Rocketsteve

Do you think this is why my Magellan will sometimes, for no logical reason, all of a sudden put me off my spot by over 200 feet? I can be following it and instantly I will travel hundreds of feet with clear skies and no obstructions. Absolutely! I still have a Magellan 315 GPS, and occasionally, it will shoot off in another direction for no apparent reason, which is the random error kicking in. In most cases, an older GPSr will be sufficient to get you close to the cache, but when it starts acting goofy, you can wait it out (just a couple of hours) or call it a day. I now have a Garmin Venture HC and without a doubt, a WAAS-enabled GPSr is a nice thing to have, but if you're willing to work a little harder to find the cache, the older GPSr will still get you pretty close.

Here in central Florida, we have to deal with city and county bureaucrats to acquire permission to place caches in places like public parks, but because of the budget shortfalls that local governments are having to cope with, approving the placement of caches is extremely low on their list of things to do. A fellow geocacher has been trying to get a three-stage multi-cache approved by the county for the last six months, and after three emails and one phone message, there has not been a single response, but she has continued to email the Volunteer Reviewer to let her know that the delay is with the county. As long as she stays in contact with the reviewer, the reviewer said she would "lock in" each stage of the cache as though the cache had already been approved, thereby keeping anyone else from placing another cache close by. If you should encounter a problem with an approval, email the reviewer and they should be more than willing to give you the time you need. Good luck.

DOD (Dept. of Defense) software inputs a random error into the "civilian" positioning signal sent out by all GPS satellites, but WAAS-enabled (Wide Area Augmentation System) GPSr will remove all but 9 feet of the DOD random error, under unobstructed skies. If your Venture HC doesn't have the WAAS enabled, that, in combination with the obstruction of the nearby trees, could have given you the pretty high error that you were reading on the screen. From the "Setup Menu" page, click on "System". The 2nd item is labelled "WAAS/EGNOS" and it should be enabled, but if it's not, click the down arrow, highlight it and click on it. As far as I know, there is no way to manually calibrate your GPSr, but if WAAS is enabled and the problem continues to exist, you might want to contact Garmin for help. From my own experience, most days, my Venture HC works just fine, but on occassion, it will act just like yours has. I'll go back to the same spot a day or two later and the signal locks on tight, and I go right to where I want to go. I suspect it has something to do with the emitted GPS satellite signals, but I can't say for sure. If I were you, I'd go back to the same spot and see if you have the same problem again. Hope this helps.

With the software that he linked to, will he be able to create multiple map sets that he can save to his PC and upload to his GPSr when he wants?

I'm not sure what you can do with the software that you linked to, but with MapSource, I can create a mapset and save it as a MapSource File with it's own, unique name. If I add or delete mapsets, when I'm done, I can save that with another unique name. Now I have two different mapsets that share as many or as few maps as I want. If I want a specific set, I open the file, plug in my GPSr, click "Send to Device", and it's done in a matter of 1 minute. It's like socks; you have a lot of them and you choose which color you want to wear based on your outfit.

Try this. Thanks for the link, I just actually found a Northeast version on the site that I think I'm going to use. If I ever want to take the map or any add-ons off is it difficult? Also will this take up alot of memory on my GPS? When I download a new set of maps to my Venture HC using the MapSource software, prior to the new map sets loading, my GPSr deletes the existing map sets in order to make room for the new download. I'm not sure if the deletion is a function of the MapSource software or the firmware on the GPSr, so you might want to check with a couple more folks for a little more insight before you try downloading. Also, Your GPSr has a fixed memory capacity of "supposedly" 24 MB, but in reality, it's more like 22 MB. When I try to load more than that, my GPSr flashes a message saying the "download excedes the available memory capacity" or something along those lines. Now, 22 MB still allows me to have maps of most of west central Florida, all around the Tallahassee, Florida area for about 75 miles, all of the southern half of Louisiana, all of Las Vegas, Nevada, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and about 10 sq. miles of hunting lease in upstate New York. No too bad, if I do say so myself.

One of the most important features for geocaching is to make sure your GPSr is WAAS-enabled. The way you do that is to go to the "Main Menu", scroll to "Setup" and click. When you scroll to "System" and click, the "System Setup" page will appear and the second item will be "WAAS/EGNOS". Just below is a window and you need to make sure it says "Enabled" in the window. With WAAS enabled and a pretty clear view of the sky, my Venture HC will routinely get an accuracy reading down to 9 feet. The more overhead cover you have, the larger your accuracy reading will become, but overall, WAAS will get you a lot closer to the cache than a GPSr that is not WAAS-enabled.

When you bought your GPSr, did it come with a MapSource CD? If it did, you can load the mapping software to your laptop or home PC, connect your GPSr using the USB cable, highlight the maps on the MapSource Mapping program that you want to download to your GPSr, and click the button that says "Send To Device". There are 2 ways to manually enter a location: 1st - From the map page, if you're standing at the location that you wish to save, click the mouse button and the GPSr will ask if you want to create a waypoint. If you want to save some other location, using the mouse button, move the arrow to the desired location and click the button. Again, your GPSr will ask you if you want to create a waypoint. Both of these actions will bring you to the "Mark Waypoint" page, which I will explain in more detail in a moment. 2nd - From the Main Menu, using the mouse button, scroll over to "Mark" and click. This will bring you to the "Mark Waypoint" page where you can enter in the coordinates, change the icon, edit the name, create a short note, change the elevation, and even see a map of your new waypoint. When you've completed your entries, scroll down to "OK" and click. That's it; you just manually entered-in a new waypoint and it's coordinates! Hope this info was able to help you. Let us know how it goes, and if you have any more questions, please ask. Have Fun!

Ditto! I use the hybrids exclusively in all my digital toys (GPSr, digital camera, etc.) and they hold a charge for what seems like forever. I've had a hard time finding them locally, but they're plentiful on eBay.

I sent you a PM and the information you requested is there. Good luck!

There is a vendor on eBay that is selling a factory refurbished Garmin Venture HC, with a 1 year warranty from Garmin, for just $79.99 (shipping included in the price). If you would rather have a NEW gps unit, there are others on eBay that are selling the Venture HC for as low as $140.00 (shipping included in the price). Good luck with your search!

Ditto for my Venture HC!

I have a Magellan RoadMate 2000 that gets me there and a Garmin Venture HC that finds the caches for me after I arrive.

If you could give a number for the top end of your budget, that could help us to better answer your question. If your budget will allow a purchase in the low 100s, then the GPSr in the earlier posts would certainly do well for you. But if your budget is even more restricted than that, then you'll probably need to look at an older GPSr that may not have all the fancy features or a high-sensitivity antenna, but has the ability to enter in coordinates for geocaches and still receives good signals from the GPS satellite network. A few basic GPSr that come to mind would be the Garmin eTrex Legend, the Garmin eTrex (standard model), and the Magellan GPS 315. Of these three, the Legend will have the most features while the standard eTrex will have the least, with the Magellan placed somewhere in between the other two. I'm neither a cheerleader for Garmin nor for Magellan. I've had a Garmin Venture HC for the last two years and its the best GPSr I've ever owned. I also have a Magellan GPS 315 that is fully functional and in better than average condition, but because it's a more basic unit, it hasn't seen any action since I got my Garmin. In the end, they all do a good job of getting you where you want to go. I would be willing to part with my Magellan for a reasonable price taking into consideration it's age and lack of "fancy bells & whistles". If, after expending all other options, you decide that you would like to discuss buying my GPSr, you can email me from the Geocaching.com website and we'll see if we can come to an agreement. Good luck in your search!

If you look in the lower left corner of the window that lists all the map segments you have highlighted on Topo 2008, it will tell you how many maps are in the list and how much storage space will be required to download the entire list to your GPSr. It is possible that loading all the Conus maps could put your 4gb card very close to it's maximum storage capacity, and if that happens, your GPSr will cancel the download. I know this because my Garmin Venture HC claims to have 24mb of internal memory, but if I try to load more than 22mb of maps, I also get the "over memory capacity" message and the download cancels. Try removing maps from your list (approximately 10% of the memory card's capacity which is about 400mb) and see if it will download. If it does, then the only way you'll be able to download all the CONUS maps will be to get a bigger cacpacity memory card. I hope this helps and good luck with the download.

There is a vendor on eBay that is selling a factory refurbished Garmin Venture HC, with a 1 year warranty from Garmin, for just $79.99 (shipping included in the price). If you would rather have a NEW gps unit, there are others on eBay that are selling the Venture HC for as low as $140.00 (shipping included in the price). Good luck with your search!

I currently own a Garmin Venture HC and I love it! Here is the link to Garmin's website for the Venture HC: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=8707 There is a vendor on eBay that is selling a factory refurbished Garmin Venture HC, with a 1 year warranty from Garmin, for just $79.99 (shipping included in the price). If you would rather have a NEW gps unit, there are others on eBay that are selling the Venture HC for as low as $140.00 (shipping included in the price). Good luck with your search!