Geocaching With Nuvi

[DuctTaper]

There are some reports of using Garmin's NUVI for geocaching, even though it's primarily an automobile navigator. It looks like Garmin has been adding some features in their releases, such as displaying the GPS location (latitude/longitude) on the satellite page (3.10) and added coordinate find entry (3.30).

 

I'm curious about how coordinate find entry works, but there's no on-line documentation. Has anyone tried this? Is it latitude/longitude?

 

I know NUVI isn't hardened for outdoor use and doesn't have a bearing compass or track logs, but the shirt-pocket size would be handy. Can anyone comment on how they've used NUVI for geocaching? Thanks

[robertlipe]

There are several threads about Nuvi here; use the search feature to find them. You've pretty much hit the negatives: Nuvi is very much meant to be in a businessman's vest pocket and not in the backpack of someone crossing a stream on a fallen tree, but if you're determined to use it for geocaching, you can.

 

The doc for Nuvi is on the Nuvi itself, IIRC. You didn't say which Nuvi you had (hint: this is almost always a good idea when asking for help) but the doc for the 350 is at

http://www.garmin.com/products/manual.jsp?...ct=010-00455-00 and Garmin has similar pages for the other Nuvis.

 

As cool as Nuvi is, *I* wouldn't take one in the woods for geocaching.

[DuctTaper]

Nope, I don't have a Nuvi, otherwise I would have tried the 3.30 update!

 

I find it interesting Garmin has segmented (crippled) the Nuvi to help sales of the 60C(S)X, even though once you add the mapping updates and more memory and mounting hardware, the 60CX approaches the price of a Nuvi. Oh well, I guess I can get both - just don't tell the wife.

 

I'd simply like to know if the 3.30 update lets you to enter latitude/longitude for a "waypoint" (POI). The on-line manuals haven't been updated with this information, so I'm hoping someone has the update and can report back. Thanks!

 

By the way, I currently have 13 GPSs and teach geocaching for our local (unnamed) youth organization. I think the kids would be more "wow"ed by a Nuvi than my current eTrex Legend or anything similar. I can imagine some really interesting "geocaching" types of uses with Nuvi - how about a guided tour around the ruins of Rome, with turn by turn instructions and audio-book descriptions of what you're seeing. But that's another topic.

[robertlipe]

It's perspective. Maybe they crippled Nuvi by not adding the compass screen and geocaching mode from 60 series. :-)

 

It's Garmin's business model to have GPSes every $10-$20 apart from about $100 to about $1500 in the market. Of course not all features are in all models. They have a library of pieces and parts and mix and match. Quest has detour navigation but not geocaching mode. 2720 does spoken street names but not custom POIs. You can always find some feature that exists only in a model you don't own. For better and worse, that's just their thing.

 

2.90 on a 350 won't let you enter lat/lons, but I'm a little behind. 3.20 looks like it'll do it, but I'm not certain. Of course, you can drop GPX files (such as pocket queries from this site) right into it or via GPSBabel output for mass waypoint upload. If you don't get a definitive answer here, the place to ask is probably the Nuvi hangout on http://GPSPassion.com

 

Nuvi has a definite "wow" factor - it's a very cool product. It's really cool to be able to order two beers in German and have it speak the order, use the built-in calculator to compute the tip, and then use the currency converter to figure out what to pay.

 

But I still wouldn't want one in my pocket while I'm clinging to the side of a cliff.

[restie]

I have a NUVI and I use it for geocaching. Yes, you can now enter lat/long coordinates directly. You have to update to the v3.3 firmware. You can enter whatever lat/long format you want. It's very flexible. I use it primarily for 80% road navigation and 30% geocaching. It's awesome for road navigation. The voice is almost human and the calculations for route finding is lightning quick. Rather than saying "Turn left in .2 miles", it'll say "In .2 miles, turn left on Main Street". Really cool. I recently took it to my trip to Maine, and it was invaluable. It definitely took out the worry and the hassle of finding roads and getting to your destination.

 

It's pretty cool too for geocaching. I use it primarily in the city. The nice part is it will direct you what roads to take to get close to the GC location. Then when you are near, you switch to pedestrian and off-road mode. On occasion I take it hiking. The nice thing with the NUVI is you don't really need a map if you go hiking. I just load the topo map and I'm set. It comes with a leather case and I just slide it back into it's case for protection when I'm not using it. It's so small, it's easy to just slip into your shirt pocket or pants.

 

Restie

[+Granpa&GranmaEstero]

I am hoping that someone is able to help me with my Nuvi 1490. Just some quick history. I had a Nuvi 650 that I loved geocaching with and then just several months ago purchased a Nuvi 1490 and was very happy with it geocaching also. Yes I know it really isn’t the best for the deep woods cacher but at 73, I normally don’t venture too far into the woods anymore. Now for the problem. I recently have had to purchase a new computer, which caused me to be without any computer for over 2 months. I have reinstalled GSAK and Garmin’s POI Loader. I thought that I would know how to do this, but I am still screwed up somehow. I was able to download a query into the GSAK program and I was able to find my POI Loader program to get the programs talking with each other and it loaded the caches into the Nuvi 1490. But when I bring up a cache on the screen I am no longer getting the “complete” information that I am used to getting on my Nuvi 1490 on the specific cache. I am getting the directions and the map and a symbol of the cache location on the map. Once I press “press for more” all I get is the name of the cache, distance and the time to get to the cache. That is it on the information. I use to get the complete information as published. I am hoping that this information will help someone understand my dilemma. Just as a side note: There used to be YouTube videos that help us “old guys” in the world of techy stuff, but that are no longer available. Many thanks for your help. Joe

[+gelfling6]

The GSAK macro no-longer works with POI loader.. You'll have to export the GPX data manually, and manually point the POI loader to that file manually as well.. I ran across this when I updated POI Loader about a year ago.. the format of the sound file pilotsnipes used, is a generic WAV file.. However.. POI Loader won't accept anything other than MP3 format.. (which grows the file larger.. Yeah.. freaked me out too. replacing a 34KB ding, with a 2.4MB Ding.) I haven't used it since the change to POI.. But.... Ironic, even the newer Nuvi's (specific, the bottom of the barrel 40) is even more finicky. I was able to export a GPX 1.0 file to the MicroSD, with just a few log entries, but no icon or sound.. so, you're stuck with the generic silver ball icon..

 

I think the real problems began back when I began hitting a top limit on GPSBabel, when it began choking on a 34,000+ record database, and wouldn't export through the macro. I've since resolved to limit the exported GPX to just child waypoints, and keep the main cache list on the computer, and exporting only 1000-2000 packets to a Magellan eXplorist GC. (which, after upgrading the firmware to the new 2.13, has already reared it's ugly head of a limit on the number of chile waypoints.. If you loaded more than 100, it won't allow you to add any new ones. (kinda crimps putting next stage coordinates in, doesn't it?)

[alandb]

Actually, POI Loader will process .WAV files. On Mac computers, this support is native. On Windows computers, you need to install a sound utility program named SOX.EXE version 14.0.1. SOX.EXE must be installed in the folder where POI Loader is installed (normally C:\Program Files (X86)\Garmin). Note that the SOX.EXE version must be this older version. The newer versions will not work. SOX.EXE is free. You should be able to find it with a little googling.

Edited January 31, 2013 by alandb

[+Granpa&GranmaEstero]

Thanks fellows for your insight into my problem. It appears that you are telling me that this change over was of Garmin’s making and not GSAK’s. Right??? I have sent a similar thread to Garmin Support last Thursday but I have not received anything back from them. I was not aware that the POI data I was receiving from GSAK was a .wav format. I just knew that last year it worked in my Garmin. I am now wondering that in GSAK --- File ----- Export ----- Garmin POI, what are you getting a .wav or MP3 format?

Does anyone know? It is hard to believe that for years Garmin Nuvi’s pride themselves on being paperless and now they are not or at least I am doing something wrong.

[+phlatlander]

Alandb has described what you need to do - exactly.

On another forum (POI Factory) there are many threads on this subject and Nuvis. In particular, charlesd45 provides excellent info/advice.

Example http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730

I use my Nuvi 1350 for geocaching (complete with icons and sounds) as well as an Oregon550.

[+onthehuntin702]

We started out with our Garmin Nuvi 7 series and aside from it freezing and requiring powering on and off out in the field quite often. (after my daughter dropped it in the desert one day by the way LOL) it worked OK. The caches are the code only of course with no names. So it required a notepad with the name and brief description to keep track. You will walk to a flag in teh middle of nowhere basically and when your car is right up on it, start looking.

[+and1969]

There are some reports of using Garmin's NUVI for geocaching, even though it's primarily an automobile navigator. It looks like Garmin has been adding some features in their releases, such as displaying the GPS location (latitude/longitude) on the satellite page (3.10) and added coordinate find entry (3.30).

 

I'm curious about how coordinate find entry works, but there's no on-line documentation. Has anyone tried this? Is it latitude/longitude?

 

I know NUVI isn't hardened for outdoor use and doesn't have a bearing compass or track logs, but the shirt-pocket size would be handy. Can anyone comment on how they've used NUVI for geocaching? Thanks

 

I've commented several times on the Nuvi - perhaps this should be a pinned thread somewhere.

 

My dad's ancient Nuvi 200W supports entry of lat/long, as does my slightly newer - but still rather elderly - 1310. If buying a newer Nuvi it would be worth checking if it has a coordinate search.

 

The approach I take is to have the caches as points of interest. I wrote some software to convert pocket queries to CSV, which I then run through Garmin POI converter, but I believe GSAK will also do this in one go.

 

To cut a long story short, to look for the cache it is best to use the automotive mode and "off road" navigation. The satnav will draw a "road" toward GZ, which can be followed until you are 10m or so from the cache. After that, you need to get the distance to the cache as low as possible.

 

Bear in mind that there can be several metres of error with the GPS reading, and this is worse in woods and areas with high buildings. Although a dedicated hand-held GPS has a similar potential for error. You also need to consider the possible error on the GPS reading taken by the CO.

 

I have used a Nuvi 1310 for all my finds (39 - 38 on GC and one on another site) and in at least 90% of cases the GPS was critical to finding the caches.

 

BTW I would not suggest buying a Nuvi just for caching but if you have one, give it a go...

[+gelfling6]

From an owner of a few past models of Nuvi, and a present-day 40, and a few other GPSr's, I'd put my 2-cents worth in as Possible, but, not exactly practical. Most car GPSr's are good down to 200-feet.. which is about 10X the average for most hand-helds for hiking. That's not saying it can't be done, There are a few other brands which are made ruggedized (with thick rubber cases around the back, and I would imagine the front screen was well sealed to prevent water/moisture getting into the works.) I usually use mine for navigating to the parking place, or as close as I dare to get on-road to the site.. from there, I usually rely on a hand-held to actually get to GZ, or, if I'm familiar with the site, I'll even leave the hand-held in the car and wing it by eye..

 

A few things to keep in mind.. #1, turn the snap-to-road OFF. turning this on, aids in the re-routing, but when you're off road, will hinder getting close.. (unless you keep it on the Satellite strength/status page, and go by the lat/lon values.)

 

#2, don't expect to get exactly to GZ.. Most car units have the antenna facing straight-up (like a "T" above the main board.) so, keeping the unit flat like you do with a hand-held, you'll be facing the antenna in front of you, instead of straight-up at the sky. result, You'll only be receiving satellite signals from straight forward.. nothing above, to the sides, or slightly behind you, which defeats the 3D placement.

 

Also, most car units have a short-life battery once they're removed from the cigarette plug. the battery is about the size of an average cell phone battery.. 3.7V, more than likely lithium-Polymer(LiPo), about 1/2 the size of a pack of stick gum. (reference Juicyfruit/Doublemint, etc.).. the car charger/cord usually drops the 12-15V down to 5.0V. These are mainly just to keep the device running when on the road, and the internal battery is for absolute last-resort incase the alternator bites the dust, and you're on your cell phone to call for service, Or, quick finding a route when standing outside the car. the battery, usually has a 1/2-hour to 45-minutes life without the charger.

 

You CAN put cache locations on most NuVi's, using garmin's POI loader (Available here.) I would suggest putting them on the SD card, but be fore-warned, the device will ask if you want to load software/data that is on the card, into the device.. the average device, minus the SD card, only has about 2GB maximum space. a good 1.2GB is probably already chewed-up by the North American rout-able map. Don't Let it! Leave it on the card.. Then, when you go to find one, choose [Go To..], scroll down to the bottom, and you'll find Custom Items, choose it, and the filename should pop-up.. and it should point to the closest cache, 1st..

 

One suggestion, there is a custom macro out there for GSAK.. Sorry to snub Pilotsnipes, but it doesn't seem to work anymore with the newer versions of POI-Loader. a plain GPX, with little or no logs, fed through the POI-loader, will occupy a few MB.. as long as you keep it under 100MB, You should be fine.

 

Again, not impossible, but just impractical. most Nuvi's, aren't water-proof.. It will seep past the screen.. and slipping/falling on the trail, you can guess the screen will get hit.. and the touch pad on top is thin.. the glass LCD screen, would not take much to shatter.

[alandb]

I agree with most of the comments made by gelfling6, but my experience is a little different so I will add my comments about using the nuvi for geocaching. I have a couple of handheld units (Garmin Oregon and Lowrance SIerra) as well as two nuvi's (755T and 855). The handhelds are preferred, but when my kids and grandson all go geocaching we each like to have a GPS so we put the nuvi's in service.

 

There is a new GSAK macro for the nuvi named Nuvi_GPX_by_CT.Gsk that replaces the one referenced by gelfling6 and works well with the current version of GSAK. It generates GPX files that are installed on the nuvi with POI Loader and works well with both my nuvi's. It gives you most of the functions of paperless geocaching (cache name, full description, D/T ratings, size, recent logs, hint). Of course, the nuvi does not support logging and field note upload so you have to keep track of that manually. The GSAK forum and download info for the macro is here: http://gsak.net/boar...=0 .

 

After navigating to the parking spot, I change the nuvi System Usage Mode from Automotive to Pedestrian and the Navigation Route Preference from Fastest to Off Road. Also, make sure you have the preference set to show the trip log so you can see your track as you hike to the cache (and follow it back to the car). Select the geocache on your nuvi through the Extras > Custom POI menu. then press GO. This gives you the strait line path from your curent location to the geocache. At this point, I press the top green bar on the navigation screen, then select the geocache from the list. On my nuvi's this gives a close-up map on the left side of the screen and the distance to the cache on the right side. I zoom the map all the way in and as I hike toward the cache watch the distance decrease. With this method I am usually able to get within 10 to 30 feet of the cache and have found the nuvi accuracy to be comparable to the handhelds. When you get that close, it is time to put the GPS away and start the search the old fashioned way.

 

While the battery life of the nuvi is problematic, both of my nuvi's have newish batteries and I can easily get 2 to 2 1/2 hours with full screen brightness. That does bring up another problem with the nuvi. Since they do not have transreflective screens, they are hard to see in bright conditions. You have to use 100% screen brightness and shading to see the screen. In this regard, my 855 is superior to the 755T as it has a brighter backlight.

 

The nuvi definitely has its limitations and does not give as good of a caching experience as a handheld. The main thing I miss is the compass screen with the pointer to the cache. But if you use it right, the nuvi will take you to the cache.

Edited February 17, 2013 by alandb

[+Tobias & Petronella]

My thoughts on Nuvi's.

 

We do expect to get exactly to GZ with our 1350 nuvi.

 

We do expect to get 1.5 to 2 hours minimum (3 to 3.5 if we don't run two map sets at the same time) when unpluged. One time we did a five hour hike through the woods to find 10 caches and our 1350 still had some battery life.

 

We starting caching with the 255w then upgraded to the 1350lmt. In almost 4.5 years, we have over 4500 finds with 8% of them being FTF's and with 20% of all our finds being at night, we are able to find GZ very quickly. The 1350 fits neatly into the inside pocket of my coat or into the back pocket of my jeans. Unlike hand-helds we never need to replace the batteries.

 

There is no such thing as the perfect GPSr. All units have there good points and bad. For example, most hand-held units (that I've seen) have tiny dull looking screens and doesn't have voice turn by turn navigation when on the road.

 

The biggest problem when talking about "Nuvi's" is that Garmin has made over 100 different models. Some are almost the same, while others are very different. So when we say that a Nuvi doesn't do this or that it does do that, which style or model are we talking about. Their early units did not have "High-sensitivity receivers" and were not as good as the ones today that do have them. As I have stated in another thread, both their hand-helds and car units that are made during the same time period use the same receiver. The real difference between hand-helds and car units are how they're package and the bells and whistles that come with them.

 

So when it comes to finding caches, a good car unit will work as well as a good hand-held if the owner knows what they are doing.

 

Tobias

Edited February 20, 2013 by Tobias & Petronella

[+Granpa&GranmaEstero]

My last thread on the Garmin’s POI program is no longer working with GSAK program and I was wondering why and if I had done something wrong??? It had work find for several years and now no longer. A couple of you have given some good answers but I really do not care about getting any sound notification once I am near a cache. What I am concerned about is that I have lost the ability to be completely paperless with my Garmin 1490. Is there any way to get this back to the way it was where all the information about a cache can be downloaded on to my Garmin again or to an SD chip? Many thanks for your help in advance. Joe