Need a little help

[+Vivaxia]

First of all Hi! How are you all?

I just got a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx after harassing Santa for 6 months and I love it! I tried it out today and found my first 3 caches and was absolutely thrilled at the whole thing (I never knew I'd squeal in delight at finding a ziplock baggy, but there you go)

But I only found three out of the 6 I'd originally set out to find. I haven't downloaded the City Navigator for my Garmin and I'm sure that will help but there were some caches that the gps said I had to go 14 feet one and when I got about 3 feet from there It'd spin and send me back 10 feet in the other direction.

I guess my question is how much can I rely on my gps for accuracy and how big an area am I expected to cover without the compass pointing me in the right direction?

[+Touchstone]

If you're getting within a dozen feet of ground zero (GZ in the Geo-lexicon), you're doing pretty well. Beyond that, you pretty much have to use your eyes, the Hint (if there is one, and it happens to be useful), and past experience.

 

Good luck and Welcome!

[+kunarion]

how much can I rely on my gps for accuracy and how big an area am I expected to cover without the compass pointing me in the right direction?

You’ve got a very good model of GPS! The accuracy will be about 20 feet, if you have unobstructed signals. When the cache was placed, they may also have been that far off -- so when you’re showing “0 feet”, the cache could be 40 feet away. Hiders strive for the best cords possible, so you’ll often be much closer.

 

When your GPSr is showing less than 20 feet, you should be looking for the hiding spot.

Edited December 27, 2009 by kunarion

[+tonya c]

I've got one of those as well. Make sure you calibrate the compass. The directions are in the manual. It helped my accuracy a bit. You've got an awesome gps. Free maps from gpsfiledepot.com. They worked fine with my 60csx and they were free!!

Edited December 27, 2009 by tonya c

[+Vivaxia]

Thanks for all the great advice! I'm going to head over to gpsfiledepot and hopefully I won't have to buy the navigator (not really looking foward to spending all of my Christmas money on a 100 dollar microsd )

[+Scubasonic]

First of all Hi! How are you all?

I just got a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx after harassing Santa for 6 months and I love it! I tried it out today and found my first 3 caches and was absolutely thrilled at the whole thing (I never knew I'd squeal in delight at finding a ziplock baggy, but there you go)

But I only found three out of the 6 I'd originally set out to find. I haven't downloaded the City Navigator for my Garmin and I'm sure that will help but there were some caches that the gps said I had to go 14 feet one and when I got about 3 feet from there It'd spin and send me back 10 feet in the other direction.

I guess my question is how much can I rely on my gps for accuracy and how big an area am I expected to cover without the compass pointing me in the right direction?

 

I have found if you rely to heavly on the GPS, or you rely to heavly on your Geo senses you will get confused try to strike a balance between the both and you will do just fine.

 

Scubasonic

[+coggins]

Thanks for all the great advice! I'm going to head over to gpsfiledepot and hopefully I won't have to buy the navigator (not really looking foward to spending all of my Christmas money on a 100 dollar microsd )

If you end up getting City Navigator don't get the microSD, get the DVD version and you can load other maps at the same time onto the datacard (you can't if you get the microSD version). You might find the the GPSFileDepot.com maps are all you need (other than a larger blank microSD).

[namiboy]

just a reminder, you don't have to download the maps to find geocaches. and i don't think they would help you if you were within 10 feet of ground zero anyway. i'm not a hardcore geocacher, but i've found 100 with 2 different gpsr's and never downloaded a map. again...not saying don't download/add maps, just that you don't have to. welcome to the fun.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

how much can I rely on my gps for accuracy and how big an area am I expected to cover without the compass pointing me in the right direction?

You’ve got a very good model of GPS! The accuracy will be about 20 feet, if you have unobstructed signals. When the cache was placed, they may also have been that far off -- so when you’re showing “0 feet”, the cache could be 40 feet away. Hiders strive for the best cords possible, so you’ll often be much closer.

 

When your GPSr is showing less than 20 feet, you should be looking for the hiding spot.

 

I spotted the hiding location on a cache yesterday when I was 135' away. The listing page for a geocache contains more information than just the coordinates that have been downloaded to your GPS. In this case, the cache title was the only clue I needed once I was in the area to identify where it was most likely hidden. Difficulty and terrain ratings can sometimes be helpful in identifying a possible locations as well. As scubasonic indicated finding a balance between relying on your GPS and using geologic is the key to finding caches quickly.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

If you get within 20', turn the GPSr off and begin the hunt! Expecting a good reading at less than 20' feet is asking your unit to do more than it is designed for.

 

EDIT: Or... you are relying solely on technology and not your brain. Is a sorry way to go down the 'pike.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Gitchee-Gummee