jax16389 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I have a Garmin nuvi 350 and was wondering if it would be good to use for caching? Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) You can use it for caching. Is it good to use? Not really. It has too many shortcomings for serious geocaching. Insufficient battery life, durability, lack of a compass navigation screen, lack of water resistance and the fact that its not physically designed to be held in the hand all make it a far from optimum tool for geocaching. You can play tennis with a baseball bat, you can drink Champagne from a beer mug, you can use a butter knife as a screwdriver and you can play Frisbee with a coffee can lid. But it's always better to the right tool for the job and for geocaching its a hand held unit. Edited February 4, 2009 by briansnat Quote Link to comment
jax16389 Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) You can use it for caching. Is it good to use? Not really. It has too many shortcomings for serious geocaching. Insufficient battery life, durability, lack of a compass navigation screen, lack of water resistance and the fact that its not physically designed to be held in the hand all make it a far from optimum tool for geocaching. You can play tennis with a baseball bat, you can drink Champagne from a beer mug, you can use a butter knife as a screwdriver and you can play Frisbee with a coffee can lid. But it's always better to the right tool for the job and for geocaching its a hand held unit. THANKS! Edited February 4, 2009 by jax16389 Quote Link to comment
+edscott Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 You can use it for caching. Is it good to use? Not really. It has too many shortcomings for serious geocaching. Insufficient battery life, durability, lack of a compass navigation screen, lack of water resistance and the fact that its not physically designed to be held in the hand all make it a far from optimum tool for geocaching. You can play tennis with a baseball bat, you can drink Champagne from a beer mug, you can use a butter knife as a screwdriver and you can play Frisbee with a coffee can lid. But it's always better to the right tool for the job and for geocaching its a hand held unit. Agree. I have a nuvi 205W that I use in the car. I've also used it to check coordinates for my own hides after establishing the coordinates using maps (just to be sure GPS users will not have a problem) and found the accuracy to be fine.. so far it has been within 10 feet of the Google map.. but awkward to use if it would be needed for navigation for all the reasons cited above. But if you stick it in your shirt pocket and navigate to the site it will announce when you get there. Quote Link to comment
+Ike 13 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I love my nuvi. I know it's not designed for caching, but it works well. The accuracy is not a problem. It's paperless. Having directions to the nearest parking site is wonderful. I hold mine like an i phone/blackberry when I walk with it, and if I need to put it away I have an old camera case that I can attach to my belt. If I ever go on longer trails, or want to cache in the rain I know I need an upgrade, but if you have a nuvi and you're just starting out it will help get you experience for free. Quote Link to comment
+station41 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I geocache all the time with a Garmin Nuvi 250. I wouldn't hesitate to try geocaching with your 350! My only complaint is that I can't access the satellite information (accuracy, elevation, sat strength, real time co-ords). That sounds like a big complaint but it's not. I believe you can access all that info on your 350. Good luck! The instructions on this webpage will get you going paperless in no time: Garmin Nuvi Geocaching Quote Link to comment
+2Hams Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) I love my nuvi. I know it's not designed for caching, but it works well. The accuracy is not a problem. It's paperless. Having directions to the nearest parking site is wonderful. I hold mine like an i phone/blackberry when I walk with it, and if I need to put it away I have an old camera case that I can attach to my belt. If I ever go on longer trails, or want to cache in the rain I know I need an upgrade, but if you have a nuvi and you're just starting out it will help get you experience for free. I keep a quart size zipplock to put my nuvi in when it rains and have found the 4-5 hour battery life perfect for most of my caching days. I do think a compass helps as at times I'm directional challenged. I figure I will keep using it until it dies .. my husband has a new PN-40 which is sweet but I'm not ready to give up my nuvi. It has gotten me to alot of caches. Edited February 4, 2009 by 2Hams Quote Link to comment
+Cowles33 Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 My wife has the nuvi 350, and it works pretty good. Any serious tree cover, or a pretty cloudy day has u walking circles. For your basic park and grab it works perfect. Guess it depends on how serious u are going to get into this. Carrying the unit with the antenna thing up sucks too scale from 1-10 by us 7. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment
+Jbradthomas59 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I have a Garmin nuvi 350 and was wondering if it would be good to use for caching? I have the 350 and have no trouble caching with it. I download the caches using Garmin Communicator. Then use fastest route to drive to area, then switch to off road to get to GZ. Watch time in lower left corner it will decreace as you get closer. When you are within few seconds its time to turn off 350 put in pocket and start searching. I also carry a cheap treking pole with compass in top to check bearing. I use my Touch Pro Smartphone with Nearby Cache for paperless. When I first started I checked my 350 for accuracy after finding Cache, 95% time standing on Cache. Just treat it with care and it will work just fine. Quote Link to comment
jax16389 Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 Thanks everyone for the info! I have been wanting to try this and now that I know I can use my nuvi I'm gonna give it a try. There are a few basic park and grab ones close to my house (with in 5 miles) so wish me luck! Quote Link to comment
+wendypeter Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Thanks to members of this forum and the Geocaching site - my thoughts about using my 350 as an indicator of sites as I'm driving around has been answered!! Looks as though I'll have to become a premium member but the expense (even with the dire $ v £ rate) seems good value to me . Now all need is some spare time!! Again, thanks to all on this forum who have pointed me in the right direction. Quote Link to comment
+Tha Saint Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 (edited) Ive only been caching for a month or so, but the only thing ive used is my nuvi 650 and I have 63 finds with it so far. Is it made for hand carrying and walking around with.. No... But it works, and its great for paperless caching, giving a full description/hint & logs of the cache right on the screen. I would be worried if I dropped it or something, but so far so good. I've had no problem with accuracy. Edited February 9, 2009 by Tha Saint Quote Link to comment
+ThePachecos Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 i am glad everyone has said so many nice things about the nuvi I hope everyone knows about the secret screen you can access by holding your finger on the satellite bars on the top of the screen it shows you a nice little red dot showing what direction you are walking in and it also shows you how accurate you are. I know some people in the forums bash the nuvi because of its shortcomings but for a cheap alternative that you can use for paperless caching (using gsak and poi loader) you can have a really nice device. I use the speck case and it is nice for making my device more trail friendly. Keep on trucking with those Nuvi's . Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I know some people in the forums bash the nuvi because of its shortcomings but for a cheap alternative that you can use for paperless caching (using gsak and poi loader) you can have a really nice device. I don't think anybody bashes the Nuvi here. I have one and love it. It's a fine unit for what it's designed to do and that is guide you from place to place in your car. It will obviously work for geocaching, particularly if you limit yourself to park n grabs, but this sport was designed around the capabilities of hand held units and they are the best tool for it. Quote Link to comment
rapriebe Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 i am glad everyone has said so many nice things about the nuvi I hope everyone knows about the secret screen you can access by holding your finger on the satellite bars on the top of the screen it shows you a nice little red dot showing what direction you are walking in and it also shows you how accurate you are. I know some people in the forums bash the nuvi because of its shortcomings but for a cheap alternative that you can use for paperless caching (using gsak and poi loader) you can have a really nice device. I use the speck case and it is nice for making my device more trail friendly. Keep on trucking with those Nuvi's . Not all Nuvi's even have a satellite screen. My 260 does not, and it would be quite difficult to use it for any sort of precise off road caching. I do use it for the paperless aspect though, but I still carry my eTrex for after I leave the car. Quote Link to comment
+Basal Pinacoid Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 My SO geocaches with a 360, and I use my Oregon, and we both find about the same number of caches. We got a Speck case that makes it a little easier to hold onto (won't protect it from water or falls, but it gives extra security). Definitely give it a go; it works quite well for him. Quote Link to comment
+chez_steph7 Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 i have a garmin nuvi 660 and am having a hard time geocaching with it. i can get to the "AREA" by inserting the coordinates but it wont tell me how far i am from it in feet/time or anything. today i went to a geocache and when i arrived at the Pet Cementary it said i was there but this lot was huge, i want it to tell me how far i am from it and if when i walk am i getting closer or further. will my 660 do this or should i buy a eTrex, i found one online for about $100 bucks. what do you guys think? -Chez Quote Link to comment
+chez_steph7 Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 (edited) sorry for dbl post... Edited February 10, 2009 by chez_steph7 Quote Link to comment
+ThePachecos Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 i have a garmin nuvi 660 and am having a hard time geocaching with it. i can get to the "AREA" by inserting the coordinates but it wont tell me how far i am from it in feet/time or anything. today i went to a geocache and when i arrived at the Pet Cementary it said i was there but this lot was huge, i want it to tell me how far i am from it and if when i walk am i getting closer or further. will my 660 do this or should i buy a eTrex, i found one online for about $100 bucks. what do you guys think? -Chez I change my unit to off road when i get close and then start walking to the coords. I use the arrow to get me close and then i use my eyes. Quote Link to comment
+chez_steph7 Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 i have a garmin nuvi 660 and am having a hard time geocaching with it. i can get to the "AREA" by inserting the coordinates but it wont tell me how far i am from it in feet/time or anything. today i went to a geocache and when i arrived at the Pet Cementary it said i was there but this lot was huge, i want it to tell me how far i am from it and if when i walk am i getting closer or further. will my 660 do this or should i buy a eTrex, i found one online for about $100 bucks. what do you guys think? -Chez I change my unit to off road when i get close and then start walking to the coords. I use the arrow to get me close and then i use my eyes. i was not aware that my GPS nuvi 660 had off road status. im such a newbie to gps devices. -Chez Quote Link to comment
+Cowles33 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I recently have been going to the current location, and walking to the coords. No real need for an arrow. I use the street map part to get close, and currents to pin point. Has been working pretty good. Of coarse the eyes work real nice too. Once you are in the general location, just look where you would hide something. That is where it usually is... Quote Link to comment
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