Garmin eTrex10

[+ochije]

This may sound like a stupid question ...

 

I bought a Garmin eTrex10 from here a couple of weeks ago. I would really like to use it, but I can't figure the darned thing out! I have been caching with my Android app, but the battery dies FAST and I got a handheld GPS unit because the battery life is supposed to be 18+ hours, and I can add new batteries easily!

 

Does anyone know of a YouTube video or somewhere else I could go to get a "tutorial"??? The manual really is limited in directions ...

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

ochije

(Jen and Lexi)

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I'm going to assume that you know a dedicated GPSr device is not a phone. It doesn't load data as does a phone.

You need to have a direct hook-up to a computer in order to download (or upload) data.

 

This tutorial is a really good one: http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk/resources/paperless.html .

It guides you through running of a Pocket Query and loading that data to the unit. Choose Paperless Caching in the red banner and scroll down to the page bottom and select the Garmin option.

 

This is how to run a Pocket Query: http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=118 , from the Groundspeak Help Center.

 

As far as "figuring" the unit out... well, once you load the data, all you need to do is select Geocaches, select a particular geocache, then hit "GO"!

 

Here is the manual download, if you don't have a manual: http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/eTrex_10-20-30_OM_EN.pdf .

 

 

There is a learning curve to using a GPSr for the first time. Equally difficult when switching device types -- phone to dedicated unit.

Once you learn both, you then possess the knowledge of both worlds. What can be better than that?

 

EDIT to add: The eTrex 10 is limited (I think) to only 500 caches loaded. Take note that loading it to full capacity is a recipe for disaster. It slows the function dramatically and has also been known to cause the device to lock-up (runs out of available memory).

Edited October 13, 2014 by Gitchee-Gummee

[user13371]

...The eTrex 10 is limited (I think) to only 500 caches loaded. Take note that loading it to full capacity is a recipe for disaster. It slows the function dramatically and has also been known to cause the device to lock-up (runs out of available memory). ...

It's even worse than you think. The number of caches you can get into an eTrex 10 depends on the size of the GPX files, which vary not only by the number of caches but also by the size of the descriptions, logs, etc. Garmin says it can hold 2000 caches but in reality you'll start seeing out of memory errors long before that. Even 500 is very iffy, 300-400 seemed a practical maximum while I owned one.

Edited October 13, 2014 by user13371

[+ochije]

I completely understand that it's not a "phone" and it's limited in what it can do ... My problem is, I figured out how to download a .gpx file to the device. I can find it on the device under geocaches, but then when I go to "navigate" to it, it has a sort of map and a line ... I don't know what way to go! I'm sure it has something to do with the compass arrow, but this might sound stupid, what do I like it up to?

 

And then if I compare it to the "distance" on the phone, when I'm going the "right way" per the phone, the distance is getting bigger on the Garmin! I thought taking the phone along with me to start could let me know how to figure it out a bit. Not really the case for me ...

 

Sorry for being such a newbie!

[+Bear and Ragged]

I completely understand that it's not a "phone" and it's limited in what it can do ... My problem is, I figured out how to download a .gpx file to the device. I can find it on the device under geocaches, but then when I go to "navigate" to it, it has a sort of map and a line ... I don't know what way to go! I'm sure it has something to do with the compass arrow, but this might sound stupid, what do I like it up to?

 

 

It's showing the way to the cache... As the crow flies. ie direct.

To get it to show the route -by road- you need routable maps, and set the GPS to follow the route.

 

However... Having the GPS set to navigate by 'Road' the GPS may stop you short of the cache, as the cache will probably be 'off road'

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I completely understand that it's not a "phone" and it's limited in what it can do ... My problem is, I figured out how to download a .gpx file to the device. I can find it on the device under geocaches, but then when I go to "navigate" to it, it has a sort of map and a line ... I don't know what way to go! I'm sure it has something to do with the compass arrow, but this might sound stupid, what do I like it up to?

 

 

It's showing the way to the cache... As the crow flies. ie direct.

To get it to show the route -by road- you need routable maps, and set the GPS to follow the route.

 

However... Having the GPS set to navigate by 'Road' the GPS may stop you short of the cache, as the cache will probably be 'off road'

The eTrex 10 does not have maps that can route you to the location. Due to lack of memory space (mSD Card), I do not believe that you can load other maps that will provide you with a route.

 

The device is intended to show you the direction as well as where you are (proximity) in relation to the coordinates... but as far as maps (route-able or not) you may well be out of luck. That model is, after-all, a bottom-shelf unit.

 

Thousands if not millions of caches have been found without such features. Picking your own route is still viable today.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I stand corrected... in a limited sort of way.

 

Do note the disclaimer if you brick your unit by doing same.

[+ochije]

So the arrow is showing the way to go, but how do you "follow" the arrow, that's my hang-up??!!

[+GeoTrekker26]

Walk in the direction it's pointing

 

Do this while holding the GPS flat with the top of the unit pointing the direction you are facing. You will need to take a few steps before the line moves. If you are doing this correctly, you, the front of the GPS and the line will all be pointing the same direction.

[+splashy]

You need to learn how to use it.

 

http://www.gpscity.com/garmin-etrex-10.html#videos

 

Navigate with etrex 10

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=navigate+with+etrex+10

[+ochije]

This is what I was looking for! I do really need to learn how to use it, and "walk the way the arrow is pointing!" as someone posted really wasn't helpful!

 

You need to learn how to use it.

 

http://www.gpscity.com/garmin-etrex-10.html#videos

 

Navigate with etrex 10

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=navigate+with+etrex+10

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

So the arrow is showing the way to go, but how do you "follow" the arrow, that's my hang-up??!!

Just so you know... I also had started (but deleted) a similar response as above to this question. After reading my own response (a few times), decided not to respond at all -- it and all of the changes made sounded as a derogatory "slap". I didn't want to do that.

I assumed (apparently improperly) that following an arrow is pretty darned easy. Much like looking at and interpreting a sign.

 

 

Inasmuch that few of us are mind-readers, it would help immensely if you state your problem with a bit more info so that you won't get responses that seem a tad "snarky". As stated, short but broad-reaching questions tend to receive short but broad-reaching answers.

 

Congrats to splashy on mind-reading capabilities.

 

 

Edit to add:

This response itself would've never been posted had it not been for this remark

..."walk the way the arrow is pointing!" as someone posted really wasn't helpful!

Edited October 15, 2014 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+splashy]

Actually the "follow the arrow' was about the clearest and best answer possible, often good answers are not recognized, because people expect something else.

[+ochije]

Sorry guys, if I came about "snarky" ... I thought I explained that I was a newbie with a hand held GPS device, the Android app has really been holding my hand, and I really was being serious that I didn't know what following the arrow meant.

 

I have even asked some experienced cachers at an event how to operate it and they really couldn't explain it ...

 

I started this thread hoping for help and I got it!

[+splashy]

Coming from an Android app to Etrex 10 is like being in the stoneage, except for the better batterylife and ruggedness.

[+ochije]

One more "stupid" question, then ... so how do you get the Etrex 10 to re-search for the nearby geocaches ... a few times, it has searched on its own, but when I "need" it to search for caches, it is stuck at the last place that I was at ...

 

I have tried the manual, but really it has no information at all, so again, sorry, but I am starting from scratch and really need the basics!

[+ochije]

Thanks sussamb ... when I do that, though, it shows ones in a location where I was YESTERDAY, NOT where I am NOW ... I am just so frustrated!

[+Bear and Ragged]

Or.

You haven't loaded the caches to the GPS.

 

(The GPS can't search for something YOU haven't loaded. The downside of a hand held unit over a phone...)

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

One more "stupid" question, then ... so how do you get the Etrex 10 to re-search for the nearby geocaches ... a few times, it has searched on its own, but when I "need" it to search for caches, it is stuck at the last place that I was at ...

 

I have tried the manual, but really it has no information at all, so again, sorry, but I am starting from scratch and really need the basics!

It cannot "re-search" for nearby caches... it is not a phone. Remember?

You need to load the data. It simply doesn't grab it from thin air.

[+ochije]

Well, I never loaded caches on to it and they are "there" ... it must be "grabbing" them from somewhere???

[+Bear and Ragged]

Well, I never loaded caches on to it and they are "there" ... it must be "grabbing" them from somewhere???

 

If you haven't loaded any caches on to the GPS, I wonder if they were 'pre-loaded' before you got it?

Don't rely on preloaded caches, they can 'date' VERY quickly. It's no fun to look for a cache on the GPS, and not find it, then find -when looking at the web site - find out it was Archived a long time ago.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Well, I never loaded caches on to it and they are "there" ... it must be "grabbing" them from somewhere???

Leads me to believe some left-out information might exist. Etrex 10 units don't come "pre-loaded".

 

I looked back to the OP and noticed this:

I bought a Garmin eTrex10 from here a couple of weeks ago.

What/where is "here"?

Somebody [else(?)] may have put the data in the unit.

Did you buy it new, or used? My bet is used and the previous user entered the data. If new, was it possibly used as a demo model?

 

Somebody, somewhere, sometime loaded that data (geocaches/waypoints) to the unit.

[+MartyBartfast]

Caches have to be added to the device by you (or someone else), there's no way it can "grab" caches from anywhere.

 

As for a tutorial, I would recommend going to google and searching for "etrex geocaching tutorial" or "geocaching gps howto" or similar phrases and browse the hits until you find something that fits your experience and gives you an idea of what to do. The Etrex10,20 & 30 are VERY similar and mostly the instructions any of them will work for all three (except putting maps on the 10 which doesn't work in any practically useful way despite the link above). Instructions for any of the other Garmin ranges may or may not be relevant to the 10.

[+MartyBartfast]

One other idea, if there's a forthcoming event near you then go along to it with your GPS and there will probably be someone there who will show you around the device.

[+ochije]

I got the device from the geocaching.com online store. New. Believe me, it has geocaches in it, and I did NOT put them in.

 

It has ones near my home and for sure has ones near a few places I traveled to since I got it.

 

Somehow they got in there, and there are ones that were recently published, so unless someone bought one that lived in my neighborhood, works in the neighborhood 20 miles away where I work, and goes to the same state parks ad I go to, and then returned it, without deleting the information they installed in it, then the device has gotten the geocaches somewhere ... I appreciate the help here on this forum, and I am really not as dumb as you guys make it sound.

 

And going back to the description on geocaching.com online store, here is what I've realized: "We will even preload an additional 100 cache listings based on your shipping address."

 

I have been trying to make it to an event around here but they are just not at a good time / day of the week for us. I guess I will have to try harder.

[+Red90]

Yes, so it sounds like the store puts 100 caches on it for you. You will need to learn how to add more and update those ones when you want new data. It is not hard.

[+Nathanderthal]

Geocaching.com pre-loads all GPSr units they sell.

 

I bought one of these recently for much the same reason. I have an old Etrex Legend that worked fine until I upgraded my computer. No matter how many serial-to-USB drivers I attempt on my computer, I can no longer get the serial-to-USB interface to work. I've been using the Android app for a couple of years, and it's great, but it drains the battery after half a dozen caches, and that's no good when I'm spending the day on a mountain trying to find the 30 or so that are up there. So I upgraded to the Etrex 10. Some of you will say that's not much of an upgrade, but I just can't justify buying a more expensive unit. And the ability to drop a pocket query into it and have 500 caches on it instantly (and then remove them in one fell swoop) is a huge upgrade as far as I'm concerned.

 

Now for my question: I can log attempts on the unit, but cannot figure out how to transfer that from the unit to geocaching.com. Do I still have to do that manually?

[+Red90]

Now for my question: I can log attempts on the unit, but cannot figure out how to transfer that from the unit to geocaching.com. Do I still have to do that manually?

 

http://www.geocaching.com/my/uploadfieldnotes.aspx