+mike91911 Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Well I did it. Ordered my first GPSr. Garmin Legend Cx. Bought it at GPSNOW.COM for $244. Seemed like a good deal. Should be in tomorrow. I've already started reading the owners manual online. Want to be ready when it gets here. I've been telling the kids about geocaching and they are excited about "treasure hunting". I've been looking for a good way to get them interested in being outside in the woods etc... I've got a few caches picked in my area to start. Maybe on Saturday depending on snow. Wish me luck. Mike Quote Link to comment
+JohnnyVegas Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 What I have told my customers when selling a GPS, Do not try to learn all the functions at once, learn to create a way point and save if to the GPS memory, then learn how to activate it as a current goto. If you also bought the detailed map software you will want to load a map into your new GPS also. As far as finding caches Look for caches that are rated a ones for difficulty to start, and look for larger caches also. Your GPS accuracy may very with the cache location, Look in a 20 radius to start, you may want to expand you serach from there a little. What also might be fun, if a new caches pops up the day you are going out that might be a fun one to try, if there are lots of First to Find hounds in your area, you might meet one of the locals looking for the came cache next-have fun Quote Link to comment
+Goldfinch593 Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Good luck!!! Congratulations! I remember how excited I was when I placed the order for my GPSr. And that's great advice from JohnnyVegas. Take it one step at a time! Happy Caching! Quote Link to comment
+Torchbearer Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I received a Garmin Etrex(yellow) for Christmas about two years ago. It set for a few months before I found geocaching. They are really pretty user friendly(the basic functions anyway). You'll have a blast doing this and as you can see from the previous posts, people here are very friendly and helpful. Good luck. Quote Link to comment
+mike91911 Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 What I have told my customers when selling a GPS, Do not try to learn all the functions at once, learn to create a way point and save if to the GPS memory, then learn how to activate it as a current goto. If you also bought the detailed map software you will want to load a map into your new GPS also. As far as finding caches Look for caches that are rated a ones for difficulty to start, and look for larger caches also. Your GPS accuracy may very with the cache location, Look in a 20 radius to start, you may want to expand you serach from there a little. What also might be fun, if a new caches pops up the day you are going out that might be a fun one to try, if there are lots of First to Find hounds in your area, you might meet one of the locals looking for the came cache next-have fun Thank you for the advice. I will definately do that. I don't want to end up too frustrated on my first attempt. It's just the anticipation...ya know? Mike Quote Link to comment
+jasond Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 (edited) Yep, don't do like me when I first got my GPS. I was so excited that I just had to try it out that evening and I dragged my girlfriend along for the ride...um, torture. We started at dusk and the cache was over 1/2 mile into the woods. We got to ground zero, a small canal which was muddy from the previous day of rain. We had not brought a flashlight or rubber boots, so we sloshed around in vain looking for the cache. We forgot to set a waypoint at the car, so we trudged through the woods in the wrong direction, not noticing that we could have followed the dotted line signifying our route in on my Garmin Legend C. We ended up in a neighborhood, but not the one we parked in. After reading a streetsign, we called my girlfriend's dad to see where we were in relation to the car. It would have been about a 3-4 hour walk. Luckily, this cache was only a couple of miles from her dad's house, so he picked us up and brought us to my car. Even more luckily, it did not sour me or my girlfriend on caching as it has become our top weekend priority now. Good luck with your adventures! edited for grammar Edited March 2, 2006 by jasond Quote Link to comment
+Segerguy Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Welcome Mike, You picked a good hobby/sport/activity to ejoy with your family! They'll have a blast helping trying to find the 'Treasure". Once you get to ground zero, let your instincs take over and have fun! Quote Link to comment
k1w1t1m Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 You'll love the Legend Cx. Buy the mapping software, I suggest Mapsource CS. My wife and I have one each. Quote Link to comment
+Miragee Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Welcome Mike, You picked a good hobby/sport/activity to ejoy with your family! They'll have a blast helping trying to find the 'Treasure". Once you get to ground zero, let your instincs take over and have fun! I second the welcome. Your GPSr choice is a very good one. You and your family will really enjoy finding things like the cache I found two days ago. It was a real treasure chest filled with an amazing amount of "loot." Quote Link to comment
+mike91911 Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 Well the FedEx guy just dropped it off. Unfortuanately I have to go to work and wont have time to play with it until tomorrow. We got about 6 inches of snow yesterday so I'm not sure I'll get to go out with it this weekend. We'll see. I've downloaded EasyGPS and I have my eye on a few different caches to try first. Thank you all so much. Mike Quote Link to comment
+humanloofa Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 I am pretty sure you will go out and play tomarrow and your journey towards to obessive side will start. The compulksion to go caching will be to great and you will plan errands and the drive home around caches. You will start attending events and love it all. Congradulations on a whole new life. Quote Link to comment
+badlands Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Welcome to geocaching.....may your off hours never be the same. Quote Link to comment
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