First Timer

[Inlimboagain]

Hi everyone,

I have just purchased a second hand garmin etrex venture HC but I hav`nt got a clue how or what to do to get started.

 

I was having a chat with some people over christmas who search for geocaches & thought that sounds exciting as we like to go walking regularly & in various other parts of the country.

 

My garmin arrived this morning, I have read the instuctions once but i`m stuck.

 

Help required.

 

How or where do you get the maps required to start?

 

I don`t unfortunatly know anyone locally or freinds who go geocaching but I`mdead keen to go out this weekend & get started.

 

Can anyone please help, I have tried to find out any info but not having much luck.

 

Thanks to anyone who can advise.

[+Panther&Pine]

Well for us it would be helpful to know roughly where you live. Say city, state, country. Not your home address.

Have you watched the nifty getting started video?

Do you know how to operate your gps? Can you turn it on? Mark a point? Edit it?

 

Edit:

The base map on your gps should be enough to get you going, the extra maps usually show roads and such which is nice but not needed.

Edited January 4, 2013 by MooseJawSpruce

[Inlimboagain]

Well for us it would be helpful to know roughly where you live. Say city, state, country. Not your home address.

Have you watched the nifty getting started video?

Do you know how to operate your gps? Can you turn it on? Mark a point? Edit it?

 

Edit:

The base map on your gps should be enough to get you going, the extra maps usually show roads and such which is nice but not needed.

 

Hi,

Sorry, I`m in Lincolnshire, UK & no I havn`t seen the nifty video.

 

I am fiddling around at the minute trying to use the Gps. can turn it on not much more than that at the minute,

 

The previous owner was from a different part of the country, I presume he has still got maps on there I don`t know.

 

I will have a good read of the instructions as did not know there were any base maps as you say.

 

Any further help appreciated.

[+hzoi]

Hi there. Where you are now, we all were once, so no worries.

 

To get to know your GPSr, I would go to garmin.com and download the owner's manual. We're on our 4th GPSr and we still check the manual from time to time. It will let you know how to use it to navigate.

 

Once you have your GPSr installed on your computer, it's time to get to know how to use the geocaching website. Here's some places to get you going:

 

The starter video MooseJawSpruce mentioned is Geocaching in 2 Minutes. There are other videos on the video page -- check out the "getting started" tab.

 

If you have questions, we can help answer them. But you may find that they've already been asked before, either on this forum (How Do I...) or the Getting Started forum, so feel free to browse around.

 

That ought to get you started. Welcome to geocaching. Hope you have fun.

[+NeverSummer]

Garmin also has great customer service if you can call them--or even via email.