+Wendy S Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Hi: I am new to this sport but I love it. My friend has a hand held gismo that directs us right to the coordinates to find the cache. With an arrow pointing in the direction etc. I tried to go on my own with my Garmin and found that it would bring me to the right area but once I left the street it wasn't helpful. It didn't show me the direction. The "map" screen was no use and I had to only use the coordinates screen which didn't update as I moved so...... Do I need to download different maps? than the ones that I would have for driving? Am I making any sense? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Wendy S Quote Link to comment
jholly Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 One thing you need to do is switch from street mode to pedestrian mode, otherwise it will try to direct you on roads. And yes, it does not have a compass and all you can use is the sat display. Maps don't make any difference, many handhelds only have the base map and they work fine. The best is to use your Nuvi to navigate to the area and then get out your etrex to go find the cache. Jim Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 You "can" use your Nuvi for caching - many do. It just isn't the most suitable device. I think another forum regular once compared it to using a butterknife as a screwdriver - it works but just isn't the right tool for the job. Leave the Nuvi in the car and use it for in-car navigation - it is good at that. Buy a eTrex Venture HC for caching (or similar). Quote Link to comment
+popokiiti Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 I have the Nuvi 255W and it will do the geocaching thing - however, it is not waterproof, or shockproof and mine has limited battery life. It doesn't have a battery that the user can replace either. We did meet new cachers who used theirs when they were starting out, and now they are into the sport, have another GPSr specifically for geocaching. The 70 CSx I believe. Quote Link to comment
gbeck11 Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 One thing you need to do is switch from street mode to pedestrian mode, otherwise it will try to direct you on roads. And I think there is one other setting under System, and I think it's under Navigation, and that is to set to "Off road" instead of "faster time" (or something like that). Quote Link to comment
+jtthjones Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 I use the Nuvi 260w and it works great.... I had to play around with it a bit to find the best way to use it for cacheing, but it gets us to the cache just fine. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 I use the Nuvi 260w and it works great.... I had to play around with it a bit to find the best way to use it for cacheing, but it gets us to the cache just fine. It will get you to the cache, but not quite as easily as a unit that has the compass navigation screen. There is also the issue of insufficient battery life, and if you're out caching and are caught in a sudden downpour, your Nuvi will be an expensive paperweight. Never mind it getting dropped on rocks, dragged through thorns and all the other abuse that a geocaching unit will be exposed to. Automobile units are built for the dashboard, not the outdoors. Hand held units are built with the rigors of outdoor use in mind. Quote Link to comment
T23Frank Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 I use the Nuvi 260w and it works great.... I had to play around with it a bit to find the best way to use it for cacheing, but it gets us to the cache just fine. Hello, I have a Garmin Nuvi 265WT and used it yesterday for the first time to geocache. Can you share some tips on how to best use it in the woods to geocache? I set it to pedestrian mode, travel direction UP, downloaded the cache coordinates, but once I started walking I didn't know how to establish my bearing. As a result, I would walk 25 steps, look at the display, see I was going in the wrong direction, then make an adjustment according to the magenta lines on the map. Another issue I ran into was it wouldn't orient properly (it was 180 degrees out of whack). I did find the cache, but it was a lot more difficult as compared to using a basic compass. Only the distance feature was better than the compass. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
+KeyserSozeCDN Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 (edited) I use a 255w for geocaching. Mostly because I am new to the activity and had one for business travel. I found a site with an awesome GSAK macro for paperless caching with my Nuvi. See link below. Paperless caching with Nuvi The instructions show you how to load info onto Nuvi and how to use the different features to make it work. If you have a premium account you get logs and hints in the field as well. I likely will at some point buy a dedicated unit but currently I "don't know what I don't know" and want to know what my requirements are before buying a dedicated unit. Tim Edited May 12, 2009 by KeyserSozeCDN Quote Link to comment
+Nature Kids Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 We use a Garmin 250 & seem to have good results. The paperless caching macro for GSAK, makes it so much easier. Download the Topo maps for your local area from Filedepot. Set it to north up, rather than track up......that way you have a compass bearing. Set it to off road & pedestrian, when hiking in to ground zero. May you find many caches Quote Link to comment
+William.Banfield Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Hi, I have watched gps reviews on sciurida.co.uk. The has a video on there about how to geocache with garmin nuvi's. He demenstrated with a 200, but it should be the same on all models according to hime. You need to change it to 'pedestrian' and 'off road' mode. Here's the link the the clip that shows you how to do it. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7407432798720049061 You may also want to check out http://pilotsnipes.googlepages.com/index.html as this shows you how to do paperless geocaching with a garmin nuvi. Paperless geocaching is were you can put difficulty, terrain, cache size, description and additional hint. This will guide you through how to do it. I hope this helps to solve your problem. William Quote Link to comment
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