Do I have the wrong kind of GPS?

[janes_jd]

Hi,

 

I recently bought a GPS for my car. It is a Garmin Nuvi something or other. Anyways, my sister told me about geocaching so I have tried 3 different caches and can't find any of them. I know I was in the right area for all three but couldn't find the caches. Is there a problem with the GPS or with me?

[+kunarion]

It is a Garmin Nuvi something or other.

That's the exact one I have.

 

A car GPS will try to keep you on the road. A cache may be miles off the mapped roads.

 

My Nuvi has a "pedestrian mode" which allows me to walk the wrong way on a one-way street, but still routes me all the way around a park (for example) before cutting across to the actual cache location. I much prefer my Garmin Oregon, which is designed for Geocaching, with its compass pointer and distance info. Many people use a car GPS just fine, but that was so frustrating for me to use, I ended up spinning on my head and spitting wooden nickels.

 

You can go to a cache page, and see a "satellite map" of the cache location. This may help you get a better idea of where to look (for example, you see a fence, and can count 3 trees from the parking lot). You could also stick with caches called "quick park and grabs", which would be right near the road, BUT usually those are "Micros" (very small), and may be very tough if you're just beginning.

 

One thing I did at first, was to be sure I knew where the cache was before I even went. I picked easy caches (the ones with 1 or 2 stars), checked for good hints, checked the cache logs to be sure people are having no trouble finding it recently, and I counted those trees in the satellite view. With all that info, I could at least know if my GPS was directing me correctly.

Edited May 29, 2010 by kunarion

[+ADTCacheur]

Hi,

 

I recently bought a GPS for my car. It is a Garmin Nuvi something or other. Anyways, my sister told me about geocaching so I have tried 3 different caches and can't find any of them. I know I was in the right area for all three but couldn't find the caches. Is there a problem with the GPS or with me?

both. You probably don't actually know what to look for, and that makes it harder to find it. Your GPS is intended for automotive use, which means that it only NEEDS an accurate enough GPS to know which road you're on, therefore they often don't worry as much about inaccuracies on such GPSs. Combine these and it's no surprise you haven't found any. Try going to an event or caching with a friend who has cached before. Once you've found a container and know more or less what to expect, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Start with anything larger than a micro cache, as it's a lot easier to find a sandwich box in the woods than a film canister

[+StarBrand]

That unit was intended for road use and is not the best tool for Geocaching. Kind of like using a butter knife as a screwdriver. It works but isn't quite the right tool.

 

Having said that many folks use the NUVI to find caches. Follow some of the advice above and:

 

Here are some general hints:

 

Look for caches with a difficulty of 2 or less for your fist few caches. Stick with regular sized caches for your first few. Micros can be quite hard to find sometimes. Stick to areas you are familiar with. Look for anything out of place or unusual. Look for unusual piles of sticks, grass, leaves, rocks, sand, etc. Feel where you cannot look. Think vertical, not all caches are on the ground. Look up or at eye level. Look for traces of previous searches to zero in on the spot. Think like the hider - where would you put a container in this location? Look for things too new, too old, too perfect, not like the others, too many, too few. Change your perspective - a shift in lighting can sometimes reveal a cache. Keep in mind that many micros are magnetic or attached to something (via string, wire etc). Slowly expand your search area to about 40 feet from where your GPS says ground zero is. Bring garden gloves and a flashlight - they help! Be prepared to not find the cache more often then you think.

 

Most of all - have fun!!

[BCProspectors]

A vehicle navigation unit is not ideal for Geocaching. A lot of people manage to do so, but it's like playing tennis with a baseball bat.

[hoyshnin]

I use a nuvi and it works great. But I'll only keep using it until I've saved up for a handheld gps.

 

Nearly everything you need to know about how to use the nuvi for geocaching can be found here - http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/

 

Click through the pages there to see both how to use it as a paperless unit AND how to use it to navigate successfully to the cache.

[+ras_oscar]

I found my first 500 hides with a road GPS. 2 thiongs make it inherently more difficult.

 

1. the road GPS tends to navigate on the road. Need to select the option to navigate offroad. 2. static navigation. Road GPSr s dont need to be perfectly accurate, they just need to tell you where on the road you are. Its disconcerting for road navigators to be stopped at an intersection and have their pointer moving around with the small innacuracies that inevitably occur. Therefore the unit doesn't update position unless the movement is highe3r that the travel threshold, often 6 mph or so. Therefore, you arrive at GX, walk toward the hide and suddenly the curson "jumps" to the other side of the hide. Frustrating. Try starting 60 ft away and walk briskly toward GZ, mark your best guess, and do it again from another direction. I used to carru a small magnetic compass to help me orient the GPSr map with ground truth. In the woods with no disconcernable road features that can save an enormous amount of time.f course now I use a Garmin etrex vista and the compass is not necessary.

[+tango501]

Welcome to Geocaching

 

when I first discovered this sport I used a Garmin Nuvi 260W

wasnt the easiest to use finding caches but it did teach me to

Search and helped me develope the so called 'geo-sense'

I actually used this unit for my first 100 or so finds before

finally upgrading to a Garmin 60csx that rocks. I remember thinking

when I tried the handheld that OMG, geocaching is alot faster now!

 

as others have said using a Nuvi, change it to 'Pedestrian Mode' when

you get close to cache-that will help

 

so, my 2 cents said

 

Have fun, be safe and happy hunting