Following your GPS

[bloomersm]

Hi,

 

I'm just wondering how everyone follows their GPS. Do you type in the location of the cache then follow the GPS like a compass showing the bearing of the cache, or plan a full route to follow step by step?

 

Thanks

Bloomersm

[NordicMan]

Yep I plug in the coordinates of the cache & then just follow the arrow

 

Usually when I'm within 10-15 feet of the cache it is time to put the GPSr away and start using just my eyes, thinking "hmm where would I have hidden it".

[+.Icarus.]

Hi,

 

I'm just wondering how everyone follows their GPS. Do you type in the location of the cache then follow the GPS like a compass showing the bearing of the cache, or plan a full route to follow step by step?

 

Thanks

Bloomersm

 

Hi Bloomersm,

 

It depends for me, I run a pocket query around a certain area, I then look to see how how close these are and start with the one nearest to where I have parked, I also tend to use the compass feature most and then just find cache after cache.

 

Best bet is to try different things and see which works best for you.

 

Hope this helps

 

Icarus

[+StarBrand]

Depends on where I start and where I am going.

 

I live in a very rural area so I often cache in places 50 - 100 miles away. For those, I plan my route carefully - how to get to the area and what caches I will start with and what caches I will target. But once I get parked as close as I figure I can get - I jump out of the car and use the compass screen to get me to the cache location - minus any obvious obstacles I visually work my way around.

 

For local caches - new ones are so rare that I usually end up seeking them one by one as they pop up.

[+Cherokee Bill]

Garmin 60CSx Do not use the compass. Just follow the line to the cache (triangle). Works great for me. In fact I am leaving Thursday morning, to knock of about 10-pages of the VA Delorme Challenge. I've seen parts of VA I otherwise would never have seen, thanks to Geocaching.

[+SkellyCA]

I don't "type" in the coordinance(That's a pain in the butt!). I like to plan a hike or a route, find caches along the way. Then download the gpx files to my GPSr. Then set mt unit to the first cache and follow the line it gives me. then set it for the next cache and so on...

[+Cabarama]

Hey Bloomersm,

 

There are many different ways on following your GPS. It usally depends on what kind of GPS you have. I will give you as much infomation i can on each kind of it.

 

Paperless Geocaching

This "Paperless" Geocaching is what some people call "Faster" and others "Slower." The Garmin GPS company mostly makes these "Paperless Geocaching" GPS's. What it means is not having to print out a piece of paper and walk around with the GPS tull you get right on the coords. Now with this we'll call it PLG(Paperless Geocaching) for short, you get a USB cord with the GPS. You plug it into your computer in the USB slot, then turn on the GPS. On the GPS it should show a picture of computer and a gps. Then you go to the cache page and click "Send to GPS." You should'nt need anything else. One thing you need to download is the Garmin Communicator, so the computer can find the GPS to load caches. Then when you unplug to gps from the computer and it will shut off. Then when you turn it back on, click on "Options" and go to "Geocaching." It should have a file named whatever the cache name is. When you click on it, it has a compass pointing to where the cache is, shows how many Miles or Feet it is away, the time to destination, and a mini map to guide you also. When you click on "Options" on that page it will bring up to show you the description, size, difficulty, terrain, hint, and the logs. One side fall is that you have to be premium to see the description and hint. So if you are not premium you have to write down the hint and stuff. You see how PLG is pretty easy to use and fast. Only need premium to get most of the features.

 

Paper Geocaching

This "Paper Geocaching" is to some "Slow" and others "Fast." Your GPS is usually old, or mabye a fishing GPS. Its not bad, or "waste of time" how ever you see it. It is a little better then PLG but not too. What you do is print out the page of the cache which has everything you need. The hint, logs, description, coords, ect... No premium needed to see the hint or anything. You just have to carry a paper around and look at the coords on the page and GPS. The best thing to do is the get a page of the map too, to know where to go and how to get there. Once you get in the area of 20 feet, start looking for what is says in the hint, description, and logs.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

These are the top ways on doing geocaching on the GPS. I hope it answered your question and many others you have not yet asked. If you would like more questions from me, you can contact me via email, message me on geocaching.com, or ask in this topic.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

Useful Information:

 

Email: Cabarama@gmail.com

Geocaching Account: Cabarama

 

- GeoCab

[+natenrose]

I am new too. I have a very inexpensive, bare-bones GPSr - a Magellan Explorist 210. What I do is download my bookmarks to my computer, then open them using GSAK. That program converts it to the right format automatically so I can plug in my GPSr and send the cache names and coords. right to it.

 

Then I find the first one I want to go to on the map function, press GOTO, and follow the arrow. When I am within 1/2 mile I switch to the coords. view so I can get more accuracy, and when I am within 15-20 feet I quit looking at the GPS altogether. I learned that one the hard way - looking at the coordinates and not the ground, I ended up walking into some majorly rusty nasty barbed wire peeking out from the leaves, and got myself a couple nasty cuts. (Should have gotten a tetanus shot too, probably.)

 

I do carry a notebook for any notes I might want to take about a certain cache, or if its a multi so I can write down the coordinates I find at each stage.

 

I have tried using paper only and its just easier (for me) to do it mostly paperless.

 

edited for a really silly typo

Edited April 21, 2009 by natenrose

[+rlridgeway]

The GPS will tell you the shortest route to the cache, but not necessarily the easiest, most scenic, or even fastest route to a cache.

There could be a road,river, cliff, or a lot of other obstacles between you and the cache your GPS unit may indicate. This is particularly true if your unit does not have background mapping capabilities.

 

Still you can get a lot of information about the geocache on its webpage. The topographic features of the online maps section are very helpful.

Edited April 23, 2009 by rlridgeway

[+Pork King]

I usually "follow the arrow" until I'm about 5 miles out (or closer for those pesky urban caches) then switch to the map screen to make sure I am taking the best road to the cache. When I get close I switch back to the arrow and hone in! 20-40 feet away, I put away the GPS and start looking.

[+mrbort]

I tend to keep it on the map screen 100% of the time... I just change the scale to denote progress toward the cache. I love to zoom in and see my lil arrow getting closer to the cache. Someone clever programmed an icon set for the nuvi that had a circle with a lil dot on it for the map view... I'd like to see if that's available for the oregon but haven't had a lot of time to cache recently (being unemployed is busy business!)... In general though I use the map view until, zoomed in all the way, I see my arrow near or on top of the cache and then i put away the GPSr until I get stuck. Then I might take it out again and see if it has changed its mind on where I am... sometimes it does

 

Just do whatever makes the most logical sense for you! I tend to do better with maps rather than arrows but to each their own... it's a HUGE part of what makes this hobby so attractive IMO.

[FourForty]

I follow the arrow or roads/paths to get fairly close. once i'm in the 25ft range i try to circle the cache to get a better understanding of where it is if possible. then i put my GPS down and start hunting.

 

At this point my buddy tends to take the GPS and try to get to ground zero, but hasn't beat me yet.

[+briansnat]

I just plug in or download the coords, then follow the navigation arrow and watch the distance count down.

Can't get much easier than that.

 

I'll be on the navigation (compass) screen about 90 percent of the time, but may switch to the map screen, especially early in the hunt, to check out the lay of the land on the topo map.

[+natenrose]

i guess i should add, since it seems like i may have misunderstood, that when i am following the arrow, it is on a map. I don't follow the compass part, because i can't figure it out. i know how to use a real compass, the one on my GPSr doesn't work the same so until I learnt o use it, I disregard it.

 

So when i say i follow the arrow, i am following a map. my map has the arrow and shows me where to go, but also has, in light gray, a beeline to the site.

[+BlueDeuce]

I find it's best to check out the trail a little further down rather than just start bushwhacking because the arrow points that way.

[bloomersm]

Thanks everyone

[+JustJackMN]

I found out that I do my best by just leaving the GPS in the car. Read the posts on the cache.......usually they are more helpful than the GPS.

[+Chewy_06]

I'll add my two cents on this...

 

When we're working our way to the spot where we're going to leave the car we use map mode (with some awesome topo maps that have pretty good street info in them from ibycus & I usually navigate for the wife who does the driving. I leave the map mode in North up, which pains me (because I have a marine background and am used to seeing radar/GPS chartplotters overlaid in course up mode) but, it's much easier for my wife to interpret when she has the GPS in her hands.

 

The caches we've worked on to this point have all been either urban or park/greenspace ones in an urban setting & 99% of the time we've put it in the "compass" mode which is also showing us the accuracy (which is only really concerning if it's really bad) and distance to target. We usually start the search once we hit the GZ + accuracy (so, if we have 24' of accuracy and we're 24' from GZ, we're really in the search area already).

 

The compass mode is actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it. The thing to remember is that it's not like a magnetic compass, it works by the change in your position to determine your heading relative to the waypoint - so, if you're not moving, or moving very slowly, the GPSr wont be able to determine your heading accurately & will bounce around (think about the accuracy your GPSr has at any given time as a big circle around you with a radius equal to your accuracy - you could really be anywhere within that big circle and still be at the same coordinates - so, if you're moving within that same circle the GPSr wont be able to figure out what you're really doing & will give you bad heading information). Also, the direction the GPSr is actually pointed when you're walking wont actually change the bearing to the waypoint - unlike a magnetic compass. The upside is that you wouldnt need to consider variation or deviation in determining or converting from compass heading to magnetic or true.

 

My suggestion though, is to go find a nice big parking lot somewhere, set some known waypoints up & then practice finding them utilizing all of the functionality your receiver has until you find the right combination that works for you & how you process the information the GPSr is telling you.

 

Good luck!

[+theosus]

I follow the arrow or roads/paths to get fairly close. once i'm in the 25ft range i try to circle the cache to get a better understanding of where it is if possible. then i put my GPS down and start hunting.

 

At this point my buddy tends to take the GPS and try to get to ground zero, but hasn't beat me yet.

 

I use the maps until I get close, then once I'm out of the car, I use the arrow to get close. If I'm using the iPhone, same thing, but the iphones arrow sort of sucks. I just look at the "distance" thing which is pretty good. Better, in fact, than my SporTrack Map's distance estimation.

[+briansnat]

i guess i should add, since it seems like i may have misunderstood, that when i am following the arrow, it is on a map. I don't follow the compass part, because i can't figure it out. i know how to use a real compass, the one on my GPSr doesn't work the same so until I learnt o use it, I disregard it.

 

So when i say i follow the arrow, i am following a map. my map has the arrow and shows me where to go, but also has, in light gray, a beeline to the site.

 

The compass is actually quite simple. An arrow points to the cache. Follow the arrow. A data field should show you how far away it is. Follow the arrow until you are 20-30 feet away and start looking.

[yobtaf]

quick question on this, I have a legend hcx. when I do the find and pick the one I'm looking for it shows a blue line coming from the freeway to where I am. the spot I'm looking for is just across the parking lot from me. Doing some practice. Why does it show the blue line and how do I get rid of it. thanks

 

found it, put in offroad mode.

 

is it better if the compass is in Bearing or course????

Edited April 28, 2009 by yobtaf

[+NrthrnLght]

i have a lower end model gps. so i have to kinda plan where i want to go before i leave the house so i can write down the cords. i enter them and see which ones i am closest to then i go to the compass and hopefully the cache.

[+Night Stalker]

I use my GPS in 2 stages. The first stage is using the map and turn by turn directions. I have a60CX and City Navigator so I am able to have my GPs route me to the closest parking place to the cache.

 

At this point I recalculate off road and change to the compass. I try to see if this is the best parking spot, and if it is I start off cross country more or less following the compass. I say more or less because I have discovered the hard way that a straight line is not always the best way to a cache. I try and look for trails heading in the right direction and follow them as much as possible until I get really close.

[+KandDGregory]

Yep I plug in the coordinates of the cache & then just follow the arrow

 

Usually when I'm within 10-15 feet of the cache it is time to put the GPSr away and start using just my eyes, thinking "hmm where would I have hidden it".

Exactly what I do. The last cache, my husband was so glued to the GPS when we were in the vicinity that I found it because it was 20 feet away from where my husband kept saying, "It's supposed to be right here!"

[+Ramblin_Man]

I usually toggle between my "map Page" and Compas Page on my GPS to get me a close as possible, I find that the sometimes, the margin error on my GPS, gets me walking a circles to narrow down the area, especially in dense bush....

 

I also start looking for signs well before arrving at the site.... sometimes you can find or see a geo path for a popular cahce.

[+Ramblin_Man]

I usually toggle between my "map Page" and Compas Page on my GPS to get me a close as possible, I find that the sometimes, the margin error on my GPS, gets me walking a circles to narrow down the area, especially in dense bush....

 

I also start looking for signs well before arrving at the site.... sometimes you can find or see a geo path for a popular cache.