Old School - or - High Tech?

[Guest Rubbertoe]

receiver, or do most of you use the fancy map-based units with assloads icons and special features?

 

Maybe it's because I've never seen or used one, but I don't think there'd be much fun in downloading someone's waypoints, already filled with icons marking the position of every tree, bush, creek, rock or structure - up to within feet of a "hidden" cache.

 

To me, there's just something that seems more "real" about just following a crude, pixellated arrow - to the destination as only described by a generic looking set of coordinates. Seems like anything more would be cheating.

 

I know, I say this now... I kinda wonder if I'd feel differently if I ever get a chance to use a "good" GPS receiver.

 

Any comments are appreciated - looking forward to hunting my first cache here soon - and hiding one, too.

 

Rob

-Central OH

[Guest Robereno]

Well, I use the Garmin Emap. Certainly not top of the line but it does support maps and waypoints. I can understand the purist approach, on the other hand, I?m a gadget freak and I like to see what the technology can do. I couldn?t survive at work with out my spell checker and calculator. Give me more technology and more features!

[Guest zilla]

You can do just fine using your GPS and a compass.. I also am new here, and have yet to seek my first cache, but plan to in the next few weeks.. I also plan on using just the co-ordinates and generating a map on Terrain Navigator, [uSGS topo map].. I see no reason to load a route when it will be much more enjoyable finding my own way.. Besides, if I were to plan a trip into a wilderness location where I had never been before I wouldn't have the route pre-planned by someone else.. To me the enjoyment is doing it my way.

 

zilla...

[Guest mcb]

I have both a basic (little yellow one) eTrex and a GPSMAP 76. The 76 has most of the bells and whistles and yet when homing in on a cache I use the same screen on both units. That is the compass screen. I get a bearing off of it and use my trusty compass in the other hand and shoot a bearing and then mosey off in that direct looking as I go. I do this until my GPS tells me I am close. No matter how good your GPS is your never going to get within a foot every time. Figure you have to deal with the error from the person that marked the cache added to the error your unit is encountering when you are seeking the cache. The only nice thing about having the maps is planning you attack. Where to park, how many creek crossing and so forth.

 

mcb

[Guest Mike_Teague]

I concur with MCB, as long as your GPS unit can provide you with a bearing to the selected waypoint, and you carry a compass, then you are gonna be fine... You'll find geocaches just as easy as anyone else...

 

That's ALL I use once within a quarter to half a mile of a cache.. I look at the bearing and distance to the waypoint, and dial the bearing into my $8 brunton classic to find my direction..

 

Use GPS to tell you where you are, and a compass to tell you what direction to go... It's hard to get a typical GPS receiver to tell you both in a sub-optimal environment like a forest..

 

(of course, a newfangled GPS receiver with an integrated electronic compass might be nice!

 

Expect to end up within about 50 feet of the cache... Once yer in the area, it just takes some common sense to figure out where the person placed it, usually... (and with the hints and photos some people provide, it doesn't even require that!

[Guest ClayJar]

I use the mapping and waypoint features while I'm driving. Once I'm on foot, the map goes bye-bye, except to look at the extremely circuitous route I followed to get to the cache.

[Guest tecmage]

Just wanted to add my $0.02 to this topic. Tracy and myself have an Etrex Legend, so we have the mapping features. Using them is a different story. So far, we've used the mapping features to figure out where caches were in relation to each other (city map), but unless the cache is sitting next to the McDonald's on the corner of Fifth and Main, the mapping isn't as helpful as you think.

 

We, like others here, use the compass screen to get bearing and distance- something not too different from the arrow screen you have.

Richard

[Guest jeremy]

I concur that electronic maps are pretty pointless for geocaching, though I believe topo maps could be helpful.

 

I use the eTrex (yellow), which is the cheapest eTrex available and has no bells and whistles. The only thing that would be nice is to have a better antenna since we have some really heavy tree cover in the Northwest.

 

Not to say that I just enter a coordinate and start driving/walking/biking - I use Mapblast a lot for driving directions to the cache location, and print out topo maps of the areas that I'm not familiar with (or involve a lot of hiking). But with a simple 12 channel receiver you can get close enough to the cache.

 

If I had a choice, I'd pick an external antenna or better signal locks over electronic compass and maps any day.

 

Jeremy

[Guest Rubbertoe]

s to the trail I followed... I looked at the plotted trail after I was done - looks like I was a drunk, staggering in the woods.

 

Thanks again for the comments, all.

 

Rob - Rubbertoe

[Guest Robereno]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rubbertoe:

I found my first cache.

 

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Hey congratulations! It?s fun huh? On my first cache hunt I didn?t have to worry about bugs or the weather butI did end up with a nice case of poison oak that took weeks to go away.

 

One final word from me on maps. I use Garmin?s Map Source topographic maps on my computer and GPS. I live in a rural area next to a state park and the program has found a lot of potential cache sites that I wouldn?t have otherwise come across. I?ve also been surprised at its accuracy in providing names for even the smallest dry creeks and hills. I also enjoy the ability to download my plotted trail to the topo map on my computer. Kind of silly I guess but months later I can pull up the trip and see all the wrong turns I made while looking for a cache.

[Guest bunkerdave]

I agree that it is sometimes more challenging to use only the "that-a-way" function to find a cache. As anyone in Utah knows, I have more than my share of scars and scrapes on my shins to prove it.

 

My GPS, a MAP330 (Magellan) does mapping, but so far only roads, rivers, railroads, and the like. Most have abou the same sort of database, although I know Garmin has several that offer a little more detail.

 

Since the real excitement for me in Geocache hunts begins after I leave the car behind and start walking, I find that the maps reduce the amount of time I spend in the car and allow me to get to the "real hunt" faster. It also is VERY enjoyable to me to download my route when I get back home and see my trail and how it relates to the various features in the area of the cache.

 

I think the best thing about having the Maps, though, is that it significantly reduces the time it takes to find your location on a printed map. The map on my GPS has streams and roads mostly, which provide ample landmarks for me to find exactly where I am on my DeLorme maps. (Don't leave home without 'em) The size of the screen on most GPS units limits the usefulness of the GPS for an all-out navigational effort, meaning I would hate to try to plan one of my all-day 8+ cache hunts with it. For that, you really need some good mapping software and a laptop/desktop. However, as far as finding your way around an unfamiliar city, or finding your way back to your car (if you have not yet learned to drop a waypoint there) the maps are very useful there, too. Until they come up with a printed map with a "you are here" icon, the GPS with the mapping feature will have to do.

[Guest Cybeq]

I have a Garmin E-Trex. It's my second GPS. I knew what GPS was and what it could do. I could have bought a more expensive, feature packed model but even the entry level ones provide all the navigational features a person needs. I want my GPS to be a tool, not a burden. You can overload yourself with information that is essentially useless. I guess you have to decide whats important to you. The hunt or the technology? For me it's the hunt, so I choose basic, functional equipment.

 

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"You know you've reached middle age when all you exercise is caution."