Magellan Explorist 500 help Options

[divineinc]

I'm getting tired of manually entering waypoints into the 500 by using the "joystick". I know Garmin and Delorme units can plug into the computer and download right from geocaching.com but is there a way to do it with my Magellan?

[Knight2000]

Absolutely. You are a premium member so you can create customized pocket queries. These will contain information on hundreds of geocaches. You can upload the geocache info using Magellan's geocache software, easyGPS or GSAK. I'm sure there are many others. You can upload them using your cable or I believe the 500 also has an SD card that you can put them on.

You can upload them as geocache files which I believe are limited to 200. I prefer to upload them as POI files which will accept 500 at a time.

[divineinc]

O.K. I started a pocket query for the closest 500 caches from my home. Now how do I put that list on my magellan?
I installed the stuff on the cd that came with the GPS. I am a premium member. I don't see anyway to send from the website to my GPS.
What am I missing?

[bittsen]

When I had my Magellan 500, I downloaded GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife). You can use it for free for a while and then they will nag you to buy it. You can still use it but it will just nag a lot.
After you drop your pocket query results into GSAK, you can then export right to the Magellan.

You can also add a small macro to allow you to know what size the cache container is when you are looking at the title.

Give it a shot. You will be happy with the results.

[Knight2000]

You can also try EasyGPS or look on Magellan's website for the Geocache Manager program. I would just use EasyGPS until you can figure it out.

[RRLover]

You can also try EasyGPS or look on Magellan's website for the Geocache Manager program. I would just use EasyGPS until you can figure it out.

There is no "Send to GPS" button, or capability to send geo-caches to a Magellan hand held directly from the
Ground Speak website. You must download the 'PQ's and then move them to the handheld via Magellan's,
or a third party softwares w/your computer. DeLorme, and Garmin are the only players in that arena("Send to")
at this time.

Norm

This post has been edited by RRLover: Oct 16 2009, 02:40 PM

[FamilyDNA]

You don't actually "download" the information from a pocket query, when the query runs, the resulting file comes to you in an email attachment. Then open the file in your software and send it to the GPS.

[Woodstramp]

dinineinc,

If you are interested in loading your 500 using EasyGPS, see this thread:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...mp;hl=explorist

I posted a "how to" there a while back.

[RRLover]

"download", yes, I agree semantics are important. Receiving an e-mail would be difficult w/out
being able to "download" it from somewhere. ;^)

[Surferjo]

Correct me if im wrong but i think the explorist can only have up to 200 caches in a pocket queries but you can have unlimited (only limited by the SD card space) 200 cache pocket queries which in the end is still so much better than what any of the current GPS's can do.

[FamilyDNA]

"download", yes, I agree semantics are important. Receiving an e-mail would be difficult w/out
being able to "download" it from somewhere. ;^)

Ok, if this was directed at me, I was trying to clarify the fact that the query is not downloaded directly from the website.

[EScout]

Important to remember that all data moves to and from the eXplorist in the form of files: geocache, waypoint (POI), tracks and routes. This differs from other GPSrs that have a working/active memory.

So, you need to create a file in the geocache format and copy it to the internal memory or the SD card, in the Geocache folder. Then you make active the file in the menu.

Create the geocache files using GSAK or Vantage Point.

[Peoria Bill]

"Magellan MapSend Manager is the easy, free solution for organizing, converting and uploading your GPS data from multiple applications to multiple GPS receivers."

This program is free and will handle your uploading for maps and gpx files.

You will need to supply gpx files for the program to upload to the GPS.
- Use GSAK and save 200 waypoints as magellan SD card .gpx file. Then use Mapsend to send this file to the Explorist 500.
- After uploading the file, go to the active setup in your menu screen of your Explorist GPS to make sure you are selecting this file to load waypoints. You should only have to do this once so long as you use the same filename to save the .gpx file.

Good Luck.

Peoria Bill :>)

[Knight2000]

You can also try EasyGPS or look on Magellan's website for the Geocache Manager program. I would just use EasyGPS until you can figure it out.

There is no "Send to GPS" button, or capability to send geo-caches to a Magellan hand held directly from the
Ground Speak website. You must download the 'PQ's and then move them to the handheld via Magellan's,
or a third party softwares w/your computer. DeLorme, and Garmin are the only players in that arena("Send to")
at this time.

Norm

All true but now I'm wondering why you quoted my post.

Correct me if im wrong but i think the explorist can only have up to 200 caches in a pocket queries but you can have unlimited (only limited by the SD card space) 200 cache pocket queries which in the end is still so much better than what any of the current GPS's can do.

200 geocache files is anemic and a major downfall.

You can still load 200 geocache files and 500 caches as POI waypoints. I always loaded them as POI files because 200 geocache files was not enough.

This post has been edited by Knight2000: Oct 19 2009, 03:07 AM

[Surferjo]

You can also try EasyGPS or look on Magellan's website for the Geocache Manager program. I would just use EasyGPS until you can figure it out.

There is no "Send to GPS" button, or capability to send geo-caches to a Magellan hand held directly from the
Ground Speak website. You must download the 'PQ's and then move them to the handheld via Magellan's,
or a third party softwares w/your computer. DeLorme, and Garmin are the only players in that arena("Send to")
at this time.

Norm

All true but now I'm wondering why you quoted my post.

Correct me if im wrong but i think the explorist can only have up to 200 caches in a pocket queries but you can have unlimited (only limited by the SD card space) 200 cache pocket queries which in the end is still so much better than what any of the current GPS's can do.

200 geocache files is anemic and a major downfall.

You can still load 200 geocache files and 500 caches as POI waypoints. I always loaded them as POI files because 200 geocache files was not enough.

How is being able to hold more caches than any other GPs on the Market anemic?

My Triton can hold 2000 (4x500 cache PQ's) caches and I would trade my Triton file storage system with the Explorist's in a heartbeat.

Being able to sort your caches in folders by town, or zip code, or park, or parking lots, or park and grabs or better yet, just what caches you plan on hitting that day is totally awesome. Its what I miss the most about the Explorist line.

What’s the average 500 cache PQ size say 2-3 Megs? With a 4-gig SD card I could prolly store more than half of the caches in the world and with a 2nd 4 gig SD card well that would be the other half. Now I will agree that storing them 200 at a time is way more work that 500, but I have to respectfully disagree with your use of the word Anemic.

[Knight2000]

How is being able to hold more caches than any other GPs on the Market anemic?

My Triton can hold 2000 (4x500 cache PQ's) caches and I would trade my Triton file storage system with the Explorist's in a heartbeat.

Being able to sort your caches in folders by town, or zip code, or park, or parking lots, or park and grabs or better yet, just what caches you plan on hitting that day is totally awesome. Its what I miss the most about the Explorist line.

What’s the average 500 cache PQ size say 2-3 Megs? With a 4-gig SD card I could prolly store more than half of the caches in the world and with a 2nd 4 gig SD card well that would be the other half. Now I will agree that storing them 200 at a time is way more work that 500, but I have to respectfully disagree with your use of the word Anemic.

We're talking about the eXplorist and not the Triton. The eXplorist system is anemic. Why are you talking about the Triton?

Yes, the file system is nice but 200 caches at a time is a complete hassle. The geocache feature on that line is anemic. I'm not talking about the file system. I never even bothered with only 200 at a time. It's not very practical. Just use POI's.

[bittsen]

How is being able to hold more caches than any other GPs on the Market anemic?

My Triton can hold 2000 (4x500 cache PQ's) caches and I would trade my Triton file storage system with the Explorist's in a heartbeat.

Being able to sort your caches in folders by town, or zip code, or park, or parking lots, or park and grabs or better yet, just what caches you plan on hitting that day is totally awesome. Its what I miss the most about the Explorist line.

What’s the average 500 cache PQ size say 2-3 Megs? With a 4-gig SD card I could prolly store more than half of the caches in the world and with a 2nd 4 gig SD card well that would be the other half. Now I will agree that storing them 200 at a time is way more work that 500, but I have to respectfully disagree with your use of the word Anemic.

I agree. I wish my Colorado had the ability to select (on the fly) the geocaches that I want loaded at any time.
I have a small file full of caches I want to do but they just fall in with all the rest unless I remove the other files before I go out.

So, when I go out to get one from my pick list, I have to try to remember which one it was. That part sort of sucks. On my Magellan I would just select the active file but of course it didn't have any cache page info so a cache run was a little more difficult.

[RRLover]

All true but now I'm wondering why you quoted my post.

Ooops! I was not focused, meant to use fast reply, Sorry.

Norm

[Isonzo Karst]

anemic!
The magellan eX500 holds 200 per FILE - but unlike every other unit on the market, you can have file folders. Many many many file folders. Usefully named.


That eXplorist lets me have file folder of my owned caches, a file folder of caches in one patch of woods where I hide and a file folder for another and another.
Folders for caches to the north of me and the south, caches near my Mother's home, caches in Georgia ....... and each group small enough to sort out quickly if you're hunting for a specific cache. Loaded as POI through GSAK, which allows as much, or more, info to be attached as you're going to get using the Magi software.

[Knight2000]

anemic!
The magellan eX500 holds 200 per FILE

That's exactly what I am talking about!

I am not talking about the filing system. Personally I don't want to switch databases all the time. In my area there are a lot of caches so if you load and go and then do a search via the geocache feature your not really going to get that far. So if you want to head West and the majority are East, your not going to get very far.