Best Car Sat Nav to Geocach ?

[masonst0rm]

Just about to buy a new sat nav for the car and been made aware some car sat nav's now have the capability to enter Lat/Long setting etc in them so usable for geocaching... Which one would you recommend?

[+dino-irl]

I use a Garmin Nuvi which is great for the car. If you become a premium member and start getting PQs and buy a program called GSAK then there is a macro which will download all the cache info to the Nuvi an you won't have to enter anything at all as it does it for you

 

All the Nuvis have Lat/Long capability even if you don't have PQs and GSAK

 

Saying that I don't actually like the Nuvi for caching and much prefer either a handheld GPS or my mobile phone with a BT GPS.

[+*mouse*]

I can enter coords into my tomtom, but it's no good for caching as latches onto the closest road to the coords and takes you there. Great for parking coordinates but not much else.....

 

Personally I'd recommend a dedicated handheld designed specifically for the job.

[+dino-irl]

I can enter coords into my tomtom, but it's no good for caching as latches onto the closest road to the coords and takes you there. Great for parking coordinates but not much else.....

 

Personally I'd recommend a dedicated handheld designed specifically for the job.

The Nuvi has a pedestrian mode (similar to most Garmin handhelds). Does TomTom not allow for that?

[+Mad H@ter]

I can enter coords into my tomtom, but it's no good for caching as latches onto the closest road to the coords and takes you there. Great for parking coordinates but not much else.....

 

Personally I'd recommend a dedicated handheld designed specifically for the job.

The Nuvi has a pedestrian mode (similar to most Garmin handhelds). Does TomTom not allow for that?

It does have a pedestrian mode, but it still latches onto the nearest road if it can. The pedestrian mode seems to be much the same as the other modes except it ignores traffic restrictions such as one way streets, no right turns etc. You can get around this (I think) by putting it in"Browse map of route" mode, but it's still far from ideal, but ok in an emergency I suppose.

[masonst0rm]

I was looking at Nuvi 265 but Garmin web site states this one was not geocache frindley...

 

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=37529#specsTab

 

I use a Garmin Nuvi which is great for the car. If you become a premium member and start getting PQs and buy a program called GSAK then there is a macro which will download all the cache info to the Nuvi an you won't have to enter anything at all as it does it for you

 

All the Nuvis have Lat/Long capability even if you don't have PQs and GSAK

 

Saying that I don't actually like the Nuvi for caching and much prefer either a handheld GPS or my mobile phone with a BT GPS.

[+The Blorenges]

I use a Mio P550 (newer version is the 360 or 560) which is a Windows mobile PDA. I also have a TomTom as well. You can get TomTom software for the Mio or use Mio's own MioMap sat nav. Advantage of a PDA is it works as a car satnav and also for geocaching, as you can load up databases of caches with programs like Cachemate ($US8). Cachemate uses the built in GPS to give you a 'goto' arrow function like a handheld GPS.

 

Like all compromises it isn't perfect. A TomTom is a car sat nav and does that job perfectly but isn't convenient for geocaching. The PDA with maps and cachemate is great for caching but fiddly for car satnav.

 

As Dino said above GSAK allows the export of databases of caches to TomTom or the Nuvi. I use it with my TomTom to get to parking coords easily.

 

Chris (MrB)

[+Sue and Bernie]

Sue and I have tried every combination you can think of with Memory-Map on an Ipaq (with TomTom 5 too), Streetpilot car GPS but now we simply use our Vista Cx with Topo software for the UK. This fits in a phone mount on the dash and it routes us to the cache via roads to drive us to the area. Once parked up, we select the GPS to re-calculate "Off-Road". Note we always take map printouts from Memory-Map and sort out a likely footpath/route before we move on to each cache.

 

Our favoured caching method is to park up near one cache then walk/cycle round the area. For this, we find the Vista handheld (and bike mount) to be ideal.

 

Have fun...

Edited April 5, 2009 by Sue and Bernie

[+dino-irl]

I was looking at Nuvi 265 but Garmin web site states this one was not geocache frindley...

That may be in comparison to the Garmin Oregon and Colorado models which are specifically designed for geocaching?

 

I have a 360 which says the same but can be easily used for caching:

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=31943#specsTab

 

I notice that the 76CSx is geocaching friendly as it has a specific geocaching function and uses the icons

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=351#specsTab

[+kermitkills]

i use a garmin nuvi 265t & its ok gets me to the caches loses sats in wooded areas & pesderian mode just drops the trafic details but it gets you within 10 to 30 feet depending on the sats aquired but if you look in gps & techonolgy there are a couple of programs to make a nuvi paperless if you want to dowmload & use them with your nuvi. I must admit i havenr tried them myself yet as i plan to get a handheld gps as well as when i go chaching i take the family & 2 is always better than 1 also handhelds get you closer to the cache from what people say

Edited April 5, 2009 by kermitkills

[+scottpa100]

The West Viewers have got a car Garmin GPS and that has paperless stuff on it (which I thought was really cool and I thought 'I want one') They do use a little program to do the doings but it works and I know that they are well chuffed with it. Hopefully they will logon later and tell us what nuvi they are using.

[+Lendu]

Which one would you recommend?

 

I would suggest Garmin Zumo 550. Zumo is essentially the same unit as Nuvi, but it is specifically designed for motorcycles. As such, it is a bit more rugged than the Nuvis. Although the unit is designed for motorbikers, it comes with a car mount and works very well as an in-car Sat Nav.

 

If you then arm yourself with premium membership and GSAK, you've got an almost perfect solution for paperless caching. I've found over 500 caches using mine, and only bought a handheld unit to tackle walks that take more than 4-6 hours (the battery life in my Zumo).

 

Happy caching.

[+Handsyhands]

I swear by my Mio P550 running Tomtom 7 as a sat nav then Memory map and any number of other applictions for the rest. Totally paperless caching. Wifi Bluetooth the lot. Worth considering in my opinion.

[Stompy]

When my daughter comes caching with me she uses our Garmin Nuvi 300. We change it to Pedestrian Mode, Track Up and set WASS to on for extra sensitivity, she finds the caches every time with it. You can down load the Caches directly into it with child waypoints through GSAK. Unfound caches come in as a closed treasure chest, found ones are displayed as open treasure chests. Parking waypoints are displayed with a "P" Symbol and other waypoints as square dots. Obviously the only thing missing is a compass and maps and trails that's why Garmin don't say they are geocaching friendly.

[+jerryo]

Rather than start a new thread, can someone tell me what's the best "entry level" car sat nav to just sat nav? My daughter keeps getting lost and need something simple and reliable.

Cheers.

[+dino-irl]

As above I'd recommend a Nuvi. Garmin seem to have the interface down to a nice simple operation and its well priced.

 

I got mine as a rebox model for about £50 less than the standard list price but can't remember who I used. I'm sure if you search my posts for Nuvi you'll find it though

[+dino-irl]

Never mind....I remembered:

 

http://www.handtec.co.uk/section.php/23/1/...d09cb728943bdb8

[+jerryo]

Many thanks!