Garmin Legend & lots of questions

[+travis71]

Hello all,

 

I have been very interested in geocaching for years now. I finally got off my can & decided to look into actually doing it, & am going to be borrowing my brother in laws Garmin Legend. I doubt this will come with any cables, & I doubt it will have anything other than the base map that is loaded on them when they are shipped from the factory. My question is, if I want to try this hobby, what will I need to get for the unit? Will I need to find a cable to hook it to my PC, or is that only if I want to xfer maps? Will I need maps other than what comes with it? I hope not, because the prices of the maps on the garmin page are ridiculous (imo).

 

As I am sure you can tell, I am totally clueless on how to go about this, & want to find out if there is anything else I will be needing, along with the device itself, to get rollin on the trail.

 

Thanks for your time!

 

Trav

[+TrailGators]

Hello all,

 

I have been very interested in geocaching for years now. I finally got off my can & decided to look into actually doing it, & am going to be borrowing my brother in laws Garmin Legend. I doubt this will come with any cables, & I doubt it will have anything other than the base map that is loaded on them when they are shipped from the factory. My question is, if I want to try this hobby, what will I need to get for the unit? Will I need to find a cable to hook it to my PC, or is that only if I want to xfer maps? Will I need maps other than what comes with it? I hope not, because the prices of the maps on the garmin page are ridiculous (imo).

 

As I am sure you can tell, I am totally clueless on how to go about this, & want to find out if there is anything else I will be needing, along with the device itself, to get rollin on the trail.

 

Thanks for your time!

 

Trav

I would get the cable because you will use it to upload a bunch of caches to the GPS at once. If you become a Premium member you can download 5 Pocket Queries/day of up to 500 caches. You don't really need the maps unless you are going to do a lot of urban caches. If you need maps you might be able to find a deal on an older copy of the Metroguide maps on Ebay. You can manually enter coordinates for caches in the meantime.

[+Klatch]

Hello all,

 

I have been very interested in geocaching for years now. I finally got off my can & decided to look into actually doing it, & am going to be borrowing my brother in laws Garmin Legend. I doubt this will come with any cables, & I doubt it will have anything other than the base map that is loaded on them when they are shipped from the factory. My question is, if I want to try this hobby, what will I need to get for the unit? Will I need to find a cable to hook it to my PC, or is that only if I want to xfer maps? Will I need maps other than what comes with it? I hope not, because the prices of the maps on the garmin page are ridiculous (imo).

 

As I am sure you can tell, I am totally clueless on how to go about this, & want to find out if there is anything else I will be needing, along with the device itself, to get rollin on the trail.

 

Thanks for your time!

 

Trav

You will want the cable, for sure. It is very easy to make mistakes when inputting coordinates by hand. Downloading from the cache page (or pocket queries if you become a premium member) avoids all that hassle.

[jmundinger]

If it is a Legend that connects to the computer with a USB cable, it probably came with one.

[+BlueDeuce]

If it needs a cable you can get one that also has a power plugin for the car. (Computer and car all in one)

 

I would only get the Garmin maps if the gps had autorouting. I wouldn't waste the money for a Legend B&W.

 

If you want maps for your PC you can get Microsoft Streets and Trips for under 30 bucks.

[+fratermus]

I would only get the Garmin maps if the gps had autorouting. I wouldn't waste the money for a Legend B&W.

 

Depends.

 

If he already had a mapset the gps could find poi/addresses internally. If he already had a laptop+autorouting mapset he could do the nRoute thing.

 

I bought MGv6 for my b/w Legend and didn't feel cheated.

[+Sputnik 57]

The original Legend has a custom cable that connects to a serial port on the computer. You probably don't have either one. No problem.

 

If the unit hasn't been used in a long time, go outside, turn the unit on, and give it a good 15 or 20 minutes to download the current almanac. Then you are ready to go. Use the click stick to Mark your current position. The cursor up and edit the coordinates to those of the cache you are looking for. You can also edit the name to make it something meaningful to you. Then GOTO the cahe. Have Fun! Tons of caches have been found with Ol' Blue without using a cable.

[+travis71]

The original Legend has a custom cable that connects to a serial port on the computer. You probably don't have either one. No problem.

 

If the unit hasn't been used in a long time, go outside, turn the unit on, and give it a good 15 or 20 minutes to download the current almanac. Then you are ready to go. Use the click stick to Mark your current position. The cursor up and edit the coordinates to those of the cache you are looking for. You can also edit the name to make it something meaningful to you. Then GOTO the cahe. Have Fun! Tons of caches have been found with Ol' Blue without using a cable.

 

Thanks all for the responses. This is awful, I have been reading these forums, & now I am dying to get started! To make matters worse I looked into the threads on paperless caching & "better" GPS systems, & am heartbroken at what I have found. Cant I JUST ONCE get a cheap hobby!!!???? ARGH! hehe

[+travis71]

Ok, the GPS definitely does NOT have the serial cable, bah! Anyone know if there is a cheaper alternative than the $35 cable thru Garmin? I know I can cache without it, but I would obviously rather have it than not, so I could load several things at once, without fearing making a mistake.

[+GPSlug]

You could see if someone in one of your local caching organizations (like here or here) has an extra cable. Lots of people have upgraded and have surplus B&W eTrex cables and are willing to give a deal to a newbie.

[+BlueDeuce]

Ok, the GPS definitely does NOT have the serial cable, bah! Anyone know if there is a cheaper alternative than the $35 cable thru Garmin? I know I can cache without it, but I would obviously rather have it than not, so I could load several things at once, without fearing making a mistake.

 

$25 at Walmart. And just so you know I absolutely love my Legend (Blue). If lost I'd replace it with the same model, no questions asked. Tried and true.

[+BlueDeuce]

I would only get the Garmin maps if the gps had autorouting. I wouldn't waste the money for a Legend B&W.

 

Depends.

 

If he already had a mapset the gps could find poi/addresses internally. If he already had a laptop+autorouting mapset he could do the nRoute thing.

 

I bought MGv6 for my b/w Legend and didn't feel cheated.

 

Yes, I was talking about using a $120 unlock code ($75 each additional) to upload maps to a 8mb non-autorouting non-color gps.

[+allory]

You can get a third party cable, or parts to make your own from http://www.pfranc.com/

 

I made my first cable from an old serial cable and a scrap of credit card weight plastic because I didn't want to wait for the parts to arrive.

[+travis71]

Well I just got some good news, my sister found the serial cable! Now I just have to get all this up & running, & hammer you all with questions about how to get caches in it!

[+travis71]

Also, for the Metroguides, I see different versions available to me... Whats the diff between say v4 & v7??? Will any work with the Legend?

[+allory]

Basically, v. 7 is approximately three years more current than v. 4. Of more interest to some is that v. 4 still supported auto-routing on receivers that do it and has a much better selection of dirt roads in my home area.

[+fratermus]

> Whats the diff between say v4 & v7???

 

The easy answer is "three versions". v4 will autoroute out of the box and so sells for more in the used market. Since the blue legend does not autoroute, this is moot point for you and the added cost (and older maps) buys you little except resale value.

 

> Will any work with the Legend?

 

I did note earlier in the thread that I was using MG on my legend. Many folks do, or use TOPO.

[+travis71]

> Whats the diff between say v4 & v7???

 

The easy answer is "three versions". v4 will autoroute out of the box and so sells for more in the used market. Since the blue legend does not autoroute, this is moot point for you and the added cost (and older maps) buys you little except resale value.

 

> Will any work with the Legend?

 

I did note earlier in the thread that I was using MG on my legend. Many folks do, or use TOPO.

 

Right, I know you said that v6 worked with your Legend, I was not sure if v7 would, since the hardware is older, & the software is more recent. I know that might seem like a stupid question, but I wanted to make sure before I paid for anything. To clarify for my own sake, the thing that made v4 a better product was the autorouting. Since I dont have that, I should get the most current, correct? Most of my caching (I believe) will be in state parks, on trails & the like... Is there one type of map that would be better suited for that sort of caching, or would any or none work as well?

 

Sorry for all the questions, & thanks for the help!

 

Trav

[+fratermus]

You're doing fine and asking the right questions.

 

All the MGs will work on your legend. You may be better off with one of the TOPO variants if you spend most of your GPS time in the woods/trails. I think there is a new one but I do not follow TOPO very closely.

[+PocketMutts]

I too am a newbie with a Legend... I have the serial cable, but when I try to use the "Send to GPS" link, I keep getting an error message:

 

Windows Error Code: 21 The device is not ready. Path: F:\Garmin/gpx/myData.gpx

 

I try it again after clicking on the COM port that it's plugged into (the garmin test site says it's working fine) but it's still a no-go.

 

I'm sorry to be such a goober, but I have no clue what I'm doing wrong! Any advice would be soooo helpful!!