Puffin2525

Go to Google Earth, look up your home location, enter the coordinates in your GPS, look at where on the map your home coordinates are. If they are off by 1 Km also you are using a wrong format or not using WGS84. My home location shows fine in all three formats...

The cache icon is not where I think it must be. So, on the geocache website it shows at the parking lot. But when I enter the coord's (while at home), it shows about 1km into the bush, away from the parking lot... I think the coord's for my home location are pretty correct, it takes a few seconds to a minute for it to place my home on the map, even when im inside the house.

Look at your settings it should be DD MM.mmm (also, set datum to WGS84) For easy navigation you should only see 3 numbers after the dot and no conversion is needed. Thanks. It is set to WGS84. I have toyed around with it, and tried several different settings but nothing shows as accurate (location is different than what is shown on geocaching.com). I currently have it set on xx xx.xxx which is degree/minutes if I set it on degree/minutes/seconds it shows up as xx xx'xx.x I'm assuming when you say "DD MM.mmm" you're referring to the degree/minutes (first above) setting? Somehow that doesn't show accurate position either. Yes, sounds like you have it set to the same format geocaching.com uses. Just be aware that our consumer GPSRs (your Magellan is one) aren't as accurate as military or the more commercial grade units. The cache owner that placed the cache normally tries to get the best coordinates they can but even so, they can be off several feet/meters from what the next finder's GPSR shows. It's not unheard of to have a 30 or 40 foot discrepancy between where the listed coordinates take a person and where the cache actually is. Thanks. I understand but it seems to be a lot more than just a few feet. It shows as about 1km away! Basically, the cache is supposed to be in the parking lot, and it shows somewhere deep in the bush lol. don't know what to do.. maybe just get out there and see where it leads me?

Look at your settings it should be DD MM.mmm (also, set datum to WGS84) For easy navigation you should only see 3 numbers after the dot and no conversion is needed. Thanks. It is set to WGS84. I have toyed around with it, and tried several different settings but nothing shows as accurate (location is different than what is shown on geocaching.com). I currently have it set on xx xx.xxx which is degree/minutes if I set it on degree/minutes/seconds it shows up as xx xx'xx.x I'm assuming when you say "DD MM.mmm" you're referring to the degree/minutes (first above) setting? Somehow that doesn't show accurate position either.

Hello all, I recently purchased a GPS and for some reason it only lets me enter 5 numbers after the dot, instead of 6 as listed on the geocaching website (after having done the conversion). Why is that? And wouldn't that make the position inaccurate? I think I pressed all the buttons I could and still can't change it. I have magellan explorist 310. UPDATE: OK, I can see in the settings I can change the coordinate system, coordinate type, map datum, etc. Is there anything that I should be changing? I am in Canada. thanks!

Something else worth considering is that Groundspeak is working on replacing the "Send to GPS" plugin implementation that currently does not work with most browsers. That work has required some collaboration with Garmin, but Magellan apparently was not interested in collaborating so the new plugin will only work with Garmin GPS devices. Most Garmin GPS receivers can all use the free routable OSM maps which cover just about every place in the world. That's really good to know, that you!

Thanks! I ended up purchasing a second hand magellan 310 just b/c the seller was close to where I live and I could ensure it wasn't a scam. I am pretty happy with it for now. It's a good device to start, but certainly there are things I wish were a little different. And yes, you are right about their customer support, the agent had no idea what he was talking, and when I said to him that he doesn't seem to know the answer, he said "sorry about that." Lol, and that was that. I had to call again to get another agent. I wanted to ask about the maps you mentioned, are they safe to download? (just wondering in case I ever get a garmin).

I also see someone is selling magallen explorist 500. I couldn't find any reviews on it, so wasn't sure if it's any good or not..

HEllo everyone, I am looking to start geocaching with my 10 year old. I wanted to initially get the cheapest GPS (Garmin eTrex 10) but decided to get a better one (based on the advice of one of the members here). I will be buying second hand, which is why the choices are so limited. My choices are magellan 310 versus garmin etrex 20. Any opinions on this? thanks in advance. Anna

Lol, did you jump the fence??

And Kunarion, thank you for digging into all the other posts, that sounds like a lot of work, thanks for all your help! And thanks to everyone else as well, I really appreciate the support.

My model is Magellan RM5322-LM GPS Navigator. When I enter the coordinates, it doesn't give me an address. It just shows the way, so I thought it would be ok, but I guess not. Was pretty disappointing for my son and his friend yesterday b/c they already prepared items to trade lol. I can buy a hand held GPS at some point if I need to, but I sort of wanted to give this whole thing a try with the one I have now.. If I get the yellow basic Garmin GPS, would I be able to just enter the coord's off the geocaching.com website? "watching the numbers match until you found the cache"? lol, you're funny!

Yes, my GPS understands pedestrian mode. I arrived at the location by car, and then switched to pedestrian after entering the coordinates. However, it said that the destination is "too far to walk to" even though the cache was supposed to be just a few meters away. And again, with the first coordinate it didn't allow me to enter the entire number (I could enter everything except the last digit). I"m not quite sure what the issue is. And Kunarion, the reason why I said it is the first set of digits on the link you sent me was the one that fit best, is b/c the other two required a spacing in between number which my GPS does not allow. Perhaps I should just enter the number without any space?

THank you, I opened the link and will read in a bit!

Worth a read: Coordinates and Map Datums http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk/resources/gps.html#coords

Thank you everyone! I tried entering the numbers in a variety of ways, with the last 3 digits going first, the dot, then the 1st 3 digits, then the degrees. And a bunch more variations... but nothing works. It still limits the entry. I then realized that the format it used for other locations is DD.MMmmmm(and the degree sign at the very end). I was able to enter the full coordinate using this format, but then the GPS location shows was completely off! (Compared to the above strategy, where even though the coordinates were limited, the location was approximately correct). Kunarion, I just tried the link you sent and the first set of numbers seems to show the location, however, I wouldn't know how precisely it shows until I actually go there and check it for myself. I guess I'll have to play around with this a bit. Viajeron, nope, no smartphone, just an old Nokia:)

I am new to Geochaching and am using a Magellan car GPS. I tried sending coordinates by clicking "send to GPS" and nothing happens. I then tried entering manually but the GPS only lets me enter the first few numbers, after which the choice becomes limited and I cannot enter the numbers that I need to enter. What is the problem here? Is that b/c I am using a car GPS as opposed to a handheld one? Would a hand held GPS have more coordinates options?