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Using GPS overseas


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We have just got a Garmin Etrex and still have our L plates on with the whole geocaching thing.

About to travel OS and wonder if we can take GPS with us and just turn on and use. We live in Australia and will travel in Europe, UK and USA.

Is it a simple matter of turning it on and entering waypoints? Or does it have to be reset or something for Northern Hemisphere.

:D

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We have just got a Garmin Etrex and still have our L plates on with the whole geocaching thing.

About to travel OS and wonder if we can take GPS with us and just turn on and use. We live in Australia and will travel in Europe, UK and USA.

Is it a simple matter of turning it on and entering waypoints? Or does it have to be reset or something for Northern Hemisphere.

:D

 

It should work fine, as far as I'm aware. Our GPSr was bought online in the US and then shipped to us here in the UK and it fired straight up.

 

I think that there is a menu somewhere that allows you to tell the GPS where it is (ie select the default country/region) so that it takes less time to locate itself and doesn't mess around looking for the wrong satellites.

 

Edited in the hope that one day I will learn to spell....

Edited by Von-Horst
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When you get to your destination you will need to do one of two things . . .

 

1. Turn your GPSr on and set it out where it has a clear view of the sky. It may take 1/2 hour or more for it to locate itself. Then you'll be up and running.

 

2. When the satellite screen comes up, cursor over to the sub-menu in the top right corner. (There's two menus in the top right corner - one cycles you through the various pages; the one just to the left of that enters your sub-menu.) Selections are something like 'Continue searching', 'Turn GPS off', 'Choose new location. Use the choose new location selection to find your new location in the world. You can use the 'Zoom In' button (second button from the top, on the left side) to get reasonable close to your new location.

 

The second choice should get you up and running sooner.

 

Have fun!

 

Cache On!

 

JohnTee

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O.P. mentioned having a Garmin eTrex . . . unless it's the new eTrex H, I suspect he'll need a littler longer than 60 seconds. Now, my new Vista HCx . . . WOW. First time I turn it on in a new area (haven't traveled more than a hundred miles from home with it yet) and it's up and locked with a position in about 35 seconds. Turn it off and back on in the same area and it may be up and locked in about 5 seconds!

 

JohnTee

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If we had an actual GPS, you would be talking about a satellite.

 

They are much harder to carry around in the woods.

To split hairs, the "S" stands for "System". That, I believe, includes the whole set of satellites, plus the various ground stations and other infrastructure. Even harder to carry around in the woods :D
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Not to pick on tabulator at all... but I kind of find it a little silly to add the "r" all the time in forums, frankly.

 

I mean, when you're speaking about Geocaching, do you actually say the "r" when you're talking about your GPS unit? I've never heard anyone do that, ever. If I'm going caching, I'm going to grab my "GPS" and go. I don't think too many people get confused and think that I'm going to board the space shuttle when I talk about using my GPS.

 

This is coming from someone who has been known to be fairly anal-retentive on a lot of issues, but I can't bring myself to be a GPSr owner.

 

The "r" stands for receiver.

 

We all use GPS receivers to geocache.

 

If we had an actual GPS, you would be talking about a satellite.

 

They are much harder to carry around in the woods.

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This may be a stupid question but why oh why can GPS's not determine their own time zones? I keep hearing about folks adjusting time zones and stuff. It just sounds goofy. Whats the scoop? Sorry to turn this in to a GPS newb thread...

 

Oh and as for the Aussies visiting the US, COOL what are you guys visiting? And can you bring some Kookaburras with you please? :(

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I live in Texas and took my GPSMAP 60csx to Europe and there were no problems. I used it in Italy, France, England, Scotland, and Ireland. I used the tracking feature mostly. I'm not sure about your model but I never had to reset any information.

 

We have just got a Garmin Etrex and still have our L plates on with the whole geocaching thing.

About to travel OS and wonder if we can take GPS with us and just turn on and use. We live in Australia and will travel in Europe, UK and USA.

Is it a simple matter of turning it on and entering waypoints? Or does it have to be reset or something for Northern Hemisphere.

:laughing:

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I doubt that any of the newer GPS units will take 30 minutes to find themselves anywhere on the planet. My old Garmin 45 did take maybe 20 minutes when I first initialized it after buying it "used" from somebody in the U.S. But, the Garmin 45 locked on to satelites via 8 sequential channels not 12 to 16 parallel channels on more recent GPS units.

 

My Lowrance IFinder Pro has the basemap of the whole planet. However, the basemap of the U.S. has more detail. Since I live in Quebec, Canada, I have a Freedom Map (topographical map of Quebec) on an SD card.

 

I bought my IFinder from a person who lives about 500 miles away from me. The IFinder found itself within 2 minutes when I first turned it on. However, if I do need to speed up the initialization process, I can choose the country of my choice before initialization. I can also change the language used on the device.

 

What makes me wonder is why the Lowrance GPS units are not as popular as the Garmin units? Even on Ebay, the Lowrance handheld GPS units are rare when compared to the Garmin units.

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don't take them to russia, if you didn't know they are illegal there.

 

And CUBA...

 

May want to be cautious about taking to any other country (particularly third world countries) as some other countries consider GPSr's "military equipment" and don't take too highly to foreigners importing "military equipment."

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This summer I traveled from the US to Switzerland (six time zones) and my GPSr (a Garmin 60CSX) took all of 60 seconds to get a satellite fix.

 

The one thing that needs adjusting is the time zone, if you care about times.

 

Of course, you may want maps of the areas you visit :D

 

I am traveling to switzerland in September and was wondering which map I should get for my Garming Oregon 450. Where would I buy the map as well?

 

Thanks

 

Danthegeocacheman

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