Jump to content

How many caches can i realistically expect to find with a car sat nav?


Recommended Posts

As you can imagine from the title - i'm an v raw recruit - but completely hooked already!

 

I've been looking for all my local caches using my TomTom (no laughing please) before i upgrade.

 

Whilst the TomTom is pretty good when caches are right on paths - its not much help in woods as it never accurately tells me where i'm going and i can't set coordinates to view on the map screen.

 

Is that just because i haven't set it up properly and am just being girlie and rubbish or because there is really no point and i should get a proper handheld one instead?

 

If i should upgrade what would be most suitable with a limited budget - would something like any of the etrex ones be any better than a TomTom or do i need to spend £££?

 

Sorry for being yet another newbie in need of help :anicute:

Link to comment

I found my first 80 caches with a Tom Tom One. I also have a friend geocaher who still uses his car sat. nav.

 

With the Tom Tom One, after a certain distance the arrow unlocks from the road. I used to view the coordinates (if I can remember you click on the GPS signal). I would then walk in one direction and then another until the coordinates matched with the signal.

 

However, after a few caches under my belt I learnt to figure out where GZ was about 10m before I arrive, I do this even with my Garmin Orgeon.

Link to comment

I found my first 80 caches with a Tom Tom One. I also have a friend geocaher who still uses his car sat. nav.

 

With the Tom Tom One, after a certain distance the arrow unlocks from the road. I used to view the coordinates (if I can remember you click on the GPS signal). I would then walk in one direction and then another until the coordinates matched with the signal.

 

However, after a few caches under my belt I learnt to figure out where GZ was about 10m before I arrive, I do this even with my Garmin Orgeon.

 

Thanks for the replies :P

Tavisman - thank you for that tip - it was exactly what i needed - just couldn't remember how to access it. All i got where static coordinates which weren't v useful. I guess TomTom may last a bit longer now!

 

What do the cheaper handheld ones do in comparison to a car one? Would i be better off waiting to afford a new Garmin Oregon instead?

 

Cheers guys

Link to comment

The hand held units are designed to be a bit more rugged, and have a better battery life -plus generally use AA batteries, so just swap batteries when they go flat. Car units need to be plugged into the car electrics to charge.

 

The Oregon will allow you to cache 'paperless' but you could still cache 'paperless' with a cheap GPS and a cheap PDA.

 

(Plus other Garmins -eg GPSmap60 series- have GSAK macros, so you can cache paperless...)

Link to comment

What do the cheaper handheld ones do in comparison to a car one? Would i be better off waiting to afford a new Garmin Oregon instead?

It's entirely up to you on what to upgrade to. It just happened I had some birthday money spare and went for the Oregon. As a general rule of thumb, IMHO the hierarchy goes like this:

 

Get you there – printing out Google maps; sat nav.

Point you to GZ – e.g. Etrex

Paperless Geocaching – e.g. Oregon

Geocaching online – e.g. iPhone; HTC

 

Sort of going off topic: As technology gets cheaper, the 'one-gadget-does-all' like the iPhone and HTC will become the norm. Sort of making the hand held GPSr redundant. I'm sure the guys at Garmin are worried about this, that's probably why they put a camera in their latest model. You may hold fire for a while and Garmin/DeLorme will sell off all models as they enter the 'one-gadget-does-all' market. Trouble is it is more difficult to enter this market from the GPS side than it is from the computer-in-your-pocket side (like iPhone and HTC). Just my thoughts.

Link to comment

What do the cheaper handheld ones do in comparison to a car one? Would i be better off waiting to afford a new Garmin Oregon instead?

It's entirely up to you on what to upgrade to. It just happened I had some birthday money spare and went for the Oregon. As a general rule of thumb, IMHO the hierarchy goes like this:

 

Get you there – printing out Google maps; sat nav.

Point you to GZ – e.g. Etrex

Paperless Geocaching – e.g. Oregon

Geocaching online – e.g. iPhone; HTC

 

Sort of going off topic: As technology gets cheaper, the 'one-gadget-does-all' like the iPhone and HTC will become the norm. Sort of making the hand held GPSr redundant. I'm sure the guys at Garmin are worried about this, that's probably why they put a camera in their latest model. You may hold fire for a while and Garmin/DeLorme will sell off all models as they enter the 'one-gadget-does-all' market. Trouble is it is more difficult to enter this market from the GPS side than it is from the computer-in-your-pocket side (like iPhone and HTC). Just my thoughts.

 

Thanks for all the advice everyone - i really appreciate it. I think i will wait until my phone upgrade in a few months time - hopefully i will cope with the TT until then :P

Link to comment

We found prolly our first 200 or so with a TomTom and STILL use it as a backup when we're out caching or city caching, otherwise, we've upgraded to an E-trex Venture that was given to us.

 

Us the 'browse map' function, the little symbol on the top right will show you were you are if you tap it, and if the arrow stops moving, simply turn it off and back on again and it normally updates.

 

We rarely have problems caching with ol' dependable Tom! We do try to be careful with it, and we keep it plugged in in the car between caches.

Link to comment

What do the cheaper handheld ones do in comparison to a car one? Would i be better off waiting to afford a new Garmin Oregon instead?

It's entirely up to you on what to upgrade to. It just happened I had some birthday money spare and went for the Oregon. As a general rule of thumb, IMHO the hierarchy goes like this:

 

Get you there – printing out Google maps; sat nav.

Point you to GZ – e.g. Etrex

Paperless Geocaching – e.g. Oregon

Geocaching online – e.g. iPhone; HTC

 

Sort of going off topic: As technology gets cheaper, the 'one-gadget-does-all' like the iPhone and HTC will become the norm. Sort of making the hand held GPSr redundant. I'm sure the guys at Garmin are worried about this, that's probably why they put a camera in their latest model. You may hold fire for a while and Garmin/DeLorme will sell off all models as they enter the 'one-gadget-does-all' market. Trouble is it is more difficult to enter this market from the GPS side than it is from the computer-in-your-pocket side (like iPhone and HTC). Just my thoughts.

 

Thanks for all the advice everyone - i really appreciate it. I think i will wait until my phone upgrade in a few months time - hopefully i will cope with the TT until then :P

Link to comment

Im a newbie and hooked already too! You seem to be doing well with the TT - I never thought of using that and bought an Etrex from fleabay for just over £40 inc p&p its been brilliant! I've also got the Trimble software on my Nokia phone which in all honesty does the job perfectly well, though I didn't want to drain the battery so only use it in the last stage of hunting!

 

Happy hunting & shoping!! :D

Link to comment

When I first found out about Geocaching it was while we were planning a summer camp for our scout group. We were camping at Great Tower and wanted to add Geocaching to a hike, to give them something a little different. Having not had time to test things out before we went, I put the coordinates into TomTom running on my windows mobile phone. We also plotted them on the maps, which the scouts were reading from. We found that the TomTom was OK for getting you to the general area (although it did keep jumping back onto the road and then you had to mess around with it to start behaving). In the end we found 2 out of 4 caches on the route - Berties Purple Passion and A Fordable Fun. The two unfound were Beech Hill Wood PC BEECH HILL. I put this down to them being in trees and a significant distance from a road. I've been back since and found them both with normal GPS (Garmin ETREX VENTURE HC) with absolutely no problem. I would say that TomTom etc are OK for starting with but once you go for a dedicated unit you'll realise how much easier it is :D

Link to comment

As you can imagine from the title - i'm an v raw recruit - but completely hooked already!

 

I've been looking for all my local caches using my TomTom (no laughing please) before i upgrade.

 

I found 135 using my PDA (Dell X5) before biting the bullet and buying a GPS.

 

After a bit of research and pestering my local Blacks store, I opted for the Satmap Active 10 mainly because I love OS maps

At the time it was not geocache friendly although it's getting better now - probably not quite as keyed up as Garmin for paperless caching, but then its designed with walking/cycling in mind.

 

My twopenneth

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...