Garmin GPS 12 Users Unite.

[JPGoody]

Howdy,

 

I got hooked on Geocaching by introducing my summer school students to it. I would set up courses and caches on the weekend and let them loose in the fields and woods adjacent to the school. We all had tons of fun so I recently started getting into it in my free time.

 

I am using a GPS 12 by Garmin that was purchased in ~ 1996. Originally it was used for taggin fishing spots on the great lakes, and for marking buck rubs and scrapes in the woods of northern MI that we would run across whilst partridge hunting. I am having some accuracy difficulties, but enjoying wandering in the woods.

 

I was just curious if anyone out there is using obsolete equipment like me. I am routinely off by 60+ feet, but luckily I have patientce. My laptop doesn't even have a port that will connect to the interface cable. My GPS has Dos based software. My display is black and grey. My 10 oz unit is the size of zach morris's cell phone. However I will say my 12 year old Garmin is going strong.

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=87

 

Come on old school GPSers, check in and let your voices be heard.

 

Good Day

 

[+OzzieSan]

I was just curious if anyone out there is using obsolete equipment like me. I am routinely off by 60+ feet, but luckily I have patientce. My laptop doesn't even have a port that will connect to the interface cable. My GPS has Dos based software. My display is black and grey. My 10 oz unit is the size of zach morris's cell phone. However I will say my 12 year old Garmin is going strong.

 

Easy GPS, GeoBuddy, and GSAK will talk to the 12 (as will most others). I suspect your laptop has no serial port? Just get a USB-Serial cable and your good to go.

 

As for older gear, I have a III+ but it just hangs out in the computer room keeping our network time synced up.

[+briansnat]

The GPS 12 was a great unit in its day and it was still sold buy Garmin until fairly recently.

 

You should be getting better accuracy than 50 feet though. Maybe it's not your GPS, but the hider's.

 

 

Moving to the appropriate forum

[+Lt_Dusty]

Not a GPS 12, but here is my old unit. Also purchased in the mid 90's

 

[JPGoody]

Lt Dusty, nice antenna, reminds me of the arm on an old transformer toy

 

my least favorite feature of the "12" is only having 6 characters to name a waypoint

[RenHoek]

my least favorite feature of the "12" is only having 6 characters to name a waypoint

 

...ahh...good times...what GPS12 user hasn't scratched their heads for minutes trying to remember what MTSN54 really meant...at least there were several different icons available to help make it clear!

 

We were ahead of our times back then - nowadays EVERYBODY has a GPS stuck on their dash and they go on and on about their cool new tech gadget....

 

-RenHoek

GPS12 (circa 1996)

60CSx (2006)

??? (in another 10 years)

[+royta]

12CX user from Christmas 1999 to December 2004

 

60CS user from December 2004 to August 2008

 

60CSx user from August 2008 to present

 

 

I still have the 12CX, but am trying to sell the 60CS.

[+EraSeek]

Garmins all:

45xl still got, still worthless

12 still got and still love

map76 lost and still miss

60cx still got, still use, still love

[+Wadcutter]

Still use my 12MAP quite a bit. It works well and always takes me where I want to go. The downside is it does eat batteries, and 4 at time, quicker than my other GPSs. My newer GPSs don't do anything that my 12MAP does for me. Sure the newer ones have a few more bells and whistles but they're all fluff.

[+Dawgies]

Still have.....

 

12 (haven't turned on in years)

V (the kids use it when we're caching)

and

60csx (MINE)

 

Think I'll power the 12 up for old times sake!

[bpkemp]

I was looking for something to do with my two-year-old outside, close to home. Somehow I remembered geocaching. I have a Garmin GPS 12 that I bought sometime in the mid 90s, and I was briefly interested in geocaching a couple years ago. I asked him if he wanted to go "treasure hunting", and we fired up the GPS12 and headed for the nearest geocach (.06 miles from the driveway). We found it quickly and easily and now he frequently asks me to take him treasure hunting, but we've not had much success lately. I actually searched for GPS12 here to see if I need a different unit to get the accuracy required, and found this thread.

[+Wooden Cyclist]

I have been using my Blackberry Curve with Cacheberry since I started Geocaching 2 weeks ago and have logged 54 finds. My brother in law is sending me his old GPS12. Is there any value in adding the GPS12 to my Geocaching kit?

[+geojibby]

My 10 oz unit is the size of zach morris's cell phone.

 

Heheheeheheheeheh............. Awesome!

[+Airmapper]

I used a friend's 12 showing them about how to use GPS, but I admit I got annoyed with it bouncing around and loosing lock. I wish they would make modern unis as tough at the 12's. It's like a brick with a screen.

 

I keep a GPS72 in my glove box, never know when I may need to convey my position to someone, mark a spot, or anything. I don't usually take my new unit unless I intend to cache or need directions.

[+space_man]

Its not the 12 but i still got my magelan 315 in as new condition. Still works and very accurate if you stop for a min or two to let it avg the position...

 

Alex

[+mbharpman]

I got my GPS 12 from a catalog of gifts for 25 yrs with the company I work for.

Always being a gadget freak, I thought it was the coolest ever.

A coworker told me about "geocaching" and i got hooked.

I still have my "brick" and let my kids use it when we go out caching.

I also have a Legend C, a legend CX, and now a 60 CX.

[LilNick]

I was just curious if anyone out there is using obsolete equipment like me. I am routinely off by 60+ feet, but luckily I have patientce. My laptop doesn't even have a port that will connect to the interface cable. My GPS has Dos based software. My display is black and grey. My 10 oz unit is the size of zach morris's cell phone. However I will say my 12 year old Garmin is going strong.

 

Easy GPS, GeoBuddy, and GSAK will talk to the 12 (as will most others). I suspect your laptop has no serial port? Just get a USB-Serial cable and your good to go.

 

As for older gear, I have a III+ but it just hangs out in the computer room keeping our network time synced up.

 

Thanks for that, I am using a GPS12 and was looking for some way of managing the waypoints better. I had a a dabble a few years back but couldn't find anything which worked properly on the 12...

[+Labb]

Oh yes, my trusted 12CX came out of the closet two months ago because of geocaching.

Last time i used it must have been in the year 2000, doing the "rally of discovery" in Irland. Sort of a treasure hunt rally.

Today it lays on the table next to my new Oregon 300 just to keep it company.

Dont think i will get rid of it, maybe my 10year old nephew will borrow it. To bad they make them like this anymore (quality wise).

[Phlerb]

Until this spring, the GPS 12 MAP was my only geocaching GPS. I now have an iPhone that is not great either. The problem is that here in vermont all the caches are under dense tree cover. And Neither unit works well under the trees.

 

Using the iPhone I transfer the lat/log to the GPS x-motion application and cache the google earth map and use that to try to find GZ. So far it has been better than the geocache app by Groundspeak and better than the GPS 12 MAP.

[-=ken]

Uh, oh. I've been away from this past time while my toddlers have been growing up. My gps is a dinosaur now. When I started hunting caches the GPS12 was already outclassed in many ways but I bought it anyway because I wanted an inexpensive and tough GPS to play with. I found out about geocaching later and got into it soon after. I picked up a second 12 a year or two later when I got married and my wife and I went hunting geocaches together. That old GPS has never let me down, I'll say that. I used it just the other day and it lead me strait to the cache I was hunting. Certainly is was more accurate than my iPhone with the geocaching app. I do see some increase in EPE under heavy tree cover, but nothing that has kept me from finding what I sought. I flew with it on in a friend's airplane, and even though it was in my backpack, on the floor of the aluminum-roofed airplane, it still recorded a pretty good track of where we flew. I learned a lot about GPS units in general using the 12.

My method for using it goes like this: I input the cache coordinates by hand as a waypoint (I've used computer software with it, but usually don't bother) and then use the goto button. I use it as I drive toward the cache as a general guide that I am going in the right direction, because of course it has no map information. I carry it hiking toward the cache, using the compass pointer while I am in motion. Then when I am close, I let the gps settle for a minute or so, and then I use the bearing to the cache that the gps gives me, and I take a sighting with a compass I carry. I search along that bearing, making adjustments as I go. If the gps bearing becomes radically different (eps 180 degrees) I know I passed it and backtrack. Using that old gps with a regular silva compass works great for me. I'm about to introduce my oldest son to geocaching and we will use the same method. I think it will be a blast.

 

What I wish the 12 could do: read in 'feet' as I get close to what I am searching for, instead of hundredths of a mile. I might try searching in metric to see if I can at least get a reading in meters. I also wish the 12 could lock in on WAAS. Battery life is great, but it does take 4 batteries. Not a big deal to me, but the same battery life on two batteris would be nice. Really that's about it. I am looking for my next gps, and I will look for those added options. I'm not even sold on getting color because B&W is so easy and clear to read. I'm very interested in the etrex 10.

 

I'm mainly posting this in case someone finds themselves in possession of an old GPS 12, especially if they are new to geocahing. I know it is outclassed in many ways, but it is a great unit to start hunting geocaches with. It is rugged, water resistant, and accurate. Add a simple compass to your kit and you will find yourself zeroing in.

[sparksd]

Still have my 12XL and I'll hold onto it and my myriad external antennas for it for old time sake.

 

ah, the good old days of Selective Availability ...

 

Dave

[RamblinBear]

I fired up my Magellan 2000XL for the first time in months - 4 AA's, basic mono display, so Old-Skool! Reminded me of the times when I used to carry a small Perspex "graticule" which I could lay on my O.S. 1:25,000 maps to accurately read off grid references to input by hand into the Magellan - happy days. ;-)

[cathra]

i just pulled out my old GPS 12 to get my son into navigation and thought geo-doing would help. logged in here to see if anyone can help. i have maps on the PC which work well ans i can export to the gps 12 using a serial cable no problem. but when i click send to GPS on the cache screen it cant find the unit... help please. i know its an old unit but it works well and for what i want it to do there is no probleem apart from having to key in all the grid refs by hand......cheers in advance