Anyone have any experience with the Garmin nuvi 680?

[+Holli537]

I just bought this particular GPS yesterday. I originally bought it for use in my car, but found out about Geocaching today. I've never heard of it, but it sounds freaking amazing. There's actually 3 of them hidden across the street, so I'm going to look for them tomorrow. I'm probably going to be hooked, lmao.

 

I was wondering if anyone uses the nuvi 680 and how it works for Geocaching. It's a pretty expensive GPS (I paid $680, which is the cheapest I could find).

 

I'm so so glad I've found another use for it because that's a lot of money to spend for something I might not have gotten much use from.

[+Holli537]

Hmmm... I've now realized that this probably wasn't the place to make this thread/topic.

[+Shakedown.dave]

Though the 680 is a great GPS for car navigation, it is not quite suited for Geocaching, however I think it will work. It just isn't as durable as one of the hand helds. Not waterproof/resistant, Shock proof, and so on.

[+Airhead-kb]

I've got a 660 (a couple of months older and a couple of steps down). Although it will get me close to the cache (like within a parking lot, it will not get you within 10 feet of a cache. Mostly, you are missing a screen like this:

 

Does not mean you cannot use it to find cashes, just that it is not the best tool. It is great for getting you across town and near the cache, with its turn by turn navigation.

[+LeonW]

I also have a Nuvi 660 and think it is a very good unit for the auto-routing use in a car. It has not been marketed as a Geocaching GPS so don't get mad at it not having it all for all our hobbies. Later when the bug really bits you get a second dedicated GPS for Geocaching - wait don't buy yet, some new models with the "High Sensitivity Antenna " is to be released.

 

You could use the Nuvi for Geocaching by turning of the "Lock to road" in the setting. (I believe under Navigation?) as soon as you have parked the car. Now it will direct you by a direct line to the cache site and not cling to the roadway. A fellow Geocacher only use his Nuvi and he has more than enough finds to prove that it works.

 

Enjoy the addiction, it either is catching or not!

[+Holli537]

I've got a 660 (a couple of months older and a couple of steps down). Although it will get me close to the cache (like within a parking lot, it will not get you within 10 feet of a cache. Mostly, you are missing a screen like this:

 

Does not mean you cannot use it to find cashes, just that it is not the best tool. It is great for getting you across town and near the cache, with its turn by turn navigation.

Yeah, I'm kind of realizing this. We have a couple caches in a park across the street from my house. Using it wasn't exactly helpful. It's very confusing to use in that way. There were always people around, so I didn't do much searching, but... people were probably wondering what the hell I was doing. I was trying to figure out the best way to use it to find caches and it wasn't giving me much to work with, haha. So I ended up going back home before finding it -- figuring I'd go back later when no one was around.

[+Holli537]

I also have a Nuvi 660 and think it is a very good unit for the auto-routing use in a car. It has not been marketed as a Geocaching GPS so don't get mad at it not having it all for all our hobbies. Later when the bug really bits you get a second dedicated GPS for Geocaching - wait don't buy yet, some new models with the "High Sensitivity Antenna " is to be released.

 

You could use the Nuvi for Geocaching by turning of the "Lock to road" in the setting. (I believe under Navigation?) as soon as you have parked the car. Now it will direct you by a direct line to the cache site and not cling to the roadway. A fellow Geocacher only use his Nuvi and he has more than enough finds to prove that it works.

 

Enjoy the addiction, it either is catching or not!

But hey, for that much money, don't you think it should be good to use for Geocaching (other than not physically good for it)?

 

Thanks a lot for the tip, though! I'll definitely try that when I get back home (I'm at my sister's house in Virginia). I was thinking about trying to find some up here, locally, in the next few days. So maybe I'll try that out.

 

I think, once I get the hang of it, I'll definitely be addicted! I'm really into the whole treasure/scavenger hunt kind of thing. I love finding things that people hide.

[+LeonW]

Hi Holli537, keep at it and after you have found a few caches it does become easier, sometimes. My daughter found a cache yesterday because I were beating around in the wrong bush.

 

My advice is to start looking for the regular size to bigger size caches first. Forget about micro and small caches for now, not even if they are across the street in the neirbourhood park - they are on purpose small to be hidden in plain view so that muggles would not stumble on it - and at first we all are still ignorant to all the different ways that caches could be hidden. So, stay away from micro's, look early in the morning when it is quiet, not at night when a whole new security issue develops in a public park.

 

Remember that the position shown on Google maps does not reflect an accurate position of the cache, that could steer your search in the wrong way, do not trust this method at all. It is useful to get an idea as to the area and access roads though.

 

After a while you would start to realize that finding treasures are great fun, but hiding them are an evil pleasure.

Edited July 1, 2007 by LeonW