Found my first caches ...amd I'm hooked!

[+Kohavis]

My sister ("Dittersfeet" on geocaching.com) was recently visiting from out of state. My youngest son just got married and both sisters flew out for it.

 

My sister, Dittersfeet, is active in geocaching and she has described it to me in e-mails and on the phone. I started getting interested in July, and have posted here about GPSr units. I still don't have one, since I was waiting to see how I liked it when she came out for the wedding.

 

Well ....we went out last week and found four using her eTrex Legend. My first actual find was the first of a two-stage cache - a magnetic disc with the coordinates of the second. I was excited! Too bad the coordinates were smudged and we got the wrong numbers for the second and had to give up after 25 minutes.

 

But the other four caches that day were found with no problems aside from a little digging through a few bushes. One had a travel bug that came from Germany!! My sister took it back to Illinois to stash it in another cache there

 

I think it's a great hobby - a good, healthy one that offers plenty of exercise, fresh air, scenery, and a sense of adventure, not unlike the Easter egg hunt my dad used to provide for us kids.

 

As soon as I can find a good deal on a GPSr, I'll be joining the ranks and getting busy not only finding, but making up caches of my own.

 

I'm debating whether to go with a Legend like hers (I really liked it), or a Venture HC, which I think is a great value, and has a more sensitive receiver.

 

What a great activity!!!

Edited September 2, 2008 by Kohavis

[+Buggheart]

Welcome! Glad that you gave it a try and that you're hooked too. It's such a good time every time I go out. A little more frustrating when I cannot find the cache but always an adventure to be had and I figure I've only been doing this about a month so I'll only get better.

 

I have used the Legend and it was perfectly fine for me but I ended up taking it back and exchanging it for the Venture which I like better. The Legend had a serial port which required me to either climb under my computer desk (not gonna happen) or get an adapter for my laptop (couldn't find one) so I got the Venture which has a USB port. Plus the screen is color and much easier to see. They're both good, I just prefer the Venture mostly for the convenience of the cable. Oh, and it does seem to be more sensitive. With the Legend I never got satellites inside my house but I do with the Venture and it even worked inside of a parking garage yesterday.

 

I hope you can get back to the 2nd half of the one you didn't find one day soon.

[+briansnat]

I'm debating whether to go with a Legend like hers (I really liked it), or a Venture HC, which I think is a great value, and has a more sensitive receiver.

 

Absolutely get the Venture HC. It is far, far better than the Legend (if you mean the old, blue one) and doesn't cost much more. If you shop around you can find it for under $120.

 

The Legend was a good unit in its day, but its day was 8 years ago. It's been around that long with no changes technology has passed it by. I'm not sure why Garmin even sells it.

 

If you mean the Legend HCX, that is better than the Venture HC because it gives you expandable map memory and the capability for providing turn by turn driving directions.

 

I have used the Legend and it was perfectly fine for me but I ended up taking it back and exchanging it for the Venture which I like better. The Legend had a serial port which required me to either climb under my computer desk (not gonna happen) or get an adapter for my laptop (couldn't find one) so I got the Venture which has a USB port.

 

Careful because obviously you mean the Venture HCX, not the Venture. The Venture has a serial port like the Legend. Garmin has created a lot of confusion with their method of naming units and I know some people who purchased a Venture or Legend, thinking they were getting a Venture HC or Legend HCX.

Edited September 2, 2008 by briansnat

[+Kohavis]

The Legend had a serial port which required me to either climb under my computer desk (not gonna happen)

 

I ended up taking it back and exchanging it for the Venture which I like better

There is some confusion about model numbers, as briansnat pointed out here:

 

If you mean the Legend HCX

No, I mean the Legend. The old blue one with monochrome screen and serial port. They go for about $65 used on E-bay. Here's the Garmin product page on it:

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=173

 

It worked very well for us, and my sister even powered it up and acquired satellites from the inside of a moving car. I don't like the serial port, and it seems to be a bit dated. But it's a nice, inexpensive beginner's unit.

 

 

and here ...

 

Careful because obviously you mean the Venture HCX

No, I mean the Venture HC. The color screen, high-sensitivity yellow job without the microSD port. Here's the product page at Garmin's site:

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=8707

 

I don't need the card reader, and I'm primarily seriously considering the Venture HC because of the better receiver, and the color screen and larger internal memory is nice for downloading something like Topo US 2008 maps. I like the fact that if I get this one, I won't have to upgrade again quite as soon as if I get a model like the plain eTrex or the eTrex H, or even the Legend. I like the mapping and waypoint features.

[+briansnat]

I see you're in NM where you might not have to deal with a lot of heavy tree cover, so the Legend might be OK if you can find one cheap. But if you decided to buy maps for the unit later on, you won't get a lot of map coverage with a Legend. Also, if you do find yourself under trees you might find yourself wishing you had newer unit.

 

Finally, as you mentioned, the Legend uses a serial connection. If your PC doesn't have a serial port you'll need to buy a serial to USB adapter, which will run you around $30. Once you figure in that into the cost you are inching closer to the price of a Venture HC.

[+Kohavis]

You're right about that, in most places. The same with cloud cover, and there's about 1 mile less atmosphere between us and the satellites.

 

But just to the east of us is mountains, and on the other side is dense forest. I don't think I'll be going out that way after caches (there's about 500 caches within 7 miles or so of our house), but you never know. I'd hate to be limited. Especially when the price difference is so small.

 

I do have a serial port, but I'd much prefer USB and its speed over serial.

 

I think the Venture HC is becoming the obvious choice for me Thanks, briansnat

[Geo-Ninjas]

We just started outselves and what a great way to get out and spend time with the family. I am just figuring out some of the lingo like "Muggles, etc" but our whole family loves it.

 

I have a E-Trex right now, I dont like manually imputing the coords and am looking to upgrade to something I can connect to my computer.

 

Geo-Ninjas

[+Kohavis]

We just started outselves and what a great way to get out and spend time with the family. I am just figuring out some of the lingo like "Muggles, etc" but our whole family loves it.

 

I have a E-Trex right now, I dont like manually imputing the coords and am looking to upgrade to something I can connect to my computer.

 

Geo-Ninjas

It is great. What's amazing is how quickly time flies when you're out there hunting

[+mailgirl1978]

Welcome to the addiction!!!

 

I purchased my Venture HC off of amazon about a month ago for around a 113!!!

 

Good Luck!

[+Kohavis]

Welcome to the addiction!!!

 

I purchased my Venture HC off of amazon about a month ago for around a 113!!!

 

Good Luck!

Thanks mailgirl. That's a better deal than I got

[+Kohavis]

Well, I'm fully "armed" now. My Venture HC arrived today. What's amazing is that it acquires and is ready to go from inside the house. Even on the first floor with the second floor between it and the satellites. Comparing it to outdoors shows only a small drop in the sat signal strength. Wow! They're not kidding when they say "high sensitivity". After all I've read about having to be outdoors before you turn your unit on, it's nice having that much headroom in the receiver. I believe that thing may actually acquire a signal inside a copper-lined room

 

The unit is intuitive.Navigation is fast, and a particularly useful feature came built-in - waypoint averaging. You go to "Mark" in the menu, then waypoints. There's a button at the bottom of the new waypoint screen that says "Avg". Clicking on it starts the unit taking repeated measurements, doing the math to average it, and it shows a real-time indicator of the error. You can leave it on as long as you want and watch the error drop. When you're done, you hit "Save" and it stores the averaged waypoint. It's important to me because I'll be hiding 5 caches in the next few days and I want the coordinates EXACT. I don't want someone using bad numbers and having trouble finding my caches. That's not cool.

 

Another nice feature is the geocache mode. When you find one, it removes it from your list and enters the cache #, name, and date/time in the calendar in the unit. Sweet!

 

This Venture HC is amazing. What struck me is how small it is. It's about the same volume as a pack of cigarettes

 

I'm a very happy camper. I've been playing with waypoints and caches. I've downloaded several from this site, and I'm still learning the trip/waypoint manager.

 

I'm a happy camper