+rangerbull Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 I am just getting started in this fun hobby. It gets me out for a little excercise and the grandkids love it too. My question is that I bought a 1350T garmin and this is what I am using. It is basicaly for a auto but when I get close it can be swithed to pedestrian or bike. I only have found 3 caches so far and was wondering if anybody else uses this type outfit. It was a bit expensive at 199 bucks but was wondering if any other devices will help my finds. thanks for any advice and hope to meet some cachers in the future. Quote
+StarBrand Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 Any GPS that allows you to enter coordinates and search will work. However, your unit is designed for in vehicle use and is kind of like using a butter knife as a screwdriver. Sure it works but isn't the best tool for the job. Quote
+JohnnyVegas Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 Any GPS that allows you to enter coordinates and search will work. However, your unit is designed for in vehicle use and is kind of like using a butter knife as a screwdriver. Sure it works but isn't the best tool for the job. Not all receivers that allow the entry of coordinates will work for geocaching, some do not have a function that allows their use off road. I once had a Tom Tom that was made for vehicle use that would not work once I left street. Quote
g_o_caching Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 I used a Nuvi 1350 for the first 5 or 6 of my finds. When you get it switched to pedestrian mode and are ready to search on foot, press and hold the signal strength bars for 5 seconds (top left in screen). It will show your coordinates as you move. It works much better than pressing "Where am I?" every 50 foot. The unit isn't as rugged and waterproof as a regular hand held unit. After you get within 20-30 feet of cache its time to shut it off and start searching. Good luck until you decide to move up to a hand held but in the meantime you can get by with what you have. Quote
+briansnat Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 (edited) They can work, but as others mentioned, they are not the best tool for the job. Other than the Garmin Nuvi 500 series, they don't have a compass navigation screen which is a key tool for most geocachers. They aren't waterproof or rugged enough for outdoor use, they have poor battery life and aren't designed to be held in the hand. Walking around with one is like carrying a picture frame. If you intend to go from parking lot to parking lot with a few guard rails in between, it can work. But if you want to explore all that geocaching has to offer, a hand held unit is the way to go. Edited November 15, 2010 by briansnat Quote
+michigansnorkelers Posted November 13, 2010 Posted November 13, 2010 Did you buy your unit for geocaching, or are you just trying to use it for that? A friend of mine just bought a Garmin GPSMAP 60SCX for $199. It is a great unit, and can also route you where you want to go, although the screen is smaller than the NUVI and it won't "talk" to you. Quote
+BCandMsKitty Posted November 15, 2010 Posted November 15, 2010 (edited) never mind Edited November 15, 2010 by BC & MsKitty Quote
+d+n.s Posted November 15, 2010 Posted November 15, 2010 We have used a 255w Nuvi for all of our finds. If you put it to "pedestrian" and "off road" it works pretty good as long as you aren't under trees. On ours the map itself doesn't update unless you are moving a little briskly it seems. Since it is designed for cars, I suspect it has trouble seeing anything moving real slow. When the map is giving us trouble or we need to get real accurate we'll do the "signal strength" trick which works well for us when we're near ground zero but still aren't having any luck. Still, the best advice is to start really looking when you are within 40 or so feet and to not rely on the GPS for the finding. In groups, the person with the GPS almost never finds the cache. There is a lot of info out there of going paperless with nuvis and we recently took the leap and really enjoy it, but it does require a premium membership to really enjoy. I'd assume your nuvi is better than mine and we have found over 100 caches with it many of which were in state parks... but it sometimes got hairy and we DO want to upgrade to something that can tolerate tree cover a little better. Quote
+Tobias & Petronella Posted November 17, 2010 Posted November 17, 2010 We use the 1350T also and find it to be a wonderful unit. What they say about the battery life is true. One time after a 5.5 mile hike along wooded trails the battery finally gave out. And yes it's not water proof like some other units, thats why living near Seattle Washington, we slip it in to a light weight plastic bag while its raining. Go to this page to read one of my other post about this unit. Then check out our Profile page to see what we have done using the 1350T (which is our current GPS) or 255W (which we started with). Like with any tool, once you learn how to use it correctly you can do a lot with it. Here is a quick tip... When you go "off road", put it in Bicycle mode not Pedestrian mode. Someday we might also get a hand held unit. But after 2 years and 1973 finds and getting 219 FTFs, we are not in a hurry to do so. To be totally honest, about 95% of all our finds have been with in a half mile or less of where we park our truck. And when we do go on longer hikes we simply turn the unit off when we are not using it. Quote
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