New Geocacher: Need Help Deciding

[+5150cd]

Right now I've got three options for GPS. I have my Blackberry Tour, a Garmin Nuvi 750, and a Garmin eTrex that I can borrow. Any opions on what I should be working with while I learn the ropes?

 

Thanks!

5150cd

[ao318]

Right now I've got three options for GPS. I have my Blackberry Tour, a Garmin Nuvi 750, and a Garmin eTrex that I can borrow. Any opions on what I should be working with while I learn the ropes?

 

Thanks!

5150cd

You could use all three. The Nuvi to get you where you want to go, the eTrex to navigate to the cache, and the blackberry to use to hold all your hints and cache information for paperless caching.

[+5150cd]

Is the eTrex very accurate? I have about $200 I could spend to get a new GPS, I don't care if it is used, refurb, or new. Any suggestions?

[ao318]

I have friends that use the eTrex and have many finds. I personally haven't used it. My daughters had a Venture CX that did not have the high sensitivity receiver and they worked fine but I found a great deal on a couple of Legend HCX's and bought them those and sold the Ventures.

 

I personally would try out the eTrex for awhile and see how you like it and see how it does. You can then get an idea if it will work for you. If it does not, you could always upgrade at that time. I have a Garmin 60csx and a Delorme PN-40 that I use and I like them both very much. I went to REI when I was first starting out to play with the different GPSr's and asked a lot of questions and I recommend you do the same.

 

There are many different types of GPSr's on the market and not knowing what your specific needs are makes it difficult to make a recommendation. At a minimum, if you are upgrading, get a unit with a high sensitivity receiver. It will help when under trees or surrounded by tall buildings.

 

Good luck.

[NordicMan]

Is the eTrex very accurate?

 

That's a loaded question to ask, as there are soooo many different Etrex's on the market.. Which one do you have? What color is it? Does it say anything on it other that just Etrex?

[+5150cd]

That's a loaded question to ask, as there are soooo many different Etrex's on the market.. Which one do you have? What color is it? Does it say anything on it other that just Etrex?

 

Nope, I'm pretty sure this is just a plain yellow eTrex.

 

Also, a local fellow is selling a Garmin GPSMAP 60CS for $100 used. It has some scratches on the screen. Would this be a good buy?

Edited March 15, 2010 by 5150cd

[+Jeep4two]

I'm a purist when it comes to a lot of things (not so much with others).

 

When it comes to photography, I believe a fully manual camera with some 35mm film is still a nice way to learn the art and technical aspects required to understand how to capture light properly.

 

Geocaching might fit that same start with the basics approach as well. Don't let too much technology get in your way.

 

Go with the eTrex (even if it's a plain yellow, non-H model). Pick your caches before going out by reviewing the cache pages, reading the descriptions and writing out in a note pad your coords, hint and brief description for the ones you want. It's actually fun to do it that way. Want to print out the cache pages? Try checking around if someone has unshredded paper for recycling that you can have and print on the back (some printers let you print 2 or 4 pages up - ie. 2 or 4 normal pages shrunk down to one page).

 

Then go out and have fun finding your first few caches. If you end up loving it then you can plan a purchase or set out to have paperless options (like a blackberry, iphone, pda, or paperless GPSr unit) to have along or your adventures.

 

If you do find that the eTrex is a non-H (in other words not high sensitivity, older technology) you'll need to understand that their reception is weaker than modern units. Older units suffer under moderate to heavy tree cover in the months when the trees have leaves. Holding the unit out in front of you (about a foot or so) like you are holding a book makes the older units work better.

 

Have fun!

[+5150cd]

Thanks Jeep4two, you may be right. I might be getting the cart ahead of the horse. I have a Blackberry Tour with Geocache Navigator and that's what I've been using so far and I love the convienence. Heck, I did three caches just at lunch. I might try sticking with that even though I question how accurate it is at times and maybe grab the eTrex to take with me too just in case and compare the two.