Getting started with a Garmin eTrex H GPS for walking
— Using Garmin's eTrex H GPS device for walking: a brief guide to some of the basic concepts…”
I decided to get a little handheld GPS device for routes and tracks: we’re doing more walking these days and I’m a bit of a maphead.
Many websites out there contain information on GPS devices, few of them seem to properly explain the concepts to a complete beginner.
Buying a GPS device
Of the two kinds of GPS device available – basic (no interactive maps) and mapping (in-device maps) – I chose the basic kind because I don’t need to actually see the maps as I walk. There are two reasons for this:
- I’m not likely to be a ‘power user’
- We’re not quite yet at the stage where the technology can fully replace a map and compass, and
- Reviews of mapping devices have been less than glowing on the issues of display and battery life
This situation will almost certainly improve as time goes by but for now a basic GPS device fits the bill for me. I bought a Garmin eTrex H from AS Adventure at Zaventem. AS Adventure is rarely the cheapest option here in Belgium but J had a discount voucher.
No PC connection cable in the box
The Garmin eTrex H ships without a cable to connect to the PC. Naturally, nobody tells you that. And the manufacturer’s price for this essential piece of kit – without which you can’t send and receive data between the device and your computer – is pretty disgusting. I headed immediately for eBay.
The eTrex H is a new version of the older eTrex but it retains the dinosaur serial connection of the original. Many PCs no longer have a serial port.
So I bought a USB-serial cable (no need for a serial port) from Kawamall’s eBay Store in the United States, sold as USB & PC data Cable for Garmin Etrex H GPS.
That’s not quite the end of the cable story – more on that later!
The abstruse user manual
It could just be me, but I found the manual in the box totally unreadable. A bit of searching on the web brought me to the manual for the older eTrex version. As far as the user is concerned, this older model is pretty much the same as the eTrex H. Most of the updates happened under the hood.
Amazingly, the manual for the older eTrex is much more readable and I recommend it. I downloaded from the otherwise intriguing Vern’s Rocketry website (direct link to the manual).
Would the real USB drivers please stand up?
Once I had the basic functionality mastered, I wanted to connect the Garmin eTrex H to the computer with my new USB-serial cable.
The cable, which contains a Prolific PL2303 chip, arrived with a neat little CD-ROM of drivers (the latest drivers are online at the Prolific website), none of which worked on my pretty standard Windows XP installation. I knew that messing around with COM ports is a painful business and steeled myself for a long process of trial and error!
After a lot of searching, I found a Microsoft Community article concerning support for Windows Vista with a post containing a link to a ZIP file of Prolific PL2303 All-in-One GPS drivers for Windows on an inocuous-looking technology vendor website.
Update 14 June 2011 – the Prolific PL2303 link seems to be dead. See Comment #31 below for a possible alternative. If this works for you, please leave a comment and I’ll update the page.
To my astonishment these drivers worked perfectly. My GPS device was hooked up within seconds.
Garmin Mapsource for routes, tracks and management
As well as skipping the PC data cable, the Garmin eTrex H also ships without Mapsource, Garmin’s mapping software. Apparently, Mapsource only ships with posher models these days.
The manual shipped with the eTrex H alludes to the fact that the device will work with Mapsource. So here the Internet is your friend: getting and installing Mapsource without a disc is a worst kept secret!
As you might now expect with Garmin, given the lack of a PC cable in the box, there’s a similar story with Mapsource: the software on its own is not very useful. Mapsource needs to be loaded with (frequently expensive) topographical maps for it to help you plan and manage tracks and routes and most importantly to send and receive them to and from the GPS device.
What’s the difference between GPS routes and tracks?
In GPS-speak, a route is just that: a planned route with a start and an end and in between a collection of “via” waypoints to mark out the path. A track is a more or less accurate reflection of what path the user has actually covered on the ground, including any deviations.
Creating routes and transferring them to the eTrex H
The scope of this article is limited to the basic hardware and software requirements. See Creating routes for a Garmin eTrex H for more on that subject.
Useful tools
Mapsource doesn’t do everything. The budding GPS enthusiast also needs to have a small arsenal of other tools at the ready.
To convert tracks to routes and vice versa, something which Mapsource surprisingly can’t do, I have been using WinGDB. This little program requires an input of tracks and/or routes in the form of Mapsource’s native .GDB file format. Note that the current version of Mapsource creates version 3 .GDB files and WinGDB only accepts version 2, so be sure to specify the older version 2 format when saving a track or route for working with WinGDB.
Other file formats that I’ve come to know and love are GPX – an XML standard for geodata – and KML (or KMZ, a zipped version of the same), Google’s geographic XML standard. I make much use of both Google Maps and Google Earth. Both offer precise geographic browsing with reasonably accurate satellite image overlays.
The GPSVisualizer website is another essential reference. It can convert GPX to KML and KML to GPX. The GPSies.com upload page will also do both.
Comments
65 responses so far to Getting started with a Garmin eTrex H GPS for walking
Why not give me your comments?
See also:
Creating routes for a Garmin eTrex H
How to create GPS routes and how to transfer them to the Garmin eTrex H.
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Who you gonna call?
Hello you, I'm Mike Padgett. I'm not a Princeton curator, Knoxville mayoral candidate, Kentuckian pastor or Arizona journalist, I just share the same name. In fact, I am a consultant working in user experience and information design.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm originally from Yorkshire, England but nowadays I live in Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is Black Albert.
Shameless self-promotion
Over a year in the making, Dopeology.org is my latest personal project: a topology of doping in thirty years of European pro road cycling.
I collected information from thousands of sources, then I modelled and published it via a lightweight user interface.
April 3rd, 2010 at 21:52
Thank you for the alternative USB-PL2303 driver — use the cable for quickly transfering Geocaches to my eTrex H. I had been using a Macbook to connect my (which took quite some time to get working) but recently got a new PC and this quickly solved my issue.
MapSource is new news to me too! I’ll have a look! Thanks!
June 19th, 2010 at 15:11
Hi,
Thank you so much for your kind help.
I have never had to jump through so many hoops
go through so many coffees just to use a product
I treated myself to.
I still have a headache but I feel relieved I have
not wasted my money on an E Trex.
You’re a * in great gratitude Justine
August 7th, 2010 at 23:23
Many thanks for your help and advice, I have got my cable from the states and downloaded the drivers and it works great with my etrex H, now trying to get to grips with Mapsource, Thanks again Dave.
August 9th, 2010 at 10:55
Hi Dave,
Good to hear everything’s going well with your eTrex.
If you’re interested, I’ve also published some tips and advice on route creation at http://www.mikepadgett.com/technology/creating-routes-for-a-garmin-etrex-h/.
Good luck!
Mike Padgett
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:44
Man you saved me many hours of driver hunt. Thank you so much.
November 4th, 2010 at 9:58
HELP !
I have just started geocaching. I have purchased a Garmin eTrexH to use. I have read the manual but am none the wiser as to even put in coordinates. Is there anyone who could spare time to talk to me help. When you ring I will ring you straight back so I pay for the call.
My phone number is [DELETED]
Hopefully someone will help
Regards
Tony Watson
November 4th, 2010 at 13:03
Hi Tony,
Sorry, I can’t allow personal information such as telephone numbers or email addresses to be published on my website, so I’m afraid I had to remove yours.
To answer your query, I don’t do geocaching myself but inputting coordinates into the device is relatively simple.
Perhaps you could try this forum post for a step-by-step approach to inputting coordinates into the eTrex H (see post #11) and this video on the subject of geocaching with an eTrex H.
November 13th, 2010 at 14:34
Hi Mike, greetings from an eTrex H happy user in Spain. I took exactly the same decisions and steps as you: bought a basic GPS that works just fine (99€), bought the USB cable to KawaMall (thanks to ebay) and used the mapsource software and drivers in Windows XP just fine. The issue was when I bought a laptop with Windows 7, USB connectivity failed and I even tried a VirtualBox Windows XP partition but nothing worked till I found your website and use the win_drivers (all in one), it works fine again! Nice one!
December 3rd, 2010 at 22:24
Hi
I am hoping you may be able help as I have tried Garmin site and cant see the answer.
I can create a track but cant see how to see how far we have walked. Have I missed something
Thanks in advance
December 4th, 2010 at 13:53
Hi Adrian,
The track screens on an eTrex-H provide for the management of tracks, so you’ll get very little information from them.
What you should find more interesting is the trip screen which gives you a range of data about the journey you’re currently making (until such time as you clear it). That’s the screen to check how far you’ve been walking (in real-time), making sure to clear the data prior to every new walk you start.
If you use the up/down buttons on this same trip screen, you can also scroll through a broader range of information about your journey.
To check the length of the track you’ve already saved, you could either: a) see what the trip screen shows provided that this was your only walk since the trip screen was last cleared, or b) download the track to MapSource and check it out there.
Bonne chance and do let me know if you’re not sure of anything!
December 31st, 2010 at 1:34
Thanks for the great article and links. I got an eTrek H for Christmas and was so excited until I discovered that it didn’t have the data cable. I’ll follow a similar route as you in order to get it actually usable. You did get MapSource to work, right? Again, thanks again for taking the time to post your eTrek experience.
Todd
December 31st, 2010 at 13:08
Hi, Todd. Thanks for your comment. Yes, Mapsource works fine. Check out my article Creating routes for a Garmin eTrex H for info on how to get started with Mapsource once you’ve installed it.
January 5th, 2011 at 15:55
Great article and links.
Like another of your readers I got an eTrek H for Christmas and was so excited until I discovered that it didn’t have the data cable. I’ll follow a similar route as you and others in order to get it actually usable.
Did you (or anyone) get MapSource to work, with Windows 7?
Thanks for taking the time to post your eTrek experience.
January 5th, 2011 at 17:20
Hi, Ian! Seems so often to be the case with lots of consumer electronics products these days. Yes, Mapsource should work fine on Windows 7. Thanks for visiting!
January 29th, 2011 at 20:37
This article has been very helpful, thank you.
February 23rd, 2011 at 10:27
Just curious why you don’t allow phone numbers or email addresses to be published on your website…
February 23rd, 2011 at 12:56
Hi Tony,
I’m really happy when people come to my website and learn from the information I’ve prepared. That’s how I like to find out about things from others too.
Of course not everyone is using the Internet for good. The level of risk and irritation varies across the world, but the fact is that it’s all too easy to harvest personal information given honestly and then to use it for spam, cold-calling and identity theft.
I don’t want my website to be part of that problem, so I just avoid publishing any contact information.
February 23rd, 2011 at 14:29
Fair enough, Cheers
March 19th, 2011 at 17:14
Mike
Great site!
There is available a full eTrex manual for software version 3.00 and above that contains a decription of the functions largely carried over to the eTrex H unchanged – including the Trip Computer – at:
http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/etrex_yel_cam_3.0.pdf
Regards
Charles
March 24th, 2011 at 11:55
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your tuturial. Bought a secondhand eTrex.
I managed to get Map Scource. The next step is to load a topographical map into it. How dit you solve that ‘problem’? I’m found this site for free maps, but I haven’t got a clue wether it will work.
http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php
Groeten!
Joost
March 24th, 2011 at 12:22
Hi Joost en hartelijk dank voor uw bezoek. Helaas mijn NL is niet zo goed dus ik in EN blijven!
As I mentioned in my article Creating routes for a Garmin eTrex H, in MapSource you’ll need to install and (depending on the licence) unlock maps that you’ve downloaded and/or purchased.
Remember that the eTrex is not a mapping device, so it’s very basic: you can’t put any maps on the device itself, only the routes and the points that you’ve prepared in MapSource. How useful this is to you and which maps you should get for MapSource depends on how you want to use your eTrex H.
For example, OpenStreetMaps – the basis of the downloads available on that website you linked to – is excellent for a road cycling trip but it wouldn’t usually contain enough information for offroad activities, sailing, skiing or walking because it is, as the name suggests, focused on paved roads. Indeed they have about the same level of information as you might get in a satnav for your car. The situation is always changing as the maps are developed but that’s how it is right now.
Please leave another comment if you’re not sure about anything I’ve said or you would like to know something else!
April 23rd, 2011 at 7:28
I am organising an Easter Hunt tomorrow and we will use GPS devices. I hired 6 ETrex from an outdoor hire company thinking they would be straightforward to connect to my PC just like similar my posher C60. Oh no! Thy come with a weird cable with an RS232 connector for which there is no port on my laptop. I am desperately trying to find a solution to enable me to download waypoints from my mapping software to these devices in the next 24 hours.
I can’t buy a new data cable from ebay as not enough time. Will a male to male cable work? Any ideas?
April 29th, 2011 at 10:45
Hi Donna,
Sorry not to reply sooner – I’ve been away. I guess it’s too late now, but you definitely needed a serial-to-USB cable to get the job done. Hope it didn’t ruin your Easter Hunt!
May 23rd, 2011 at 17:42
Hi Mike
I was concerned that I had bought a gps that was next to impossible to programme! I couldn’t communicate with it through my PC. Having followed your guidance I can now load up my etrexH with routes and look at the tracks too. I am using a new machine with Windows 7, so now I’m happy and I can justify the expenditure to my family!
May 25th, 2011 at 17:09
Mike,
I recently got my hands on an etrex H and a serial-port interface cable. However, when I plug both of them in nothing seems to happen on my computer. Do I need to install any additional programs on my computer to simply add coordinates from the computer onto the gps device? I don’t need anything fancy, I just find that inputting the coordinates manually takes WAY too long.
Regards,
Ian
May 25th, 2011 at 21:06
Hi Ian,
Thanks for visiting. “Nothing happening” is in fact normal behaviour! Your connection won’t come into play unless you use compatible mapping software (such as Garmin’s MapSource, discussed in the article), or the Garmin Communicator Plugin, which connects your device with popular websites and tools such as GoogleMaps. These software items should enable the transfer capability you’re looking for!
May 26th, 2011 at 18:18
Thanks for the quick reply Mike! Upon further investigation I’m starting to become suspicious that my model does not support computer-to-GPS information transfer. However, I’m still not 100 % sure because why would it come equipped with the ability to connect to an interface cable? The main problem is that I didn’t buy the device myself and instead got a hold of it for my job, so I’m not sure exactly what model they had.
I guess my question is whether or not all GPS units can transfer coordinates from PC to GPS, or is it only the higher-end models that are capable of this?
May 26th, 2011 at 20:42
Hi again, Ian!
If you have an etrex H, you can certainly connect it up and transfer data to and from the computer. What’s also important is that you have the right sort of cable. So if it isn’t one of these, it’s probably no good:
Assuming the cable’s fine, then you plug it into the computer and nothing happens. That’s normal. The old type of serial connection won’t tell you that it’s plugged in and working and the computer won’t show you what’s on the device. Indeed the connection is effectively useless without a software interface. This is why you need to have something like MapSource or the Garmin Communicator Plugin (see above).
June 1st, 2011 at 21:41
I bought an 2nd hand Garmin Etrex H and an USB cable to connect it to a PC or laptop.
With EasyGps it’s very simple to upload/ download / edit data.
Nobody mentioned this free software option…
June 14th, 2011 at 0:29
Hi,
I have the same driver problem for the usb-serial convertor, also bought it from kawastore and asked for another driver. They’ve send me one, it doesn’t give any errors but I still can’t connect my etrex tot my pc.
Do you still have the prolific driver? Because the link doesn’t work anymore.
June 14th, 2011 at 9:17
Hi Siemen en hartelijk dank voor uw bezoek,
Thanks for alerting me on the problem with the link to the Prolific drivers. USGlobalSat is selling other products for which these same drivers were recommended, so the link is dead because the product was probably discontinued.
I suggest you visit their Support page and try the first of the “Top Downloads”: I think this is a new link to the same or a slightly newer file. Please let me know if it works so that I can update the page!
June 20th, 2011 at 20:09
Hello Mike, Well I figure that if anyone can help me then you are the man. I have the same situation as Ian above but I have installed Mapsource and Garmin Communicator, still nothing. When I try and find a device thru Garmin Training Center it says that there is no device installed. When I try thru the GPS, setup, interface and “rescan” it says Check wiring??
Any ideas? It appears that there is a driver missing somewhere but I do have drivers installed and when I originally plugged in the device I got a positive report once the computer had found the device.
thanks Mike
William
June 20th, 2011 at 21:27
Hi, William and thanks for your visit. I don’t tend to do anything through the device itself, so I’m not sure what to suggest for that. What I’ll say here concerns the PC-to-device way around!
I’m assuming the device itself is turned on while it is connected to the PC, because otherwise the connection won’t work. So assuming it is turned on, it could be a COM port problem if you’re using a serial connection.
Serial connection problems are notoriously difficult to troubleshoot – start by checking if there’s a conflict first using Control Panel > Device Manager > COM ports. I don’t really have any experience of serial-to-serial with the eTrex, so apart from that I’m afraid I can’t be of much service to you there!
If you’re using Serial-to-USB (the only connection I’ve ever used) the connection itself should be fine so it’s almost certainly going to be a driver problem. Installing the right drivers is essential. You could try the others discussed above in Comment #31, then you can always go back to your current ones if things don’t improve.
If all else fails, you can leave another comment here, taking care to provide as much detailed information as you can, or post a question on the very helpful GPS Forums.
Good luck!
June 20th, 2011 at 22:32
Hello Mike,
thanks for such a speedy response. I may not be quite computer literate enough to give you all the info you need to help me. I am not sure whether I even understand the difference with Serial and Com port. When I connect the usb to the laptop I get a popup saying “prolific USB to Serial comm port (com4)
So does that indicate an issue with the cable connection I have?
I will have to try and resolve this one step at a time and as long as you have patience.
thanks
William
June 21st, 2011 at 0:34
Just a few more clarification points. I am running Windows 7, I only have usb connections, the unit is on, I had reloaded the drivers from your Comment # 31. Those were the only drivers that I have tried so far.
Is there a check thru Mapsource that the unit is connected?
thanks
William
June 21st, 2011 at 2:37
Just finished checking on device manager and it shows the Prolific USB-to Serial Comm Port as working correctly. But still nothing from GPS?
Unless it is connected and I just don’t know it. How do I test it.
thanks
William
June 21st, 2011 at 9:05
Hi William,
Well the good news is that you’re running Serial-to-USB, so that should make things a bit easier!
Having the USB connection pop up in Windows is a good start, but it doesn’t yet necessarily mean that the device itself can be read and written to. To test whether the device itself is recognised, we need to try a connection with Mapsource.
In Mapsource, you can check this simply by trying a data transfer. First select Transfer > Receive from Device from the top menu. In the popup, click “Find Device” and then you’ll get a brief pause in which it seems like your whole computer freezes.
If the device connection is working, after a moment you’ll see your device come up in that dropdown list, something like eTrex (COM4). If it isn’t found, you’ll get no results there and you have a driver issue.
Note that the drivers listed above are for a reasonably modern Serial-to-USB cable containing the Prolific PL2303 chip. If you have some other sort of chip in your cable, these drivers almost certainly won’t work and you’ll need the hunt down the right ones.
June 21st, 2011 at 17:18
Hello Mike,
I tried to find the etrex with Mapsource but no luck. Also the driver i used for the USB serial adapter cable came with the cable and should be ok?? If I disconnect the etrex at the serial adapter there is no response in the device manager. But when I remove the usb serial adapter cable then device manager responds. It appears that the issue is the etrex and it’s cable. Does it need a driver as well?
thanks for the efforts so far.
William
June 21st, 2011 at 19:25
Hi, William!
Unlike many devices with USB connections, unfortunately you can’t just plug in your eTrex and get started. So yes, you definitely need a driver otherwise the computer will recognise the existence of the cable but won’t provide an interface for the device itself.
It sounds like your situation is pretty normal. When I bought my Serial-to-USB cable, the drivers that shipped with it did not work. This in itself is not unusual, since the cable is probably generic and was not designed specifically for use with GPS devices, but rather a wide range of devices with serial connections.
So I would think that the only thing you need to do now is to find the right drivers. If the ones that shipped with the cable do not help, then you’ll need to search for others online like I did. To do that, you’ll need to know what the chip is inside the cable. In my case, it was a Prolific PL2303 chip and I tried a couple of different drivers (not the latest ones), testing the device each time with Mapsource in the way we discussed above.
I’m sorry you’re still having problems. I have to admit I did feel lucky to get a result myself when first it connected. Like me you’ll just need to have infinite patience! If you can verify that it is definitely a Prolific PL2303 chip in your cable and you still haven’t found a driver that works, let me know and the best I can do for you is to email the ones that eventually worked for me. Angel commented above that they worked for him/her on Windows 7.
June 21st, 2011 at 19:54
OK done it :) The drivers were OK it was my problem. The In/out format was wrong :( Silly me it was set on “Garmin DGPS” and I never questioned that setting at all. Changed it to “garmin” and bob’s your aunt!!
So thanks Mike the initial resolutions were all from your EXCELLENT site and the last one was mine! Some really good info on your site which I will now be able to concentrate on.
thanks again
William
June 21st, 2011 at 20:27
Fantastic! This may help others too. Happy GPS-ing, William!
July 3rd, 2011 at 12:38
Hi Mike,
Just recently bought an E-trex H and have found the following to be the easiest way to make the most of the GPS.
I bought a USB cable from calnorth1945 on ebay – the driver disk supplied with the cable works fine on Vista 64.
For planning UK routes I use the excellent getamap service from Ordnance Survey at http://www.getamap.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/. (You need to register, but you don’t need to subscribe.) The first time you use the garmin link, you will be directed to download the Garmin browser plug-in, but after that you can plan and download routes direct to your device and upload tracks to your getamap account.
July 16th, 2011 at 12:21
Very many thanks for getting me up and working. I, like so many others, had reached the point of thinking that I had “bought a pup”! However, having installed the Prolific driver and Mapsource everything dropped into place. We have just walked the 110 miles of the Cleveland Way, and I would not consider entering the waymarks for this unless I could manage them from my PC. My thanks, again.
August 1st, 2011 at 20:58
Hi
I am going mad with my etrex h. It has almost been thrown out the door twice.
I am trying like many before me to connect it to my PC. I have read the posts before me and tried everything. My serial to usb is ok but it can’t find the gps device.
Before I stamp on it can anyone help, I am at the end of my tether.
The actual device is a superb gps all be it with in putting the references in manually. Hurts your fingers after 5.
August 2nd, 2011 at 9:27
Hi, Colin!
I sympathise on the subject of the buttons. It does become a bit tedious when you need to press on them a lot.
From what you’ve described – and your frustrations are understandable – I don’t have enough information to help you to diagnose the problem.
If the connection is working, then there’s the question of software. Unfortunately, having a working serial-to-USB connection doesn’t mean the eTrex H will behave like other USB devices. It’s a bit like having a car without a steering wheel: it’s basically useless unless you use an interface (browser plug-in or Mapsource, for example) between the device and your PC. That’s the only thing that will let you actually make use of your connection.
Of course, you might already have moved beyond that point. If you can provide a bit more information on your current situation and how far you’ve gotten with the eTrex H so far, then we can try to work it out.
August 2nd, 2011 at 19:20
This is great. The manual with my etrex is practically useless. I bought it because I thought is was basic. Unfortunately the instructions are less than basic. I found a lot of my answers at this web site. THANK YOU :)
August 5th, 2011 at 13:17
Just bought my first etrex h. You’re right the manuals are hard to follow, took your advice and downloaded the older version – much better!!!
Question – I have access to Memory Map mapping software, is this okay to use with my etrex h?
August 5th, 2011 at 14:21
Hi, Ken!
Thanks for your visit. I once bought a Memory Map disc but I didn’t rate the Belgium offering at all. Nevertheless it seems pretty good for users back in the UK. To answer your question, you shouldn’t have any problems with compatibility between your eTrex and Memory Map.
September 12th, 2011 at 0:38
Mike, a couple of notes in case it can help somebody else.
1. I’m using Win7 and first went to the web site stamped on my usb cable mini disk (mini disk are unusable in my laptop). I downloaded and allowed Windows to try to load. Big mistake. It failed while reporting that it wouldn’t install an unsigned driver. BTW. My cable is similar to the one you pictured above, execpt it’s usb on one end and the Garmin connection on the other.
2. I used your updated driver link which would had worked wonderfully, but unfortunately, Win7 still had reference to the old failed driver and wouldn’t allow the install. I rolled back to a previous backup checkpoint and installed. It worked.
3. I grabbed MapSource training center(v 3.6.5) and got this response “Some devices were found; however, none with the necessary capabilities.” I read the release notes and was concerned that the last MapSource version blocked my etrex h. I can’t validate that, release notes are fairly generic. I found a standalone copy of Mapsource elsewhere and installed it.
Finally everything worked.
Seriously, I wouldn’t have gotten there without your site. THANK YOU.
Sorry I was so wordy. Todd.
September 12th, 2011 at 9:29
Thanks for your message, Todd! Happy GPS trails!
October 12th, 2011 at 1:01
I am trying to connect an eTrex H to my laptop which is running XP. I also have the USB to Garmin cable from Kawamall. When I use the PL2303 (v2.0.0.18)driver supplied with the cable and try to connect with Garmin’s Training Centre I get the message:
“Some devices were found; however, none have the necessary capabilities. Please make sure your device is connected to the computer and turned on, then try again. You may also need to set the interface option on your GPS to ‘Garmin’ or ‘ Host’.” The interface option is already set to ‘Garmin’.
I have tried the PL2303 device driver available as mentioned in post #31 above. It is v2.0.13.130. This makes matters worse. It leads to the message:
“No devices were found. Please make sure….”
Could you let me know which version works for you? From other comments on the web it looks as if each version is a modification to fix a particular problem which in turn may create new problems. It may be that there is only one version out there which works with my setup!
Thanks very much for your help.
October 12th, 2011 at 9:58
Hi, Les!
I don’t have any direct experience with Training Center, but in this case I don’t think the drivers are the cause of the problem.
That error message you were getting is in fact accurate: the eTrex is not a fitness device so it won’t work with Training Center. Try MapSource instead with your original driver configuration and let me know how you get on!
October 12th, 2011 at 17:37
Hi Mike
I have changed the PL2303 driver back to the version (v2.0.0.18) that came with the cable. I have been unable to install MapSource at all having carefully followed the steps outlined above. I get the error message “Previous MapSource not found! Setup will terminate.”
I have loaded the Garmin Communicator Plugin into Internet Explorer and get the helpful message: “Garmin GPS device is detected and communicating properly: eTrex H (COM4)”
I went into Google Earth and within Tools selected GPS then Import with Waypoints, Tracks and Routes ticked. Only the 50 Waypoints that I have set up manually (which took for ever) came across but this is a huge set forward! When I have tried to re-import (to capture the Tracks and Routes) I eventually I get an error message saying the GPS device is not connected.
I have a MemoryMap running under Vista on the home PC so I will move on to that next. All very tiresome but I am making some progress. Any other advice would be very welcome. I still worry that the device driver is suspect.
Thanks again for all your help.
October 13th, 2011 at 10:30
Hi Mike
Problems solved thanks.
Have installed PL2303 driver from CD on to home PC. No problems at all even though PC running Vista. Connection to MemoryMap worked well once I had selected the correct COM port. With the wrong COM port very strange things happen to the on screen pointer!
Downloading of all saved tracks took 7 minutes. My Yorkshire Three Peaks walk of 25 miles has over 3000 points. I have been able to export from MemoryMap to a .gpx file and I can now upload this to Sports Tracker. There must be a utility out there to export from an eTrexH to a .gpx file. It cannot be that difficult to code.
October 13th, 2011 at 10:49
Hi Les,
Good news indeed!
I download tracks to GPX using MapSource, with which I understand you had problems (you could still try an alternative method of getting MapSource to work).
If you don’t fancy that, people have said great things about the excellent EasyGPS, whose limited free version will suffice for most common routines.
There’s also Gartrip (commercial) though I don’t know much about that and I rather think EasyGPS has long since surpassed it. Meanwhile for Linux users, there’s QLandkarte.
October 31st, 2011 at 17:54
hi I’m running windows 7 and have a e trek h which I’ve got a serial connector and a serial to usb connector. I’ve tried in vain (as well as the IT guy who works for me) to connect the GPS to the memory map of the National Parks. Can anyone out there please help me. I’ve spoken to Garmin who say the further from windows XP the less chance you have of success!! Does this mean I’m never to connect said device to memory map so I can have it working as I planned? Surely someone else must have had this problem and been lucky enough to solve it. I also have the problem of the COM port number changing everytime I hook it up. Please help!!!!
November 12th, 2011 at 22:32
Hi Mike…please give me a hand. This is about uploading GPS data into my computer. My gps unit is etrex Vista HCx. My operating system is Windows 7.
MapSource finds the removable disk (microSD card) in my unit but does not find my GPS unit – Unit internal memory can not be accessed. How can i get my GPS internal memory accessed or seen by MapSource? This seem to be very important based on questions and answers from http://www.gpsfaqs.org/faqs/garmin/xseries/gvistahcx/waypoints.html#howtocomputer
It reads:
Q. Are my waypoints stored on removable memory?
A. Waypoints are stored in internal memory.
I am also interested in uploading GPS data directly as shapefile using DNRGarmin, but DNRGarmin indicates there is no connection.
I have the following as related installations Garmin USB Drivers, Garmin WebUpdater, Garmin Communicator Plugin, Garmin BaseCamp, Garmin Trip and Waypoint Manager v5, Garmin Training Center. Not sure if I need all those.
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Lawrence.
November 13th, 2011 at 16:30
Hi Lawrence,
Unfortunately I have personal experience with neither the Vista HCx nor Windows 7. Any type of software that you have would of course be dependent on your (valid) connection between computer and device. It does sound like that connection is not working as it should. I’ve heard that the eTrex Vista is pretty reliable in this regard, whereas Windows 7 compatibility could be the source of your problem. As for the memory card: have you accessed the card separately via a card reader to find out what’s actually on there?
Sorry I can’t be of more help on this. As I said above, I’m not an eTrex Vista user, so I can’t really suggest anything else. Good luck!
January 17th, 2012 at 13:44
Hi Mike,
Have you heard of any successes of people using a prolific USB to serial cable, and performing a firmware update of the etrex using the garmin firmware update program?
For a friend with an etrex I used a prolific usb to serial cable with my Win7x64 laptop.
I was able to download waypoints from the etrex into mapsource, however the garmin firmware update program was not successful using the same COM port (yes, I did close mapsource prior to attempting the firmware update)
Regards,
Mark
January 17th, 2012 at 13:58
Hi Mark and thanks for dropping by! I haven’t tried to update my own device firmware that way. Perhaps this Groundspeak Forums thread entitled Trying to update firmware green eTrex Venture may be of some use. If it is, would you let me know?
January 29th, 2012 at 0:31
Hi
I have followed your advice about connecting up my etrex to my netbook and when I look in device manager the prolific USB t serial com port has a exclamation mark on yellow background.
What does that mean?
I’ve downloaded the most up to date drivers recommended and installed them.
Garmin are no help.
Thanks
Roz
January 29th, 2012 at 8:39
(I did try last night, but message did not appear)
I got a garmin etrex h for Christmas and not long after, I purchased the cable and adapter to connect to my netbook.
I followed all the instructions on you site about downloading and installing drivers and so on.
But nothing. In device manager, the prolific adapter is showing up in ports, but with an asterix in over the thing on the left.
I use windows xp
January 29th, 2012 at 14:07
Hi, Roz!
It’s probable that the drivers you’re running are not the right ones.
This is what my present configuration looks like in Device Manager.
What driver version do you currently have and where did you find them? Also don’t forget that the eTrex H doesn’t work like a USB drive: you can’t just access it from Windows – you need compatible software to transfer to and from it.
January 29th, 2012 at 20:52
Hi again, thanks for the reply.
The driver appears, but it is an older version to yours, how do i update it???
February 1st, 2012 at 22:41
I got up-to-date drivers from prolific at the site below. They are also available from the hi-tech-geek. (address also below)
http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31
http://hi-tech-geek.com/download.htm