Can I use a Tom Tom One

[Talosch]

I got a GPS system meant for road travel for Christmas but I've been wanting to try geocaching for quiite some time. Can I use a Tom Tom One unit somehow? Has anyone tried it?

[+mousekakat]

We use a TomTom One, but it's older. I think it depends on what edition you have.

 

If you can input the coordinates, then you should be able to use it. It takes a little more work than a handheld, that's for sure, but it'll let you at least give it a shot.

 

You enter the coordinates and go to where it tells you, park the car, then you go to map view and zoom in and you need to move the dot that says where you currently are to where the coords are. Then you just go from there.

 

Not terribly difficult or tricky to do, but it does take some getting used to. The TomTom One is our first GPSr and we've currently found 49 caches with it and plan to continue with it this summer.

 

Naomi

[+briansnat]

If you can enter coordinates you can use it. You will find that it's a very poor choice however. It's not designed for hand held use. It's not as durable as handheld units. It's not waterproof. The battery life is not sufficient and it's simply not physically designed to be held in the hand.

 

You're best off letting your Tom Tom guide you to parking and getting an inexpensive hand held to get you to the caches.

[+Marky]

I can enter coords on my TomTom, but it's not usable for geocaching, because the screen which displays to coords doesn't update often enough to make it useful. I've heard that there is a 3rd party plugin that works with some of the TomTom units (called Offroad Navigator) that will give you a compass screen and some other features. I've never tried this on my TomTom, I only use it for car nav.

 

--Marky

[+KI4AOA]

I bought one for my wife and have used it for routing me on the highway to get to the caches, as others have suggested.

 

This has been brought up before on the forums.

 

I would recommend the following site for the offroad navigator:

 

http://www.webazar.org/tomtom/offroad.php?lang=uk

 

I am using their "suntime" plugin. It is a shame that functionality was left out on our tomtom one.

 

Good luck. It seems that the tomtom has a really sensitive gps receiver.

[+Team CowboyPapa]

If you can enter coordinates you can use it. You will find that it's a very poor choice however. It's not designed for hand held use. It's not as durable as handheld units. It's not waterproof. The battery life is not sufficient and it's simply not physically designed to be held in the hand.

 

You're best off letting your Tom Tom guide you to parking and getting an inexpensive hand held to get you to the caches.

 

I agree with this and it goes both ways: trying to use an in-vehicle GPSr/NAV unit for outdoor use and trying to use an outdoor, handheld device for in-vehicle travel are just inferior alternatives. I have both a DeLorme PN-20 handheld GPSr for my geocaching and other back country activities in addition to an OEM, factory installed in-dash unit in my Jeep. I can honestly tell you that there is not a substantial overlap in functionality between the two.

[+KI4AOA]

Not sure the exact reason for the OP's question. However, not everyone has dispensable income for a pricey gps for geocaching. I personally think that one could get by with a tomtom and the offroad navigator for caching till money could be saved for a better gps.

 

Sometimes we have to use somewhat undesirable tools till we can get the nicer ones.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend that model for caching, but if it is a choice between using the tomtom or not caching, I would choose the tomtom!