garmin nuvi

[midrew]

I'm new to this game and i was wondering i just bought a garmin nuvi 750 gps how accurate are these and are the hand held gps's better? and roughly what is the circumference of each coordinates

[+Ducky]

Hi midrew

 

I own a Nuvi 760 and have tried it geocaching. The only reason I found the caches was the hint! It's not so much the accuracy that's the problem, it's the fact you don't have a proper compass screen on the Nuvi and as far as I'm concerned the Nuvi is only good for getting you to the parking lot. From there you should use a proper outdoor GPS(it's built to take the outdoors, the nuvi isn't) to find the cache. I use a 60Cx for this purpose. Hope this helps and happy caching

 

Oh ya and if you bump up to a premium membership you can use PQ's, GSAK and pilotsnipes pages for paperless caching

Edited November 1, 2008 by Ducky

[+JestrRulz]

I used my Garmin Nuvi for several weeks before buying a handheld. I still use the Nuvi as well when there is a friend with me who doesn't have a GPS.

 

I'm new to this game and i was wondering i just bought a garmin nuvi 750 gps how accurate are these and are the hand held gps's better? and roughly what is the circumference of each coordinates

[+2Hams]

I have good luck using the nuvi as long as I now where north is and use the satliete screen . Guess I need to get a compas. Love the paperless and tour guide part when traveling on long trips. Have dropped it a couple of times... big husband screaming like a girl when out of the cache sprang a big big spider. It was fake..... Not sure it is going to work for the mountian /hiking caches here in the west.

[+Chrysalides]

I'm new to this game and i was wondering i just bought a garmin nuvi 750 gps how accurate are these and are the hand held gps's better? and roughly what is the circumference of each coordinates

 

I have a Nuvi, and used it to find my first 10 or so caches. It takes a little used to, and without a compass I was initially wandering around like a drunk trying to find ground zero.

 

I bought a Garmin eTrex Venture HC because it was (relatively) inexpensive and much more rugged than the Nuvi. The "compass" is useful if you're far away, not quite so useful when you're closer. But the distance gauge is very useful. It's also a lot easier to hold in the hand, fits more comfortably into the pocket, and you can pretend it is a cell phone when someone looks at you curiously.

 

But the Nuvi is also great for geocaching. Read this :

 

http://pilotsnipes.googlepages.com/index.html

 

Load a few thousand geocaches into your Nuvi, together with full description, hints, and logs. Paperless caching is fantastic, and proximity alert is just icing on the cake. Only thing it does not have are images which are necessary for some puzzle caches, so I recommend filtering those out.

 

The only downside - the ping of the proximity alert when you're driving can be very distracting. You can disable proximity alerts, of course. But what's the fun in that

[+briansnat]

You can find geocaches with a Nuvi, just like you can play tennis with a baseball bat. It will get the job done, but there are better tools. For geocaching a handheld unit is a far better tool. Most handhelds are waterproof and rugged, a Nuvi is not. Most handhelds have pretty long battery life, a Nuvi does not. Most handhelds have a compass screen, a Nuvi doesn't. Handhelds are physically designed to be held in the hand, a Nuvi is not.

 

If you are into the type caching where you just flitting between parking lots and guard rails, a Nuvi will work just fine, but if you are getting off the beaten path a Nuvi is a poor choice for geocaching.

 

You are best off getting an inexpensive handheld like a Garmin Venture HC and letting the Nuvi get you to parking.

[+Woodstramp]

You can use the Nuvi but not on all caches. I used mine to find one last night. (Almost got two with it, but I think the second hide had a missing container.) It was a lampskirt micro cache I found in a large parking lot. Just zoomed the map in to the max and watched both icons (car and cache) until they merged.

 

I noticed that the Nuvi likes to "stick" to roads sometimes and will still show you're on a road even though you're not. It won't "unstick" until you get a good bit off the road. That one I found was about 200' from the main road. The others I've used the Nuvi on successfully were right next to the road or at least 100' off the road.

[+Tobias & Petronella]

I have a 255w nuvi and even though I am still just starting out, it has worked very well for me so far. As of last night I have used it to find 58 caches. I've done Parking lots, guard rails and even the scary woods.

 

For me I like it becaues I load in the cords and it takes me very close to the area. I then unplug it, change the route preference to "Off Road", have it on "Track Up" for Map view and walk the rest of the way using the icon on the screen to guide me. When I get very close then I might change it over to the satellite screen that shows Longitude and Latitude to get me right to GZ. This unit has a compass, but unless I'm doing a puzzle cache I would never need it. If it I go caching in the rain (like I did two nights ago in a rain storm) I just up it in a zip lock plastic bag.

 

The only down side is the battery life. This one will last only about 3 - 3 1/2 hours. But once I get back to the car I just plug it back in to the lighter and it's recharging as I drive to the next cache.

 

Tobias

[+scubafrog]

I have a Nuvi 760 that I started out with. Found about 10 caches with it with info from the cache pages. Then I bought my handheld and it is far better to use. I do however have my Nuvi loaded up with GSAK and the pilotsnipes stuff for paperless. I usually use my handheld with my ipod for most, but my wife is now addicted and sometimes has my handheld with her. I then use my Nuvi set up with custom POI's and I have the cache page info right at my fingertips and It does okay. You can get to the satellite page on the nuvi not too terribly difficult and it will get you in a little closer. You definitely want to make sure you set it to pedestrian and off-road or it will only get you as far as the street.

[+scubafrog]

Duplicate sorry

Edited November 3, 2008 by scubafrog

[+scubafrog]

Duplicate sorry

Edited November 3, 2008 by scubafrog

[+wickedann]

I've used my Nuvi 750 exculsively since February 2008, finding over 200 caches. Caches in the deep woods are unreachable due to the short battery life, so I'm considering buying a handheld unit. Depending on where you are located (urban v. rural) and what you are interested in caching for (near to road v. deep woods), the Nuvi with the paperless caching will get you started without spending another $200 on a handheld. If you are still interested after a couple hundred, and want to reach those out-of-the-way caches, then you could get a handheld unit.

 

Happy caching!

[+Wii Two]

I'm new to this game and i was wondering i just bought a garmin nuvi 750 gps how accurate are these and are the hand held gps's better? and roughly what is the circumference of each coordinates

 

I have a Nuvi, and used it to find my first 10 or so caches. It takes a little used to, and without a compass I was initially wandering around like a drunk trying to find ground zero.

 

I bought a Garmin eTrex Venture HC because it was (relatively) inexpensive and much more rugged than the Nuvi. The "compass" is useful if you're far away, not quite so useful when you're closer. But the distance gauge is very useful. It's also a lot easier to hold in the hand, fits more comfortably into the pocket, and you can pretend it is a cell phone when someone looks at you curiously.

 

But the Nuvi is also great for geocaching. Read this :

 

http://pilotsnipes.googlepages.com/index.html

 

Load a few thousand geocaches into your Nuvi, together with full description, hints, and logs. Paperless caching is fantastic, and proximity alert is just icing on the cake. Only thing it does not have are images which are necessary for some puzzle caches, so I recommend filtering those out.

 

The only downside - the ping of the proximity alert when you're driving can be very distracting. You can disable proximity alerts, of course. But what's the fun in that

 

Is your link the best way to load mutiple caches to a Nuvi 500 at the same time? I bought a Nuvi 500 to use in car and Geocache. It works fine so far, however, I wanted to find an easy why to load multiple cache sight onto the Nuvi instead of one at a time. Please advise.

[+wickedann]

 

Is your link the best way to load mutiple caches to a Nuvi 500 at the same time? I bought a Nuvi 500 to use in car and Geocache. It works fine so far, however, I wanted to find an easy why to load multiple cache sight onto the Nuvi instead of one at a time. Please advise.

 

affiatati7 -

 

You will need:

>GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)

>Geocaching.com preimum membership

 

The pilotsnipes macro runs in GSAK to load custom points of interest (POIs) onto the Nuvi series.

 

Pretty much explains how to at the website mentioned. I'm not a tech geek, but I figured it out and have had it running for several months. Paperless is just so cool!

 

Happy caching!

[+Wii Two]

I'm new to this game and i was wondering i just bought a garmin nuvi 750 gps how accurate are these and are the hand held gps's better? and roughly what is the circumference of each coordinates

 

I have a Nuvi, and used it to find my first 10 or so caches. It takes a little used to, and without a compass I was initially wandering around like a drunk trying to find ground zero.

 

I bought a Garmin eTrex Venture HC because it was (relatively) inexpensive and much more rugged than the Nuvi. The "compass" is useful if you're far away, not quite so useful when you're closer. But the distance gauge is very useful. It's also a lot easier to hold in the hand, fits more comfortably into the pocket, and you can pretend it is a cell phone when someone looks at you curiously.

 

But the Nuvi is also great for geocaching. Read this :

 

http://pilotsnipes.googlepages.com/index.html

 

Load a few thousand geocaches into your Nuvi, together with full description, hints, and logs. Paperless caching is fantastic, and proximity alert is just icing on the cake. Only thing it does not have are images which are necessary for some puzzle caches, so I recommend filtering those out.

 

The only downside - the ping of the proximity alert when you're driving can be very distracting. You can disable proximity alerts, of course. But what's the fun in that

I tried the link , downloaded everything and the caches weren't saved on my Nuvi 500. The POI did not give me the option of a Nuvi 500. I wonder if thats it.

[+obcjy]

Do not need the Macro for the 500 it is already Geocache ready.

I use GSAK and export the GPX file to the 500's Garmin\GPX folder.

[+Spyderzax]

I have used my Garmin Nuvi for 84 caches, never had a problem. you do have to change the settings as you get out of the car from Automobile to pedestrian and also change Fastest route to Offroad. Other than that it works wonderfully

[+ThePachecos]

I have a nuvi and it works great. I use the satellite screen and the where am to I to center on the place I am looking for. I get close using the off road option and then by using where am I I get with in 10 to 14 ft of the object and by using my biological cache detection systems I am able to find with amazing accuracy almost any cache that I am looking for. The nuvi I have has been dropped from a tree and it still rolls like a champ. It's screen is nice and it works just like my pda screen. The handhelds look nice but if you know your equipment and all of it's strengths then it will guide you to every cache you are looking for.

[fitzpatric]

I've used the nuvi 750 several times and it works great, like others have said just make sure you set it to pedestrian or offroad so it doesn't keep jumping to a near by road.

 

Not sure about the comments about other units being "far better" the nuvi does the job just fine

 

fitz

[+TrueRed06]

I tried a Nuvi 750 for a weekend of geocaching, then returned it. I loved the big screen, but it's designed to get a car close to a destination, not a person close to a geocache. It won't locate closer than about 20 feet, and for a lot of caches, it's not close enough. I'll be getting a hand-held unit soon.

[+TDTN4fun]

Another thing to keep in mind is that handhelds are waterproof - you'll eventually get caught in the rain (or a drippy cave). Not to mention a little more forgiving if you drop them.

[+ThePachecos]

I have a nice little case for my nuvi and if i am by some water just like any electronic device I own I get real protective about it..

[+Ducky]

This is what could happen when you take a nuvi out in the woods GC14ZYH

[+Ducky]

This is what could happen when you take a nuvi out in the woods GC14ZYH

[+ThePachecos]

Thats why I have insurance...

[+Keops2008]

This is what could happen when you take a nuvi out in the woods GC14ZYH

 

BTW my Nuvi is back in very good shape!

 

Keops2008

[+Ducky]

This is what could happen when you take a nuvi out in the woods GC14ZYH

 

BTW my Nuvi is back in very good shape!

 

Keops2008

 

That's good news!