium". Its already in the GPX file anyway, why not load in in the "geocache" itself...?

 

Any suggestions anyone? TFTR(eply)

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It's not a bug. None of Garmin's handheld units let you navigate to multiple waypoints at once. If there are 15 visible waypoints that you have to visit in any order you wish to collect clues to get the location of the final, I'll often make a route in Basecamp that connects the associated waypoints and then follow the route from location to location.

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What would be nice is if the GPS would link the child waypoints to the cache and allow you to see and navigate to those child waypoints. This would be very commonly handy for driving to a parking area. Unfortunately, there is no real way to get these requests to the team that program the handhelds.

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What would be nice is if the GPS would link the child waypoints to the cache and allow you to see and navigate to those child waypoints. This would be very commonly handy for driving to a parking area. Unfortunately, there is no real way to get these requests to the team that program the handhelds.

This is one area where our phone apps eat my Garmin for lunch. Both my Android and my wife's iPhone apps attach the related waypoints to the actual cache itself and you can choose to navigate to the cache or one of the attached waypoints. Garmin seriously needs to support that. Leaving the Geocaches menu to go into the Waypoints menu to search for which trailhead WP belongs to which cache is a royal pain. Not even BaseCamp supports this.

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You could use Mapsource or BaseCamp to create the extra ones with appropriate labels. Tree1, Tree2 etc and then load it separately. One reason for the present method is devices have a cache limit but the way point limit is much higher and doesn't count against the cache limit

Moving some of the BIG WP cache-limit over to the small Geocache limit would solve that in an instant...Garmin?

 

As this discussion proves, we dont need 100's of WP's (in the device's cache memory). Everybody is now working around the problem via GPX editing (in Basecamp or another)... funny.. :huh:

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You're all making the assumption that the GPS was invented for geocaching, when it is geocaching that was invented as a game to play with a GPS. Garmin is under no obligation to tailor its handheld GPS units to geocaching. You ought to be thankful enough that we have paperless caching features on a tool that was designed for a different purpose.

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You're all making the assumption that the GPS was invented for geocaching, when it is geocaching that was invented as a game to play with a GPS. Garmin is under no obligation to tailor its handheld GPS units to geocaching. You ought to be thankful enough that we have paperless caching features on a tool that was designed for a different purpose.

 

BUT, Garmin need to find markets for their GPSs, one market they found some years ago was Geocaching and they've tailored some of their devices to that market by adding paperless geocaching features. Then along comes the smartphone generation and if they want to stay competitive in this market they need to keep up with the features; I can't see them backporting this feature to the older lines (Etrex10/20/30 etc) but if they don't accept that features like this need to be added to the newer models then they're going to lose out eventually.

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You're all making the assumption that the GPS was invented for geocaching, when it is geocaching that was invented as a game to play with a GPS. Garmin is under no obligation to tailor its handheld GPS units to geocaching. You ought to be thankful enough that we have paperless caching features on a tool that was designed for a different purpose.

 

Geocachers are a big part of their handheld sales and adding more functionality is a smart business decision. They need to stay competitive with other options. It is only as little bit of programming.

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You're all making the assumption that the GPS was invented for geocaching, when it is geocaching that was invented as a game to play with a GPS. Garmin is under no obligation to tailor its handheld GPS units to geocaching. You ought to be thankful enough that we have paperless caching features on a tool that was designed for a different purpose.

 

Geocachers are a big part of their handheld sales and adding more functionality is a smart business decision. They need to stay competitive with other options. It is only as little bit of programming.

I agree. The 60Cx and the 60CSx were likely used in the bush for reasons other than geocaching but later GPS receivers had geocachers in mind, especially today's 64 models which come pre-loaded with many caches. And don't forget about Garmin's not-so-popular Opencaching venture. I'm certain they were promoting their receivers for the purpose of geocaching.

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