+Terrier45 Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I am going to Ireland in February and have scouted a few caches near where I will be. Does anyone know if my garmin etrex will still give me long. and Lat in a foreign country. Not crazy about buying $300 worth of mapping software. Figure since most of these will be in urban areas I should not need it. Terrier45 Quote Link to comment
+Gushoneybun Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I am going to Ireland in February and have scouted a few caches near where I will be. Does anyone know if my garmin etrex will still give me long. and Lat in a foreign country. Not crazy about buying $300 worth of mapping software. Figure since most of these will be in urban areas I should not need it. Terrier45 If your GPSr can see the sky it will work anywhere on earth. The only extra cost you might need is a base map but thats not essential. Quote Link to comment
+hndlbr Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I cached in Scotland successfully. Quote Link to comment
+Ambrosia Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 You can use the basic maps for the country, but they can be pretty....basic. I guess it just depends on how good you are at getting lost. I personally like having the maps, but it's problably not worth the cost. You could still get around and get caches with what you have. Quote Link to comment
+wimseyguy Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Just remember that you will be drinking lots of great beer and whiskey, and then driving on the wrong side of the road! Better maps might help. Quote Link to comment
+hydnsek Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I am going to Ireland in February and have scouted a few caches near where I will be. Does anyone know if my garmin etrex will still give me long. and Lat in a foreign country. Not crazy about buying $300 worth of mapping software. Figure since most of these will be in urban areas I should not need it. Terrier45 If your GPSr can see the sky it will work anywhere on earth. The only extra cost you might need is a base map but thats not essential. What they said. The GPS satellites blanket the earth; latitude and longitude are a global grid; GPS units don't discriminate by country/hemisphere. I cached in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia last year without any problem. Didn't load any maps or anything, just the caches, and used local paper maps when helpful. Quote Link to comment
+GreenMountainTreasureHunters Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Buy paper maps so you don't get lost, and go have fun! Quote Link to comment
+Ambrosia Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Ugh. Paper maps? Those days are so behind me. Good riddance! Quote Link to comment
+Coach Steve Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I just got back from the Czech Republic, Vienna, Budapest, and all over Romania (not a cache rich country) and had no trouble at all. The only thing you have to do when you get there is let your GPS catch up to where you are. Sometimes takes a minute or two. The only place that restricts the use of GPS is Russia--I guess they are still paranoid. By the way--best place I went was Ceske Krumlov in Southern Czech Rep. Quote Link to comment
Tahosa and Sons Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 If you bring me back some good Irish Whiskey I'll give you the coords to some of my hardest caches. Slainte Gus Saol Agat!!! Quote Link to comment
+Ladybug Kids Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Check out the EBay auctions for Europe map software. I picked up Magellan's MapSend for Europe for about $35 and it was invaluable for navigating around the UK. Quote Link to comment
+weinema Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I am going to Ireland in February and have scouted a few caches near where I will be. Does anyone know if my garmin etrex will still give me long. and Lat in a foreign country. ... No! The GPS signal in Ireland is blocked by the NSA ;-) http://www.nsa.gov/ But have a lot of fun while drinking some great Balvenie whisky :-) Martin Quote Link to comment
+Robespierre Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 I am going to Ireland in February and have scouted a few caches near where I will be. Does anyone know if my garmin etrex will still give me long. and Lat in a foreign country. Not crazy about buying $300 worth of mapping software. Figure since most of these will be in urban areas I should not need it. Terrier45 If your GPSr can see the sky it will work anywhere on earth. The only extra cost you might need is a base map but thats not essential. I thought Irish gps's were whiskey powered. Quote Link to comment
+Team GeoBlast Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Ugh. Paper maps? Those days are so behind me. Good riddance! You do have to wonder if paper map makers are sweating this GPS thingy. Quote Link to comment
+THE_Chris Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Yeah it'll work but Ireland suffers from a dreadful lack of caches, so make sure you go to a part of the country where there are some! Quote Link to comment
+Jeep_Dog Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Yes, your GPSr will work fine. The only problem is that you may not understand the brogue on the screen, but hey - numbers are numbers. Quote Link to comment
+Blaidd-Drwg Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I managed to find three there about a year ago. It amazed me that I could take a bus tour all over Ireland and seldom stop nearer than 3 miles to a cache.. I used Mapsource European Metroguide maps in my Garmin GPSMap 60CSX. Ditto on what others are saying regarding the adult beverages. I really enjoyed the Smithwicks. I tried Guiness at the brewery and a couple of other locations, but I preferred the Smithwicks. I also tried Jameson at the distillery, but I'm not a big whiskey drinker. Quote Link to comment
+BigFurryMonster Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 Bringing a GPS is mandatory in Ireland. No one there ever bothered to come with a decent road sign policy, so half of the signs are in KM, half of them in Miles, and the other half is just plain missing. Yes - I know that doesn't add up, really, but you get the point. Quote Link to comment
Deceangi Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Pop in to geocachingireland you'll get loads of local advice there. You'll find a warm welcome Quote Link to comment
CacheNCarryMA Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Europe's First (GC43) geocache is fifteen miles south of Dublin. Will you be anywhere near there? Quote Link to comment
+Team Cotati Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 The GPSr will work fine on the majority of the earth's surface, likely the entirety of the surface but I have not indenpendently verified that. Have fun on your trip. Quote Link to comment
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