complete newbie desperate for advice

[bunjieben]

hi all,

I have been given a Garmin eTrex H as i would like to have a go at geocaching, theres only 1 small problem i havent the 1st idea how to use 1, ive read the instructions and they couldnt have made any less sense if they were written in japanese. Can anyone give me some understandable advice on how to use this bit of kit as i really really want to get started i just havent got a clue.

Thanks loads ben.

[+Cowles33]

hi all,

I have been given a Garmin eTrex H as i would like to have a go at geocaching, theres only 1 small problem i havent the 1st idea how to use 1, ive read the instructions and they couldnt have made any less sense if they were written in japanese. Can anyone give me some understandable advice on how to use this bit of kit as i really really want to get started i just havent got a clue.

Thanks loads ben.

 

I borrowed one of those from my friend, and felt the same way. I basically used the current location part, and just walked to the posted coordinates. (matched the numbers)

Did you try youtube? Seems like these days you can find everything there.

Or join your local area group of cachers and have one of them show you how to use it fully

Good luck

Welcome

CC

[Neos2]

It's one of those things where you just have to learn by doing. The manual makes more sense if you take it step by step.

 

But you don't even really need the manual to get started.

 

To enter coords:

 

Push down on the MARK button and it will pop up a screen that shows your current location. One box will be highlighted. Use the up-down arrows to scroll through the boxes moving the highlight--when you get to one you need to change, hit the ENTER button. Another pop-up window comes up and you use it change the coordinates and the name. Just fiddle around with that and it will make sense.

 

Once you have the right coordinates and name on the page, choose OK and then GO TO and the gps will begin pointing you to the cache location.

 

Use the PAGE button to get to other screen. I like the compass page with the arrow.

 

To practice: Mark a spot in your yard (MARK-OK-GO TO), drop a towel there to mark the spot, walk away about a half a block and see if you can navigate back to the towel.

 

You can change any of your settings the same basic way (enter, scroll, up-down, etc) but don't get happy and change too much yet.

[spacejam1]

I am a newb also with a little over 60 finds. The biggest trouble I ran into was looking at my pointer too much. The gps will get you in the area but not right on it, unless your real lucky! lol This is true especially in the woods. when you hit 40-50 ft near it, put up the gps and start to think of where you would hide a cache. This is not an exact science like I thought!

I thought my Garmin Legend was crappy, and its not the best, but I went out with 2 oldtimers yesterday to see what was up with it, it seemed to be doing some crazy stuff. Turns out it was the operator of the gps! I learned some tips and we found some great caches in the deep woods yesterday!

I would suggest trying ones near your house that are bigger then a nano at first.

Go to events and meet other cachers!

Read the clues and cache sheet VERY carefully.

Don't make EVERY move the your pointer says to make. lol

I am totally addicted now and I am sure you will be as well.

Have fun!

[Neos2]

I am a newb also with a little over 60 finds.

...

 

I am totally addicted now and I am sure you will be as well.

Have fun!

I was just wondering the other day how you and your little blue Legend were getting along! Glad to see you seem to be having fun.

[+Wild Thing 73]

On most geocaching questions, you can "google" the question and get a very good answer. Google is a super program....Happy caching.

[+Lassendograiser]

I too am new to all the GPS stuffs. If there is an REI store near you, or any other major sporting supplier, check with them to see if they have any classes available. The REI that is closest to us is offering a free GPS 101 class. I would recomend checking for something like that. I know that I am going to take advantage.

Lassen

[spacejam1]

I am a newb also with a little over 60 finds.

...

 

I am totally addicted now and I am sure you will be as well.

Have fun!

I was just wondering the other day how you and your little blue Legend were getting along! Glad to see you seem to be having fun.

Hey NEOS2. I am doing fine! A couple of oldtimers took me out last week to do a couple of finds to see if there was anything wrong with my gps or if it was a operater error! lol Seems that it was an operator error. lol

They showed me some tricks and tips and we had a great time caching that whole afternoon. I realized that this whole thing is NOT fool proof and really does take some time working with a particular gps. I am really thankful to Honeychile and MissAngele and hubby for helping me out. Made a lot of difference, but I still need some caching practice! lol I am up to about 60 now, since the beginning of the year. But my caching days are slowing down since I got a HUGE job and school going on. Going to a event this Sat. which I am really looking forward to.

Thanks for thinking of me and a huge thanks to Honeychile for all the info!

[+briansnat]

The key skills for geocaching are marking, editing and navigating to waypoints. Check you owners manual's pages for those three things.

 

To find a cache you would mark a waypoint at your current location, edit the coordinates to match those of your destination (i.e. the cache), then navigate to it by hitting Go To.

 

Once you get those skills down all the other features are just gravy.

[Bunch-O-Boyds]

I too just got a new Etrex h.

1. to add a location you must go to the Mark. Once there you can use the up and down arrow to go to the bottom to put in the coordinates. highlight the number an enter then select the number you want using the arrow keys. If this is the kind of info you are looking for let me know and I will give you more.

[+spottydotty59]

It's one of those things where you just have to learn by doing. The manual makes more sense if you take it step by step.

 

But you don't even really need the manual to get started.

 

To enter coords:

 

Push down on the MARK button and it will pop up a screen that shows your current location. One box will be highlighted. Use the up-down arrows to scroll through the boxes moving the highlight--when you get to one you need to change, hit the ENTER button. Another pop-up window comes up and you use it change the coordinates and the name. Just fiddle around with that and it will make sense.

 

Once you have the right coordinates and name on the page, choose OK and then GO TO and the gps will begin pointing you to the cache location.

 

Use the PAGE button to get to other screen. I like the compass page with the arrow.

 

To practice: Mark a spot in your yard (MARK-OK-GO TO), drop a towel there to mark the spot, walk away about a half a block and see if you can navigate back to the towel.

 

You can change any of your settings the same basic way (enter, scroll, up-down, etc) but don't get happy and change too much yet.

[+spottydotty59]

It's one of those things where you just have to learn by doing. The manual makes more sense if you take it step by step.

 

But you don't even really need the manual to get started.

 

To enter coords:

 

Push down on the MARK button and it will pop up a screen that shows your current location. One box will be highlighted. Use the up-down arrows to scroll through the boxes moving the highlight--when you get to one you need to change, hit the ENTER button. Another pop-up window comes up and you use it change the coordinates and the name. Just fiddle around with that and it will make sense.

 

Once you have the right coordinates and name on the page, choose OK and then GO TO and the gps will begin pointing you to the cache location.

 

Use the PAGE button to get to other screen. I like the compass page with the arrow.

 

To practice: Mark a spot in your yard (MARK-OK-GO TO), drop a towel there to mark the spot, walk away about a half a block and see if you can navigate back to the towel.

 

You can change any of your settings the same basic way (enter, scroll, up-down, etc) but don't get happy and change too much yet.

Hi This is our first go at geocaching and we have the Garmin Etrex H. I can now see how to input a new Mark but I am interested in the free download for EasyGPS. Have you come across this. Does it make it easier to input GPS co ordinates for multiple cache sites . I am sure things will get better once we have got the first one logged in and successfully completed but would appreciate a few pointers for a newbie.

[Neos2]

Hi This is our first go at geocaching and we have the Garmin Etrex H. I can now see how to input a new Mark but I am interested in the free download for EasyGPS. Have you come across this. Does it make it easier to input GPS co ordinates for multiple cache sites . I am sure things will get better once we have got the first one logged in and successfully completed but would appreciate a few pointers for a newbie.

Yes, easyGPS does make it easier to put multiple caches into your gps ~ and it eliminates the possibility of accidentally putting in a wrong number, too! I used easyGPS happily for many months. It was a good way to get a few pages worth of info into the gps.

 

(Soon after that, we became premium members, and started running PQs. Then we switched to using GSAK and Cachemate to get the info for hundreds of cache into our PDA and gps units).

[+Headhardhat]

I am creating a series of Geocaching Videos and one deals with how to load waypoints into a Garming Etrex Vista... There are a bunch of others but this should point you in the right direction if interested.

 

-HHH

 

http://www.geosnippits.com/

 

-HHH