Basic GPS help for 'Outdoor Granny'..:)

[+Goofy Gran]

Can anyone please help me? I have just been introduced to geo-caching in South Africa and, being of adventurous spirit, could not wait to get back to the UK to get out there in search of geo-caches! I have a Garmin Nuvi 1490 GPS, but, no matter what settings I try, I simply cannot get it to do the basic navigation with directions and instructions. I have set the coordinates, changed to pedestrian, etc, but it only shows the 'destination' with no arrow of direction, distance to cache or direction except something like' turn left in High Street' in text. Am I missing something? Someone said I might need to download extra software?? Although I am a 58-year old Granny, I LIVE for hiking and adventure. I took my granddaughter this morning and we found the geocache, but only because I had a good look via Google satellite where it might be.

Please, will someone be so kind to advise?

Thanks soooo much!!

Skutsje

[+zoltig]

Can anyone please help me? I have just been introduced to geo-caching in South Africa and, being of adventurous spirit, could not wait to get back to the UK to get out there in search of geo-caches! I have a Garmin Nuvi 1490 GPS, but, no matter what settings I try, I simply cannot get it to do the basic navigation with directions and instructions. I have set the coordinates, changed to pedestrian, etc, but it only shows the 'destination' with no arrow of direction, distance to cache or direction except something like' turn left in High Street' in text. Am I missing something? Someone said I might need to download extra software?? Although I am a 58-year old Granny, I LIVE for hiking and adventure. I took my granddaughter this morning and we found the geocache, but only because I had a good look via Google satellite where it might be.

Please, will someone be so kind to advise?

Thanks soooo much!!

Skutsje

 

The nuvi 1490 is an automotive GPS. This is basically street type navigation aid and not trail. Also you probably have the Europe and/or UK version and nothing to aid in South Africa.

[+oobnuker]

Check out this site: http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/

 

It is dedicated to geocaching with a Nuvi. It's going to be a bit of a battle and it is kinda technical - so not sure how deep you want to get into it with the Nuvi alone... It's not meant for pedestrian travel despite the "feature".

 

Without going into all the technical details on that page, you may find the information on http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/finding.html particularly helpful. It shows a hidden feature of the Nuvis that should help in finding your target.

[+Chief301]

As others have already stated, it's not impossible to cache with an automotive GPS, but it is difficult. They're not set up for off-road navigation, they stick to driving routes because that's what they are designed for. You can put in a set of coordinates but it will normally direct you to the nearest street address to those coordinates. If the cache is very near the street you may get lucky and spot the hiding place, but if it's a hundred yards from the street back in the woods you will have a problem.

 

I don't own an automotive GPS but I understand there are some ways to work around this, but they are tricky.

 

Your best bet, if you have the means, is to buy yourself a good handheld GPS. They are designed to navigate directly to a set of coordinates whether they are near a roadway or not, plus are much more rugged, water resistant, and run much longer on a set of regular AA batteries. Garmin makes some great ones, as well as DeLorme and Magellan.

 

Your next best bet would be a smart phone with a Geocaching app installed. If you already have a smart phone this may be an economical option for you...if you don't, you're probably cheaper going with a handheld GPS.

[+Goofy Gran]

Can anyone please help me? I have just been introduced to geo-caching in South Africa and, being of adventurous spirit, could not wait to get back to the UK to get out there in search of geo-caches! I have a Garmin Nuvi 1490 GPS, but, no matter what settings I try, I simply cannot get it to do the basic navigation with directions and instructions. I have set the coordinates, changed to pedestrian, etc, but it only shows the 'destination' with no arrow of direction, distance to cache or direction except something like' turn left in High Street' in text. Am I missing something? Someone said I might need to download extra software?? Although I am a 58-year old Granny, I LIVE for hiking and adventure. I took my granddaughter this morning and we found the geocache, but only because I had a good look via Google satellite where it might be.

Please, will someone be so kind to advise?

Thanks soooo much!!

Skutsje

 

The nuvi 1490 is an automotive GPS. This is basically street type navigation aid and not trail. Also you probably have the Europe and/or UK version and nothing to aid in South Africa.

[+Goofy Gran]

Thanks to everyone who so prompt;y replied. All your replies confirmed my 'fears'... I will definitely opt for a proper hand-held GPS as there is no way I am going to quit now. (I only visited in SA where another GPS was used.)

Thanks again sooo much!!

Skutsje

[+Goofy Gran]

As others have already stated, it's not impossible to cache with an automotive GPS, but it is difficult. They're not set up for off-road navigation, they stick to driving routes because that's what they are designed for. You can put in a set of coordinates but it will normally direct you to the nearest street address to those coordinates. If the cache is very near the street you may get lucky and spot the hiding place, but if it's a hundred yards from the street back in the woods you will have a problem.

 

I don't own an automotive GPS but I understand there are some ways to work around this, but they are tricky.

 

Your best bet, if you have the means, is to buy yourself a good handheld GPS. They are designed to navigate directly to a set of coordinates whether they are near a roadway or not, plus are much more rugged, water resistant, and run much longer on a set of regular AA batteries. Garmin makes some great ones, as well as DeLorme and Magellan.

 

Your next best bet would be a smart phone with a Geocaching app installed. If you already have a smart phone this may be an economical option for you...if you don't, you're probably cheaper going with a handheld GPS.

[+Goofy Gran]

Thanks to everyone who so promptly replied. All your replies confirmed my 'fears'... I will definitely opt for a proper hand-held GPS as there is no way I am going to quit now. (I only visited in SA where another GPS was used.)

Thanks again sooo much!!

Skutsje

[+Goofy Gran]

Check out this site: http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/

 

It is dedicated to geocaching with a Nuvi. It's going to be a bit of a battle and it is kinda technical - so not sure how deep you want to get into it with the Nuvi alone... It's not meant for pedestrian travel despite the "feature".

 

Without going into all the technical details on that page, you may find the information on http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/finding.html particularly helpful. It shows a hidden feature of the Nuvis that should help in finding your target.

[+Goofy Gran]

Thanks to everyone who so prompt;y replied. All your replies confirmed my 'fears'... I will definitely opt for a proper hand-held GPS as there is no way I am going to quit now. (I only visited in SA where another GPS was used.)

Thanks again sooo much!!

Skutsje

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Thanks to everyone who so prompt;y replied. All your replies confirmed my 'fears'... I will definitely opt for a proper hand-held GPS as there is no way I am going to quit now. (I only visited in SA where another GPS was used.)

Thanks again sooo much!!

Skutsje

 

The question is, did you find any caches while in South Africa, and if so, you should make sure to post a "Found It" log.

[Mr.Yuck]

Check out this site: http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/

 

It is dedicated to geocaching with a Nuvi. It's going to be a bit of a battle and it is kinda technical - so not sure how deep you want to get into it with the Nuvi alone... It's not meant for pedestrian travel despite the "feature".

 

Without going into all the technical details on that page, you may find the information on http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/finding.html particularly helpful. It shows a hidden feature of the Nuvis that should help in finding your target.

 

Egads. That guy was a hardcore Nuvi car gps Geocacher, wasn't he? Last updated December, 2008. I'll bet he finally threw in the towel, and bought a handheld.

 

That Macro for loading the cache data works excellent, I do in fact know a somewhat casual Geocacher who has about 500 finds walking around with a Nuvi "until the numbers line up", so to speak. And has hidden 5 or 6.

 

Personally, I find the "compass" (it's not really a compass) or navigation screen of a handheld (or even a smartphone app) an essential element of finding the cache. But you certainly can do it without one.

[+oobnuker]

Check out this site: http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/

 

It is dedicated to geocaching with a Nuvi. It's going to be a bit of a battle and it is kinda technical - so not sure how deep you want to get into it with the Nuvi alone... It's not meant for pedestrian travel despite the "feature".

 

Without going into all the technical details on that page, you may find the information on http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/finding.html particularly helpful. It shows a hidden feature of the Nuvis that should help in finding your target.

 

Egads. That guy was a hardcore Nuvi car gps Geocacher, wasn't he? Last updated December, 2008. I'll bet he finally threw in the towel, and bought a handheld.

 

That Macro for loading the cache data works excellent, I do in fact know a somewhat casual Geocacher who has about 500 finds walking around with a Nuvi "until the numbers line up", so to speak. And has hidden 5 or 6.

 

Personally, I find the "compass" (it's not really a compass) or navigation screen of a handheld (or even a smartphone app) an essential element of finding the cache. But you certainly can do it without one.

 

I used his process to load a bunch of geocaches in my old Garmin 200w - it works great! Considering that the iPhone app does not give you turn by turn directions to the cache, the combination of the Nuvi with the iPhone (or the GPSrs that I have) works perfectly. Nuvi gets me close without trying to drive "as the crow flies" - which doesn't work very well - and the other devices get me right to the spot.