First Day; is my new GPS the right kind?

[+SunTrekker]

I just bought a Garmin 265T and we tried some caches today. It seemed to bring us to a parking spot just off the road but not to a place within metres of the cache like it seemed when I went with a friend some time ago. Needless to say, parking a car and then looking around reveals a grand scale of possibilities. Am I doing something wrong, or is this 265 for vehicle usage and not for geocaching?

 

Any ideas or recommendations are welcome. Thanks.

[jmundinger]

I just bought a Garmin 265T and we tried some caches today. It seemed to bring us to a parking spot just off the road but not to a place within metres of the cache like it seemed when I went with a friend some time ago. Needless to say, parking a car and then looking around reveals a grand scale of possibilities. Am I doing something wrong, or is this 265 for vehicle usage and not for geocaching?

 

Any ideas or recommendations are welcome. Thanks.

 

It would be easier to cache with a gps unit that has a compass page (i.e. a unit designed for trail use) rather than a unit intended for use in a vehicle. However, I suspect that you can cache with that unit but you will have to change the settings from vehicle use to pedestrian use, assuming that unit has those options.

[+Red90]

By default the units stay attached to the roads. You need to change the routing to "off road".

[BCProspectors]

Even with the settings changed to off road, the 265T is more of a vehicle navigation system and not well suited for Geocaching.

Edited April 25, 2010 by BCProspectors

[+pppingme]

I assume you mean a Garmin Nuvi 265.

 

I agree with everyone else that its not that good for finding caches, but its real good for getting you to the area where the cache is (the driving part).

 

A handheld "on the trail" type unit is going to be a little more durable (can handle a bump or drop), will be waterproof (if it rains or gets dropped in the creek) and will usually have a compass screen that makes it easier to navigate to the cache. All of these are features that a typical "driving" unit wouldn't have.

 

I use a nuvi to get me to the area (so yes, its very useful for that) then I pull out my handheld once I'm in the area.

 

A Garmin Etrex H (the "yellow" unit) can be had for under $100, it will hold 500 waypoints, a short name and coordinates for each waypoint (or does the newer "h" hold 1000?). Or you can jump to the higher end and get something like a Garmin Oregon 550t (the top Oregon model) with tons of features, terrain maps, and the ability to hold full cache info (description, hints, logs, etc) for 5000 caches for the $500 range.

[+Pirates of Prescott]

I just bought a Garmin 265T and we tried some caches today. It seemed to bring us to a parking spot just off the road but not to a place within metres of the cache like it seemed when I went with a friend some time ago. Needless to say, parking a car and then looking around reveals a grand scale of possibilities. Am I doing something wrong, or is this 265 for vehicle usage and not for geocaching?

 

Any ideas or recommendations are welcome. Thanks.

I have the same unit. I use Gsak to download caches into it. The 265T then gives me driving directions close to the cache. I then use a handheld unit which has the same caches installed into it. If you can afford it. I suggest looking at the Garmin paperless models.