Magellan Meridian Gold

[+geotronics]

I have a Magellan Meridian Gold GPS and am very new at geocachig. I would like to know if anyone is useing this unit and if it works well for caching. Can you download waypoints from geocaching.com to this unit and what do I need to kmow to get the most out of this unit if possible. Maybe a website dedicated to this GPS unit and geocaching or someone willing to help a new geocacher in the learning curve.

 

Thanks

Edited April 15, 2008 by te-ama

[+IVxIV]

Hi & welcome to Geocaching

 

Yep the MeriGold will work fine for this sport/hobby/obsession do you have the data cable that came with the GPSr? If so you can create pocket queries and download cache locations directly into the unit.

 

Let us know if you have any questions!

[+L Frank]

I have a Magellan Meridian Gold GPS and am very new at geocachig. I would like to know if anyone is useing this unit and if it works well for caching. Can you download waypoints from geocaching.com to this unit and what do I need to kmow to get the most out of this unit if possible. Maybe a website dedicated to this GPS unit and geocaching or someone willing to help a new geacacher in the learning curve.

 

Thanks

 

Hi te-ama, welcome to the forums!

 

We have a Meridian Gold that we use for geocaching, and we are very happy with it. In order to download waypoints, you will need to have a premium geocaching.com membership so that you can request pocket queries. You will also need software that will take your pocket query and load waypoints onto your Magellan. We use GSAK, which is available for $20 and includes many, many other useful features.

 

We also have street maps loaded onto our Magellan, so that we can follow a street route to the cache site. Then we switch to point-to-point once we are on foot. The primary navigation screens we use when doing point-to-point are the map screen, and we have customized one of our other screens to show distance in feet and direction. The direction field tells you whether to turn left or right, and how many degrees to turn.

 

The Meridian Gold is very accurate, but it can take a few minutes for it to complete its averaging process and pinpoint Ground Zero. If you're looking for a large container, this is not a problem, but if you are looking for a micro, you may have to let it settle down for a few minutes.

 

L Frank

St. Louis, MO

[+geotronics]

Thank you so much for your quick response. I do have a PC cable for my unit and have purchased GSAK and joined geocaching.com. I seem to get confused when I look at a location on geocaching.com and it has for sample a Cord of N34 59.585 and W 082 09.585 when I look at the Magellan, I don't see a place for the last digits. I think it has something to do with Degrees/MM/SEC and Degrees MM/MMM I am not sure and not sure how to set up the magellan to match, and maybe I don't need to. I am way lost on this issue.

 

Thanks again

 

Hi te-ama, welcome to the forums!

 

We have a Meridian Gold that we use for geocaching, and we are very happy with it. In order to download waypoints, you will need to have a premium geocaching.com membership so that you can request pocket queries. You will also need software that will take your pocket query and load waypoints onto your Magellan. We use GSAK, which is available for $20 and includes many, many other useful features.

 

We also have street maps loaded onto our Magellan, so that we can follow a street route to the cache site. Then we switch to point-to-point once we are on foot. The primary navigation screens we use when doing point-to-point are the map screen, and we have customized one of our other screens to show distance in feet and direction. The direction field tells you whether to turn left or right, and how many degrees to turn.

 

The Meridian Gold is very accurate, but it can take a few minutes for it to complete its averaging process and pinpoint Ground Zero. If you're looking for a large container, this is not a problem, but if you are looking for a micro, you may have to let it settle down for a few minutes.

 

L Frank

St. Louis, MO

Edited April 15, 2008 by te-ama

[+geotronics]

Thank you so much for your quick response. I do have a PC cable for my unit and have purchased GSAK and joined geocaching.com. I seem to get confused when I look at a location on geocaching.com and it has for sample a Cord of N34 59.585 and W 082 09.585 when I look at the Magellan, I don't see a place for the last digits. I think it has something to do with Degrees/MM/SEC and Degrees MM/MMM I am not sure and not sure how to set up the magellan to match, and maybe I don't need to. I am way lost on this issue.

 

Thanks again

[+IVxIV]

Yes you will definitely want to adjust your GPSr so it's shows coordinates in the same format as Geocaching does. Also you'll want to verify your "datum" is set correctly to WGS84. Do you have an owners manual for your GPS?

[+L Frank]

Thank you so much for your quick response. I do have a PC cable for my unit and have purchased GSAK and joined geocaching.com. I seem to get confused when I look at a location on geocaching.com and it has for sample a Cord of N34 59.585 and W 082 09.585 when I look at the Magellan, I don't see a place for the last digits. I think it has something to do with Degrees/MM/SEC and Degrees MM/MMM I am not sure and not sure how to set up the magellan to match, and maybe I don't need to. I am way lost on this issue.

 

Thanks again

 

An online User Manual for the Magellan Meridian series is located here http://www.magellangps.com/assets/manuals/...n_series_en.pdf

 

See page 60, "Selecting the Coordinate System."

[Pinon]

I too have a Meridian Gold. It is a great unit. I have used it in Arizona for many hikes. I still use it as a backup unit. I just recently purchased a Garmin Venture HC. Another great unit. I love it. Small...compact and COLOR. It obtains sats really fast, and hangs on to them under dense cover. My Maggie did well in this area too.

Hang on to the Maggie...it's a very good unit.