GPS Setup

[+fishing_gal]

Do I set my GPS to Magnetic or True north reference?

[+Glimmereyes]

Do I set my GPS to Magnetic or True north reference?

I think magnetic is more common, but Longitude and Latitude won't care so whichever you want. If you're projecting a waypoint, the cache page should mention which one.

[+dprovan]

There's almost never any good reason to tell a GPS to use magnetic north. Everything in geocaching is true north except for the rare puzzle cache that uses magnetic north as an homage to old school.

[+Walts Hunting]

True always true. Mysteries that have azimuth/distance are done in True.

 

And actually it doesn't effect cache hunting. The arrow points to the coordinates no matter shat what the azimuth says.

[+RobDJr]

I simply leave mine set to whatever setting I used last. If the most recent projection I made required magnetic, it'll be at magnetic until the next time I need to change it for whatever reason (most likely another projection).

 

It doesn't matter a bit.

 

Aside from projections, the only time you might need to worry about magnetic/true as far as I can tell is if you plan to work using the compass with a paper map

[+dprovan]

I simply leave mine set to whatever setting I used last. If the most recent projection I made required magnetic, it'll be at magnetic until the next time I need to change it for whatever reason (most likely another projection).

I guess I could also say that I always leave mine set to whatever setting I used last...which is why it's always set to true. I think I've encountered exactly one cache that required using magnetic bearings in the field, and I found it easier to do that one by bringing along a real compass instead of trying to use my GPSr as a compass.