Garmin 64st dropping all caches

[Dslater529]

A fellow cacher and I both use the 64st to cache with. She has had this happen several times and I have had this happen once. We will get out in the field and all will be going fine when al, of a sudden the GPS will say, no caches to display. You must download caches ..... We both have downloaded the caches from GSAK and have no idea what is going on, but when you are hours away from home, you are in deep as far as caching is going. Anybody have any idea what is going on? Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

There have been reports similar to yours for 5 years or more although they seem to have slowed down over that time, it appears to be a problem indexing the geocache files where the 64st 'forgets' what files it knows about, It seems more common when new files are added which loses existing pre-loaded files from the index.

Garmin claim the problem is caused by using GSAK rather than Basecamp for downloading or by not ejecting the GPS before unplugging from the computer, re-indexing can be forced by removing the microSD card holding the geocaches powering up with no microSD and then reinserting the microSD or performing a factory reset on the 64st, NOTE, before doing this you must backup all waypoints, tracks, routes geocaches etc. as they will all be deleted. Another reported fix is to copy pre-installed GGZ files and any downloaded GPX files to a computer and then delete them from the 64st, power up the 64st without these files then re-install both GGZs and GPXs, this forces re-indexing during power-up

 

[Dslater529]

Thank you!

 

[Liviticus]

There have been reports similar to yours for 5 years or more although they seem to have slowed down over that time, it appears to be a problem indexing the geocache files where the 64st 'forgets' what files it knows about, It seems more common when new files are added which loses existing pre-loaded files from the index.

Garmin claim the problem is caused by using GSAK rather than Basecamp for downloading or by not ejecting the GPS before unplugging from the computer, re-indexing can be forced by removing the microSD card holding the geocaches powering up with no microSD and then reinserting the microSD or performing a factory reset on the 64st, NOTE, before doing this you must backup all waypoints, tracks, routes geocaches etc. as they will all be deleted. Another reported fix is to copy pre-installed GGZ files and any downloaded GPX files to a computer and then delete them from the 64st, power up the 64st without these files then re-install both GGZs and GPXs, this forces re-indexing during power-up

I have the same problem with a garmin gpsmap 66st. It will power down just on its own for no obvious reason. When I turn it back on none of the caches I had saved will show on the map or through the "find geocache" feature. The files are still in the gpx folder but apparently undetected. The only way I can move forward is to usb the garmin to my laptop, empty the gpx folder of all .gpx files and reboot the unit. Then I hook it up to my laptop via usb once more and drag them back in again from a backup folder on my laptop. Once I unplug and reboot they are all there. Occasionally I will have the same problem just by trying to charge the battery pack through usb. It charges fine but when I unplug it from the laptop the and power up gpx the files are once again undetected. I should mention that I do not use basecamp or garmin connect. I download the gpx files onto my laptop and then drop them into the garmin via usb.

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

As already mentioned above if you don't use the pre-installed geocaches supplied with the 66st, the geocaching indexer is much more likely to work with them removed or re-named, see the link Click HERE