Nuisance whilst geocaching

Discussion related to the Garmin GPSMAP 66s/st GPSr
User avatar
GPSrChive
Site Admin
Posts: 3881
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by GPSrChive »

Tufty wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:08 am Hi, I am a new member of this forum and have just upgraded from a 62s to a 66st. Still deciding if it was a good idea or not. Though I am leading to a good one.

I have a couple of issues with the 66.

1. The size of the cache icons. This was solved by reading the start of this thread. Thanks for that.

2. The method that I go through to get the description, hint, etc while navigating to a geocache. On either the Map or Compass pages I press MENU twice and the highlight Geocaches and press Enter. With the 62 it was press MENU and select View Geocache. When really thinking about comparing the number of keystrokes they would just about equal out. So I might have to stop grizzling about that.

3. But my main bone of contention at this early stage is that the Geocaching Dashboard (or any Dashboard that is listed) of the Compass Page does not have the number of Geocaches Found. The 62 had this item in its Geocache - Details Dashboard. Are any other users missing this item?

4. Back when I first got my 62 I joined a forum for that and suggested to Garmin that the Next Stage option (on the 66 it is called Coordinates) should have the option of either entering coordinates or Project a waypoint from the geocache published coordinates. So, when asked in a Multi-cache, to locate either the next waypoint or the final you are given a bearing and distance you are able to calculate it exactly. Back then they said it was a good idea. For me to calculate the coordinates it took a 10-step process. But, of course, it never happened.

Thanks for listening.
Welcome to GPSrChive and congratulations on the GPSMAP 66!

1. Solved

2. puh·tei·tow, puh·tah·tow (Both methods are essentially an equal number of button presses, just a different route through the menu)

3. While most current units track/record this number, they no longer display it in the Geocache Dashboard.

4. This a a great suggestion, but most of us just project a waypoint and save it, then navigate to it (for now). Frankly, most of Garmins units crash on multi-caches after the second set of coordinates are entered, so asking them to add more capability while they still have not corrected current functionality is a long shot at best.

Let us know how you like the GPSMAP 66 otherwise!
searchjaunt
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 8:18 am

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by searchjaunt »

searchjaunt wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 1:41 pm Some additional nuisances:
- when one looks at a cache description or logs of caches of a caches and scrolls down, go to another cache (whether or not the previous one is logged) and go to the description or logs, the display starts from the point where I stopped scrolling at the previous cache instead of displaying from the top
- when one logs a cache which I've selected from the map, logs it and the select OK or search cache nearby, I get an empty cache list. I need to use the find button
- and old time (happened on my gpsmap 60/64, oregon 450/600) issue is the display of the dates in the geocache logs. Despite my language settings and locations, the date is shown with the month first. In the GPX it is specified as
<groundspeak:date>2019-06-15T12:00:00Z</groundspeak:date>
- despite the same settings for the screen as the 64 and the same batteries, the 66 seems to consume a lot more battery
Local support (Belgium) claims that all these issues are due to the fact that the maps are corrupt and needs to be deleted and reinstalled. I find this a rather odd statement and don't see the connection between the issues and so called corrupt maps. If anyone of you understands this claim, please it to me.

Having said this, I found out that the second issue above might be a misinterpretation from my side. When one logs a cache that was selected from the map and selects OK (and not search next cache nearby), one gets a screen with three tabs. The first tabs is a play (like tape recorder) icon
with an empty list and the text saying I should select a caches (which don't show), a second tab with coffin icon and a list of caches, a third tab with a map icon and a map with caches.
User avatar
GPSrChive
Site Admin
Posts: 3881
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by GPSrChive »

searchjaunt wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 8:11 pm Local support (Belgium) claims that all these issues are due to the fact that the maps are corrupt and needs to be deleted and reinstalled.
Sounds like they need better customer support over there....
Tufty
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 02, 2019 4:30 am

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by Tufty »

- and old time (happened on my gpsmap 60/64, oregon 450/600) issue is the display of the dates in the geocache logs. Despite my language settings and locations, the date is shown with the month first. In the GPX it is specified as
<groundspeak:date>2019-06-15T12:00:00Z</groundspeak:date>
This is because computers think logically starting with the largest item, in this case year, working down to the smallest, in this case seconds. The "Z" at the end denotes "Zulu" which is the time in Greenwich Mean Time or UTC. The logs are stored in Groundspeak servers in this format but when they output the dates as in cache logs they are in American format which has the month first. So it doesn't matter what format you have your GPS in the date of the logs will always be Month-Date-Year.
searchjaunt
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 8:18 am

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by searchjaunt »

Tufty wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:28 am
- and old time (happened on my gpsmap 60/64, oregon 450/600) issue is the display of the dates in the geocache logs. Despite my language settings and locations, the date is shown with the month first. In the GPX it is specified as
<groundspeak:date>2019-06-15T12:00:00Z</groundspeak:date>
This is because computers think logically starting with the largest item, in this case year, working down to the smallest, in this case seconds. The "Z" at the end denotes "Zulu" which is the time in Greenwich Mean Time or UTC. The logs are stored in Groundspeak servers in this format but when they output the dates as in cache logs they are in American format which has the month first. So it doesn't matter what format you have your GPS in the date of the logs will always be Month-Date-Year.
I do understand the technical reasons, but it is far from user friendly. If one can makes de GPS language dependent, it shouldn't be a big thing to also display the dates correctly, no?
User avatar
GPSrChive
Site Admin
Posts: 3881
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by GPSrChive »

searchjaunt wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 8:11 pm Having said this, I found out that the second issue above might be a misinterpretation from my side. When one logs a cache that was selected from the map and selects OK (and not search next cache nearby), one gets a screen with three tabs. The first tabs is a play (like tape recorder) icon with an empty list and the text saying I should select a caches (which don't show), a second tab with coffin icon and a list of caches, a third tab with a map icon and a map with caches.
Yes, this is normal and correct behavior.
User avatar
GPSrChive
Site Admin
Posts: 3881
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by GPSrChive »

searchjaunt wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 2:43 pm I do understand the technical reasons, but it is far from user friendly. If one can makes de GPS language dependent, it shouldn't be a big thing to also display the dates correctly, no?
For clarity, where exactly are the dates being displayed 'incorrectly'?

On the GPSr somewhere, or just in the GPX/FIT files?
searchjaunt
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 8:18 am

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by searchjaunt »

gpsrchive wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:05 pm
searchjaunt wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 2:43 pm I do understand the technical reasons, but it is far from user friendly. If one can makes de GPS language dependent, it shouldn't be a big thing to also display the dates correctly, no?
For clarity, where exactly are the dates being displayed 'incorrectly'?

On the GPSr somewhere, or just in the GPX/FIT files?
On the GPSr in the list of the logs for a certain geocaches. The logged date is always shown as mm/dd/yyyy which is confusing for non US users. The GSAK export date is that same format, but not that important.
Having the date is in the GPX, thus yyyy-mm-dd would be more interesting and readable for everybody.
User avatar
GPSrChive
Site Admin
Posts: 3881
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by GPSrChive »

searchjaunt wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:18 pm On the GPSr in the list of the logs for a certain geocaches. The logged date is always shown as mm/dd/yyyy which is confusing for non US users. The GSAK export date is that same format, but not that important.
I just checked a few geocaches myself, and that is the format groundspeak also shows the geocache logging dates, and I suspect this is simply being carried over directly to what you see on the GPSr.
searchjaunt wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:18 pm Having the date is in the GPX, thus yyyy-mm-dd would be more interesting and readable for everybody.
That is also how I do all my dates, and I don't even live in Europe! I prefer this format for database sorting issues.

However, the GPX/FIT file format will remain standardized, with the dates and times 'converted' on the fly based on device settings. Garmin does not dictate or control the GPX file format, they just follow it.
searchjaunt
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 8:18 am

Re: Nuisance whilst geocaching

Unread post by searchjaunt »

gpsrchive wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:39 pm

However, the GPX/FIT file format will remain standardized, with the dates and times 'converted' on the fly based on device settings. Garmin does not dictate or control the GPX file format, they just follow it.
If that's the case, why does Garmin transform a <groundspeak:date>2019-06-15T12:00:00Z</groundspeak:date> to mm/dd/yyyy
Post Reply

Return to “GPSMAP 66s/st”