Garmin Asus A50 - Software
Posted: 12 November 10 2:41 pm
About time for a post from the Parrot as I have had one of these for 2 days.
Haven't found a cache with it yet but Iam having great fun playing with it.
Used it as a GPS to get to work on first day. Works exactly the same as my Nuvi. Traffic report in Adelaide wasnt much use as it was only showing eastern states (but I wasnt using on a route). However love that park feature which was created when I pulled the unit from the cradle.
Cars, voice, maps the same as Nuvi. I registered it at Garmin and did a free map update.
When I first plugged it into a PC at work I had trouble locating a serial driver. Plugged it in at home and it found the driver no problem. However I had contacted both Garmin and Asus by then to ask about a driver. If you try searching for this product you will find very limited info on Garmin and ASUS sites. The http://www.garminasus.com site dosent even list it and searching A50 on Garmins FAQ gives only one response for an A50. However registering it on MyGarmin gives you access to 120 page user manual.
https://buy.garmin.com/support/manuals/ ... 0-00846-30
Garminasus came to the rescue with a link for a package that has the driver and the Synch software. (There is no Synch disk in the boxed package and really no mention where to get it even though the first option on the phone when you connect to USB is Synch). Use this link to get the package -
https://www.garminasus.com/en_AU/support/pcsync/
Phone is recognised as USB storage device. It has the usual garmin folders including POI.
I used the macro GarminCsvPoiExport.gsk in GSAK http://gsak.net/board/index.php?s=0ff06 ... entry84484
and POILoader http://www8.garmin.com/support/download ... jsp?id=927
to create a POI file and loaded it onto the phone. Waypoints are displayed under the extra button located in Where To?
( I turned off hint because it didnt display properly)
For Paperless caching I have place a 2 g microsd card in the unit and created a folder called Download. I then copied my Pocket Queries to this folder. Then I downloaded GeoBeagle from Android Market. (Info http://www.cacheopedia.com/wiki/GeoBeagle)
(I did the App download from Market on the phone by going into Wireless Manager and creating a wifi link to my home network.)
Once the app has downloaded and been instlled you can then do a synch from within the GeoBeagle program to load the Pocket Queries into the application.
GeoBeagle will also query Geocahing.com with you current location (the same process as manually going to Geoaching.com and doing a WGS84 Datum request in Hide and seek a cache) to display caches near you. Unfortunately the map option dosent use the internal maps and loads a google map.
However given the program is open source and free Iam quite happy with it at the moment.
There was an official Groundspeak App but Google wanted my card details and I wasnt sure about that. Having used the Groundspeak App on an Iphone I am happy to use the Beagle for the time being.
A GPS that has a camera and a phone as added features and costs under $200
Haven't found a cache with it yet but Iam having great fun playing with it.
Used it as a GPS to get to work on first day. Works exactly the same as my Nuvi. Traffic report in Adelaide wasnt much use as it was only showing eastern states (but I wasnt using on a route). However love that park feature which was created when I pulled the unit from the cradle.
Cars, voice, maps the same as Nuvi. I registered it at Garmin and did a free map update.
When I first plugged it into a PC at work I had trouble locating a serial driver. Plugged it in at home and it found the driver no problem. However I had contacted both Garmin and Asus by then to ask about a driver. If you try searching for this product you will find very limited info on Garmin and ASUS sites. The http://www.garminasus.com site dosent even list it and searching A50 on Garmins FAQ gives only one response for an A50. However registering it on MyGarmin gives you access to 120 page user manual.
https://buy.garmin.com/support/manuals/ ... 0-00846-30
Garminasus came to the rescue with a link for a package that has the driver and the Synch software. (There is no Synch disk in the boxed package and really no mention where to get it even though the first option on the phone when you connect to USB is Synch). Use this link to get the package -
https://www.garminasus.com/en_AU/support/pcsync/
Phone is recognised as USB storage device. It has the usual garmin folders including POI.
I used the macro GarminCsvPoiExport.gsk in GSAK http://gsak.net/board/index.php?s=0ff06 ... entry84484
and POILoader http://www8.garmin.com/support/download ... jsp?id=927
to create a POI file and loaded it onto the phone. Waypoints are displayed under the extra button located in Where To?
( I turned off hint because it didnt display properly)
For Paperless caching I have place a 2 g microsd card in the unit and created a folder called Download. I then copied my Pocket Queries to this folder. Then I downloaded GeoBeagle from Android Market. (Info http://www.cacheopedia.com/wiki/GeoBeagle)
(I did the App download from Market on the phone by going into Wireless Manager and creating a wifi link to my home network.)
Once the app has downloaded and been instlled you can then do a synch from within the GeoBeagle program to load the Pocket Queries into the application.
GeoBeagle will also query Geocahing.com with you current location (the same process as manually going to Geoaching.com and doing a WGS84 Datum request in Hide and seek a cache) to display caches near you. Unfortunately the map option dosent use the internal maps and loads a google map.
However given the program is open source and free Iam quite happy with it at the moment.
There was an official Groundspeak App but Google wanted my card details and I wasnt sure about that. Having used the Groundspeak App on an Iphone I am happy to use the Beagle for the time being.
A GPS that has a camera and a phone as added features and costs under $200