+cbcc1997 Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Good morning, Very new to geocaching and have not purchased a GPS yet. My husband and I will be traveling to Ireland for our 25th anniversary next month and plan on geocaching our way around. Very excited. I have been researching GPS's and not sure what I am looking for that will allow me to use in Ireland. Can they all be used in another country? Do I need a certain kind? Please excuse my lack of knowledge, but would like to surprise my husband with one and would like to make sure it works in Ireland. lol Any recommendation, information, and tips welcomed. Thank you. Quote Link to comment
+Mineral2 Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Good morning, Very new to geocaching and have not purchased a GPS yet. My husband and I will be traveling to Ireland for our 25th anniversary next month and plan on geocaching our way around. Very excited. I have been researching GPS's and not sure what I am looking for that will allow me to use in Ireland. Can they all be used in another country? Do I need a certain kind? Please excuse my lack of knowledge, but would like to surprise my husband with one and would like to make sure it works in Ireland. lol Any recommendation, information, and tips welcomed. Thank you. All models should work just fine anywhere on the planet (with some exception to the extreme polar regions). However, you'll probably need to find maps of Ireland, which isn't really a problem. Once you choose your model, we can help you find free maps. Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 (edited) GPSr with GPS being an acronym for GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM. But true enough, this question seems to come up with regularity. Maps, yes... but many geocaches have been nabbed without any mapping at all. Depending on the make/model of the GPSr, there may well be free maps available for download. The Magellan GC comes with world-wide maps. I do not know their detail nor do I know if you can download others to it. It is a decent "beginner" model. http://www.magellangps.com/Outdoor-Navigation/eXplorist-Family Garmin units come with world-wide "base" maps. Base maps show major roadways and little, if anything else. There are many downloadable maps for Garmin units. Advising to stay away from the eTrex 10. It is a good unit, but cannot truly support complicated mapping. Most all other Garmin units will support complicated mapping. https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/handhelds/cOnTheTrail-cHandheld-p1.html Delorme has a super unit, but I do not believe any maps outside of North America are available for it. Generally, their market territory is the USA or North America total. https://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10460 Edited July 18, 2013 by Gitchee-Gummee Quote Link to comment
+cbcc1997 Posted July 19, 2013 Author Share Posted July 19, 2013 Thank you. Now to narrow it down. Quote Link to comment
+cbcc1997 Posted July 19, 2013 Author Share Posted July 19, 2013 I just ordered the Garmin Oregon 450. Will be delivered tomorrow. Thank you for your help. Quote Link to comment
+Mineral2 Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Awesome. I recommend also getting an 8 GB (at least) micro-SD card for your maps. Ireland will probably fit fine on the unit itself, but you will quickly run out of room. Anyway, as for free maps for garmin, worldwide, head on over to GPS File Depot and browse their selection, but for Ireland, head on over to talkytoaster. You can install basecamp and the map manager now and start planning your trip and load everything onto the Oregon when it arrives. Quote Link to comment
+phlatlander Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Another vote for www.talkytoaster.co.uk for the UK and OpenStreetMaps for the UK & Europe. Last fall we went on a Danube river cruise from Budapest to Prague via Nuremburg and I loaded Europe map segments from OpenStreetMaps trip on my Oregon550 (8gb usd). The maps worked so well we found a little restaurant in Old Town Prague, at night under overcast skies. Our friends were impressed! As an aside, friends here in Canada went to England & Ireland last month and I had downloaded the entire UK from OpenstreetMaps onto their Nuvi255w sd card. They used the device for driving in both England & Ireland were very pleased with the detail. Quote Link to comment
+Mineral2 Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Or here for worldwide maps, easier to use than GPS File Depot IMO http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ On the other hand, gpsfiledepot has topographic maps, nice ones that cover the United States. Quote Link to comment
+kwcahart Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 I used a Garmin 450 in Ireland, Scotland, and England two years ago. Very easy to find caches without a map and we used a Garmin 255 nuvi for car navigation. While in Ireland be sure to find the Earthcache "Giants Footsteps". Very cool. I may have the name a little wrong, but you will find it, not very many Earthcaches in Ireland. What a beautiful country. Beautiful people. Quote Link to comment
+Red90 Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Talkytoaster is topo maps with current Openstreetmaps as well as formatting to look like the proper local maps. That is your best choice for a caching GPS. Quote Link to comment
+phlatlander Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 These pictures are screen snaps of TalkyToaster UK map on my Gramin Oregon 550 (8gb usd card) and demonstrate the detail available. I loaded this map onto our friend's Garmin Nuvi (8gb usd card) and they used it with great success to drive around both England and Ireland in May 2013. Location of the Hilton Hotel near the airport in Dublin, Ireland Lichfield, England Quote Link to comment
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