Buy Software Or A New Unit...please Help

[carlgan]

I am new at this, so please help me; I own a Quest unit that I use very often when making trips to any city, this unit has worked very well for almost 2 years, even in down pouring rain all the way from Long Island, NY to Bethlehem, PA; Looking to get started into Geocaching and would love to use this unit for such, but should I just get the Garmin Topo cd and use it as such (will this work fine) or should I get an outdoor unit. Can anybody here please point me in the right direction? I am mostly interested on making small and local finds until I become more proficient.

 

Thank you,

 

Carlos

[+embra]

Although perhaps not the ideal geocaching unit because of the unusual antenna location and not being too good under the trees, many Quest owners use their units for geocaching (recent discussion here).

 

That would certainly be the least expensive way to proceed. If you decide you want Topo, one unlock code could go to the Quest, while the other could be applied to a future Garmin GPS.

 

I have an Explorist 500 for caching/hiking and a Quest for autorouting, but that's only because I had the 500 first. Unless there's a strong reason to go with a different manufacturer's model, going with the same one--particularly with the licencing agreement Garmin offers--usually makes the most sense.

[+hogrod]

That would certainly be the least expensive way to proceed. If you decide you want Topo, one unlock code could go to the Quest, while the other could be applied to a future Garmin GPS.

 

garmin topo US is fully unlocked like metroguide. you can install on as many gps receivers as you own. no unlock codes involved at all.

 

also since the quest already has city select maps for autorouting, do you really need the topo maps to get started geocaching? I actually prefer the auto routing maps because road names/locations are 95% correct, I can't say that about topo US.

[+CiscoHiker]

I am new at this, so please help me; I own a Quest unit that I use very often when making trips to any city, this unit has worked very well for almost 2 years, even in down pouring rain all the way from Long Island, NY to Bethlehem, PA; Looking to get started into Geocaching and would love to use this unit for such, but should I just get the Garmin Topo cd and use it as such (will this work fine) or should I get an outdoor unit. Can anybody here please point me in the right direction? I am mostly interested on making small and local finds until I become more proficient.

 

The asnwer might also depend on what kind of caches your going to find. If most of your caches will be in the city or close to roads then I would stay with the quest and you probably dont need the topo maps. If you want to do more hiking and want to see the topography of any area while doing so then the topo maps would be good (though the road date is a bit old). If you want a unit for outdoor use and dont feel the quest meets your outdoor hardware criteria then another unit might be better. Not sure I helped much but enjoy caching.

[+-=(GEO)=-]

Carlos,

 

I use my Quest all the time for geocaching, even without the topo maps, it's great for urban caches or any cache where the tree cover is not heavy. Just configure the unit not to "snap to the road" so that after parking your car, you can simply recalculate with the "Off road" setting to get a bee-line to the cache. Having said this, the Quest leaves a lot to be desired under tree cover and for that reason, I'd recommend getting a GPS with a Sirf III chipset like a 60cx which you could also use for autorouting.