smithdk

I will comment on the Legend H and Venture HC since I have used both of those. These units do not have an electronic compass. I own the Vista HCx which does have an electronic compass. I really don't use the compass on my unit at all. I feel that having the electronic compass is not really a big advantage. I would recommend the Venture HC over the Legend H. The Legend has a black & white screen that is pretty slow. You should be able to find better prices. I got the Venture HC before Christmas for less than 100.00

You can get the additional information loaded to the unit by a GSAK macro and loading the caches as Points of Interests (POIs)

Some Etrex units can load the additional information by the use of POIs. Which Etrex do you own?

Are you referring to the Etrex Venture HC? That is a pretty good starter unit. The data card you are referring to is how much maps you can load to the unit. It will not have any impact on the number of waypoints that can be loaded.The Venture HC is limited to 24 megs of memory for maps.

Changing the centerpoint in GSAK will have not have any impact since the 50 mile limit is just a feature of the etrex units. On your GPS unit, is the icon set to the closed treasure chest under your Geocache setup? There is also a setting in GSAK that can affect your icons. Click on GPS and then 'send waypoints'

With that Premium Membership, I'd be using Pocket Queries -- but that's another thread. You really DO want to look into that. Probably the #1 reason for paying the subscription. First - is there any chance that you already have 500 caches on your Summit? That's the limit. Second - are those caches far from your current position? If so, that could be why they don't appear for you. You'd need to search by Name, not by GC Code, if you want caches to show up that are distant. I just started having problems transferring to my Vista HCx today. Yesterday evening everything was working fine. Wonder if it's a software update bug? No Caches on the machine at all, just cleared all off. Never had 500 anyway. When I look up GC....... cache pages a button says "Send to my GPS", never failed to work before!! Where do I find Pocket Queries? http://www.geocaching.com/pocket/default.aspx

You need to find the waypoint that you created. To do this, hold down the button on the lower left hand side of the unit. This is the shortcut to the find menu. Select waypoints and the list will come up. Select the waypoint that you created for the cache and it will show the coordinates.

I think that is the default on the GPS, right? Here is what wap.geocaching.com asks for: I tried using hddd.ddddd° and hddd°mm.mmm' and hddd°mm'ss.s" and none of them work with the site You could to use hddd.ddddd. What sort of problems are you having with that format? The unit itself will not display the negative sign but should work fine. The site will also take the hdd mm.mmm which is the default for geocaching.com. I tried both formats on the site and it worked fine. You have to enter a negative sign if it is part of the coordinates.

I think that is the default on the GPS, right? Here is what wap.geocaching.com asks for: I tried using hddd.ddddd° and hddd°mm.mmm' and hddd°mm'ss.s" and none of them work with the site You want to use hddd.ddddd. What sort of problems are you having with that format? The unit itself will not display the negative sign but should work fine.

You can use GSAK and a GSAK macro to do this. Here is the link to the macro: http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry81818

It sounds like the "send to gps" worked. Check your waypoints again and this time sort by name since the sort by distance is limited to 50 miles from your current location.

The Nuvi 255W is a car GPS and not suited to be used outside the car. It is not waterproof or rugged so it would not take much to damage it. I have this GPS receiver and I use it to get driving directions to the cache. There is a GSAK macro that will load any parking coordinates on the cache page to the unit. It is best to get a handheld GPS receiver to actually get to the cache. The Venture HC is an inexpensive GPS receiver.

Make sure you have the USB drivers loaded: http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=591

Most GPS units have a separate setting for the datum and format. Is your only option UTM-WGS84 regarding WGS84? The cache pages do list the coordinates in UTM format also.

Go to a nearby cache page in your area and go to the very first log which says "published". This is the reviewer for your area. You can then click on their name and contact them through their profile.

A quick way is to stand in a place outdoors and "mark" your current location and place a marker or something you can identify in the location. Your marked location is now a waypoint in your GPS'r. Now walk about 100 feet in any direction away from the marked location. On your GPS'r select the waypoint that you marked and let you GPS'r lead you to that location. If you are really really lucky your GPS'r will take you directly to the location. If your GPS'r indicates that your are at your marked location but you are really 10 or more feet from the actual location, your accuracy in not so good. Accuracy <=10 feet is normal. I actually have another question and this is the only way I can figure out to ask it...lol When hiding a cache, do you make the coordinates right where you place it? Im asking because we used the coordinates where we parked our car, then used clues to get you to the find. Please advise. Thanks, Ed and Cindy Use the coordinates where you hid the cache.

I am just trying to download waypoints via the pocket queries along with the information that come along with them. Such as... the description and clues. The 60CSx is not a paperless unit. However, you can upload the caches as POIs which allows uploading of most of the cache page. There is a GSAK macro that can do this which can be found here: http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry81818 I also find it irritating that I have to download a map section and plan ahead. Like I said, the iPhone app is great. You have everything at your fingertips... as long as AT&T is still with me (in regards to service) Also I have these waypoints for a city in Michigan, and Waypoints for where I live, and waypoints for where my inlaws live... I ran out of space and wanted to delete just the Michigan waypoints. The best I figured is to delete all waypoints and start over. You can use GSAK to sort and filter all of your caches. www.gsak.net AND WHY DO I HAVE TO BUY SO MANY MAPS for so much money? They almost force everyone to use a bit torrent. You can download many free maps for the 60 CSx here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/

Make sure you have the USB drivers loaded: http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=591

This explains how to get Mapsource: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/31/d...-without-media/ You can also use GSAK which is much more powerful: http://www.gsak.net/

That is about the way I would do it. Normally I do the averaging once unless I get a better lock later. Once I get the waypoint, I will approach it from different directions to see how close it brings me to it. If it is off then I will adjust the waypoint accordingly. I try to also check on a different day to get a different satellite configuration.

When you run the macro you will have the option to put a check in the box next to the short description, long description, and past logs.

The macro has the ability to load multiple POIs per cache listing which allows you to view most of the cache page. This is the reason why you might see more POIs than caches.

I taught a GPS class yesterday and decided to try this with the people attending the class. I hid the nail in the ground the previous day with my Vista HcX. It was an open grassy area with wooded hills on either side about 100-150 feet away. The students were instructed to go to the waypoint and put in a flag at GZ. Each of them used an Etrex Legend H. I used a tape measure to determine the distance of the flags from the nail. 2 flags were less than 4 feet from the nail. 1 flag was a little over 6 feet from the nail and a group of 4 flags were about 8 feet from the nail.

You can use the manual for the Vista C which is pretty detailed. Yours will not have the electronic compass or barometric altimeter. http://www.garmin.com/manuals/eTrexVistaC_OwnersManual.pdf

Here are the steps to load the cache info as POIs: Ensure you download and install the 60 CsX macro to GSAK Upload the pocket query to GSAK and then double click the "not found" caches so that it only shows those caches Run the macro. Look at the advanced options so that you know the location of where it saves the file to. The macro has many options so you will have to experiment to see what you like best. Ensure your unit is connected to the computer. Run the Garmin POI loader and navigate to the location of the file created by the macro (previous step). POIs should have been sent to the unit.