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Electronic compass vs no electronic compass


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I've cached with and without electronic compasses. I regard it as a nice, useful feature, but not one worth paying a lot of money for--you can get along without it just fine. (My entirely subjective valuation is that I'd go another $20-30 higher, but not much more).

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I am considering buying a Garmin etrex Vista HCx, or a Venture HC, The Vista has a barometric altimeter, electronic compass, are those important for Geocaching, cause that's all I will be doing. Is this overkill, or would the Venture HC find caches just as well.

Thanks for any help

 

Can you afford the little bit extra that the barometric altimeter and GPS compass cost? The altimiter is the interesting feature I don't place a lot of monetary value on, but it comes with the compass. A GPS onboard compass and an "oldfashioned magnetic needle compass" do different jobs for me. Because I have a GPS compass, and made the effort to learn what it is, and is not capable of, I like it. I don't use it often. It is usually turned off. But I recognize those circumstances when it will do for me what a magnetic needle compass can not.

 

If YOU don't buy the GPS compass feature, YOU will never know if YOU can figure how to make it Geocaching useful or not. Or approximately how much $$$ it is worth to YOU.

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An altimeter would be overkill for geocaching if you do not go climbing real mountains. A compass is helpful in many cases for taking bearings and locating the cache. I prefer the oldfashioned magnetic needle compass though.

 

An altimeter is a nice to have if you walk a lot, and want to know how much elevation you've gained. Even if its a bunch of little hills, it'll add them up. Of course, if you live in an area with no hills, or you don't walk much, you wouldn't use it.

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Being new to this...I'm glad I bought one with a compass. It has helped me...lack for better terms but triangulate on a location. To me it's nice to get to the location, pop up the compass and walk to the cache.

 

To me it's not "over kill" or a "luxury"...if it was something like 50- 75.00 or more I might say yes.

 

To me if you can afford it...I would get it just for the fact it might lead to a few less frustrations (and there can be a few) starting out...thus better enjoyment.

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I really like having the compass. Yes, you may have to hold it level for it to work correctly, and yes, you may have to calibrate it every time you swap batteries. Every time we go out I'm glad I've got the compass, and I can't remember ever wishing I didn't. Sometimes it's very helpful to set the GPSr down on something, let it sit a few minutes - and that exercise is completely useless if it doesn't know what direction north is. Your mileage may vary.

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I have both a venture and vista. The venture worked great for me but I wanted more tracks, that's why I considered the vista.

 

I like the compass mostly for the fact that I can stop and show people the map page and there doesn't seem to be as much jumping around. It's easy enough to pin a compass on the gps lanyard though, I hang one around my neck much of the time. I do it so in case my gps fails, I can go in one direction till I hit a known road or trail.

 

You might want to consider a factory refurbished model of whatever you decide on. They are a lot cheaper, come in a shiny new box with a shiny new warrenty. I would not have known my vista was "used" except for they told me. It's not like new ones have that great of a success rate to be honest. At least customer service is good, so you may as well go cheap.

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one with an internal electronic compass will point to your destination while stopped, one without needs to be moving to work. I generally do a map check while stopped, not on the move.

Exactly! This is the best reason to have a GPS with a built-in compass. I didn't realize what a difference it made until I stopped using my old Garmin Legend and became using my G1 phone to cache. The phone has a compass built-in, the Legend does not. No compass means no readings unless you are moving.. not moving around, but moving forward. The accuracy difference is definitely worth it. I would never buy another GPSr without a compass.

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one with an internal electronic compass will point to your destination while stopped, one without needs to be moving to work. I generally do a map check while stopped, not on the move.

Exactly! This is the best reason to have a GPS with a built-in compass. I didn't realize what a difference it made until I stopped using my old Garmin Legend and became using my G1 phone to cache. The phone has a compass built-in, the Legend does not. No compass means no readings unless you are moving.. not moving around, but moving forward. The accuracy difference is definitely worth it. I would never buy another GPSr without a compass.

 

I could'nt agree more,I gave up the compass when I bought the Legend HCx to replace the Summit(non h series)In my short time at this numerous times now I've hit bush where you just can't move fast enough

or far enough to get a lock....you end up looking around for a "runway"somewhere close by and doing a few

laps untill your confident again.....its a pain for sure.The compass isn't incredibly accurate they say,but if it keeps you moving in heavy bush untill your in the search zone.......worth every penny to me!!My next upgrade will have the compass again for sure.

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My first GPSr was an eTrex Legend (good ole blue) and it was fine. Weak under tree cover of course.

 

This spring I bit the bullet and got an Oregon 400t. I chose it based on a number factors: 1) Electronic Compass and 2) Price were the two most important at the time. The 2nd choice was the Oregon 300 with third being the 60Csx.

 

All had the electronic compass, were high sensitivity units and had varying degrees of features that I liked. Other than poor reception on the old eTrex Legend the lack of a compass to take bearings to the cache when standing still was the biggest dislike (paperless features of course are important too, but trying to be apples to apples as much as possible).

 

I really like the electronic compass. That said a multi axis electronic compass would be an improvement over what the Oregon has (have to hold flat).

 

Bottom line for me: Electronic Compass is a must - but that's just my take, as you can see from others opinions vary.

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My first GPSr was an eTrex Legend (good ole blue) and it was fine. Weak under tree cover of course.

 

This spring I bit the bullet and got an Oregon 400t. I chose it based on a number factors: 1) Electronic Compass and 2) Price were the two most important at the time. The 2nd choice was the Oregon 300 with third being the 60Csx.

 

All had the electronic compass, were high sensitivity units and had varying degrees of features that I liked. Other than poor reception on the old eTrex Legend the lack of a compass to take bearings to the cache when standing still was the biggest dislike (paperless features of course are important too, but trying to be apples to apples as much as possible).

 

I really like the electronic compass. That said a multi axis electronic compass would be an improvement over what the Oregon has (have to hold flat).

 

Bottom line for me: Electronic Compass is a must - but that's just my take, as you can see from others opinions vary.

 

If I had it to do again after more research here I'd have gone with the Oregon series,no doubt about it.I jumped to soon.Knowing what I know now...paperless is huge! as is the compass.I guess the real problem

in deciding for most people is they're trying to balance they're current interest and excitement about

geocaching against they're future interest in it and how much to invest.....I dont think theres an anwser to

that though......unless your rich then go for it!!!! :D

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If I didn't have it, I don't think I'd miss it much. My trusty old Silva works just fine.

The Silva tells YOU where North is. The electronic compass tells the GPS where North is.

 

When I use my electronic compass I have no need to know where North is. The GPS knows so the GPS can just point at the cache.

 

As far as cost, you can amortize the cost over the the number of uses and the cost per use goes way down after awhile. The time saved adds up over time.

Edited by John E Cache
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My $0.02 worth ...

 

I realise this forum is hosted primarily for geocaching purposes, but don't forget that geocaching is not the ONLY reason people buy GPSrs. For me, geocaching is an occasional diversion, not my main use. I currently have a Summit HC (which has the compass and barometric altimeter), which serves me fine - I don't need auto-routing (I use a car sat-nav for that), but I must admit I would like removable memory card feature so I could pre-load more maps for each trip, but that is another issue.

 

The reason I will never buy a GPSr without a compass is because I use it for navigating in some pretty rugged country. Some of the places I go (deep rain-forest for example), there are no reliable permanent tracks, you can't see your destination (except every once in a while when you get to a ridge or clearing), and you can't move quickly enough to get a reliable bearing using the GPS pseudo-compass. I really find the compass and altimeter calibration "issue" is not a problem at all, and all I have to do is stand still and hold the GPSr horizontal, and Voilà! I know which way I need to keep moving to make real progress to my destination. I find the compass is reliable to at least 5 degrees in even the most challenging conditions, and I can get repeatability of 1 or 2 degrees if / when I need to shoot a more accurate bearing.

 

Yes, I can also do the same thing using paper map and conventional compass (and I do carry both when I am off the beaten track - maps and compasses still work when your last pair of batteries go flat!), but it is truly simpler and quicker for me than conventional map-and-compass navigation.

 

In short, if you are only going to use your GPSr for car navigation and / or geocaching in fairly open terrain, you may never see the value of the built-in compass. If (like me) you plan to use it for general navigation in some more serious terrain, I think it is well worth the modest extra expense. (For me, the compass and altimeter are far more valuable than auto-routing and 2 GB plus of memory so I could load detailed topo maps of the whole of the continent in one go. :) )

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The Vista HCx can be used for routing in a car and is great on a bike. For both those uses, the altimeter is lots of fun. The compass is very useful since, as others have said, it will still point to your destination (geocache) when you are still, looking around the area, etc. It is a real compass, not one that you have to be moving along with in order to get a reading (that may still bounce around if your sat coverage is flakey). Get the HCx with he real compass. Check amazon for great prices. I've bought 2 from there already.

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Being a collector of compasses I would like to make a suggestion. I highly recommend the Cammenga Lensatic Compass. It's a highly accurate and dependable device and with reasonable care, you can pass it on to your grandchildren. Cost? About $45 USD. I also have the the Tritium 3N by Cammenga which is for night navigation, hardly practical for the average cacher. $90 USD

'Be Expert With Map and Compass' by Bjorn Kellstrom is a MUST read for every compass owner and has long been the standard. It's a great book for the entire family with games, puzzles, and quizzes in the back. Amazon has it for $12.89.

Buyer Beware: There are many Cammenga counterfeits out there! Turn the compass over and look under the base it should have a number similar to this: NSN: 6605-01-196-6971. Cammenga also has a nice website with tutorials.

I use a 60CSx and it has an electronic compass, I find it "amusing," but nothing beats the real deal!

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So there are some magnetic compass fans here. That's fine. I learned to navigate aircraft using dead reckoning, too. But they are missing the point. When you are geocaching with your GPS receiver, there is a big red arrow (if color display) that points to where the cache is located. You don't get that on a magnetic compass, unless the cache just happens to be exactly to the magnetic north of where you are standing. Second, if your GPS does NOT have an electronic compass, the big red arrow will not point to the geocache when you are stopped. Instead, it will just spin in circles until you start to move again. With the electronic compass, the big red arrow always points to the cache even when you are not moving. Once you have experienced this, you will always want it. Get the GPSr with the electronic compass. You won't regret it.

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So there are some magnetic compass fans here. That's fine. I learned to navigate aircraft using dead reckoning, too. But they are missing the point. When you are geocaching with your GPS receiver, there is a big red arrow (if color display) that points to where the cache is located. You don't get that on a magnetic compass, unless the cache just happens to be exactly to the magnetic north of where you are standing. Second, if your GPS does NOT have an electronic compass, the big red arrow will not point to the geocache when you are stopped. Instead, it will just spin in circles until you start to move again. With the electronic compass, the big red arrow always points to the cache even when you are not moving. Once you have experienced this, you will always want it. Get the GPSr with the electronic compass. You won't regret it.

 

+1. Very well said (from a fellow pilot).

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