Geocaching
Get your waypoints into your GPS with EasyGPS
How do you get the locations of your next geocache into your GPS? Well, one way is to do it manually, using whatever interface that the device offers you for input. This is OK but has several disadvantages:
- It's really slow
- It's really prone to errors
- It's really slow and prone to errors!
There is a better way ... and one of the best (and cheapest - in fact, it's free) pieces of software to let you upload and download waypoints to and from your GPS is EasyGPS.
Installation is easy - because there is none! All you have to do is download the .exe file and run it. This makes it portable and pain free to use and means there are no complex installation screens, choices to make and buggy uninstall apps to deal with.
EasyGPS has some really nice features. Firstly, it communicates with many different GPSr from the three biggest manufacturers: Garmin, Magellan, Eagle, and Lowrance GPS. Secondly, it is so easy to use for geocaching because it handles the .loc files that you can download from cache pages at www.geocaching.com.
NOTE: Your GPS must support a PC connection and you'll need the right cable for the job to use EasyGPS!
So you can download the information for your next cache trip (or trips ... you can download a .loc file containing information on multiple caches!), and with a few clicks have that information loaded onto your GPS! Here we have all the current cache locations loaded into EasyGPS!
Upload from EasyGPS to the GPSr is fast and easy and we've had no problem using it with the Garmin GPS III, eTrex Vista or GPS 76.
NOTE: Even if you do use EasyGPS to upload waypoint info into your GPS it is still worthwhile knowing how to do it manually - you never know when you might try a multicache or need to input a waypoint based on a map destination when you are away from your PC!
EasyGPS also allows you to manually add waypoints, removing the reliance on having the right .loc file. Bear in mind through that it doesn't accept inputs in OSGB grid reference format, so you'll need to have them converted first (for this we suggest the excellent Waypoint Workbench 6.2 Microsoft Excel spreadsheet available from Chris n Maria's Homepage - this spreadsheet will work with EasyGPS files giving you even greater flexibility and control over waypoints).
EasyGPS is available as a free download from http://www.easygps.com/default.asp?rc=213pF.
EasyGPS System Requirements (Macs: Use Mac GPS Pro)
- Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or higher
- Pentium-class processor, 100MHz or higher (suggested)
- Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher
- One free serial (COM) port or USB adapter
Kingsley-Hughes
Last updated: May 4th 2004
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