Help with a new Garmin Summit Hc

[+The Wyners]

Hello all .

I am new to the geo-catching game and need some quick help with a new Garmin Summit HC I have. The Garmin HC comes with a basemap but really this has very little detail on it.

The question I hae is: what sort of map would you recommend I load onto the Summit HC ( only an internal memeory) , do I buy a Garmin UK Topo map or somthing else .

 

Thanks in advance

[+hikemeister]

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Edited February 6, 2011 by hikemeister

[+hikemeister]

I think it depends on what you want to do with your GPS. I recently lost my old GPS and also got a Summit HC (two days ago). The only thing I use it for is to hide caches and have good coordinates and to find caches in off road areas. For everything else I use the GPS and maps on my iPhone. Urban caches now can pretty much be found with the Geocaching app on an iPhone and a satellite image showing the cache location.

[+Cardinal Red]

Hello all .

I am new to the geo-catching game and need some quick help with a new Garmin Summit HC I have. The Garmin HC comes with a basemap but really this has very little detail on it.

The question I hae is: what sort of map would you recommend I load onto the Summit HC ( only an internal memeory) , do I buy a Garmin UK Topo map or somthing else .

 

Thanks in advance

Your Summit Hc is not "automatic routing" capabile and detailed road maps on it would be nearly useless to me. I do not own an Automobile style GPS and rely on "automatic routing" on my handheld to help me navigate unfamiliar roads. I also have TOPO maps available but use them sparingly. TOPO is not helpful to find secondary roads. I do occasionally look at TOPO while hiking to a cache. Some cachers use a mapping screen exclusively to close in on a cache. Both methods work.

 

Every option available to you has trade offs. What do you need your GPS to do for you? If you want your handheld to lay out a driveable route to a cache area you have the wrong unit. If you have an Automobile GPS to handle the roadwork a TOPO map might be more useful if you actually look for caches away from pavement.

 

Find local caches with what you have now. Go to events and meet new geocachers. Make arrangements to tag along with some of them on cache hunts. See what they have loaded on their units and how they use it.