How do I enter waypoints?? Figured everything else out.

[Big Brown Cacher]

I went and looked at several units on E-Bay and then went to the local outdoors place and found what yall suggested here. I purchased a Garmin Geko 201 model. I couldnt afford the Legend(wish I couldve, it was cool). My question is, How in the hell do I input a waypoint? I read the instructions, I performed every other task it can do, but I couldnt figure out how to enter the waypoints for a cache. On a side note, no where do I see a definition of 'waypoint'. Not in the booklet that comes with the unit, or on this site. Granted, common sense prevails in most cases, but it might help if they defined that term since its used so much.Anyways, Im a newb and any help would be great. thanx.

 

Me

[peter]

Don't have the Geko model but the usual manual way of entering a cache waypoint is to first create a waypoint at your current location - the manual should make it clear how to do that. Then you'll have a page show up with the lat/long of that waypoint and you can use your clickstick to move the cursor to that field. Finally change the lat/long entries to the correct ones for the cache. BTW, be sure you enter them in the DD MM.mmm' format (i.e. degrees, minutes, and decimal parts of minutes) - this is the default mode for the Geko so it should already be set correctly.

 

You can also use the EasyGPS program (free download) to get the cache coordinates directly and transfer them to your Geko. This works much faster for multiple cache locations, but you'll need a PC cable to connect the Geko to a serial port.

[SergZak]

From the Geko 201 owner's manual, introduction section vi

 

"The OK Button:

*Press to confirm data entry or menu selection

*Press and hold to Mark your current position and access the Mark Waypoint Page"

[Big Brown Cacher]

Ok, maybe Im just plain stupid. I marked my current position. Now I wanna enter the waypoint for a cache. How do I do that? Maybe Im missing something in the manual, but Ive gone thru all the menus and cant seem to find where I enter a waypoint manually.

 

Me

[Big Brown Cacher]

Nevermind, I apologize, I think I finally figured it out. Whenever I get a new gadget I wanna know everyting as quick as possible and sometimes I ask ask ask instead of read and fiddle with it until I get it. Thanx though.

 

Me

[+Woof!]

looking back I can't believe how long it took me to figure this out on my geko 201. I actually did my first few caches by watching the coordinate numbers go up and down.

 

Happy Halloween

[4x4van]

Yeah, the manuals that come with GPS units could be a bit more "noobie" friendly. I had the same problem when I got my first unit. It took me awhile to figure out exactly how to use it since alot of the terms were completely new to me. With my second GPS, the manual was a piece of cake, since I was already familiar with the terms.

 

Just to recap, in order to input a location, you "mark" your current location and then edit that to turn it into the desired location.

 

Also, if you can, remember to check the desired location on a topo map (links are on the cachesite page) to get an elevation and make sure you edit that part of your new waypoint as well as the coodinates. If the elevation is way off, it can affect whether or not you find the cache.

 

The more you use it, the easier it will get. Enjoy, and welcome!