Garmin Dakota 10 Help

[+nazcat]

So My husband bought me a Garmin Dakota 10 for christmas and was so excited to finally ditch the car gps for a handheld. Turned it on and hit maps, after a bit the satelite found me but no streets are visible just surronding highways. It has a basemap but does that mean only highways. I zoomed in and still nothing just yellow land. I decided to try the "where to" feature and put in the next town and it drew a straight line from a-b no road directions. Is this what it comes with and if so how do you figure out how to get to the geocaches if they are 30 mins or so away. I am wondering if my gps maps are screwy, there has been random lines appear sometimes crisscrossing all over . I will be ultra disappointed if a 300 dollar gps comes with nothing. I did look to see if there was any updates and none. someone have any suggestions thanks!!

[+GrateBear]

Yeah, that is about it--a very basic map is all you get. You don't really need a detailed map to find caches, although one does help in areas where you are not familiar with the roads. For a detailed map, you can either pony up for City Navigator, or go to one of the web sites that have free maps, like GPSFileDepot. I buy CN as I'm not very adept at downloading/loading and using the free maps. I'm sure there will be others that will add much more help than I can.

Good luck.

[+Chrysalides]

If you want routable street maps for free, check out http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php

[+nazcat]

Thanks,wow thats really sad seeing the cost, I was expecting it to be like my garmin nuvi. I have used it for 9 months to do geocaching with no problem, but like the idea of paperless caching.Hmmm now i wonder whether to return it, I do know how to get around the PC, wonder if I can do the free maps thing, i guess if it doesn't work and can set it to factory settings and return it.

[+Chrysalides]

wonder if I can do the free maps thing, i guess if it doesn't work and can set it to factory settings and return it.

I don't use it for street navigation (the Nuvi is vastly superior for that) but I found the free maps to be more than adequate for getting around. They even show some trails and paths where I am.

 

If you use na1400, select the tiles you want, submit the request, then download the IMG and copy it directly into the \GARMIN folder of your Dakota. Then go into setup and select the map.

 

If you have multiple maps named "gmapsupp.img", just rename them to something else.

[+nazcat]

So does the average geocacher use there car gps to get to the area and then use the handheld to pinpoint the exact location, maybe I have got myslef into a habit of using the car one that I have no idea how to use the handheld. Does that sound correct. I have only been doing this since March and really love it, but found printing them off and organizing them to be time consumming. What is the normal process that you all use? We like to travel all over and do caching while we are there. PS i would need canada maps. looking on that site but it is going slow, or I am, too much turkey maybe LOL. Thanks for all your help !!

[+ecanderson]

Don't know about the "average" cacher, but there are certainly many of us who prefer the larger screen for auto nav, and use that to get to the general area of caches, and much prefer the handheld to find the cache itself. The two types of devices lend themselves to a specific use, and trying to use one for the other is always some kind of a compromise.

[+Paradise Bandits]

I have a Garmin Dakota 10 handheld GPS that we use for geocaching.  After finding a cache, I mark it as Found.  How can I find the date that I marked it as Found?

Edited May 30, 2023 by Paradise Bandits

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, Paradise Bandits said:

I have a Garmin Dakota 10 handheld GPS that we use for geocaching.  After finding a cache, I mark it as Found.  How can I find the date that I marked it as Found?

 

On the device, find the "Calendar", and see dates highlighted, and each cache log on the calendar.  But that's a little cumbersome.

 

Are you using Drafts (Field Notes)?  If not, see this help page.  You can use the geocache_visits.txt file in many ways, but my favorite is uploading it as the page says.  Then all the logs are shown, with dates, and in the sequence that you logged them.

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by kunarion