Which North?

[+Prfctly Mad]

My Garmin Etrex comes with 4 settings for North. True, Magnetic, Grid, User. Which one is best to use in the US??

[+Renegade Knight]

Unless you have a specific need for a particular north it doesn't matter. Mine is on true. I checked it after 3 years of caching. Never once matterd since my GPS points at the cache and not north.

 

It does matter for what I'll call advanced uses of a GPS. I'm not sure where it kicks in though. For most caching though it won't make a difference.

[+Airmapper]

Use magnetic north, it is what any compass uses. Switch to true if you plant to use it with a map.

[+Mudfrog]

Doesnt matter whether its true or magnetic when you are finding a standard cache. If you input the coordinates into your GPSr correctly then the arrow will point you to the cache.

 

However, we have found a few caches where the hider required us to project a waypoint or use the GPSr compass to take us to the cache. An example might be something like this, stating in the cache page description that the cache is 1 mile away at a bearing of 90° magnetic north from the listed coordinates. In this case you would need to make sure your GPSr north setting is on magnetic.

[+geoduck.5]

Here's a good reference from USGS

[Tahosa and Sons]

My preference is magnetic so the GPS and my compass talk together. And when I use maps its still on magnetic but I know how to adjust for declination.

[+Prime Suspect]

Doesnt matter whether its true or magnetic when you are finding a standard cache. If you input the coordinates into your GPSr correctly then the arrow will point you to the cache.

Not always. GPSs that don't have a true electronic compass (which is most of the lower-end units) use an inductive method to determine where to point the arrow. To be accurate, it requires that you be moving, and that the unit be oriented so that it's pointing in the direction of travel. So there's quite a bit of room for error here (for example, if you're holding the unit 10 degrees off the direction of travel, the arrow will be 10 degrees off). However, the degree display will still be correct, and you can use that with a hand-held compass to determine the correct direction of the cache. Unless you want to deal with local declination, you should set the GPS to magnetic north.

[+Mudfrog]

Doesnt matter whether its true or magnetic when you are finding a standard cache. If you input the coordinates into your GPSr correctly then the arrow will point you to the cache.

Not always. GPSs that don't have a true electronic compass (which is most of the lower-end units) use an inductive method to determine where to point the arrow. To be accurate, it requires that you be moving, and that the unit be oriented so that it's pointing in the direction of travel. So there's quite a bit of room for error here (for example, if you're holding the unit 10 degrees off the direction of travel, the arrow will be 10 degrees off). However, the degree display will still be correct, and you can use that with a hand-held compass to determine the correct direction of the cache. Unless you want to deal with local declination, you should set the GPS to magnetic north.

Yes you are right. When using a GPSr that doesnt have the built in compass, you do indeed have to be moving for the arrow to point in the direction of your inputted coordinates.

 

But my reply above was in response to the OP's original question.

 

My Garmin Etrex comes with 4 settings for North. True, Magnetic, Grid, User. Which one is best to use in the US??

 

My answer still is that it doesnt matter which of the north settings is used when using the GPSr to lead you to a set of coordinates!

[The_Brownies]

What does it matter? Magentic North or True North. Ok, if I use Magnetic North, depending on my location on the globe I have to take into account a thing called DECLINATION if I want to look at a map and follow my GPS like a compass? But if I do that, then what are all the cool topo maps for that have all the terrain detail, and forrest trails? Leave it to Garmin to confuse a guy!! Guess that's why I bought a Megellan.

 

Man this is like the old commercial for beer...

Less Filling Taste's great!!..

[+blindleader]

Use magnetic north, it is what any compass uses.

Speak for yourself. My compass points to True North.

 

My preference is magnetic so the GPS and my compass talk together.

My preference is True, so the GPS and my compass talk together. Besides, the street grids in my area are oriented to True North.

 

Bottom line. As a few others have said, it doesn't matter till you actually use it. Then the preference is dictated by the specific use, and it should become obvious which to use.

[+Markwell]

Luckily, where I live (Chicago's SW suburbs), my magnetic declination is only ~2°

 

 

More information can be found here, including a handy calculator to find your current declination.

[+tozainamboku]

Luckily, where I live (Chicago's SW suburbs), my magnetic declination is only ~2°

 

 

More information can be found here, including a handy calculator to find your current declination.

The map is out of date.

[+Markwell]

The map is out of date.

 

Yep - it was 1990. Had I solely use that map, my declination would have been about 1°. You must have skipped over the part where I gave a link to where you can key in your coordinates and the current date and get a current reading of your declination:

 

More information can be found here, including a handy calculator to find your current declination.

[+StarBrand]

I use True North - best with {most} maps. I only use a compass to get a general bering when standing still.

[+Alan2]

I use True North - best with {most} maps. I only use a compass to get a general bering when standing still.

It looks like your avatar matches your compass rather than your GPS

[+Quoddy]

I use TRUE and only switch to MAGNETIC when doing a cache that uses magnetic heading to do the cache.

[+EScout]

Like Blindleader, I set my GPSrs to True North and my compass also points to True North (every good compass has a declination adjustment and reads true.) I find it easier to think in terms of True North, which is what maps use.

 

When you are doing caches with projections, you will change this as specified by the cache hider. Hopefully, he/she will also specify mils instead of degrees for greater precision....

[+Anonymous']

I think my GPS's have always been on True North. Since they came that way I expected that to be the best thing to cache with.

[klenger]

I use true north because that the way streets and roads are oriented. My hand held compass can be set to correct for deviation. Now that I have a 60CS with a built in compass, it's even easier.

 

FWIW, aviation is based on magnetic north except at extreme latitudes or special missions. If a runway is labeled as 36, it is oriented at 360 deg magnetic.