HELP! on gps system

[berges]

I found a couple of caches last year useing a freind's Garmin 660. I loved GeoCacheing so much that all I wanted was a GPS so I could do it on my own and not "borrow" someone else's system. Well, for Christmas I got a Nextar Q4 and tried it for the first time last night. I sat here and almost cried while I searched the Nextar site and the manuals. I don't see anywhere that you can put in the coordinates. Can someone help me? Should I take this unit back and get a differant one? If I do take it back, what should I be looking for? I don't have alot to spend. We do like the systems that mount in the car versus the hand held ones (if that makes sense).

 

Through all my searching in desperation.... I also looked at the GPS garage sale and saw one system that gave elevations. Does that help in geocaching alot or not so much when just getting started?

 

And other people where worried about sounding stupid..... Trying to figure all this out is giving me a headache!

 

Thank you for your help,

Lisa

[+tooiake]

I found this post on the net from the gpspassion.com forum by bmlbytes: "...the [Nextar] Q4-01 doesn't allow you to input Latitude/Longitude coordinates as a destination, and I wanted to use it for GeoCaching." So it sounds like you're out of luck!

 

You can find the post at www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?whichpage=274&TOPIC_ID=109690󉧢 about halfway down the page.

 

As for your question on elevation, I honestly don't know! I just started caching myself. Good luck!

Edited January 5, 2009 by tooiake

[+briansnat]

The Nextar Q4 is an automotive GPS. If you want it cheifly for geocaching these are poor choices for the job. For geocachcing the best tool is a hand held GPS unit.

 

Many hand held units have mounts for the car. Granted the screen isn't as big as units designed for automotive use and they usually don't give voice instructions, but many models do give turn by turn driving directions with the proper software installed.

 

Look for something like a Garmin Venture HC, Legend HCX, Vista HCX, Map 76CSX or Map 60CSX. All of these (with the exception of the Venture HC) have the capability to provide turn buy turn driving directions with the proper software installed.

Edited January 5, 2009 by briansnat

[+smithdk]

Also knowing your elevation is just one of the added features of the unit and not needed for geocaching.

[+Chuy!]

All may not be lost.

 

On page 41 of the manual I downloaded is a section on "Viewing GPS Status". On the GPS it shows up on the Settings page as "GPS Status". It's kinda hard to tell from the pdf page, but that screen appears to display the current-position coordinates. It shows "Lon" but not "Lat". Try the "GPS Setting" too.

 

Locating caches by reading the coordinates is as effective as using the compass screen; it just takes a little practice. The problem here may be that you may have to convert the GPS' coordinate format to what Groundspeak uses, or vice versa. The coord numerical value increases as you head north and west. With the coords of the cache at hand, move in the appropriate direction until the coords on the GPS match the cache. Again, you may have to do some coord format conversion.

 

But, yes, if you can return this GPS, do it. Averaging about $160, you'll have to drop another $120 or so for a good handheld with maps. I recommend the Etrex Legend HCx. $200 plus $80 for auto-routing maps.

 

Or, even better, keep the Nextar, and buy a low-cost handheld. I would recommend the Venture HC. It has a color screen and supports customized POIs so you can download significantly more info per waypoints than the $90 Etrex H. The HC run less than $140, and makes a good complement to a dash unit.

Edited January 5, 2009 by Chuy!