How do I make my Garmin200W geocache ready?

[deborahalyonacker]

Hi, all!

 

I just bought a Garmin nuvi 200W "personal travel assistant" and it seems to be great foe street directions but there's no place to put in coordinates (I'm really new at this). Do you need to buy applications or load something on it in order to use it for geo-caching? I thought it was a great deal for $95 refurbished from Amazon, but not I'm not sure...

 

Thanks,

Deborah

[mtbikernate]

it's an automotive receiver. it does have a battery so it technically can navigate you to a cache, but you've got limits on that functionality.

 

1. it's not waterproof. caching puts you outdoors where it rains sometimes. sometimes you slip and fall into creeks. water is bad news for a non-waterproof GPS

 

2. its battery life is limited to abysmal. If you only hunt maybe for 15min for caches, you could squeeze a few hunts in. but sometimes I'll spend an hour at one cache. from what I can tell, battery life on those things maxes at ~2hrs, so you could run out of juice fast.

 

3. it does not have a robust system for loading waypoints. my 205w has an SD card slot, and I can load a PQ onto it to see the caches and have the GPS navigate to them. it'll work, but they won't necessarily have a cache icon (found or otherwise).

 

4. as a car navigation device, its default functionality is to get you to follow roads to a cache, and so that's what it's going to do (and if you leave the road before it wants you to, it will start telling you to turn around and "recalculating" and all that business) unless you turn that feature off manually - which means you'll have to turn that back on when you get back to the car. PITA

 

In short, I think it'd be fine to load caches on so you can see them as your approach them in your car. I'd be more likely to set a "proximity alert" for them than to have the GPS navigate to them. That way, the GPS will tell me when I'm near one, but that's all. Then I can take my handheld with me into the field. My handheld will be waterproof, it will not tell me to follow any roads (because it's not set that way. I don't have to change that setting), it will have enough battery to last for at least a whole day of cache hunting (more considering I always keep spares in my pack).

[+The Campers]

This might be what you are looking for.

Entering Coordinates

If you know the geographic coordinates of your destination, you can use your niivi to

navigate to your destination using the latitude and longitude coordinates. This can be

especially helpful when geocaching.

1. Touch Where to? > Coordinates.

2. Touch a box to enter a coordinate.

3. Touch Format to change the type

of coordinates. Because different maps and charts use different coordinate formats, the nuvi

allows you to select the correct coordinate format for the type of map you are using.

4. Enter the coordinates, and touch Next.

[jbuffethed]

I have a 205W that I use for the driving portion of the cache. I am a premium member as well, so setting it up the way I do might vary.

 

#1 The only way I can get the caches to show on my screen is loading the gpx file to Mapsource or GSAK, then sending it to the unit. Dragging and dropping doesnt work like my Colorado. If you download just the .loc I assume you would use the same process.

 

#2 If you are a premium member and can get the PQ's, then you can use GSAK and download the garmin-nuvi-exportgpx.gsk. As long as you have the Garmin POI loader installed it will automatically send the new gpx file to your gps as a poi with all the info.

 

Tutorial on the POI process.

http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/

 

I use #1 just to get the caches to show on the map and #2 to get all the cache details. You would normally have to zoom in real close to see the POI's.

[+powerlineguy]

Hi, all!

 

I just bought a Garmin nuvi 200W "personal travel assistant" and it seems to be great foe street directions but there's no place to put in coordinates (I'm really new at this). Do you need to buy applications or load something on it in order to use it for geo-caching? I thought it was a great deal for $95 refurbished from Amazon, but not I'm not sure...

 

Thanks,

Deborah

 

If you follow the link that jbuffethed mentioned (http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/) , you will love it!

 

Like Camper Guy, I also have a Nuvi 205W so I'm not 100% sure if inputing coordinates is the same for both models, but his steps work great for a 205W.

 

3. it does not have a robust system for loading waypoints. my 205w has an SD card slot, and I can load a PQ onto it to see the caches and have the GPS navigate to them. it'll work, but they won't necessarily have a cache icon (found or otherwise).

 

I currently have 13,492 geocaches loaded into my Nuvi 205W and I do not use an SD Card.

 

4. as a car navigation device, its default functionality is to get you to follow roads to a cache, and so that's what it's going to do (and if you leave the road before it wants you to, it will start telling you to turn around and "recalculating" and all that business) unless you turn that feature off manually - which means you'll have to turn that back on when you get back to the car. PITA

 

For the 7 seconds it takes to change the Nuvi from Automobile mode to Pedestrian/Offroad mode, it really isn't that much of a PITA

 

To those that doubt that a Nuvi can be used for geocaching, I strongly urge you to follow the steps exactly in this link http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/ and then get back to me on how much of a pain it really is. A premium membership is required for the link to work, but it's well worth it.

Edited November 1, 2010 by powerlineguy

[+briansnat]

To those that doubt that a Nuvi can be used for geocaching, I strongly urge you to follow the steps exactly in this link http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/ and then get back to me on how much of a pain it really is. A premium membership is required for the link to work, but it's well worth it.

 

I don't doubt that it CAN be used for geocaching, just like you CAN play tennis with a baseball bat, hammer in a nail with the heel of a shoe and use a butter knife as a screwdriver.

 

Someone else here listed some of the shortcomings of an automotive unit, including poor battery life, lack of durability and water resistance. They also lack a compass navigation screen which is a key feature for geocaching. Nevermind that the shape is awkward to hold in the hand and there is no lanyard to keep it safe should it slip out of your hand.

 

If you are just limiting your caching to parking lots and guardrails, an automotive unit might be sufficient, but if you want to explore all that geocaching has to offer a hand held unit is essential

Edited November 1, 2010 by briansnat