Magellan Maestro 3140

[dpupping]

Can the Magellan Maestro 3140 be used for geocaching?

 

If it can, what do I need to do?

[+StarBrand]

Not very well. That unit is really intended for street navigation.

 

Also not very rugged for trail use and short battery life.

 

Would be better off buying a rugged handheld unit for geocaching.

[dpupping]

Is there any way to enter gps coordinates vs an actual address in the Magellan 3140? I couldn't find anyway to do it. I like a lot of the features it has, and if there is any way I can make it work for geocaching, I would like to keep it.

[+briansnat]

You can probably make it work for geocaching, but as Starbrand mentioned it would be a very poor choice.

 

You're best off letting your Maestro guide you around town and getting an inexpensive handheld for geocaching.

[dpupping]

I understand the comments about the fact that the Magellan Maestro 3140 is far less than ideal for geocaching. Does anyone know if there is anyway for me to enter a waypoint on the 3140? I have not found a way to do it. Someday, maybe I can get a GPS more suited for geocaching, but for now I need to figure out how to enter the waypoint, if it can even be done.

 

Thank you for your comments.

[+Searching4Fun]

That is our primary system. Contact January14 he is an expert at loading th information into the Magellan. Its great except when you are in a very wooded area with no landmarks close by i.e. street, lake, or road. We use it more than the Garmin. It usually is very accurate.

[+january14]

Yes, it can be done. It works. But, you cannot enter a waypoint in the conventional sense.

 

With your unit should have come a CD. On the CD is the Installation files for Magellan POI File Editor. Install this software on every computer you are likely to use to input waypoints. If you have not already done so, buy a Memory Card (SD) for the slot, you will prefer to use the memory card to store the POI's.

 

Here are the steps you will use to create POI's.

 

1. Pick a cache you want to find from GC.Com

2. Using the coordinates you see for the cache, open Calculator on your computer.

3. The coordinates supplied for Geocaching.com are Degrees, minutes decimal. You will have to manually convert this to Degrees Decimal, for both the Lat and Lon. For instance, the listing will say 33 degrees 10.123 minutes. Take 10.123 on the calculator and divide it by 60. Round to the nearest 5 decimal places and add that to the degrees. You will end up with a number like... 33.01646. This is the number for POI editor.

4. Move to Magellan poi file editor, create a poi. Click the Plus Sign.

5. Enter the name of the cache, the Lat and Lon you found with calculator.

6. Pull the category to Drop down <New>. This will open another dialog box for Adding a Category.

7. Name the category whatever you want... I used Geocache.

8. Keep the image as the Purple Dot.

9. Leave the Display this category check box on.

10. I set Distance 1 to 100 feet.

11. I set distance 2 to 20 feet.

12. AND, Be sure you activate ALERTS for this category.

13. Click OK.

14. Be sure the Longitude is set for WEST as it defaults to East.

15. Click on OK.

16. You will notice you have created a Category on the left, and one POI in the middle part of the screen. You do not need to create a new category for every cache. So, all subsequent adds can be to this one category.

 

If you have the Magellan plugged into the USB port and turned on, when you SAVE, it will attempt to save it to the Card if you have one and the unit if you don't. I recommend the card.

 

When you are finished, unplug the USB without powering off the unit. Let it recycle, and then... Click on POI, selected a POI file, Select your file... This will "Activate" the file in the unit.

 

Search for nearest POI with the unit, select it and calculate the route. Go for it.

 

Once you discover the quirks of the unit (it will sometimes direct you to the closest place to a cache, but not necessarily to the best way to get the cache.) you will grow to enjoy using it. We kinda like it anyway. Plus we never accidentally miss caches if we are within 100 feet of it. It gongs at us.

 

You can circumvent a lot of this with GSAK, by the way, and a premium membership. The time I used to invest in loading one cache I can now load 100's at a time. Eventually, you will want a Palm (or pocket PC) and cachemate to go with it. We are nearly 100% paperless and don't miss but the hardest of finds.

 

As Searching4fun pointed out, if the cache is a distance from any roads, lakes, or identifying landmarks on the Unit, it can get you lost in a heartbeat. We always take a compass (or almost always), and the Garmin if we are going to be in serious isolation. Always carry a cell phone too, and never cache alone in the wilderness areas.

 

Don't trust your life to any electronic gizmo and you'll be fine.

[+jaxstraww]

Have you used Vantage software for cache input? I am a premium member and have GSAK. Is there an easier wawy than the directions you gave above for ntering caches on the 3140?