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How Do U Use Your Gps?


codeman3

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I seldom drive anywhere unfamiliar either in my truck, car, or ambulance without the auto-routing on. It really allows full concentration on the road and not on trying to figure out exactly where I'm at and where the next turn will be. I particularly like the distance to next (turn) feature as it gives me a real idea of how long/far before I'm going to make any turn off the road I'm on.

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Actually, Pablo, using your GPSr as a fake phone is a whole lot like a lampost cache:  it's clever the first time you think of it.

Yes, it's clever once for me as a cacher, but since the muggles outnumber us many times over, it's more of a perpetual cleverness than an LPC. You can fool that one, and that one, and them over there, too, etc. We repeatedly fool them with the oldest trick in the book!

 

Speaking of LPC's, I have been asked to repeat what some have called a clever twist to the lampost cache; too bad I can't share the details here that caused many cachers repeated attempts (it took one guy eleven tries) to find it!

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Started out in 97 with a basic etrex for marking hunting trails, stands, and so I would not get lost when in an unknown area. Still use the GPS (now a new model)for hunting and it is easier now being able to see on the maps where I am an where the areas are that I marked. I also like to leave it on when I am out driving around just to see where I went and how fast I went.

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I initially bought my Etrex Vista C for hiking then I learned about geocaching. Now I do more geocaching than hiking :bad: I like to take my GPSr along with me even when not geocaching/hiking and to places I'm familiar with because it's cool to get a bird's eye view of where I am. I bought the Mapsource Topographical maps at the same time I bought my GPSr so sometimes the streets aren't accurate but now I know that most of the little creeks and streams I cross everyday actually have names :D

 

Steve

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We got our first GPSr, (a Garmin 12, I believe), many moons ago, when I got lost, bowhunting in Ocala National Forest. Fortunately, I was bright enough to stop at the first "road" I came to once I realized I was lost. They found me snoozing bright & early the next morning. :D

 

Since then I've used it for kayak fishing, more hunting, and at work, searching for other folks lost in the woods.

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Just the usual, "It's a toy I gotta have!" :D

 

    Hunting/Fishing - my original purpose

    Geocaching - now another hobby/sport!

    Travel - wish my eTrex Legend had better maps  :ph34r:

    I want to put it on my electric R/C car and clock its top speed

 

JohnTee

 

I'll have to add one more use . . .

 

I was out hiking a trail today, looking for a place to hide my first cache. Went to Wally World to get some 35mm film cannisters (NO, not for micro-caches :D ) to put CITO bags into. Will stock my cache with a few of those.

 

At W.W., I realized I did not have my phone; slip-in holster was tipped forward and EMPTY. Went back to the truck to look and got a real sinking feeling when I didn't find it there. Back to the park I was hiking in.

 

Walked the backroute on my GPS and found my phone. Would you believe it was in the last place I looked?! :D

 

JohnTee

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I use mine for conditioning my horse for long-distance trail races. I attach it to her breast collar and check the stats at the end of a training ride, or at the periodic vet checks during a race. Also very good to get a decent elevation profile on the hill work. I also use it while hiking, biking, and caching, of course! -RF

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Original reason was for hunting (trails, stands, points etc), than hiking in no trail areas and to keep track of time, distance, stopped/moving time etc, than Geocaching, followed by car travel instead of paper maps, now bird watching site marking, boat navagiation, speed checks of all sorts, elevation ckecks, marking homes of people or places we visit occassionally. measuring distance, clock/alarm clock, sunrise/set times, almost as important as my PDA!!!!

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I use it for caching of course. It was also AMAZINGLY wonderful for my last trip to Montana and back. I loved the thing. I'm very glad I got a unit that autoroutes and sprang for the maps as well. Extremely cool.

 

I can't use mine as a fake cell phone though. It's a GPSMAP 76CS and it's just way too big to make a convincing cell phone. I did have one lady ask if I was "recording the bird songs" one early morning though. :D

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I actually bought mine for work first, then discovered geocaching after a friend told me about it. I work in Real Estate in a rural area. I use the GPS to find people's lots when they are interested in selling. Surprisingly, many people don't know where the land they own is located out here. There are places out here that have no street signs, and no markings. So with a combination of a real estate program for aerials, google earth and GPS, I can find the lots. Not quite as fun as geocaching, but a fun way to spend part of your work day. :)

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i bought my first gps for geocaching. It was a pretty basic model so thats all it did. Then I upgraded to the 60CS. Don't know what I would have done without it. I travel all the time for work. My company has decided that neverlost costs to much in our rental cars, so now I preload maps of the area I will be working and then pre-enter the address for my motel and for my work location. This saves a lot of time and angst, and leaves more time for caching. :)

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Makes a dandy pedometer for exercise walks.

Works great for walks. Use the autorouting all the time to navigate through unfamiliar areas. Use a GPS set at 5 second intervals for track recording to make fairly accurate trail maps. Its also fabulous for finding your car in a theme park parking lot.

 

JDandDD

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There is a plan in the works to provide cell phone coverage across large portions of North Dakota using balloons.

 

The idea is that some electronic gear is suspended below a balloon which is launched up into the jet stream, and as the balloon travels across the state, it provides cell phone coverage over an area of hundreds of square miles. When the balloon reaches the other side of the state, the gear is dropped with a parachute so it floats safely to the ground. Then, using GPS technology, 'bounty hunters' will retrieve the electronic gear, and return it to be used for another trip.

 

I haven't actually done this yet because the system is not in place, but if possible I'd like to use my GPSr to become one of the bounty hunters.

 

One complication is that I don't live anywhere near North Dakota.

 

Article

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Originally, I got mine to mark locations for hunting and fishing. Now, besides 'caching, I use it for the above, as well as keeping track of distance walked while hunting and for work when I travel to track mileage! As a youth worker, I also use it as a teaching tool as part of geography and as a fun activity for at-risk students.

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I have used my AirMap for the following:

  • Aircraft Navigation

  • Road Trips, Navigating cities like Nashville, Chattanooga, Evansville....

  • ATV, also mapped trail system for ATV.

  • Hunting

  • Fishing/ Kayaking. Marking areas fished, and put in's.

  • Hiking in the woods, walking in cities.

  • Rough property surveys, measured an 80+ acre plot.

  • Giving people directions, finding peoples houses, (address feature) finding places to eat/ sleep/ get gas (POI Database)

  • GEOCACHING

And maybe a few other things. All in all I have gone over 10,000 miles using my Airmap 500.

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Well first and foremost I use it for Geocaching. That is the reason I bought it. Since then though, I have used it for navigation in the car and in cities when I didn't know my way around. One really neat use is to use it as a speedometer while snowboarding. I clipped it on my backpack and bombed the hill. I went like 48 MPH, cool!

Another use is to measure distance in feet for Disc Golf or Frisbee throws. It's not perfect accurate for this, but it gives you a pretty good idea of how you're throwing.

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I originally got a PDA with a GPS so that I can view aerial maps when I'm mountain biking. I hate getting to a fork in the trail--and not knowing which one I ought to take. Aerial photos (and to a much lesser extent, topo maps) made my biking time much more efficient.

 

Someone saw my GPS and pointed me to geocaching.com. I tried it out... and voila! Hooked.

 

Though I hunt for caches whenever I can, I ALWAYS take my GPS with me biking--the original intent is still the primary one.

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I use mine for all my navigational needs whether it's in the car, the woods, on the water. I also use it to track my progress when I'm walking, hiking, etc. as it tells me how far I've gone, average speed, elevation, yada yada yada... and of course for geocaching and lately a bit of benchmark hunting.

 

I carry it on me all the time now.

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