+casey97 Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 My wonderful wife got me a Venture Cx. Has a great signal (4 satellites inside my brick home). Have a day off soon looking to push my measly find total to double digits. I have a multi pronged question. First, I would like to know what extra goodies everyone uses with their GPSr. I know I need accessories like USB cord, microSD card, a GPSr case and City Navigator, but what other goodies are helpful? For the above listed items (USB cord, microSD card, a GPSr case ) please share any comments or links to purchase these items. Quote Link to comment
Dale_Lynn Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 (edited) My wonderful wife got me a Venture Co. Has a great signal (4 satellites inside my brick home). Have a day off soon looking to push my measly find total to double digits. I have a multi pronged question. First, I would like to know what extra goodies everyone uses with their GPS. I know I need accessories like USB cord, microSD card, a GPSr case and City Navigator, but what other goodies are helpful? For the above listed items (USB cord, microSD card, a GPSr case ) please share any comments or links to purchase these items. All these goodies probably will not actually help you find things... GSP should be used, enter coordinates and go out and search.... The Goodies are just fluff to satisfy your need to have more exotic toy.... Only thing that is close to a must have is USB cable ( if GPS did not come with one) to download coordinates from PC to GPS... Dale Edited December 31, 2006 by Dale_Lynn Quote Link to comment
+maugin Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 nothing halts a day out caching like running outta battery juice. we got an extra battery for our gps & a power cord to plug into the car lighter thingy for Christmas!! that oughta do us. Quote Link to comment
+Snake & Rooster Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 nothing halts a day out caching like running outta battery juice. we got an extra battery for our gps & a power cord to plug into the car lighter thingy for Christmas!! that oughta do us. I second the power cord for the lighter. This is one of the best investments we made. It also has the advantage of keeping the backlight on, making navigating to and from a cache site at night, much easier. Along with that, I'd suggest a suction cup mount for the windshield. You can either use Garmin's, which work great, or look at some of the fancy alternatives out there. Quote Link to comment
+El Diablo Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 Besides the things you listed you need a Premium Membership so you can dowload and install PQ's. El Diablo Quote Link to comment
+casey97 Posted January 1, 2007 Author Share Posted January 1, 2007 I will join as soon as the Christmas credit card shock wears off. Do I need some type of PDA to do pocket queries? The original crux of my questions was; what cases/vehicle mounts/cig lighter adapters people found best, and where to purchase them (please remember . Also once I purchase my USB cord, will one of those cig lighter to USB plugs (like for an IPod) work as a charger/power supply to my GPSr? Not that anyone cares, but since my last post my find total has increased 400% (that is from 1 to 5). Looking to hit a few more this week. Quote Link to comment
+Rockin Roddy Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 Congrats on the new GPS and the jump in finds!! I have no idea about the GPS you have, but I would wish you good luck and many HAPPY CACHING adventures!!! My suggestion for must have items...loads of patience...and batteries!! You'll soon be a seasoned vet answering newbie questions yourself!!! I also just got a new GPS...the Magellan Explorist 500LE...very nice, all info goes right into the unit so no need for paper any more!! Quote Link to comment
Neos2 Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 I will join as soon as the Christmas credit card shock wears off. Do I need some type of PDA to do pocket queries? You can use a PDA to hold the information on caches. It comes in very handy. You can convert your PQ for your gps using Plucker & Spinner, or GSAK, and then you will also need something like Cachemate to convert the PQ into something your PDA can understand. Here are two good links. Geocacher U Texas Geocaching I use a Palm iiixe and my husband uses a Zire31--his is "faster" than mine, but they both work beautifully for caching. Quote Link to comment
+casey97 Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 Can anyone advise if one of those cig lighter plugs with the female USB plug will charge/power using the USB data cable, or will I have to purchase a special cig lighter plug? Quote Link to comment
+AdmSteck Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Can anyone advise if one of those cig lighter plugs with the female USB plug will charge/power using the USB data cable, or will I have to purchase a special cig lighter plug? It should work fine. Since usb is a standard the voltage should be the same no matter what you buy. If you can power the unit with the usb port on your computer, any usb cig adapter should work. I also got a Venture Cx for Christmas. I have since purchased a retractable usb cord and pny micro sd card from Tiger Direct. I would recommend buying the usb cord online or from a larger electronics store. Every store around my area (Walmart, Radio Shack) wanted $20 or more for a cord, got the retractable (Very nice to save space) for $5 plus a few bucks for shipping. Ordered it the same time I ordered the sd so shipping covered both. I have been pleasently suprised with the battery life of the Venture. I have been playing with it all week and still have 4 bars on a pair of regular batteries. I normally use ni-mh rechargables in the digital camera and they last fine but it would eat regular batteries. Edited January 2, 2007 by AdmSteck Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 ... Do I need some type of PDA to do pocket queries? ... You don't need a pda for PQs. With pocket queries, you can get 500 caches in each download. You can then upload all of them to your GPSr, rather than entering them one at a time. Having a pda allows you to also take those cache pages with you so you are ready to cache whenever and wherever you want to. I would recommend picking up an inexpensive palm off ebay for this purpose. Any old palm will do. I got my dad an old Palm V (with accessories) for less than $20 after shipping. It allows him to keep track of his address book, calendar, and have all the nearest caches in Plucker. Quote Link to comment
+casey97 Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 Can anyone advise if one of those cig lighter plugs with the female USB plug will charge/power using the USB data cable, or will I have to purchase a special cig lighter plug? ...purchased a retractable usb cord and pny micro sd card from Tiger Direct.... I found a USB cable that is straight on Amazon, my wife has one of those retractable ones for her IPod and it is much cooler. Could you give me the link? Also does anyone have any comments on car mounts or cases? Quote Link to comment
+casey97 Posted January 3, 2007 Author Share Posted January 3, 2007 Someone has just keyed me in on the DollarTree having retractable USB cables, does anyone think that would make a good swag item? Quote Link to comment
+Thrak Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Many folks like the RAM suction mount for their car/truck. Cases, cigarette lighter plugs, etc. can all be found on eBay. Sometimes you can get a deal on microSD cards from Amazon if you hit their credit card offer. By signing up (online - instant approval) for the Amazon Visa card I got $40 off the first purchase using the card. I immediately purchased a $44.95 1GB micro SD card. With free shipping and the discount I got it delivered to my door for $4.95. Of course I then cancelled the card. Quote Link to comment
+fm2f90x Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 I really, really like having a carrying case (with the clear window and spaces to use the GPSr buttons) with a lanyard attachment for my Venture CX. It's one of those excellent yet unsung accessories. You won't have to set the GPSr down and risk misplacing it, you don't have to carry it in your hand all day yet it's right there when you need to look at it real quick, and a couple of times I've had it in hand and tripped or slipped and it was OK to let go of it to save my balance while the lanyard kept it from falling. I don't hit the trails without my carrying case. Tom Quote Link to comment
+jasond Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 Check out this training cache that one of our local cachers put out. It has some good information on an ideal caching kit... http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...61-7faea5d10b11 Quote Link to comment
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