This looks awsome!

[Guest porsteve]

I just stumbled on to this website and have to say that this sport looks awsome. Especially the fact that I can do this with my kids. What is really weird is that I sell GPS units on my site www.supercargadgets.com but never thought much about getting one of my own. I would appreciate some advice about the level of hardware sophistication needed for Geocaching. There appears to be a wide variance in price. Are some brands much better than others? Is a color screen a big help or an unnecessary frill? I know I'm throwing out a lot of questions, but I hope to start hunting as soon as possible. Wish I had known about this at the beginning of the summer. Thanks in advance to all that respond.

[Guest c.mathis]

quote:

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Originally posted by porsteve:

There appears to be a wide variance in price. Are some brands much better than others? Is a color screen a big help or an unnecessary frill?

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And you sell GPS units?

[Guest c.mathis]

quote:

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Originally posted by porsteve:

There appears to be a wide variance in price. Are some brands much better than others? Is a color screen a big help or an unnecessary frill?

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And you sell GPS units?

[Guest Pat in Louisiana]

I'm new to this also and have had no problem hunting with a 3-4 year old Eagle explorer.

Send what you can, be it $100 or $1000 :-)

 

------------------

Pat in Louisiana

30:27:13.392N

91:02:55.054W

 

I never get lost!

I simply investigate alternate destinations!

[Guest porsteve]

To C.Mathis,

 

Believe it or not. Actually GPS is just a small part of the inventory on this site. I work with an online supplier and have had no occassion to actually use or handle a GPS unit. But this site has me geeked and I hope to get a GPS unit soon.

 

Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

[Guest c.mathis]

extra features like a built-in compass and the ability to upload maps to the unit can be nice. But they aren't necessary.

 

You may consider the fact that you may start using the GPS for activities other than geocaching and want more features.

[Guest celts]

porsteve---you'll soon find there's a forum for just about everything on here with the possible exception of sex--although I DO remember an obscure reference to geo underwear!!!But I digress.As a matter of fact, I think on this general questions site, you'll find one about the "gps unit most people use". Good luck--and welcome.

[Guest bearboy]

Just Take a GPS off your shelf and go out and play.welcome to the game.

[Guest hgmonaro]

I was using an approx 4yo GPS (originally purchased for fishing but it broke down last week, diagosis yet to be determined), no maps, just minimal info, worked fine!

 

Regarding salesman and product knowledge... mutually exclusive aren't they (no offence intended porsteve! - in the world of the web this is even more so)

 

Heard an advert yesterday for a car yard extolling the virtues of their female sales force. I thought, well that wouldn't be a bad idea, they could talk to (not down to) women buyers, and if they read the sales brochures, they would know more about the cars they sold than the current crop of guys one has to encounter!

[Guest hgmonaro]

I was using an approx 4yo GPS (originally purchased for fishing but it broke down last week, diagosis yet to be determined), no maps, just minimal info, worked fine!

 

Regarding salesman and product knowledge... mutually exclusive aren't they (no offence intended porsteve! - in the world of the web this is even more so)

 

Heard an advert yesterday for a car yard extolling the virtues of their female sales force. I thought, well that wouldn't be a bad idea, they could talk to (not down to) women buyers, and if they read the sales brochures, they would know more about the cars they sold than the current crop of guys one has to encounter!

[Guest Sluggo]

Hey porsteve... Don't let the crusty oldtimers get you down. At geocaching.com an "oldtmer is someone who has been at it for about 4 months. As for as the GPSR, unless you have some other need for it (other than geocaching), buy cheap( maybe from the Garage Sale forum), see if you like geocaching, upgrade (after you know what you want), sell the old one to a newbie (maybe on the Garage Sale forum), geocache some more, upgrade....... etc. I have been using a Garmin III Pilot that I bought in 1997 for flying. It has a lot of features that have no purpose in geocaching (like an emergency button the vectors you to the eight nearest airports that meet your pre-selected criteria), but it also leads me to the caches (a function that neither Garmin, or anyone else ever dreamed of in 1997).

 

Welcome aboard, ask question, read answers, ignore advice, make a bunch of rookie mistakes, laugh about it, tell others about it on the forums, read post that make fun of you on the forums, get over it, become an oldtimer, and make fun of a rookie. It's a cycle, and a FUN one at that.

 

--Sluggo

[Guest dustystar]

Welcome aboard, ask question, read answers, ignore advice, make a bunch of rookie mistakes, laugh about it, tell others about it on the forums, read post that make fun of you on the forums, get over it, become an oldtimer, and make fun of a rookie. It's a cycle, and a FUN one at that.

 

--Sluggo[/b]

 

Sluggo - I love you man!

[Guest bunkerdave]

I can still remember EVERY cache I have been to. Give me the name and I will recount to you my hunt to find it - or fail to do so. That is 123 finds.

 

Answer to IP - Color screens are very expensive, gobble battery juice, and do little more than look good. They do look good, though.

 

Mapping is about the only "extra" you will get with the higher-end GPS units that you might not need. However, if you get a mapping unit, you will soon wonder how anyone does without it. It also depends how remote your hunt areas are, and how much backcountry exploring you plan on doing. Most of the units are getting TOPO maps in now, which has all those obvious advantages, as well.

 

A hearty welcome to the sport. Be sure and bring batteries.

[Guest bunkerdave]

I can still remember EVERY cache I have been to. Give me the name and I will recount to you my hunt to find it - or fail to do so. That is 123 finds.

 

Answer to IP - Color screens are very expensive, gobble battery juice, and do little more than look good. They do look good, though.

 

Mapping is about the only "extra" you will get with the higher-end GPS units that you might not need. However, if you get a mapping unit, you will soon wonder how anyone does without it. It also depends how remote your hunt areas are, and how much backcountry exploring you plan on doing. Most of the units are getting TOPO maps in now, which has all those obvious advantages, as well.

 

A hearty welcome to the sport. Be sure and bring batteries.

[Guest ClayJar]

If there's one good reason for having a mapping GPS receiver, it's the fact that you can look back at the map and set the waypoint for your car that you forgot to set... again! (Okay, okay! I'll get better!)

 

As far as batteries go, always have at least two replacement sets on you at all times. Whenever I get down toward four AA's left, I buy a new pack. It's just no fun to use a compass and dead reckoning when you weren't planning on it.

[Guest EyezOfTheWorld]

quote:

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Originally posted by bunkerdave:

I can still remember EVERY cache I have been to. Give me the name and I will recount to you my hunt to find it - or fail to do so. That is 123 finds.

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I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday!

[Guest Geoffrey]

Also need to remember where you left your GPS. I had given my sister a Magellan, and she lost it. Also not good to leave the thing at a cache site. Now i know why my Etrex has a neck strap instead of a wrist stap, its so you dont lose it.

[Guest JeepCache]

I'm in porsteve's boat. New to the sport, and thoroughly geeked by this site. When I heard about the site, I checked it out, not quite expecting to find what I found. Entered my zip and found pages of caches all in reasonable driving distances. My wife and myself will be busy.

[Guest Vagabond]

for your car that you forgot to set... again! (Okay, okay! I'll get better!)

 

As far as batteries go, always have at least two replacement sets on you at all times. Whenever I get down toward four AA's left, I buy a new pack. It's just no fun to use a compass and dead reckoning when you weren't planning on it.

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Come on clayjar whats the track back or courseplot for. Just follow them back to your vechicle

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Vagabond:

Come on clayjar whats the track back or courseplot for. Just follow them back to your vechicle

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Yeah, but you don't necessarily know where on the track/course you parked. (IOW, it looks prettier. )

[Guest ClayJar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Vagabond:

Come on clayjar whats the track back or courseplot for. Just follow them back to your vechicle

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Yeah, but you don't necessarily know where on the track/course you parked. (IOW, it looks prettier. )

[Guest Chris Juricich]

I've got the 'bottom' of the line Garmin eTrex (about $110) and it's proven to be quite useful in this particular hobby. To go any lower would involve getting a compass and sextant and a stat book.

 

As you're involved with cars and such, you might want the bells and whistles of the CD-ROM topo or street map capability, but for me, the unit I have gives all that I need.

 

Bear in mind that I'm something of a gearhead with a G4 desktop, G3 Powerbook, cell phones, Palm Pilots (three in this house!), an old souped-up 8500 AV Mac, cable internet, ethernet hoo-hah... but this little honey, the Garmin eTrex, works fine.

 

I admit that part of the reason I've passed on more complicated models is that I prefer to work on the Mac platform, and other than GPSy, there's little for this hobby on the Mac.