Projecting waypoints with Garmin Legend

[+The Cached-22s]

We've figured out how to project waypoints using our eTrex Legend, but there is one major inconvenience. The distance to the projected waypoint is always in the format of X.XX miles, whereas most caches require you to travel a certain number of FEET to the projected waypoint. There must be a way to change this default setting to feet, meters, or whatever units you want, but HOW? So far, we have resorted to converting the given feet to miles, but obviously this isn't the most convenient way, or, for very short distances, the most accurate. Thanks!

[+Stunod]

On many "offset" caches, there is no need to project a waypoint. With the "main" waypoint active, position yourself at the correct number of feet away at a bearing OPPOSITE from what the offset is.

For example, if you are required to project a waypoint 300 feet at a bearing of 25 degrees, position yourself at the location that makes your GPS read 300 feet at 205 degrees.

 

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[+John144]

Another way to do this is, with the reference point active, go into move map pointer mode. As you move the pointer, you'll see your distance and bearing from the active waypoint to the map pointer, and it will be displayed in more suitable units (i.e. I see it in meters, whereas the Project Waypoint screen only offers me km.##, analagous to your problem with feet/miles). It doesn't take too much fiddling to get the map pointer to go to the desired projected point. The only downside is, as with the previous suggestion, you don't actually get a stored waypoint out of it. You could, however, jot down the lat/long displayed for the map pointer, and manually enter that as a waypoint.

[+gnbrotz]

Main Menu --> Units --> Distance/Speed

 

Change this to "Metric" and you will be able to project to .01 KM (1 meter) increments. If you figure about 3.3 feet per meter, you should be accurate enough for geocaching application.

 

Greg

N 39 54.705'

W 77 33.137'

[+John144]

Actually, .01 km = 10 meters, which is not quite so accurate.

[+gnbrotz]

Oops...you're right , but 33 feet is still a little better than 52.8 (.01 mile).

 

I use a method similar to what Stunod mentioned. If I need to project 40', I overproject (66 feet) and then watch my distance remaining. When I'm 26' from the projected point, I'm where I'm supposed to be.

 

Greg

N 39 54.705'

W 77 33.137'

[+The Cached-22s]

Thanks for the ideas! While it's true that using metric units will make it more accurate, we'd still need to convert from feet to kilometers. Not a huge deal, but still more inconvenient than it should be! John144's method definitely works. Also, you CAN make a stored waypoint out of it if you click on the map after you've panned to the spot you want--when using the eTrex Legend, at least. It is somewhat difficult to move the pointer to the exact spot you need though, but it's much easier when you zoom in as far as you can on the map. Stunod's idea should work as well. (Why didn't I ever think of that?) We'll need to get out into the field and test it. Definitely some helpful hints, but I'm still dissapointed that you can't just change the distance units to feet!! Thanks!