Anyone taken Etrex Garmin H to Spain ?

[hentilagget]

We are new Geocachers, and are about to go on holiday to Andalucia, in Spain. We've been using an Etrex Garmin H, with the HU numbers, to cache in Scotland, but the Spanish sites have a different system. How easy is it to convert to their co-ordinates ?

[+MartyBartfast]

I don't really understand your question, I don't know what you mean by "HU numbers", or what you mean by the "Spanish sites".

 

However if you're planning to put caches from geocaching.com on your Etrex H then it will work in Spain just as it does in Scotland and you don't need to do anything to it.

[+MartyBartfast]

OK I see now, the HU numbers are the OS grid letter. Your best bet is to change your GPS to use the WGS84 datum, and change the co-ordinate format to "DD MM.MMM" - I think that's how it's presented on the Etrex. Then if you're manually inputing co-ords use the co-ords in the format "N 59° 59.805 W 001° 13.566" at the top of the page (all caches have the co-ords in this format).

 

You only need to do this if you're inputting the co-ords manually, If you're downloading the cache details straight into the Etrex from the computer then you don't need to worry about this.

[Pup Patrol]

Don't forget to let your gps have some time to figure out where it is once you've arrived at your destination. Taking it a long distance will require it to re-orient itself.

 

Turn it on, and let it sit for a while. Don't be impatient.

 

 

B.

[hentilagget]

OK I see now, the HU numbers are the OS grid letter. Your best bet is to change your GPS to use the WGS84 datum, and change the co-ordinate format to "DD MM.MMM" - I think that's how it's presented on the Etrex. Then if you're manually inputing co-ords use the co-ords in the format "N 59° 59.805 W 001° 13.566" at the top of the page (all caches have the co-ords in this format).

 

You only need to do this if you're inputting the co-ords manually, If you're downloading the cache details straight into the Etrex from the computer then you don't need to worry about this.

 

Yes, we are inputting the co-ordinates manually, using the HU numbers, whereas the Spanish caches have co-ords preceded by UTM. However, they all have the N / W format, so we shall follow your suggestion and find out how to input those co-ords into the Etrex. (We've only ever used the OS letters, and in the UK.) Better try it out a few times here first, to make sure we can do it ! Thanks for your help.

[hentilagget]

Don't forget to let your gps have some time to figure out where it is once you've arrived at your destination. Taking it a long distance will require it to re-orient itself.

 

Turn it on, and let it sit for a while. Don't be impatient.

 

 

B.

 

Thanks for that information. When you say "a while", are we looking at 5 minutes, or much longer ?

[+Bear and Ragged]

Don't forget to let your gps have some time to figure out where it is once you've arrived at your destination. Taking it a long distance will require it to re-orient itself.

 

Turn it on, and let it sit for a while. Don't be impatient.

 

 

B.

 

Thanks for that information. When you say "a while", are we looking at 5 minutes, or much longer ?

 

Longer.

20/30 maybe 30 minutes.

 

Older versions, not sure about the new models, used to get to a point where they couldn't find the sats, and would put a message along the lines of "Are you indoors?" then "Restart search?" if you pressed Yes, it would ask "Are you more than xxx miles from where you last used the unit?" and give options for a new search.

 

You may find it can search quick enough.

[+Bear and Ragged]

May be worth a read of: http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk/resources/gps.html

Especially http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk/resources/gps.html#coords which explains Coordinates and Map Datums.

 

Coordinates and Map Datum

Geocaching use Degrees and Decimal minutes on the WGS84 map datum

Make sure they are set correctly!

 

For easy downloading, of multiple caches, Premium Membership is a bonus.

You can get a free 30 day trial here >http://www.geocaching.com/garmin/freetrial.aspx with a new Garmin. (Or an older one that hasn't been registered through the site!)

Edited August 24, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[BOBBLES WORLD TOUR]

Don't forget to let your gps have some time to figure out where it is once you've arrived at your destination. Taking it a long distance will require it to re-orient itself.

 

Turn it on, and let it sit for a while. Don't be impatient.

 

 

B.

 

Thanks for that information. When you say "a while", are we looking at 5 minutes, or much longer ?

 

Longer.

20/30 maybe 30 minutes.

 

Older versions, not sure about the new models, used to get to a point where they couldn't find the sats, and would put a message along the lines of "Are you indoors?" then "Restart search?" if you pressed Yes, it would ask "Are you more than xxx miles from where you last used the unit?" and give options for a new search.

 

You may find it can search quick enough.

 

My Dakota 20 booted in 5 seconds while doing 180 mph on the Eurostar recently.

But sometimes takes minutes booting up within 60 miles of my home.

Pot Luck!

[team tisri]

Don't forget to let your gps have some time to figure out where it is once you've arrived at your destination. Taking it a long distance will require it to re-orient itself.

 

Turn it on, and let it sit for a while. Don't be impatient.

 

 

B.

 

Thanks for that information. When you say "a while", are we looking at 5 minutes, or much longer ?

 

It's hard to know. Sometimes I've taken a device from the UK to the US and it's got a solid satellite lock within a couple of minutes. Other times it can take 10 minutes or longer still.

[hentilagget]

Thanks for all the very helpful suggestions, everyone. Now to sit down and do my homework !

[+Wild-Skye]

Thanks for all the very helpful suggestions, everyone. Now to sit down and do my homework !

 

maybe you've been to spain and back by now --- I was in Spain earlier in the year with my etrex 20, and before I went I bought micro sd with Spanish maps from talkytoaster (info somewhere on this forum). Excellent value - I had no problems geocaching in Spain but as previously mentioned = gpsr needs to be set to latitude and longitude not British Grid -- but then most people don't use british grid for geocaching in UK anyway. I really didn't notice if it took time to adjust and re-orient itself - I needed time to re-orientate too but a couple of tapas and wines sorted me out fine!!