Is there a Nuvi or other for car AND geocaching?

[+FloridaFour]

Is there such a thing as a car gps that does decent geocaching and can do paperless? For a person who does not want to buy two gps devices, but really does need a readable gps for the car, with turn by turn routing and a larger screen than the hand helds (poor eye sight)

 

Is there a Nuvi that can do both? (under $300)? Preferably $200?

 

I don't care if it's a little harder to upload the caches, just that it can be done.

 

I have a Nuvi 350 now, it's NOT accurate enough. Are the newer ones more accurate for Geocaching?

 

Thanks so much!

[NordicMan]

Well the Nuvi 500/550 are the only ones that are water resistant so they're really the only ones I'd recommend for Geocaching use.

 

If you want a device that's slanted more in favor of Geocaching then look at the Lowrance Endura Sierra & Safari GPS units. They're the only rugged handheld GPS receivers currently on the market that will auto-route your car using voice prompts (not just beeps)

[+gnjeepn]

We have a nuvi 750 and a nuvi 550. While the 550 is more accurate than the 750 it still isn't perfect. We purchased a Dakota 20 for caching and mapping and it is far more accurate than both our nuvi's especialy in heavy tree cover.

[+FloridaFour]

I got to "sort of" try out at Dakota 10 in the store the other day, nice! (I prefer the 20, but they didn't have one to try).

 

I didn't know that about the Lowrence, interesting, thanks~

[+Chrysalides]

I have a Nuvi 350 now, it's NOT accurate enough. Are the newer ones more accurate for Geocaching?

Don't toss that 350. Install your geocaches as custom POIs using the PilotSnipes macro. It won't get you the accuracy of a handheld unit, but it makes navigating to a geocache so much easier.

[+Woodstramp]

I have a Nuvi 350 now, it's NOT accurate enough. Are the newer ones more accurate for Geocaching?

Don't toss that 350. Install your geocaches as custom POIs using the PilotSnipes macro. It won't get you the accuracy of a handheld unit, but it makes navigating to a geocache so much easier.

 

Chrysalides,

 

Have you ever messed around with the Proximity Alerts during the process? On my lowly Nuvi 200 I used to use that special geocaching vehicle (for near GZ area) and had the proximity alerts set low. I always set PA's to less than 30'. When getting close (using map and special ring vehicle) the Nuvi would ping when close to the cache. I had decent success using the Nuvi like that.

[+user13371]

FloridaFour, this really depends on how fussy you are and what features you consider important. There really isn't a car unit well suited for geocaching, and there aren't any handheld GPSRs for trail use that can match your Nuvi for turn-by-turn road use. As you already HAVE a Nuvi, just buy another GPS unit for geocaching/hiking. Keep em both -- and use the right tool for the job: Nuvi in the car, other GPS on the trail.

Edited October 30, 2010 by lee_rimar

[+fegan]

The only Nuvi that is truly paperless would be the 500/550 models. Using POIs on any other model to get description/hint/logs they still lack the ability to log your finds, so I don't consider them to be paperless. If your budget is under $200, I think your best bet would be to get a (now discontinued) Colorado 400i [or is it the 400c?] for ~$180 on Amazon to use for geocaching, then keep your Nuvi 350 in the car.

 

I started with a Nuvi 200W for geocaching, because it was what I already had. It worked fine...but lacked paperless features. Shortly afterward I upgraded to the Colorado 400t and added City Navigator for turn-by-turn navigation. I find this to be an ideal solution (although the newer Oregon models have a few additional bells and whistles, I don't feel the urge to upgrade) and over 2 1/2 years later I'm still very satisfied.

 

YMMV

[+Chrysalides]

Have you ever messed around with the Proximity Alerts during the process? On my lowly Nuvi 200 I used to use that special geocaching vehicle (for near GZ area) and had the proximity alerts set low. I always set PA's to less than 30'. When getting close (using map and special ring vehicle) the Nuvi would ping when close to the cache. I had decent success using the Nuvi like that.

Hmm, that is an interesting way to use the proximity alert. I have mine set to 2000 ft and that enables me to see where are the nearby caches when I'm driving around. Your method sounds like a really great idea for using it as a handheld though. I'll give that a try. Thanks!

[+The Yinnies]

Have you ever messed around with the Proximity Alerts during the process? On my lowly Nuvi 200 I used to use that special geocaching vehicle (for near GZ area) and had the proximity alerts set low. I always set PA's to less than 30'. When getting close (using map and special ring vehicle) the Nuvi would ping when close to the cache. I had decent success using the Nuvi like that.

Hmm, that is an interesting way to use the proximity alert. I have mine set to 2000 ft and that enables me to see where are the nearby caches when I'm driving around. Your method sounds like a really great idea for using it as a handheld though. I'll give that a try. Thanks!

How do you do this? My sister has a nuvi and they cannot see the caches while driving. I would be great to show them this.

Thanks

[+Chrysalides]

How do you do this? My sister has a nuvi and they cannot see the caches while driving. I would be great to show them this.

First you need to have the caches loaded using the GSAK macro I linked to above. Here it is again in case you don't have it.

 

http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/

 

Set the distance to something you like. 2000 feet seems to be reasonable for when you're driving - about 3/8 mile radius.

 

In your Nuvi setup, set Proximity Alert to "Prompt". I think there's another setting where I disabled the audio aler, but I'm not sure. I found the audio alert when driving to be too distracting.

 

This works like a charm on my 660. On my 755, it has some infuriating side effects - like when I point to any location on my 2D map view, it will zoom in on one of the custom POIs. I have no idea why it does that, and it drives me nuts.

Edited October 31, 2010 by Chrysalides

[+GASTX]

I use my Nuvi 765T in my car to get close to caches but switch to my Oregon 550 or 60CSX to go to the actual cache. The nuvi's I have had dont have a long battery life and no compass (765T)

[+Woodstramp]

 

Hmm, that is an interesting way to use the proximity alert. I have mine set to 2000 ft and that enables me to see where are the nearby caches when I'm driving around. Your method sounds like a really great idea for using it as a handheld though. I'll give that a try. Thanks!

 

I used to commonly set my prox-alerts to around 20' and use the custom geocaching vehicle mentioned in this thread:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...11&t=213782

 

The vehicle lets you see much more of the GZ area. More so than with the standard vehicles Then, with a short prox-alert setting just zig-zag around until you hear a ping. I did this because I'd read that Nuvis are WAAS capable, so they should capable of handling that short of an alert if it can see the sky well enough.

 

Only drawback was the road-sticky programming in the Nuvis. Some can be set to "offroad" mode or just temporarily turn off City Navigator in the menu if road-sticky is a problem on a particular cache.

 

Not as nice as a paperless handheld (or 500), but it works well if all you have is a Nuvi.

[+FloridaFour]

wow, thanks for all the replies! Very helpful! I will buy a hand held soon (maybe thanksgiving sales), but I might try to download the caches to the Nuvi. printing/writing is getting to be a real pain!

 

Even though the Nuvi isn't maybe as accurate, I love the screen! It's soooo much easier to see than the handheld my mom has. I can see all around me and really get a good orientation, especially when there's a road or water or something to help guide me. And I have the "ping" set to 40 feet. Will see if I can set it closer.

 

I'm good at switching back and forth from car to pedestian mode, too.