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Help! New To Geocahing, But Have A Good Device..


mattad

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Hi - I just bought a Magellan Meridian Color - I have entered in a few waypoints and routes for some geocaching, but the maps that are in here are not detailed. What is the best setup for this device? Buy the $150 MapSend DirectRoute?? and is that software up to date enough?? There are always changes being made and new roads being put up - is it worth buying?

 

Please let me know what to do - we are ready to start playing!!

 

Thanks,

 

Matt

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I have Magellan’s MapSend Streets. I rarely use it. If I do it's almost always when traveling -- not geocaching. I almost never pay any attention to the map on the GPSr when caching. I print out the MapQuest map associated with the cache page and take that with me. I usually use the next to most magnified view if it’s in an area I’m familiar with. If I’m not familiar with the area, I print a wider view in addition to the close view. The wider view is chosen based on what kind of general area map I’m using, such that I can match the two up, while getting better detail than my general area map.

 

Edited to add:

 

In Houston they publish a set of detail maps named Key Map. They are excellent -- they are detailed, almost always accurate and usually complete. They cost much less than the software maps that go in GPSrs. A GPSr screen is not large enough to get both a general area view and still see the local street names. Also, the software maps are often not current and, at least with Magellan, you can't get updates -- you have to rebuy the complete software.

Edited by Thot
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I have Magellan’s MapSend Streets. I rarely use it. If I do it's almost always when traveling -- not geocaching. I almost never pay any attention to the map on the GPSr when caching. I print out the MapQuest map associated with the cache page and take that with me. I usually use the next to most magnified view if it’s in an area I’m familiar with. If I’m not familiar with the area, I print a wider view in addition to the close view. The wider view is chosen based on what kind of general area map I’m using, such that I can match the two up, while getting better detail than my general area map.

 

Edited to add:

 

In Houston they publish a set of detail maps named Key Map. They are excellent -- they are detailed, almost always accurate and usually complete. They cost much less than the software maps that go in GPSrs. A GPSr screen is not large enough to get both a general area view and still see the local street names. Also, the software maps are often not current and, at least with Magellan, you can't get updates -- you have to rebuy the complete software.

If you are printing out a map from online, what is the point of using a GPS unit? I thought the whole "idea" behind this was to put in coordinates into the GPS, and follow them until you are in the general area of the cache?? Maybe I am just confused - but in printing maps, how you would use the GPS?

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Well, I can answer that as a newbie Geocacher (just did my first two today) I printed out the sheet to get to the general area, but also used the GPS, which is far less detailed than yours. When I got to within walking distance, I relied on the GPS.

I could have used my very basic GPS without the printout, but since this was my first tiem, I wanted to at least get close :D

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