Trouble Downloading Waypoints into Garmin from GC

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:16 pm

Has anyone out there tried to download lately from Geocaching.com by selecting a single waypoint from the cache description page (Send to GPS)? I had successfully done this in the past with my GPSmap 60Cx, but it appears there was some sort of change or upgrade to this feature. There is now a tab for downloading into a Magellan as well. No matter what I do, I cannot get the Garmin download to work. I tried downloading the new plug in and also new USB drivers, but I still cannot seem to get my GPSr to be recognized. Has anyone else out there encountered this problem?

Are there any other ways to download waypoints quickly other than making a PQ and taking that into GSAK? I don't want to hand-enter the waypoints. I did that for my first 150 caches. Takes too long!

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:45 pm

Curly Girls wrote:

Has anyone out there tried to download lately from Geocaching.com by selecting a single waypoint from the cache description page (Send to GPS)?

Here's a bit of unhelpful info, this extra tab isn't for sending to Magellan GPS, its for sending to Delorme. If Magellan was smart they would make a similar plugin, but that hasn't happened.

I decided to test out the Send to GPS function with my 60Cx since I haven't used it in awhile. When I first used it I needed to install the Garmin communicator plugin, since I am using a different computer than before. Once I had it Installed it opened a test website and with my 60Cx plugged in it tested working.
I reopened the cache page, clicked send to GPS and it works great.

I am using firefox as my web browser, so if your using Internet Explorer you might want to try something else. Another thing to try is using a different USB port, or unplugging other USB devices. Rebooting your PC may also help.

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:11 pm

Thanks for the info hogrod! I appreciate your confirmation all is good with the website.

Sorry for the confusion on the Magellan, it was DeLorme. I remember reading about that, (short memory). Garmin is the way to go, except in my little issue I have here!

I do have Internet Explorer 6. so I am wondering if that is the problem? The "ActiveX Controls" is not appearing like the Garmin Communicator test page tells me, so I am some how hung up. I tried a few settings, and not getting anywhere with that. Not sure I can get work to upgrade this IE though......

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:16 pm

I had the same problem. I think I had to upgrade Active X or Flash or something like that. I also use Explorer. Ummm... I also had to turn my GPSr on too..... Embarassed

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:23 pm

I occasionally use this feature, and it works good for me. As Hogrod said, the key is downloading the plugin from Garmin. Once you have that, and the gps is plugged into the USB and turned on, it goes pretty well. One other thing is that I notice it takes about 15 seconds for the computer to know that the garmin is plugged in, so you cant be in too much of a rush.

z

WGA Member Joined: 2007-02-03 Posts: 2180

If we're only going out to do a few caches I use the Garmin plugin for both the handhelds and the nuvi. Downloading always works better than hand loading for me. I almost always screw up the coordinates for at least one of our three units when hand loading.

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:37 pm

I do have Internet Explorer 6. so I am wondering if that is the problem? The "ActiveX Controls" is not appearing like the Garmin Communicator test page tells me, so I am some how hung up. I tried a few settings, and not getting anywhere with that. Not sure I can get work to upgrade this IE though......[/quote]

That might be the problem. There's discussion on the GC forums that you need IE7 to get it to work properly.

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:49 am

There's been a lot of talk on this GC.com forum thread:
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=214112

They updated something with the Garmin communicator I believe, though I haven't payed much attention because I don't download like this.

Hope you find your answer there!

-cheeto-

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:16 pm

Here's another thread:
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=215285

Apparently Internet Explorer version 6 is not currently supported for the Gamin download feature after the recent website upgrade.

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:44 pm

I want to thank everyone for their helpful advice! I am not sure I have my problem solved yet.

I downloaded Firefox to try that out if the IE 6 is not an option. I uninstalled the Garmin Communicator, then reinstalled it and thought that would be it. Restarted the computer and still no luck. Same issue. Not sure why my computer is not playing nice! I know that my GPS and cable are working because I downloaded into it through GSAK last night.

Any other ideas out there? When I try the "Send to GPS", the button for detecting device is always "grayed" out for me on the Garmin tab, so I can't even try that. I never had problems doing this before the upgrade. Sad

WGA Member Joined: 2007-01-12 Posts: 22 Location: iola

I can't tell you how to fix your problem but, you can load the gpx file for that indevidual cache to gsak. I don't know if that helps you.

Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:55 pm

I think I've got IE7 and it worked fine last night.

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:48 pm

Finally figured out my issue, I found this info (in quotes) below on the Garmin site. This bug must have just been discovered. You have to read in the release notes about this issue. On the main pages that discuss the plug in, it indicates that this is compatible with Windows 2000.

"Garmin Communicator Plug in is not compatible with Windows 2000 computers and will not install and/or function properly. We are working on addressing this issue at this time."

I guess I will have to keep checking back. Hopefully this will get resolved soon! Until then, I will have to resort to making bookmarks and doing PQS.

WGA Member Joined: 2009-03-03 Posts: 9 Location: Weston

All you need to do is download the Explorer 8.0 version and is should work. I had called Garmin on the same issue and that's what they told me to do. I'm once again able to download coords directly into my GPS. Not sure if this was discussed b4??

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:11 am

Couple of "tech" notes here...

Windows 2000? Um, I'd seriously consider upgrading your operating system soon anyways. It is not longer 'supported' (no new updates to the OS) by Microsoft and I would guess that most software providers will stop supporting it now or very soon.

Warning on Internet Explorer 8.0 upgrade - This is a brand new explorer from Microsoft - BEWARE! When was the last time Microsoft released anything new and bug free? Although I am a Microsoft fan, I know their faults. IE 8.0 is still too new for me to even test out yet. I suspect there will be a lot of IE plugins that do not work properly yet - not until the majority of the public embrace IE 8.0. That is what happened with Vista - very few manufactures released/updated drivers/software for Vista when it came out and Vista got a bad rap (I know there were other issues, but mostly it was because MS release Vista before it's time and caught the 3rd party manufactures off guard).

I provide the above experiences of a 30 year veteran of PCs/Networks/Servers for informational purposes only. You make up your own mind. Smile

I hope this helps!