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Newbie assistance needed


theodellfamily

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Greeting from Minnesota,

 

My daughter found geocaching while in Las Vegas and came home just raving about it. Realized it was something the my wife and I would love to get involved with. But didnt have a GPS, not sure where to start, what we need to do, ( you know all the basic questions). Well to make a long story short, next Tuesday we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and as a gift I pick up a Garmin Legend. From what I have read it should do the trick to get us started atleast. I dont know anything about GPS and have read that I need to play with the buttons and learn the functions. I will be doing that tonight.

 

I guess here are my first few questions. I hope I am not a pest.

 

1. Do I need to buy a map source for my legend? Do I get the streets, trails, lakes? Not sure which is best for geocaching.

 

2. I see that geocaching.com has a couple of software packages available. Are they the same as maps? Are those the ones that I need to use to upload the locations to my GPS? Or are the map sources and those software packages the same?

 

My hope is to suprise my wife on Saturday afternoon with our first geocaching trip. I think we may go to one of the parks in the Minneapolis area. Looks like a lot of great caches out there.

 

Always looking for guidance and new friends so feel free to drop a note or a line anytime.

 

Dallas

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I know it is confusing but which model of the Legend do you have? Basic blue, "C", "CX", "HCX"?

 

You don't need any maps to go out. Don't need any software to find them. I found my first 50 or so with a basic blue etrex and no software. I just hand entered the coordinates and off I went. Downloading caches into the unit is sure a lot easier and nicer but not necessary.

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If you have a version that will let you load maps it does make things a lot easier when going to the cache area. I rediscovered this fact this week when I forgot to load maps for Tennessee. Here I am working in a new caching area and no maps. I am having to drive around trying to find the parking spots for these caches the old fashioned way and hoping that I don't get lost in the process. It is a good thing the company I work for is paying for my wasted gas.

 

:laughing:

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I guess here are my first few questions. I hope I am not a pest.

 

1. Do I need to buy a map source for my legend? Do I get the streets, trails, lakes? Not sure which is best for geocaching.

 

2. I see that geocaching.com has a couple of software packages available. Are they the same as maps? Are those the ones that I need to use to upload the locations to my GPS? Or are the map sources and those software packages the same?

 

My hope is to suprise my wife on Saturday afternoon with our first geocaching trip. I think we may go to one of the parks in the Minneapolis area. Looks like a lot of great caches out there.

 

Always looking for guidance and new friends so feel free to drop a note or a line anytime.

 

Dallas

 

Asking questions is not being a pest, it is the best way to learn information to make an informed decision or choice. Ask away!

 

The Legend came with a basic street map package in it, don't spend anymore until you decide what you need. If you will be hiking in unfamiliar terrain, a topo map may be handy, but what is there will do just fine. Zoom in and out with the top 2 buttons on left side.

 

Premium membership is a great thing if you and the wife decide caching is for you. It makes downloading multiple waypoints a breeze, and programs like GSAK and EasyGPS make loading the GPS with multiple coords fast, nor more button punching or joystick. For now, the joystick should suffice to key in 10 or so to find the first time out.

 

When deciding what caches to go after, remember they can be as small as a dime. To ensure success, when looking at nearby caches in the search results, look at the little scale to get an idea of size. Stay away from the little one on the far left. You can open the cache page and convert to print format, but to save paper and ink click the little arrow and kill the maps. Print four caches on each sheet, two per side by turning the page around and refeeding to the printer. Take the notes with hints, just in case. Keying by hand, it is possible to need to recheck your work.

 

Congrats on the anniversary. Wife and I just celebrated our 23rd, and we pray we never catch you two in the tally. Best of luck on the hunt and enjoy.

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