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godavid

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so i have to get one of these Garmin 0r Delorme to find things with??

 

People have been finding geocaches with handheld GPS receivers from Garmin, Delorme, Magellan, Lowrance (I assume that someone else has done it with a Bushnell. Some have reported finding geocaches with a variety of auto navigation GPS units from Garmin, TomTom, etc. and quite a few geocachers are using smart phones with GPS devices (iPHone, Blackberry, etc). Some are even able to find geocaches just looking at satellite photo maps.

 

Downloading waypoints one at a time using the "Send to GPS" link is only one way to get coordinates from the geocaching.com site into your GPS, While is is less error prone than entering them in by hand (by setting a waypoint then changing the lat/long values) that's not the method that most geocachers likely use. In fact, the "Send to GPS" is a fairly recent addition to the website.

 

Instead of going directly from the website to your GPS it's much easier to download waypoints to a computer first, then use a waypoint management tool such as EasyGPS or GSAK which can manage large lists of geocaches, then use that tool to transfer the waypoints to your GPS.

 

If you don't have a premium membership you can select up to 20 caches at a time from a search result (from the Hide and Seek a cache page) or from the "Find Nearest Caches" pages (you need to set you home location in your profile first). With a premium membership you can create a pocket query to download up to 500 caches at a time.

 

You didn't mention which model Bushnell you have. Even waypoint management tools such as EasyGPS or GSAK might not support every GPS device (especially if it's a very new model) and unless you have a USB or serial cable to connect your GPS to your computer you're going to be entering coordinates by hand.

 

As much as you probably don't want to do it, returning the Bushnell GPS might be your best option though if you told us exactly which model you got someone might be able to provide more information on how you can use it for geocaching.

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Tell us what model you have, we maybe able to help. Browsing a manual at random (ONX 110) the GPS comes with software "PC Companion Program" which is a mapping software that allows you to transfer information into and from your GPS. It says you can import a (*.loc) file from the Internet. You can download a .loc from the cache page.

 

In short you can download a .loc from the cache page, put it and several others into the PC Companion Program and then hook your gps up to the computer and send the geocaches to your gps.

 

Again tell us what model you have and maybe we can help more. It's just Bushnell is not the most widely used gps so the knowledge base is limited.

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ok again thanks guys for ur help I have a Bushnell ONIX 200CR i did find where to put in the //N 35° 13.449 W 091° 44.134 but i got the part N 35,and i could not get past that i tryed every button to get to the next step to put in the 13.449 any way it seem that god does not what me togo out and find things maybe he has other plans for me i am trying to get a site together to help others to study the bible maybe this is a hint for me not to go down this path but to get back on the path that i was on ?? i dont know any way i will see what lays ahead a??

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Now that we know which model, I took a look at the reviews posted on geocaching.com ( http://www.geocaching.com/reviews/gps_bushnell ).

 

This unit does not appear to be a very user or caching friendly unit. Pretty much, none of the 15 reviews have anything good to say about it!

 

Personally, I would make every attempt to return it for a refund.

 

Reviews of GPSr units are available on the geocaching website. It's not perfect, but it sure is a good place to research a bit before just buying one because you think the price is right. Not all GPSr units support geocaching activities (very well).

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ok again thanks guys for ur help I have a Bushnell ONIX 200CR i did find where to put in the //N 35° 13.449 W 091° 44.134 but i got the part N 35,and i could not get past that i tryed every button to get to the next step to put in the 13.449 any way it seem that god does not what me togo out and find things maybe he has other plans for me i am trying to get a site together to help others to study the bible maybe this is a hint for me not to go down this path but to get back on the path that i was on ?? i dont know any way i will see what lays ahead a??

 

I don't mean for this to sound mean or crass, but am I the only one who can't take this guy seriously? If I'm wrong, good luck with getting your GPSr to work for you, I have no idea how to work one of those. Check out the user manuals online or the one that came with the unit. Either one should give you the direction you need.

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ok I am back again but this time I g0t Garmin etrex(vista) and i down loaded a few findings and i went to find them yesteyday and i thought i found one it was a false finding but the downloading was so,so easy to do now i am yet to find my first find and with the help of my new device i am surly to find what i am lo0king for now i g0t the old ones down loaded trying to figure out how to delete the old one that i down loaded yesterday to up load the new ones any way the GARMIN GPS is the the way to go †

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ok I am back again but this time I g0t Garmin etrex(vista) and i down loaded a few findings and i went to find them yesteyday and i thought i found one it was a false finding but the downloading was so,so easy to do now i am yet to find my first find and with the help of my new device i am surly to find what i am lo0king for now i g0t the old ones down loaded trying to figure out how to delete the old one that i down loaded yesterday to up load the new ones any way the GARMIN GPS is the the way to go †

Now you get to work hard at honing your "geosense" skills. Stay away (for a bit) from micros and nanos, looking mostly for small and larger caches. It will help with the learning process. Also, look for lesser difficult caches for a while (difficulty 2 or less). Learning the functionality of the GPSr will come along the more you use it.

There also is the forums, which you already know about. :huh:

 

Beware -- the GPSr will only get you CLOSE to the cache, generally it will put you within +/- 20 feet. Remember too, the cache was placed using a GPSr which may (or may not) have the same margin of error.

You could be a "Ground Zero" and still be 40 or more feet away from the cache!

Upon arriving at GZ, stop following the GPSr (at this point, it will only confuse you as it wanders and jumps about) and search using your eyes and brain. Look for good hiding spots, instead.

 

"Now" is when the fun can start! :P

Welcome to the obsession. :rolleyes:

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ok I am back again but this time I g0t Garmin etrex(vista) and i down loaded a few findings and i went to find them yesteyday and i thought i found one it was a false finding but the downloading was so,so easy to do now i am yet to find my first find and with the help of my new device i am surly to find what i am lo0king for now i g0t the old ones down loaded trying to figure out how to delete the old one that i down loaded yesterday to up load the new ones any way the GARMIN GPS is the the way to go †

 

Now that you have the dowloading of caches out of the way on to the next step. First start off with caches with a difficulty level lower than two. Second eliminate micros. They can be difficult even for veteran geocachers.

Third make sure there are recent finds on the cache you are looking for so you can be reasonably sure it is still there.

 

And most important, use your GPS to get near the cache but not to bring you directly to it. It usually won't. When you combine the inherent error in your unit with the error in the hider's unit, the cache can be 30, 40 or 50+ feet from where your GPS says it is.

 

Once you get in close pay less attention to what your GPS is telling you and more attention to your surroundings. Consider where you would hide something in that area and check out those spots. Look for things out of place. A unnatural pile of rocks or sticks. Examine hollows in trees and along side down trees, under and around boulders.

 

Once you've found a few then you can start setting your sights on the more difficult ones.

Edited by briansnat
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