New geocacher looking to buy a gps

[+CatticusRatticus]

Hi everyone. Me and my fiancé have taken up geocaching and we're really enjoying it, so have decided to look into buying a gps. At the moment, we're using the free iphone app on my phone, which is fine but not great if you want to find more than one cache in a day with no internet in the middle the UK countryside (since the app needs an internet connection to find nearby geocaches before using the gps).

 

Ok, so.. I have looked online, read amazon reviews, watched youtube videos and been looking through forums for the best part of 5 hours now, and I don't seem to be getting anywhere, so I thought I'd ask you lovely lot for some advice and help.

 

I'm going to summarise what we're after in a gps, and hopefully someone can point us in the direction of a gps that suits our needs. Remember, I haven't really got a clue about all of this, so I may well list something that I want and you'll roll your eyes and say "well, yes, they ALL do that, silly...", so bear with me.

 

What we want is:

• a gps that comes with maps of all of the UK (and can be used in more detail/zoom in for hunting caches), preferably without having to pay extra for more maps/more detailed maps in the future. We don't really need the maps to be super detailed, but it would be nice to have something to follow once you've put the coords in, to follow a "as the crow flies" line just to feel like we're going the right way, and to be able to switch over to a compass when we want to. Basically, if you've used the map and compass on the geocaching free app, that's all we really want, but on a gps.

• a gps where you put the coords in, or have them downloaded onto it, and simply hit "go" and get going without much faff.

• a compass on the gps that works even when you're not moving (I have seen on some youtube videos that some of them don't work until you start walking again, which we feel is no good when looking for a geocache within a meter or so.)

• we want to be able to input multiple cache coords before we leave the house, so we can do lots in one day.

• decent battery life (and preferably runs on AA or AAA batteries so we can use rechargables, and bung a few spares in the bag just in case we go on an epic weekend long adventure or something, and not need to rely on electricity)

• £200ish maximum budget (but would obvs prefer cheaper).

 

Mostly, we are very confused, slightly scared and a bit worried about maps. Having done my 5 hours of trawling the web, the maps bit of having a gps seems to be very confusing. Can anyone REALLY simplify this down for me? I have read about people making their own maps (???), getting free maps from some websites (do these websites work for any make/brand of gps?), is it super important to have topographic maps for geocaching? Do all gps devices need their maps updating every now and then?

 

That's a lot of stuff to help me out with, I know. If anyone can just point me at a gps and summarise why they reckon it's a good one for our needs, that would be marvellous.

 

Thanks in advance! And sorry for being a total noob.

[+CatticusRatticus]

Through our research, we seem to keep looking at the Garmin eTrex 30 and the Garmin Oregon 450 - any suggestions? Are either of these suitable for me?

[+unabowler]

I have a Garmin 550 and I like it a lot, it's similar to the 450 except that the 550 has a camera. In your list of things you'd like, the maps is the one thing that the 450 might lack. You can hit "Go" and it will guide you to the geocache without much faff, and it has a good compass. My 550 came with rechargeable batteries and a charger, I think the 450 also comes with that. The batteries have always been good for a nice long outing on one day. Just about any GPS unit you buy will be able to hold plenty of geocaches.

 

I found the best alternative for maps to be the Garmin 24K topo maps and street maps, which I paid extra for. The maps that the 550 came with to be pretty basic and didn't show much. For a while I used free maps from gpsfiledepot, and they were OK, but not too detailed. The 24K topo maps are really helpful in the rolling forested hills that I go to. If you're not in a hilly area then the free maps might be sufficient. (Yes, the free maps would work for any brand of GPSr.) The street maps don't quite make it into a car GPS but has been helpful. I think the street maps would need updating occasionally but not the topo maps as topography changes much more slowly.

 

The two models you mentioned would be able to take advantage of all these features. The Etrex uses buttons and the Oregon has a touch screen. If they're in your price range they are good options to consider. There are other good units out there but I'm not familiar with all of them.

[+Chief301]

Besides the camera, the Oregon 450 does NOT come with the charger and rechargeable batteries like the 550. I think those are the only differences. The 450 can use rechargeable batteries but they are not included.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Either of those units will do you nicely.

Both have an electronic 3-axis compass (as you want) -- but being within 3 meters of a cache, NO compass will do you much good, or a GPSr for that matter as you are already at Ground Zero (GZ), and that is what it is going to do. It cannot do more. At that point, stop looking at the device, and look for the CACHE. It will not take you to the cache, it will take you to the coordinates programmed into it.

 

Maps -- many U.K. cachers swear by talkytoaster maps. Some are routable, some are not. Read the fine print. It is the maps that allow routing along roadways, etc. These are free downloads. Sorry, but if you want good U.K. maps, you are going to have to download them. It really isn't that big of a deal.

Both units can use microSD cards. You should load the maps to the card, but it isn't mandatory (they eat up memory space).

 

Downloadable maps are usually Brand specific, and will not work with other units, though not always.

Topographic maps are good for showing elevations. Sometimes it is easier to go around a mountain than over it. They would also alert you to bluffs, canyons or the like in your way. Topo maps usually show bodies of water more accurately than do non-topo maps. In all, it mostly depends upon what type of terrain you plan on being in.

 

Load and go -- all GPSr units do this. HOWEVER, there are two ways to load data to a unit. Hand-entering of coordinates works fine, but becomes tedious when doing many. "Send to GPS" requires use of a computer hook-up (that cord is supplied with the unit), and can load caches individually or (I believe) a page at a time.

If you were to decide on being a Premium Member of geocaching.com, you could run and load Pocket Queries which allow for near instant downloading of up to 1,000 geocaches at a time. Both of those units will accept up to 2,000 caches.

There is a great advantage to being PM and using Pocket Queries (PQ's) -- the data contained in those (GPX) files, contain ALL of the info and will show on your GPSr -- much like a cache page on your computer, including the hint, if any and the last five filed logs (which sometimes also provide clues).

 

Battery life -- all current units have decent battery life (8 - 12+ hours). ALWAYS carry spare batteries.

 

Side note: We have not found an electronic compass to be a deal-breaker. They require regular calibration (no big deal, though). We always carry a standard magnetic compass (which doesn't need any batteries).

In that it appears you feel you need a compass for when you get close to GZ, your use of a more expensive electronic compass is pretty much moot anyway. At that point you really ought to have put the device away and been looking for the cache itself, not wasting your vision on the screen.

That said, you can cut your costs a bit by considering the eTrex 20 instead of the etrex 30.

 

Hope this helps, even if just a little bit.

[+Awesome Adventurers]

If you have a smartphone you can download a Geocaching app, free or paid for. They are very reliable!

[+Chief301]

If you have a smartphone you can download a Geocaching app, free or paid for. They are very reliable!

 

They are already using the iPhone app (see first post), they are looking for advice on purchasing a standalone GPS. Their issue is areas with poor cell coverage.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Chief301

[+CatticusRatticus]

Hi everyone, thank you all for your messages with advice and help about this, I really appreciate it.

 

Having considered it all, we've gone for the Garmin Oregon 450 - we're not too bothered about having super detailed maps, just so long as it points us in the right direction, and having seen a few youtube reviews of it, it really looks very decent. I have also read that you can download Open Street Maps for free onto it if you wanted to, which is something for us to look at once we're used to the GPS.

 

Thanks again to everyone, very useful of you all, it's much appreciated.

 

[+Photo40d]

I recently purchased a Magellan Explorist GC which is made specifically for geocaching ($150 USD list price). I'm still getting used to it but it seems to work well. I create a pocket query and upload it to the GPSr and have all my caches.

 

I see after I started typing this that you have chosen a unit - so this will be for anyone else who is thinking of a unit.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Hi everyone, thank you all for your messages with advice and help about this, I really appreciate it.

 

Having considered it all, we've gone for the Garmin Oregon 450 - we're not too bothered about having super detailed maps, just so long as it points us in the right direction, and having seen a few youtube reviews of it, it really looks very decent. I have also read that you can download Open Street Maps for free onto it if you wanted to, which is something for us to look at once we're used to the GPS.

 

Thanks again to everyone, very useful of you all, it's much appreciated.

 

 

I think you'll like the 450 but you'll like it a lot better with detail maps.

[+Graculus]

Take a look at my resource site, the page on Paperless caching and GPS. They explain all you need to know about getting caches on your GPS as well as the different maps available and where to get them from.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

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[+Geofuggler]

Im from the uk an have just bought the same gps - Oregon 450. Very pleased with it! Managed to get some very good maps free as well!