[ginkgo100]

Today I got a Garmin eTrex 10 to replace my Apisphere Geomate Jr. (which I was never able to update since the recent problems, and which has since become waterlogged and dead anyway). Just got back from a fruitless geocaching trip. I have some questions:

• I was able to load a 1000-cache PQ onto the unit, thanks to another thread in this forum. But I cannot figure out how to access data other than cache name, GC code, and location (and even switching between name and GC code is clumsy). How can I access the descriptions and logs? I get a low-memory warning. Do I just have too many caches loaded?
  
• Basemap: really? There doesn't seem to be a map at all other than a dotted line marking my trail. No roads, trails, or landmarks show up, although caches do. (Not very helpful without roads, etc.) I am not picky about wanting a fancy map, but this non-map is useless. Also, once I'm in the map, how to I exit back to the menu?
  
• Position updating: I may not be using it right, but there seems to be a problem with real-time updating of my position and distance to the cache. Sometimes I can wander 10 or 20 feet and nothing changes on the screen. This never happened with my Geomate (even when it had trouble getting an accurate signal). It is impossible to find ground zero when you have to guess whether the cache distance/direction on the screen is current.

I really, really appreciate any tips or help that anybody can offer. Thanks!

[splashy]

Hate to say, you bought the wrong gps.
This new gps seems to be out of production, because it's not listed at Garmin.

This Gps doesn't have a micro Sd slot, thus you're stuck with the memory you have.
The basemap IS a BASEMAP only with mayor roads, no streets and no trails.

The 1000 cache Pq shouldn't be very big and the basemap is between 50 > 100 mB, so I wonder what's taking the space.

Anyhow you need to have a map, they are available free (yes good) and for sale from Garmin.

If you can trade it for a Etrex 20 do it now.

This post has been edited by splashy: 06 April 2012 - 02:23 PM

[ChefRd2000]

splashy, on 06 April 2012 - 02:22 PM, said:

Hate to say, you bought the wrong gps.
This new gps seems to be out of production, because it's not listed at Garmin.

This Gps doesn't have a micro Sd slot, thus you're stuck with the memory you have.
The basemap IS a BASEMAP only with mayor roads, no streets and no trails.

The 1000 cache Pq shouldn't be very big and the basemap is between 50 > 100 mB, so I wonder what's taking the space.

Anyhow you need to have a map, they are available free (yes good) and for sale from Garmin.

If you can trade it for a Etrex 20 do it now.

I see it on garmins site... It's under "basic" handhelds.

[ChefRd2000]

ginkgo100, on 06 April 2012 - 01:50 PM, said:

Today I got a Garmin eTrex 10 to replace my Apisphere Geomate Jr. (which I was never able to update since the recent problems, and which has since become waterlogged and dead anyway). Just got back from a fruitless geocaching trip. I have some questions:

• I was able to load a 1000-cache PQ onto the unit, thanks to another thread in this forum. But I cannot figure out how to access data other than cache name, GC code, and location (and even switching between name and GC code is clumsy). How can I access the descriptions and logs? I get a low-memory warning. Do I just have too many caches loaded?
  
• Basemap: really? There doesn't seem to be a map at all other than a dotted line marking my trail. No roads, trails, or landmarks show up, although caches do. (Not very helpful without roads, etc.) I am not picky about wanting a fancy map, but this non-map is useless. Also, once I'm in the map, how to I exit back to the menu?
  
• Position updating: I may not be using it right, but there seems to be a problem with real-time updating of my position and distance to the cache. Sometimes I can wander 10 or 20 feet and nothing changes on the screen. This never happened with my Geomate (even when it had trouble getting an accurate signal). It is impossible to find ground zero when you have to guess whether the cache distance/direction on the screen is current.

I really, really appreciate any tips or help that anybody can offer. Thanks!

On garmins site... It shows 1000 waypoints. Many geocaches load parking and trailhead child waypoints. I would try 500 and see if the problem remains. The map is the Map on that one... It's weak. As far as the position... I wonder if the 10 suffers from the sticky issue that the 20/30 suffer from? (check some of the threads on the 20 sticky issue to see if it sounds like the problems you are having)

[ginkgo100]

ChefRd2000, on 06 April 2012 - 05:05 PM, said:

On garmins site... It shows 1000 waypoints. Many geocaches load parking and trailhead child waypoints. I would try 500 and see if the problem remains. The map is the Map on that one... It's weak. As far as the position... I wonder if the 10 suffers from the sticky issue that the 20/30 suffer from? (check some of the threads on the 20 sticky issue to see if it sounds like the problems you are having)

Thanks. I will read about the "sticky" issue. The file I loaded was 4.5MB. I didn't add the separate waypoint file, but who knows how much excess data was there. I'll try a smaller PQ. If the map really is this useless, I'll be disappointed, but it's not a big issue because my Geomate had no map, and I loved it anyway (until I couldn't update it anymore). I also found another thread that I think will help me with the UI issues I was having, which may help. Don't know when I'll get out again to try it, though, because of the holiday weekend. But, while there aren't many things I prefer to geocaching, Easter is one of them.

[ChefRd2000]

ginkgo100, on 06 April 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

ChefRd2000, on 06 April 2012 - 05:05 PM, said:

On garmins site... It shows 1000 waypoints. Many geocaches load parking and trailhead child waypoints. I would try 500 and see if the problem remains. The map is the Map on that one... It's weak. As far as the position... I wonder if the 10 suffers from the sticky issue that the 20/30 suffer from? (check some of the threads on the 20 sticky issue to see if it sounds like the problems you are having)

Thanks. I will read about the "sticky" issue. The file I loaded was 4.5MB. I didn't add the separate waypoint file, but who knows how much excess data was there. I'll try a smaller PQ. If the map really is this useless, I'll be disappointed, but it's not a big issue because my Geomate had no map, and I loved it anyway (until I couldn't update it anymore). I also found another thread that I think will help me with the UI issues I was having, which may help. Don't know when I'll get out again to try it, though, because of the holiday weekend. But, while there aren't many things I prefer to geocaching, Easter is one of them.

Happy Easter! Let us know if you get it figured out.

[user13371]

A quick review of what I learned when I owned an eTrex 10:

- The "1000 geocache" limit is a hard maximum, a number of "slots" in memory available. But how many will really fit in memory is a bit fuzzy -- depends on how long the cache description and logs are in your pocket query. In practice I would get the "low memory" error when the GPX file was much over 3 or 3.5 megabytes, and that could be anywhere from 300 to 500 caches depending on how wordy the logs were.

- There is no basemap to speak of, unless you count dots for major city names and solid lines for most of the US Interstate System. And there is no capacity to add additional maps, which is why Garmin calls this a "basic handheld" rather than a "mapping handheld."

- I thought the eTrex was nearly ideal for simple hiking and bicycling use, but not as good for geocaching. I traded up to an eTrex 20, which lets me load 4000 caches (or is that 5000?), add all the maps I need, and has a color screen. Actually on my bicycle handlebars I'd rather have a monochrome screen, but I value the extra memory and maps more overall.

Hope this helps.

This post has been edited by Portland Cyclist: 06 April 2012 - 07:06 PM

[The Frosties!]

Portland Cyclist, on 06 April 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

I traded up to an eTrex 20, which lets me load 4000 caches (or is that 5000?)

The etrex 30 will take 5000, so I guess the same for the 20

[a544jh]

You get the description by going to the geocaching page again, or from the map screen, select "view geocache" from the menu.

[tr_s]

It seems "stupid" if the 20/30 has the sticky problem and the 10 hasn't. Because if that is the case, the solution to the problems of the 20/30 lies in the code of the 10. The receivers share the same Teseo II chipset.

[user13371]

Tr_s ... it would hard to say if the 10 does or doesn't have the problem you're talking about. It isn't universally seen among all 20/30 owners, and the eTrex 10 accounts for less than a quarter of the combined 10-20-30 market base.

This post has been edited by Portland Cyclist: 07 April 2012 - 06:04 AM

[user13371]

Portland Cyclist, on 06 April 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

...eTrex 20... lets me load 4000 caches (or is that 5000?)

The Frosties!, on 06 April 2012 - 10:40 PM, said:

The etrex 30 will take 5000, so I guess the same for the 20

Yes, you're right of course. I was just having a small mental lapse there. I usually load the GPS with blocks of 4000 because I have a set of 4 PQ's for that total size. And for some reason I blanked on the detail that there was really more capacity in the GPS. The fact that I would have to extract significantly fewer than 1000 caches for the eTrex 10 on any given day I wanted to go out - instead of just keeping my whole database loaded - was really my sole disappointment with the device.

This post has been edited by Portland Cyclist: 07 April 2012 - 06:04 AM

[tr_s]

Portland Cyclist, on 07 April 2012 - 05:32 AM, said:

Tr_s ... it would hard to say if the 10 does or doesn't have the problem you're talking about. It isn't universally seen among all 20/30 owners, and the eTrex 10 accounts for less than a quarter of the combined 1020/30 market base.

You are right about that, and I guess most "gps nerds" wouldn't buy a 10 and hang in forums. No references on google that it'd be sticky at least.

[ginkgo100]

Portland Cyclist, on 06 April 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

A quick review of what I learned when I owned an eTrex 10:

- The "1000 geocache" limit is a hard maximum, a number of "slots" in memory available. But how many will really fit in memory is a bit fuzzy -- depends on how long the cache description and logs are in your pocket query. In practice I would get the "low memory" error when the GPX file was much over 3 or 3.5 megabytes, and that could be anywhere from 300 to 500 caches depending on how wordy the logs were.

- There is no basemap to speak of, unless you count dots for major city names and solid lines for most of the US Interstate System. And there is no capacity to add additional maps, which is why Garmin calls this a "basic handheld" rather than a "mapping handheld."

- I thought the eTrex was nearly ideal for simple hiking and bicycling use, but not as good for geocaching. I traded up to an eTrex 20, which lets me load 4000 caches (or is that 5000?), add all the maps I need, and has a color screen. Actually on my bicycle handlebars I'd rather have a monochrome screen, but I value the extra memory and maps more overall.

Hope this helps.

I ran a 500-cache PQ that was 2.25MB, and it solved the problem. I can access all the descriptions and logs now. I'll experiment with adding more files to find the functional limit.

The monochrome screen was actually one reason I chose this model, since I thought it would be easier to read in sunlight. The stock photos of the unit used in marketing seemed to show a basic trail map, so I made a bad assumption rather than researching the issue more thoroughly. The other reason I chose it was the price point, as my geocaching budget is tight (and rather hard-won from the family budget). Thanks for everyone's input!

This post has been edited by ginkgo100: 07 April 2012 - 05:51 AM

[ginkgo100]

Portland Cyclist, on 07 April 2012 - 05:32 AM, said:

Tr_s ... it would hard to say if the 10 does or doesn't have the problem you're talking about. It isn't universally seen among all 20/30 owners, and the eTrex 10 accounts for less than a quarter of the combined 10/20/30 market base.

Well, I did read about the sticky issue, and watched a video of a sticky eTrex 30 alongside another Garmin unit, and it does seem to be just my luck that I have a sticky eTrex 10. I emailed Garmin support, though the forum threads didn't leave me optimistic about what kind of response I'll get. Other than the sticky issue, I think this unit will be adequate for me, if not ideal. Remember I'm coming from the Geomate Jr. so I'm used to "bare-bones" geocaching tech!

[user13371]

ginkgo100, on 07 April 2012 - 05:50 AM, said:

...The monochrome screen was actually one reason I chose this model, since I thought it would be easier to read in sunlight. The stock photos of the unit used in marketing seemed to show a basic trail map, so I made a bad assumption rather than researching the issue more thoroughly.

I hold the same opinion of the monochrome screen, especially for bicycling -- though the color one isn't too bad. As for the "trail map" on Garmin's marketing page, you CAN load your own tracks and make it look that way. That's is how I do cue sheets for my bike rides. I plan longer rides with Bikely.com and copy the GPX file to the eTrex, and view the track when I'm on the road. I prefer a simple line & cues about when the next turn is coming up rather than a cluttered ma.

This post has been edited by Portland Cyclist: 07 April 2012 - 06:09 AM

[tr_s]

ginkgo100, on 07 April 2012 - 05:57 AM, said:

and it does seem to be just my luck that I have a sticky eTrex 10. I emailed Garmin support,

Ok - as I anticipated then. In the meantime, try switching off Glonass if you have it on. I did see some sticky behavior when I tried Glonass enabled today. Maybe the calculated position is an average of Glonass and GPS position or something. After all, they have written "improved GPS response..." in the bugfixes, not GLONASS response. And indeed GLONASS is not enabled by default. Duh.

This post has been edited by tr_s: 07 April 2012 - 06:10 AM

[ginkgo100]

tr_s, on 07 April 2012 - 06:10 AM, said:

ginkgo100, on 07 April 2012 - 05:57 AM, said:

and it does seem to be just my luck that I have a sticky eTrex 10. I emailed Garmin support,

Ok - as I anticipated then. In the meantime, try switching off Glonass if you have it on. I did see some sticky behavior when I tried Glonass enabled today. Maybe the calculated position is an average of Glonass and GPS position or something. After all, they have written "improved GPS response..." in the bugfixes, not GLONASS response. And indeed GLONASS is not enabled by default. Duh.

Before I started, I had enabled WAAS but not GLONASS. I tried turning off WAAS and will see if it helps next time I go out. (And foolish me, when I saw the option I wondered, "Why WOULDN'T you want WAAS?")

[tr_s]

Ok, time to complain to Garmin so they get to much needed work with the 10 as well then! (sounded like you already had done so...)

I doubt turning off Waas helps though. It's just a couple of satellites which "augments" the position error caused in a specific area by atmospheric effects etc.

[coggins]

Portland Cyclist, on 06 April 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

- There is no basemap to speak of, unless you count dots for major city names and solid lines for most of the US Interstate System.

Sure there is, it's a 1M basemap. There are no detailed maps. Just because the basemap isn't a 24K detailed map doesn't make it not a basemap. Compared to my original eTrex that has no basemap, it's quite an improvement.

[tr_s]

Out of interest how much memory does that device have in total? If it has a few megabytes then at least a rudimentary roadmap of a country can be stored! While there is no official support for it, apparently the gmapbmap.img file can be replaced according to reports.

[user13371]

coggins, on 07 April 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:

Sure there is, it's a 1M basemap. There are no detailed maps. Just because the basemap isn't a 24K detailed map doesn't make it not a basemap. Compared to my original eTrex that has no basemap, it's quite an improvement.

Picky picky picky

But okay, you're right. Instead of saying "the etrex 10 no basemap, unless you count these minimal items..." I should have said "The basemap is just these minimal items..." Which to me is nearly the same thing, and does seem useless -- is there an instance where it is useful to you? Or even a hypothetical one you could present for anyone else?

This post has been edited by Portland Cyclist: 07 April 2012 - 03:55 PM

[Team Lucky]

[quote name='ginkgo100' timestamp='1333749004' post='5013130']
Today I got a Garmin eTrex 10 to replace my Apisphere Geomate Jr. (which I was never able to update since the recent problems, and which has since become waterlogged and dead anyway). Just got back from a fruitless geocaching trip. I have some questions:

• I was able to load a 1000-cache PQ onto the unit, thanks to another thread in this forum. But I cannot figure out how to access data other than cache name, GC code, and location (and even switching between name and GC code is clumsy). How can I access the descriptions and logs? I get a low-memory warning. Do I just have too many caches loaded?
  
• Basemap: really? There doesn't seem to be a map at all other than a dotted line marking my trail. No roads, trails, or landmarks show up, although caches do. (Not very helpful without roads, etc.) I am not picky about wanting a fancy map, but this non-map is useless. Also, once I'm in the map, how to I exit back to the menu?
  
• Position updating: I may not be using it right, but there seems to be a problem with real-time updating of my position and distance to the cache. Sometimes I can wander 10 or 20 feet and nothing changes on the screen. This never happened with my Geomate (even when it had trouble getting an accurate signal). It is impossible to find ground zero when you have to guess whether the cache distance/direction on the screen is current.

I really, really appreciate any tips or help that anybody can offer. Thanks!

[Team Lucky]

There is nothing wrong with the 10. I have several gpsr's and I like the 10 a lot. Every week with the gsak macro, I load over 1600 caches, complete with all the details. I have free maps from Florida to Maine, all the way up the coast, and never ran out of memory. Just my opinion...

[user13371]

Team Lucky - how do you load maps onto the eTrex 10? And how do you manage to fit 1600 caches complete with all details onto the unit without running out oe memory?

Are you sure you're not thinking about one of your several other GPSRs?

[coggins]

Portland Cyclist, on 07 April 2012 - 03:51 PM, said:

But okay, you're right. Instead of saying "the etrex 10 no basemap, unless you count these minimal items..." I should have said "The basemap is just these minimal items..." Which to me is nearly the same thing, and does seem useless

Well, you could have just said that it only has a Basemap, and if they wanted detailed maps it was the wrong unit for them.

Quote

is there an instance where it is useful to you? Or even a hypothetical one you could present for anyone else?

Sure, I could. I bet I can even get you to name at least one.

[user13371]

Coggins, if you can present situation situations where the eTrex 10 basemap is useful to you or others, I'll listen.

But for my own purposes? Best I can come up with is if I was dropped into the middle of nowhere, needing to know the general direction and distance of the nearest main road, town, or geographical feature-- with no other way of determining that other than the GPS.

Hasn't happened to me yet, and I doubt it ever will. Closest to that scenario was about 30 years ago, USAF survival training. No GPS, but the minimal navigation skill and area knowledge I had then was more useful than what's on the eTrex 10 today.

This post has been edited by Portland Cyclist: 15 April 2012 - 04:17 PM

[ProfessorBenson]

Just bought one today and will probably use it in conjunction with my Android phone's GPS (I bought the Groundspeak Ap). I figure it's a good unit to learn and will get a better one if the budget permits.

[ProfessorBenson]

Used it to find a cache today. It performed a lot better than the Ap on my Android phone once I got within 45 feet. The ground cover and the location (on a hillside overlooking a river)made the Ap quarky.