European Caching with North American GPSr

[+Team Royal]

We plan on taking a trip to Italy next spring and of course want to grab a couple caches while there and maybe take along a couple travel bugs to drop. My question... Will my Magellan Explorist 500LE work in Europe? I will create the PQ's here before we leave and take the PDA with us with all the info. Bringing along the laptop may be a bit of an overkill. I would like to know if I will be buying a European model GPSr in Italy while I am there so I can geocache while there or is the 500LE gonna do it.

 

We already know that our Garmin Nuvi will have to be upgraded with a Eropean SD card if we decide to take it... but $200 for the SD card??? Gulp!

 

Thanks...

[+StarBrand]

Should work fine.

[Uberquandary]

My gpsr worked in France well enough. Why wouldn't it?

[+UncleJimbo]

We plan on taking a trip to Italy next spring and of course want to grab a couple caches while there and maybe take along a couple travel bugs to drop. My question... Will my Magellan Explorist 500LE work in Europe? I will create the PQ's here before we leave and take the PDA with us with all the info. Bringing along the laptop may be a bit of an overkill. I would like to know if I will be buying a European model GPSr in Italy while I am there so I can geocache while there or is the 500LE gonna do it.

 

We already know that our Garmin Nuvi will have to be upgraded with a Eropean SD card if we decide to take it... but $200 for the SD card??? Gulp!

 

Thanks...

 

It will work just fine in Europe. That is, it will find satellites and get you to coordinates. You only need to buy the maps if you want to see streets and roads on your GPSr (the same as in the US, where you don't really need to buy the maps for geocaching only).

[+Machuco]

I think the first letter in GPS stands for global.

[+Team Cotati]

We plan on taking a trip to Italy next spring and of course want to grab a couple caches while there and maybe take along a couple travel bugs to drop. My question... Will my Magellan Explorist 500LE work in Europe? I will create the PQ's here before we leave and take the PDA with us with all the info. Bringing along the laptop may be a bit of an overkill. I would like to know if I will be buying a European model GPSr in Italy while I am there so I can geocache while there or is the 500LE gonna do it.

 

We already know that our Garmin Nuvi will have to be upgraded with a Eropean SD card if we decide to take it... but $200 for the SD card??? Gulp!

 

Thanks...

 

I was just there in June. It was a really great trip too. I got the WorldWide Base maps off ebay and used it along with the European DirectRoute maps......totally sweet. Picked up three caches over there too.

 

One thing you might want to know, download about 10 times more caches than you think that you will actually hunt, especially if you are going to be moving about the country as we did. The amount of time that you realistically are going to be able to allocate to caching will be pretty small so you gots to get 'em where/when you can.

 

The Le will work sweetly, trust me. And if you pay more than 20 bucks for a 1GB SD chip.....you're getting ripped.

 

If you go to Venice, the gizmo is going to have trouble keeping a signal lock on those very narrow streets for sure. Otherwise you will want to load coords for your hotels and other points of interest.

 

Sit by a window on the plane and you can track your trip with the giz. Of course some of the airlines have spoiled it for us with those tracking maps in the TV screens.....dang it! ;-)

 

Forget the laptop. Dragging that thing all around Italy? No way. Unless you need it for critical business, forget it. They have Internet cafes all over the place.

 

Do lots of advance planning and have a great trip.

 

If going to Venice, I can recommend a really good restaurant there....locals only, not a single gringo when we were there.

 

Email me via my profile if you have questions that I might help you with.

 

Restaurant meals are unbelivably expensive. Plan on spending about double or more as to what you'd expect over here.

Edited September 26, 2007 by Team Cotati

[+Moose Mob]

I have found caches from Netherlands to Italy to the UK with North American basemaps and had no issues. Of course Moun10bike had the street routing which saved our butts.

[+Team Cotati]

I have found caches from Netherlands to Italy to the UK with North American basemaps and had no issues. Of course Moun10bike had the street routing which saved our butts.

 

Yes, and if all that you are going to do is track coordinates, that will work just fine. But that N.A. Basemap won't do you much good. Maybe Moun10 is available, never know....does ya.

[+Team Cotati]

Team Royal:

 

If I implied that Eu basemaps or DirectRoute maps or any other maps were somehow a requirement to find geocaches on the continent of Eurpoe....I sincerely appologize.

 

Have a wonderful trip!!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

We plan on taking a trip to Italy next spring and of course want to grab a couple caches while there and maybe take along a couple travel bugs to drop. My question... Will my Magellan Explorist 500LE work in Europe? I will create the PQ's here before we leave and take the PDA with us with all the info. Bringing along the laptop may be a bit of an overkill. I would like to know if I will be buying a European model GPSr in Italy while I am there so I can geocache while there or is the 500LE gonna do it.

 

We already know that our Garmin Nuvi will have to be upgraded with a Eropean SD card if we decide to take it... but $200 for the SD card??? Gulp!

 

Thanks...

Speaking from experience, I can tell you that North American-born GPSrs will not work effectively in Europe. Even if you download hundreds of neat Euro caches onto your GPSr in advance, once you turn it on in Europe and once it has gotten a satellite lock, it will exhibit a strong allergic reaction to the Euro caches and you will actually be able to watch the internal antibodies of the GPSr pushing each cache icon right off the edge of the screen into oblivion. It is tragic, but true.

 

Sad.

[+wimseyguy]

The hardest part about finding caches in Europe is learning to think in metric distances, and not in feet, as that is what will show on your readout. Other than that, your unit should work just fine over there.

[+geospyder]

GPS units will be no problem. The problem I've run across is the translation of non-English cache pages. This can make for some real interesting reading (and unintentional side trips) if translated incorrectly

 

Something else to consider when loading the caches to your PDA, presuming your PDA is a basic one that does not allow pictures, a lot of caches in Europe, at least Northern Europe, reply on pictures as hints. Be sure to filter those caches out before your final load or print the actual page on paper.

Edited September 26, 2007 by geospyder

[+Team Cotati]

I meant to tell you that too. During your preparations for hunting caches in Italy, make sure that you delete all of the ones that you downloaded that are in Northern Europe.

 

That didn't use to be a problem until someone figured out that Italy was not in Northern Europe. The light bulb slowly flickered on.

Edited September 26, 2007 by Team Cotati

[+Ladybug Kids]

My Magellan SporTrak worked fine in the UK in March. I picked up a copy of Magellan Streets Europe off EBay, ran several caches along a route PQs, and loaded the caches into my GPS and PDA. Once on the ground at London Gatwick, I reinitialized the GPS to help it find the satellites more quickly, and had my first cache in hand fifteen minutes after leaving the rental car parking lot. Found a total of 51 caches in between business meetings and while on a driving tour. It was a great way to learn some local history I otherwise wouldn't have learned.

 

Another thing I did in advance of the trip is I posted a note to the regional forum saying I was coming over and describing the type of caches I was looking for (rural rather than urban). I got help from a couple of cachers including trail maps that were invaluable for walking around the countryside.

 

Have a great trip!

[Suscrofa]

The hardest part about finding caches in Europe is learning to think in metric distances, and not in feet, as that is what will show on your readout. Other than that, your unit should work just fine over there.

 

Comm'on, it takes ten minutes to learn metric and so far I have never met one American or Brits who can really use inch, feet, ounce etc... (And I have been living in the US for 5 years and have US family)

 

Crossing 1/4 mile ahead, how many feet ? 1/10 mile ?

 

how many feet is: 1/4 miles plus 18 yards and 3 feet ?

 

A 10% slope, how many feet per mile ?

Edited September 26, 2007 by Suscrofa

[+scottpa100]

The hardest part about finding caches in Europe is learning to think in metric distances, and not in feet, as that is what will show on your readout. Other than that, your unit should work just fine over there.

 

It depends on what the preferences are on your unit not where you are. I live in the UK and my unit can be configured for either feet or metres. My Dad prefers to use feet, I prefer to use metres so I do flick between the two.

[+Dave_W6DPS]

I found caches in the UK from London to Bath, as well as on the continent from France to Austria, via Germany.

 

You probably want to disable WAAS, since it will not help in Europe.

 

Dave_W6DPS

[+Dave_W6DPS]

I found caches in the UK from London to Bath, as well as on the continent from France to Austria, via Germany.

 

You probably want to disable WAAS, since it will not help in Europe.

 

Dave_W6DPS

[nobby.nobbs]

If you get really lucky your tour will include some of the really modern towns with running water and electricity it'll never last.

 

decide where you want to go and then post in that regions forums, i'm sure we'll take pity on you poor colonials and give you a few pointers as to good places to go

[ljay]

The GPS works fine.

I bought mine in the UK (Magellan Explorist 100) and when we were in the states in February my Dad bought the Explorist 210. Granted that it came with Us maps on it which we just deleted when we came home.

WAAS does work in Europe and has done for the last number of years. (remember there are US airbases in uk, Germany and Italy)

Instead of buying the Euro Maps just rent a Road Based Sat Nav from your hire car company and use the mapless GPS for the finds. (unless of course you are likely to use the maps again)

 

Happy Caching

Ljay

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

Yes, the GPSr will work just fine. You can get the Mapsend Direct Route Europe from Magellan but, in my opinion, it ain't worth $5. It's too outdated. It's an upgrade from the european base map.

 

And finally, WAAS does work in Europe.

[+wimseyguy]

The hardest part about finding caches in Europe is learning to think in metric distances, and not in feet, as that is what will show on your readout. Other than that, your unit should work just fine over there.

 

It depends on what the preferences are on your unit not where you are. I live in the UK and my unit can be configured for either feet or metres. My Dad prefers to use feet, I prefer to use metres so I do flick between the two.

 

Oh dear, did I forget to set the sarcasm smiley on my post again?

 

Now let's see, which one was it? ..eh take your pick.

[+StarBrand]

The hardest part about finding caches in Europe is learning to think in metric distances, and not in feet, as that is what will show on your readout. Other than that, your unit should work just fine over there.

 

It depends on what the preferences are on your unit not where you are. I live in the UK and my unit can be configured for either feet or metres. My Dad prefers to use feet, I prefer to use metres so I do flick between the two.

WOW - taking things a bit too seriously in here................

 

(humor people - humor)

[+sTeamTraen]

WAAS does work in Europe and has done for the last number of years. (remember there are US airbases in uk, Germany and Italy)

 

The two are not related. The WAAS functionality on your GPSr is in fact a misnomer: WAAS is the North American implementation of Differential GPS technology, and there's a European version called EGNOS. If you can get a "WAAS" signal in Europe (you usually can these days), it's coming from a strictly European bolt-on to the basic American GPS system. I'm sure the US base people are grateful, but for once they're getting something back from the European taxpayers (I guess it's a fair exchange for GPS and the Internet).

[+Team Cotati]

Yes, the GPSr will work just fine. You can get the Mapsend Direct Route Europe from Magellan but, in my opinion, it ain't worth $5. It's too outdated. It's an upgrade from the european base map.

 

And finally, WAAS does work in Europe.

 

I can tell you that in June of this year, the Base and DR maps that I used in Italy were very accurate. By what measure did you determine that the maps are "outdated"?

 

I don't believe that you can turn-by-turn using only the basemaps. This is a puzzlement.

 

Every single DR route that we used brought us to the intended destination. That was good enough for us, especially being in unfamiliar territority.

 

And trust me, you do not need to go to Magellan to get the maps. This I know from direct experience.

Edited September 26, 2007 by Team Cotati

[+Team Cotati]

The hardest part about finding caches in Europe is learning to think in metric distances, and not in feet, as that is what will show on your readout. Other than that, your unit should work just fine over there.

 

It depends on what the preferences are on your unit not where you are. I live in the UK and my unit can be configured for either feet or metres. My Dad prefers to use feet, I prefer to use metres so I do flick between the two.

WOW - taking things a bit too seriously in here................

 

(humor people - humor)

 

You think THIS is too serious? I don't supppose that you looked at the thread regarding the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain..................did you? WOW!!! That one was scary even.

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

I can tell you that in June of this year, the Base and DR maps that I used in Italy were very accurate. By what measure did you determine that the maps are "outdated"?

 

I don't believe that you can turn-by-turn using only the basemaps. This is a puzzlement.

 

Every single DR route that we used brought us to the intended destination. That was good enough for us, especially being in unfamiliar territority.

 

And trust me, you do not need to go to Magellan to get the maps. This I know from direct experience.

 

As for Portugal and Spain, the maps on Directroute Europe v2c (the latest!) are poor. As you can see from here, the maps are from 2004. We've used them also in France, where it sent us in some wrong ways.

Of course, they can get you where you want, even if you go by the old road, or even lead to some dirt road thinking it's a nice paved one...

 

I personally think that it's a non-sense selling those maps at that price that are from 2004 (or earlier!). Just to give you an example, there's no road at all of DR Europe for the Czech Republic - we'll be visiting next week.

 

I know they're available... somewhere.

 

That's why we have a TomTom unit for auto navigation, updated every 6 months or less.

[+Team Cotati]

I can tell you that in June of this year, the Base and DR maps that I used in Italy were very accurate. By what measure did you determine that the maps are "outdated"?

 

I don't believe that you can turn-by-turn using only the basemaps. This is a puzzlement.

 

Every single DR route that we used brought us to the intended destination. That was good enough for us, especially being in unfamiliar territority.

 

And trust me, you do not need to go to Magellan to get the maps. This I know from direct experience.

 

As for Portugal and Spain, the maps on Directroute Europe v2c (the latest!) are poor. As you can see from here, the maps are from 2004. We've used them also in France, where it sent us in some wrong ways.

Of course, they can get you where you want, even if you go by the old road, or even lead to some dirt road thinking it's a nice paved one...

 

I personally think that it's a non-sense selling those maps at that price that are from 2004 (or earlier!). Just to give you an example, there's no road at all of DR Europe for the Czech Republic - we'll be visiting next week.

 

I know they're available... somewhere.

 

That's why we have a TomTom unit for auto navigation, updated every 6 months or less.

 

And you know what? That exact same thing happens right here in the good ole U.S. of A. It is no big deal.

 

There as here, you ought not to throw common sense out the door just because you have a GPSr in your hand. Even the in-car units have this occur ever once in a while.

Edited September 27, 2007 by Team Cotati

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

And you know what? That exact same thing happens right here in the good ole U.S. of A. It is no big deal.

 

There as here, you ought not to throw common sense out the door just because toy have a GPSr in your hand. Even the in-car units have this occur ever once in a while.

 

Actually, that only happens with Magellan. Garmin, Tomtom, Route66 and others have better mapping support than Magellan. They're constantly updating.

 

At least they are coherent. They don't update often anywhere in the world.

 

And yes, I have a Magellan unit.

[+Team Cotati]

And you know what? That exact same thing happens right here in the good ole U.S. of A. It is no big deal.

 

There as here, you ought not to throw common sense out the door just because toy have a GPSr in your hand. Even the in-car units have this occur ever once in a while.

 

Actually, that only happens with Magellan. Garmin, Tomtom, Route66 and others have better mapping support than Magellan. They're constantly updating.

 

At least they are coherent. They don't update often anywhere in the world.

 

And yes, I have a Magellan unit.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.