Cheesy_Nacho Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Hi, I'm new to Geocaching having just bought a Geko 101 on e-bay and found my first cache today. I was wondering what GPS Units other people were using? Best Regards Cheesy Quote Link to comment
+Seasider Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Welcome to the sport! I spent my first 5 months caching using an Etrex Yellow before upgrading to an Etrex Vista. I also have a Navman Co-pilot II sleeve which I use with my PDA & Tom Tom software for in-car navigation (it can be used out of the car as well but I don't bother). Good maps are also important to the sport and I use the excellent Memory Map software which displays the OS 1:50000 maps (1:25000 in certain areas) and also aerial photos of Britain. You can download from GeocachingUK a file containing all the British caches which you can then import into the mapping software. The software can also model in 3D so you can get a much better idea of the terrain of your route to the cache! Having mentioned those gadgets & software please note that I found my first 350 or so caches using the Etrex Yellow & paper maps & navigating myself in the car so you can easily get by without them!! Enjoy your Geko and good luck on finding your first 100 caches! Cheers! Seasider Quote Link to comment
Sparticus Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Firstly let me say congratulations on your first find, and welcome to geocaching . When the bug hits I'm sure you'll be as crazy as the rest of us mad fools . Secondly many people have different ideas about what unit is best. It really depends on what you want to use it for. Personally, I use a Garmin GPSV which I find fantastic. It has downloadable road maps and my wife and I use it almost daily for driving. It very rarely loses signals under trees, and when it does it can be very frustrating. Hope you enjoy this game of ours and hope you have many more fruitful searches. Quote Link to comment
Deego Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 (edited) I use a Yellow etrex with paper maps and it does the job just fine. the GPS just gets you close the rest is up to YOU. And welcome Edited January 11, 2004 by Deego Quote Link to comment
+Subarite Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Hi Cheesy, Welcome to the sport/game - I hope your first cache was enjoying to do. I am sure your Geko will be fine for caching. The more cmplex (expensive) units just give extra features such as mapping etc. Just for the record I use a Garmin GPS V which is excellent. Andy. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 GPS V. The Garmin 60CS is tempting but I find that the GPS V is still up to the task and so I will probably wait for the 80CS to come out. Quote Link to comment
Rangers of Ithilien Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Its an etrex yellow for us In fact, we have two of them because we ended up arguing about whose turn it was to find the cache! Found first cache today after a long break caused by an injury! Its good wandering around under wet dripping trees. You can't beat it! Tiffany Quote Link to comment
quimbly Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Hiya, using a Geko 201 here. Pretty much the same as your Geko 101 but mine can connect to the computer for downloading waypoints & uploading/downloading tracklogs. You will have no problem with a 101, I've found a Geko perfect for geocaching; the only problem is if you care that most people think you're walking along sending SMSes on your mobile phone! Enjoy geocaching, it's a great sport with great people involved. Quote Link to comment
+Rocky Balboa Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Welcome to the sport! I spent my first 5 months caching using an Etrex Yellow before upgrading to an Etrex Vista. I also have a Navman Co-pilot II sleeve which I use with my PDA & Tom Tom software for in-car navigation (it can be used out of the car as well but I don't bother). Good maps are also important to the sport and I use the excellent Memory Map software which displays the OS 1:50000 maps (1:25000 in certain areas) and also aerial photos of Britain. You can download from GeocachingUK a file containing all the British caches which you can then import into the mapping software. The software can also model in 3D so you can get a much better idea of the terrain of your route to the cache! Having mentioned those gadgets & software please note that I found my first 350 or so caches using the Etrex Yellow & paper maps & navigating myself in the car so you can easily get by without them!! Enjoy your Geko and good luck on finding your first 100 caches! Cheers! Seasider Tish tosh, all you need is the arrow on your GPS Garmin vista for me but the Yellow etrex was just as good at finding caches whilst I was using it. Quote Link to comment
+Flackadder Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 eTrex yellow. Infact still got another in its unopened packaging. Competition win. Quote Link to comment
+MarcB Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 The Magellan SporTrak Yellow base model. The software and signal on it are brilliant but unscrewing the batteries is one big pain! MarcB Quote Link to comment
+minstrelcat Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 We both have Magellans and they perform wonderfully. I have a GPS 315 and Adam gets to play with the snazzier MAP 330. Lisa Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 I use a Garmin iQue 3600 to navigate in my car, a Garmin Etrex Legend to get from the car to the cache and I use a Garmin GPS III as 'backup'. I also use the GPS III for obtaining the co-ordinates when setting a cache as I can just leave it 'averaging' for a few minutes. So far no-ones ever complained that my co-ords are adrift Quote Link to comment
+The Wombles Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 For a long time (about 200 caches) we used an eMap and base eTrex but recently bought a Sportrak Colour and GPSmart (Bluetooth for iPaq/TomTom). The Sportrak has an amazing satellite lock / performance but I'd share MarcB's views about batteries and go further that the user interface isn't as good as the Garmin models. Quote Link to comment
+Chris n Maria Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 We use an etrex summit & a GPSV so that we can argue which direction the cache is in We also have a a "spare" yellow etrex which comes in handy for those times when the GPSV has decided to hide (I think it is in league with my car keys ). For getting to the parking we have a streepilotIII which is a big beastie & I wouldn't try using it to find a cache in the forest. If I had to pick one to take into the woods with me it would be the summit as an elctronic compas is usefull & you can hang it round your neck & not worry about it to much. If I had to pick one for everything then it would be the GPSV which will route you to the parking & then to the cache in one package. On top of that we use a palm to hold the cache details & memory map for plotting caches on OS maps and combining them into routes. Chris Quote Link to comment
+Naefearjustbeer Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 The basic yellow etrex for me combined with a dell axim pda and memory map software. The etrex is brilliant until you get under tree cover and then it struggles a bit with its signal. Saying that there are not very many trees up in my neck of the woods Quote Link to comment
+Ticker & Hip Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 (edited) I use a Yellow etrex with print out of the cache's and it does the job just fine. the GPS just gets you close the rest is up to YOU. Welcome to the wonderful world of Geocaching. " Geocachers Take Direction From Above" Have Fun... Edited January 15, 2004 by Ticker & Hip Quote Link to comment
+NickandAliandEliza Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 Started off with a yellow eTrex and then upgraded to a Vista. To get to car parks etc, I attach the Vista to an iPAQ PDA - with downloaded MemoryMap maps. Bought a Magellan 137 last year on the spur of the moment (for some reason best known to myself at the time), but don't use it very often. (Anyone want to do a swopsey for any eTrex??) All in all a yellow eTrex does the job for caching............wish I'd kept my old one. Quote Link to comment
The Cuthberts Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 Etrex yellow for her - iPAQ/Memory map for him In Car navigation by iPAQ/Smart ST Professional which sounds just like Tony Blair. Wine for both on return to base Quote Link to comment
Mittellegi Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 (edited) Blank Edited January 16, 2004 by bexybear Quote Link to comment
+Weavey Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 E trex summit works OK for me ..... But not used any other so far. Weavey Quote Link to comment
+The Good Shag Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I use a yellow Etrex. As far as performance under tree cover goes, it works a lot better if you select full mode rather than battery saving mode. TGS Quote Link to comment
Datsundudes Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I bought a yellow Etrex today (my first day of caching!) and used it to find me second cache, after doing the first with just an OS map I found it took a little while to settle down after first turning it on but seemed to do the job well. We found the location of the cache with nothing but the GPS from about 30 miles away. In the car it worked very well and I found it gave a direction pretty accurately if you were walking briskly but got a little hit and miss if stationary. There was tree cover at the site and it's accuracy went down to about 25ft but it still managed to take us there by walking round and round untill we homed in on the spot Overall it seems to be good value for the money and I'm sure we'll be sticking with it for a while yet. Some maps would be good but I can't see me carrying my laptop around the countryside so I think I'm going to have to purchase some smaller Quote Link to comment
+Learned Gerbil Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I bought a second hand Magellan 320 and find it excellent, I link it to an old Palm IIIxe for mapping etc. Total cost of both devices, under £100. Quote Link to comment
+ANDYBUG&LADYBIRD Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 We use a GpsV in the car and a gecko 201 on the hunt(until the batteries run out which is quite often as they don't last very long!) This system works fine for us! Quote Link to comment
+Sue and Bernie Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Like Chris & Maria, we use a SP3 in the car and a eTrex Vista for biking & walking. The SP3 is brilliant. We have now used it to drive blindly into deepest London several times. Apart from missing a few "get-into-the-correct-lane" bits, it is glorious to charge on in without a care about finding your way through - just follow the box. If you get it wrong, it re-routes you again and does not get ratty! We wouldn't have dared venture in there without it. On our last Christmas dash into the Smoke to pick up the daughter, we drove via a destination in Chigwell to collect a rather large eBay win - again, the marvellous box took us to the door and then into the City on uncharted (for us) roads. We started with a Yellow eTrex and went up the chain to the Vista. It's the 24 mb of memory for the hi-res maps that makes this the best choice. Very natty on the handlebars of the bike too for our long rides to family and caches - in the summer we hasten to add. Quote Link to comment
+rover-r-us Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 76s but just order a 60cs Quote Link to comment
+Daisy&me Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 Magellan Sportrak Pro which is excellent but I agree with the comments about access to the battery compartment using a screw, in fact I stripped the thread on mine and had to send it back for repair. As I couldn't bear to stop caching while it was being repaired I bought a cheap eTrex yellow from ebay. When my daughter comes along we use both GPSs. The eTrex is always slower getting a fix and frequently loses it under tree cover when the Sportrak does not. On the other hand the eTrex was less that half the price of the eTrex. Quote Link to comment
+minstrelcat Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 On the other hand the eTrex was less that half the price of the eTrex. Wow - a bargain! (sorry, couldn't resist) Lisa Quote Link to comment
+Nickp Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 Good maps are also important to the sport and I use the excellent Memory Map software which displays the OS 1:50000 maps (1:25000 in certain areas) and also aerial photos of Britain. You can download from GeocachingUK a file containing all the British caches which you can then import into the mapping software. The software can also model in 3D so you can get a much better idea of the terrain of your route to the cache! Hi all new to Geocaching... still waiting for my GPs to arrive but what to do some ground work... I have memory map, and thought I could start to plan some finds... Seasider, I have looked on the site but can't find the file... can you post a link to it please... cheers NickP Quote Link to comment
+Papakas Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 Hi Cheesy Nacho, Welcome to Geocaching. If your GPS gets you to the cache then there's nothing wrong with the type you have! I have a couple of Garmin III+ backed up by Mapsource on the laptop. I do all the plotting on the laptop and download to both GPS units. One unit goes in the vehicle (dashboard mount in the car, handlebar mount on the motorbike), this gets me to the cache location. I then use the second unit to walk to the cache (saves having to keep taking the vehicle mounted unit out off it's clamp). When I get home I can then upload the resultant tracklogs into the laptop and save as a file to one day recall when I need to entertain my grandchildren! Good luck caching. Regards Paul Quote Link to comment
+mongoose39uk Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 Hi Cheesy, I use a Geko 101 for walking to the cache and a GPS mouse linked to a Laptop with Navigator Software in the car to get me to the car park. Works for me. Hope you enjoy. Mongoose Quote Link to comment
ogeddes Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 Started out with a Garmin eTrex yellow then to eTrex Vista. Have tried lots of other PDA based options but always return to Garmin - got my Garmin GPSMAP 60C last week - top unit! Am going to play with the new geocache mode and games this weekend. cheers Owen Quote Link to comment
+rev n doc Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 What on earth does a "geocache mode" do? Still with yellow etrex. Quote Link to comment
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