namiboy

yes it will do the trick.

you don't 'need' to purchase any maps for geocaching. you can use it right out of the box. people add maps for varying reasons though.

I based my statement on my experience with the Garmin eTrex Venture HC. When I was researching GPS units on Amazon.com, a reviewer said they were able to get satellite reception in the basement of their two story home. I live in a single story ranch and I don't get that kind of reception. After the unit has been on for a few minutes inside my home, I either get a message "Poor Satellite Reception" or Satellite Reception lost". The Venture HC gets a lot better reception then the old Legend and it isn't affected by trees and power lines like the Legend, but I still experience instances of poor reception such as in the case of the picnic pavilion. Even now with winter in PA and with most trees without leaves, I have gone into wooded areas and watched as the direction for the cache bounces all over the place as was the case in the pavilion. What I thought would be an interesting experiment is to find a fellow cacher who has a more expensive GPSr and see how the two units respond looking for the same cache under the exact same conditions. just for the heck of it i turned on my vista hcx in my kitchen (no basements here in sofla) which has all tile walls and 1 small window, and my location says +/- 17 feet. i believe this has the same chip as the venture hc.

yeah, that reminds me of when i'm out with my wife and she might say "that lady is carrying a fake coach bag" or "that lady is carrying a fake gucci bag". and i'm like what is the point in carrying a fake bag, or logging fake finds? you know it's a fake bag, anyone who has a real one knows it's a fake bag, so what have you gained? "hey, i feel good about myself i'm logging a fake find".

i tried to change something on my profile and it kept telling me my name had to between 1 and 32 characters, which it is. i didn't even change my name. something is wrong.

thanks. i guess if i had actually gone geocaching in the month since i got this i would have seen that.

when i have geocaches loaded into my garmin vista hcx it is a closed treasure chest. how do i mark it as found? do i have to do something, does it automatically open the treasure chest when i get to ground zero or what? thanks for any help.

no, it doesn't.

welcome. as you can tell this is a fun hobby that you can do pretty much whenever you want. this message board has tons of info as well, one of the nicest ones i've ever joined.

i salute you. i live in south florida and everyone says "whaddya mean mountain biking? there's no mountains in florida"...i go with my 10 year old daughter to markham park, croom trail, alafia etc. anyway, you can get pretty much the best gps if your budget is 5 hunnert. ya gotta look at the pn-40 and 60csx. i dont think there is better for 5. maybe the garmin colorada or oregon.

as usual lots of good advice already, but i just wanted to reiterate that if you have a week or two, just keep checking amazon and walmart websites, i got the vista hcx for 181 delivered. they slap stuff on sale for sometimes hours at a time. i just checked every couple hours for 2 weeks. of course i didn't just sit in front of my computer but you get my drift.

i just went on there and searched montreal, quebec, and toronto and it worked.

i go to my 'mygarmin' account and click on the geocaching link and search up geocaches by zipcode then pick the ones i want and send to gps. it's free and easy. by perusing the threads in here i get the impression that not many people do it this way, but i don't know why. i would get a premium membership but i just don't geocache that much.

if it's mainly for geocaching you won't need any mapping program. i use a vista hcx and i really like it. i checked amazon and walmart websites a couple of times a day for a few weeks and snagged it for 165 from target via amazon.

how did things work out?

no preinstalled basemap? https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145...8703#versionTab

i was wondering the same thing.

the gpsr will work anywhere, as stated above. i know garmin doesn't have maps for japan, but there are some 3rd party maps you can find in the 'asia' section of these forums. they don't autoroute.

i only have experience with garmin units, but most people put it to the compass screen, let the arrow point the way, there should be something on there telling you how close you are to ground zero (the geocache) then when you get close start looking for a place YOU would hide somethng. remember, your gpsr could be off some, the person who placed the geochache's gpsr could be off some, so don't expect yours to get you standing right on top of it. as the saying goes "use your geo-sense".

I don't understand why you insist that the Summit HC isn't caching friendly. Just because it won't do paperless caching without additional support doesn't make it bad for caching. It still takes direct downloads from GSAK, allows the caches to marked as found and placed in the found directory. It's accurate and quick to get a satellite lock, and can be had for less than half the price of a PN-40. No it won't do street routing and mapping like one with an expandable memory, and it can only hold specific and limited map sets, but it's sufficient for most caching needs. If you don't need the additional features, why pay for them? I already have a Nuvi that gives the paperless support that I need to view the cache descriptions, hints, and logs while I'm on the go. BTW, a new 60CSx at Amazon is $297 and used are $281, and the 60Cx is $249. The Legend HCx isn't bad at $164, but I wanted the electronic compass that comes on the Summit. In the end it all comes down to what you need and what you can afford. i was wondering the same thing. cant you geocache with any gpsr?

to each their own...that is why.

Thanks! I never would have thought to check Wal-Mart.com and this seems like a good fit for me based on all of the reviews. I'm picking it up now let us know how everything goes.

scintillating thread.

you should be able to get memory cards for less than 24.99, shop around. the HCX should have a built in compass, hence the C in the middle. the H in HCX means it has the high-sensitivity chip, better accuracy under tree cover and such. HCX means 'High sensitivity receiver, electronic Compass, eXpandable memory. i have an old legend and just bought a vista hcx, i drove around with them both laying flat on my dashboard and they both had about the same accuracy, but then i put them on the front seat and the hcx accuracy was way better. by the way, any of the gpsr's mentioned will be fine for geocaching straight out of the box, it's just thinking about what else you may want to do with it in the future that could make you buy a more expensive one. i'm 99.9999% sure this info is correct.

hey folks. like the subject says, what is this garmin poi loader i see people posting about? is it in mapsource, or is it a separate download? would i then have 3 icons on my desktop-web updater, mapsource, and poi loader? i've just upgraded from a blue legend so i have to learn all this stuff. i can load geocaches from garmin so is the poi loader different? as always, any help is appreciated.