Typical Newbie ? and Problems

[Stephen2]

Saturday started looking for something the family could do together. (Mom/Dad 8yr son, 4yr daughter) After searching on the web, found this hobby and thought the kids would like it.

 

Anyway this morning went to Walmart and bought:

 

Magellan Meridian Gold

 

I really had no idea what to buy. I got this one because it appeared to hook up to PC and it had maps in it. It was priced at $200 marked down to $150. (Too much?)

 

After coming home- man, i was lost. I was stupified as to what to do. After fumbling with things this is what happened.

 

Tried hooking up to PC with cord from box (serial). Could not connect with provided MapSend Lite program. Tried EasyGPS and eventually got it to comunicate with the GPSr.

 

We were able to get a few waypoints to the unit and went out and found them.

 

My questions. Is this a good unit? Honestly we were hasty cause we wanted to do something with the kids and they were super excited.

 

I have no idea how to manually enter points into this unit. Can u do that?

 

We were able to find where we wanted to go and log them (under a different name). But i still feel really lost as to what to do.

 

I dont know what to say. Except at one point we got to our find and the unit shut off and when we powered back on no waypoints were in the system anymore. We had to go back home to add them.

 

What do u think?

 

Thanks for the help- i really appreciate your thoughts.

[+briansnat]

You have a fine unit for geocaching. A couple of years ago the Meri Gold was one of the best units available. It has been discountnued, but $150 is a decent price new. Many geocachers still swear by the unit.

 

You can manually enter waypoints in the Meri Gold. EasyGPS is a good, free and simple method of transferring waypoints. Not sure why your waypoints disappeared.

 

I'm going to move this to the GPS Units and Software forum where the experts lurk and can better answer your questions.

[+oprystar]

Not too familiar with the unit, but looking at it and reading the specs, I would say its a great unit! Absolutely carry it with pride! As for what you are confused about, you didn't really specify. Why log finds under a different name then you post in forums? Anyway, where ever you are, I am sure there are some other members there that you could personally contact that would be willing to meet up with you and give you a quick hands on tutorial on the GPSr. They are all different, but they are all the same. I have never had a GPSr just drop its waypoints for no reason, but I have had a wife delete all waypoints by mistake. LOL

[Stephen2]

The log finds are under a different name because this "account" used my name where as my family is using a different name to sign log books- just to be more family oriented. I let my son pick the name.

 

I used the manual and found out how to enter a waypoint manually.

 

I was the one using the GPSr when it dropped the waypoints. We got to 10 feet away then the screen flickered off. Then powered on to the startup screen and finally turned on all the way. It had no points saved to go to. It was no big deal, i guess. If it does it again- i will deal with it.

 

Im not sure what i am confused about! lol

 

I guess i wondered if the unit was ok, or if i payed too much.

 

Thanks!!!

[+embra]

If you pick up an SD card to use for external memory, you can guard against that waypoint loss you experienced. If you save the waypoint file to the card, then if it disappears on you like that again, you can can just reload it from memory (which shouldn't be affected by sudden power loss or other electrical hijinx.

 

OTOH, if you lose waypoints like that again another time or two, I'd try to return the unit as defective. That sort of thing should happen no more than once in a blue moon. 'Tain't normal.

 

You may find the FAQs in the first topic of this forum good reading. The documentation that comes with the Meridian...well, it's not the best.

 

I wouldn't try to learn too much too fast. You know how to enter waypoints and go out and find them. Do that, have fun, and add on to your knowledge as questions naturally arise. There are probably easier ways to do things than how you are doing them now, but you can find out about them when you get tired of how you're doing them now. Finding caches is the essence of the experience.

 

One thing you may want to think about is adding detailed map files to your Gold...they will greatly enhance the usefulness of your GPS. MapSend Lite doesn't include mapping software; did you get any other MapSend products in that package? DirectRoute? TopoUSA? Topo3D? If you don't have anything else, it's not essential. But you would probably find the cost worthwhile.

[+Thrak]

I don't have that unit (I'm a Garmin man ) but most GPSr units you have to push a button to make a new waypoint were you are and then edit it to put in the coordinates you want instead of the ones where you are. If you become a premium member you can download pocket queries and load them into GSAK (geocaching swiss army knife) which you can download for free. Then you can simply tell GSAK to send the waypoints to your GPSr. Beats the heck out of manually entering them and also avoids the problem of entering the coordinates incorrectly.

 

Welcome to geocaching. It's a great hobby.

[+"fish"]

bring the cache sheet with you when you go caching you can print them out