what GPS do people use ?

[B M O]

i'm new to this and live in australia...i've found a few with my iphone 4 and geo app...but it also goes way way off course at times and losses reception at the worst times.

it would be of great help if i could get some ideas on an inexpensive gps ?

[+sonandk02]

Hello BMO,

 

My family and I are also new to Geocaching. After reviewing quite a few GPS devices, we chose the Magellan eXplorist GC. I think I paid about $135.00 US dollars (Amazon.com) for it and it has served us well. Since it is marketed as being "100% Dedicated to Geocaching Adventures", I spent some time reading about the preloaded features to decide if it had everything I needed. The "reviews" section on Amazon was extremely helpful in aiding my decision. While I'm sure there are many more advanced, complex models to choose from, we have had no complaints yet. It has lead us right to the spot (within 5-10 feet) and we've located 8-9 caches thus far. With the purchase of this unit, you also get a 30-day premium membership to this website...not bad.

 

I hope this helps.

 

sonandk02 and our son, JDAWG.

[ArtMan]

I think this is in the wrong forum, but I would suggest getting a model that can do double-duty as a general purpose (i.e., vehicle, hiking) navigation device, not just one focused on your hobby.

 

~ArtMan~

[+2Jeeps2Jacks]

I think this is in the wrong forum, but I would suggest getting a model that can do double-duty as a general purpose (i.e., vehicle, hiking) navigation device, not just one focused on your hobby.

 

~ArtMan~

 

Unlike ArtMan, we use 3 different devices. The TomTom's in the Jeeps. A Lowrance 5200C Chartplotter/GPS in the boat and a DeLORME PN-20 or the PN-30 for the final find.

 

That's just us, we have a phone to make calls and a camera to take photos. Luddite, I know.

[Wintertime]

BMO, I don't know what the situation is with benchmarks in Australia, but here in the States, we have a federal agency that keeps a database of many of them. (Although many others aren't in the database...) There are easy ways to get the coordinates for those benchmarks into a GPS receiver, and if one has a GPSr that allows for paperless geocaching, you can use the same capability to display the entire data sheets for benchmarks.

 

I don't know whether Groundspeak's iPhone app supports the latter capability. Anyone here know? My impression is that it only grabs information directly from the Geocaching.com website; I don't know whether you can add .gpx files of your own choosing, such as converted NGS data sheets.

 

Again speaking from U.S. experience, some benchmarks are shown on USGS topographic maps. Do you have equivalent maps in Oz? If so, you might find it convenient to get a GPSr that accepts custom maps or for which you can buy topo maps for your region.

 

I know that Geocaching.com only lists U.S. benchmarks; are you using the "Australia/NZ Benchmarks" category of Waymarking.com to find ones to look for, or do you have another source to help you decide where to go hunting?

 

Patty

[Contra1971]

I have a dedicated GPS for the car, and 2 for Geocaching, they are so in expensive anymore

[AZcachemeister]

I don't know whether Groundspeak's iPhone app supports the latter capability. Anyone here know? My impression is that it only grabs information directly from the Geocaching.com website; I don't know whether you can add .gpx files of your own choosing, such as converted NGS data sheets.

 

I had the Android app, and the iPhone app allegedly does a bit more since it is ahead in development.

 

You can (and I have) loaded .gpx files of Geocaches, so I suppose a GSAK-generated .gpx of Benchmarks should work as well.

[+EdrickV]

I don't know whether Groundspeak's iPhone app supports the latter capability. Anyone here know? My impression is that it only grabs information directly from the Geocaching.com website; I don't know whether you can add .gpx files of your own choosing, such as converted NGS data sheets.

 

I had the Android app, and the iPhone app allegedly does a bit more since it is ahead in development.

 

You can (and I have) loaded .gpx files of Geocaches, so I suppose a GSAK-generated .gpx of Benchmarks should work as well.

 

It is possible that benchmark .gpx files may not work in some Geocaching programs, I know I had issues with some Windows Mobile programs and files created by both BMGPX and NGS-GPX. On the other hand, if you can free up a bunch of space, it's actually possible to store the full datasheet on a Nuvi car GPS (and probably other Garmin non-Paperless GPS units) using a macro that exports Geocaches/Benchmarks as a Points of Interest file. So there are lots of options. A Paperless GPS would probably work.