New And Not Sure

[+Gossie]

It's Christmas time and we received two gps devices.

 

. Garmin eTrex Vista C

. Garmin eTrex Legend

 

I'm still reading the manuals. I'm a little further than when I started, not THAT far tho.

 

Where do you start? I've checked thru and found a couple of caches that I want to check out. I might just hand enter the coords myself, for the first couple.

 

I've noticed that the Vista C acquires the satellites a LOT faster than the Legend.

 

LOGBOOK: I'm pretty sure I can make one myself, but what would the columns be labeled? Do you log non-finds?

 

Do you printout maps, directions, etc? I guess I'm basically asking, how do you prepare for a treasure hunt? (smiles)

 

Also, have any of you compared the Legend against another GPS device and noticed how slow it is to acquire satellites, if it acquires them at all????

Edited December 27, 2005 by Gossie

[mikey25]

I just got the etrex legend c. My daughters and I went out yesterday and found our first cache. My computer at home is about 10 years old so I just went on line got the coordinates and entered them in by hand. It really is not that bad. Then we just printed up the cache page and went out and looked for them, it was a blast.

[+Team_LPD]

I have the blue Legend and find it works just fine. Sometimes it takes a minute or so to find the satelites, other times it does it right quick. Difference could be due to weather, location, etc.

[+briansnat]

've noticed that the Vista C acquires the satellites a LOT faster than the Legend.

 

Also, have any of you compared the Legend against another GPS device and noticed how slow it is to acquire satellites, if it acquires them at all????

 

The Legend is an older unit with older technology. The Vista C is the latest from Garmin so it will perform better than the Legend. For best recepetion both units have to be held flat, face up to the sky, but you will find the Legend to be much more sentstive to this than the Vista C. Still its a good unit and nice to have as a backup.

 

Where do you start? I've checked thru and found a couple of caches that I want to check out. I might just hand enter the coords myself, for the first couple.

 

You start by entering the coordinates of the cache you want to find. To do this manually use your user manual to find out how to mark and edit wapoints. Then you simply mark a waypoint, then edit the coordinates to match the cache you want to find. Some people also edit the waypoint name to something more meaningful (usually the GC#of the cache).

 

You will soon want something like EasyGPS to handle the downloading of waypoints. You can download dozens of cache coordinates with a few mouse clicks using EasyGPS. Its easy and free!

 

LOGBOOK: I'm pretty sure I can make one myself, but what would the columns be labeled? Do you log non-finds?

 

Most of us use this website to log our finds, so there is no need to carry around a logbook, unless you want to make some notes about the hunt to remember when it comes time to log here. This is done by going to the cache page and clicking on "log your visit" and choosing the appropriate option in the pull down menu ("Found it", Didn't Find It"). And by all means log yor log your non finds (DNF). There is no shame in it and it lets the owner know that someone was hunting the cache. A few DNFs in a row could indicate to the owner that he should check on the cache or perhaps raise the difficulty rating a bit.

 

Do you printout maps, directions, etc? I guess I'm basically asking, how do you prepare for a treasure hunt?

In the beginning I would print the cache page and also the Mapquest map of the cache site. Now I have all the cache pages on my PDA and I have a mapping GPS to bring me to the area of the cache (Both of your units are mapping units, but only have the fairly useless base maps until you purchase the detailed mapping software like Mapsource City Select or Mapsource Topo).

 

Hope this helps.

Edited December 27, 2005 by briansnat

[+Sputnik 57]

Where do you start? I've checked thru and found a couple of caches that I want to check out. I might just hand enter the coords myself, for the first couple.

You may want to check out

 

Thot's Beginner's Guide

Markwell's Update to the FAQ and

CyBret's Geocacher University.

 

Lot's of great advice there for beginners.

 

Welcome to the recreational activity/sport/hobby!

[+Gossie]

've noticed that the Vista C acquires the satellites a LOT faster than the Legend.

 

Also, have any of you compared the Legend against another GPS device and noticed how slow it is to acquire satellites, if it acquires them at all????

 

The Legend is an older unit with older technology. The Vista C is the latest from Garmin so it will perform better than the Legend. For best recepetion both units have to be held flat, face up to the sky, but you will find the Legend to be much more sentstive to this than the Vista C. Still its a good unit and nice to have as a backup.

 

Where do you start? I've checked thru and found a couple of caches that I want to check out. I might just hand enter the coords myself, for the first couple.

 

You start by entering the coordinates of the cache you want to find. To do this manually use your user manual to find out how to mark and edit wapoints. Then you simply mark a waypoint, then edit the coordinates to match the cache you want to find. Some people also edit the waypoint name to something more meaningful (usually the GC#of the cache).

 

You will soon want something like EasyGPS to handle the downloading of waypoints. You can download dozens of cache coordinates with a few mouse clicks using EasyGPS. Its easy and free!

 

LOGBOOK: I'm pretty sure I can make one myself, but what would the columns be labeled? Do you log non-finds?

 

Most of us use this website to log our finds, so there is no need to carry around a logbook, unless you want to make some notes about the hunt to remember when it comes time to log here. This is done by going to the cache page and clicking on "log your visit" and choosing the appropriate option in the pull down menu ("Found it", Didn't Find It"). And by all means log yor log your non finds (DNF). There is no shame in it and it lets the owner know that someone was hunting the cache. A few DNFs in a row could indicate to the owner that he should check on the cache or perhaps raise the difficulty rating a bit.

 

Do you printout maps, directions, etc? I guess I'm basically asking, how do you prepare for a treasure hunt?

In the beginning I would print the cache page and also the Mapquest map of the cache site. Now I have all the cache pages on my PDA and I have a mapping GPS to bring me to the area of the cache (Both of your units are mapping units, but only have the fairly useless base maps until you purchase the detailed mapping software like Mapsource City Select or Mapsource Topo).

 

Hope this helps.

Buy more maps, geez, the expense is getting outrageous. LOL No free ones, huh?

 

So far, I've found the maps in both units to be the pits. I, of course, started looking locally, and no it's missing a lot.

 

I live in Connecticut, and will stay there exclusively for the time being. I'm sure there is more than enough here. :-) And if I venture out, it will be mostly in the original 13 colonial states. Any specific maps that you think might be useful and maybe not be AS expensive? It will be a while, the GPS devices were a major expense as it is.