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Excited!


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I have just this minute bought a brand new Garmin eTrex H GPS. My first proper GPS unit!!

 

The iPhone is still great but it has it's limitations though obviously I can keep paperless caching with it.

 

However reading the reviews on the eTrex I'm confident it's a great budget unit for my first ever one as I didnt really have loads to spend on it I got it for under £60 with P&P.

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Did you get the bundle package that comes with the serial cable? Does your PC have a serial connector? If not you'll need the cable to upload caches and you'll need a serial to USB converter for the cable. If you would have gotten one of the other eTrex like the Vista or Legend it uses a USB connector and comes with the cable.

 

Edit: Make sure they are at least the H series for the high sensitive receiver.

Edited by mpilchfamily
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My Etrex's rubber edge started to come away last summer - I think the warmer temperatures melted the glue a bit. But I found the ideal solution - I've wrapped two of those red post office elastic bands around the rubber, they are exactly the right size to keep the rubber in place.

 

I knew there must be a reason why those red elastic bands keep appearing at my feet. 'Tis a gift from the Geocaching gods.

 

MrsB

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My Etrex's rubber edge started to come away last summer - I think the warmer temperatures melted the glue a bit. But I found the ideal solution - I've wrapped two of those red post office elastic bands around the rubber, they are exactly the right size to keep the rubber in place.

 

I knew there must be a reason why those red elastic bands keep appearing at my feet. 'Tis a gift from the Geocaching gods.

 

MrsB

 

:lol::lol::lol:

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When my rubber edge came away from my gps I rang Garmin who said they would fix it but I would have had to pay postage and be without my gps for a while. I just bought some of that cheap superglue, cleaned the gunk from the rubber and glued it back into place. Worked a treat and only cost £1 :D

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Went and found our 1st cache with the gps unit this evening. Put the iPhone away and just let it do it's job.

 

What a totally different experience Caching is when you don't have a map on screen!! It definitely feels like more of a challenge in my opinion and reckon I'll be Caching with my iPhone tucked away in my pocket from now on.

 

The cache was soon located - the gps got us within 6 feet of it.

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I'm glad you enjoyed your new toy, I love that new toy feeling, trouble is it wears off too quickly ;-). Much to Mrs K's disgust.

 

I'm not sure I could turn off the OS mapping on my GPS, I'm far too attached to it, but may be I should try it.

 

That is the greatest thing about caching for me. So many different ways to 'play' and it's just down to personal choice.

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As I'll always have my phone with me it'll be a great safety net if I'm struggling. Maybe im being hasty but I think doing some old style Caching with paper may help me become a better cacher? Certainly felt that way tonight.

 

Who knows though, maybe you're right and the novelty will wear off after a couple of weeks and I'll be relying on maps on my phone again!!!!

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I'm new to caching, and I bought an eTrex H to do it. So far it's been great, but not having the cable has been a bit annoying. It's possible to programme in the coordinates manually, but it's an enter-up-up-up-enter-down-down-enter-down-enter affair. This takes a while and makes the fingers hurt; on the other hand, I for one refuse to shell out twenty quid for a cable :laughing:

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...I for one refuse to shell out twenty quid for a cable :laughing:

I felt just the same - then Christmas came around and someone else shelled out twenty quid[:P]. Now I wouldn't be without the cable even though it is only used as a back up GPSr.

Cheers,

Trevor

Edited by T.R.a.M.P.
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I definitely need a real map as well as my Etrex. I usually plan the route on an OS map and use that to navigate by, but refer to the Etrex for the last 200' or so to get the cache.

 

When my rubber edge came away from my gps I rang Garmin who said they would fix it but I would have had to pay postage and be without my gps for a while. I just bought some of that cheap superglue, cleaned the gunk from the rubber and glued it back into place. Worked a treat and only cost £1 :D

 

Useful to know! That's my Plan B now. :)

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When my rubber edge came away from my gps I rang Garmin who said they would fix it but I would have had to pay postage and be without my gps for a while. I just bought some of that cheap superglue, cleaned the gunk from the rubber and glued it back into place. Worked a treat and only cost £1 :D

 

Useful to know! That's my Plan B now. :)

 

Really easy to do but you must be careful not to glue the buttons :)

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When my rubber edge came away from my gps I rang Garmin who said they would fix it but I would have had to pay postage and be without my gps for a while. I just bought some of that cheap superglue, cleaned the gunk from the rubber and glued it back into place. Worked a treat and only cost £1 :D

 

Useful to know! That's my Plan B now. :)

 

Really easy to do but you must be careful not to glue the buttons :)

 

most people use photo mounting tape, using superglue will glue the two halves of the unit together

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When my rubber edge came away from my gps I rang Garmin who said they would fix it but I would have had to pay postage and be without my gps for a while. I just bought some of that cheap superglue, cleaned the gunk from the rubber and glued it back into place. Worked a treat and only cost £1 :D

 

Useful to know! That's my Plan B now. :)

 

Really easy to do but you must be careful not to glue the buttons :)

 

most people use photo mounting tape, using superglue will glue the two halves of the unit together

 

I've used double sided carpet tape. I also used some silicone bath sealant on my old Etrex, which worked well. You will also probably find that once you've removed the rubber seal it is then slightly larger than it used to be and won't fit properly, in which case you'll have to cut a small section out to make it fit.

 

FWIW I think it's heat that tends to degrade the adhesive, so don't leave the GPS sitting in the car on a hot day.

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my Garmin etrex is great. I bought it secondhand,I'm not proud :lol: on ebay, just to see how I got on with geocaching, I am totally hooked on geocaching and will keep using my little Garmin Etrex until it gives up. Hubby wanted to buy me a new one for my BD this month, but if it aint broke........then........ !!

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