Hunt2871 Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 My family and I are new to the game and only this past weekend tried our luck at finding some area caches. We found the first one just fine but could not find the second one. Our GPS said we were right on the coordinates that were listed but as far as I can tell it will only get us to within 1/1o of a mile in any direction from where we want to be...is this correct? If so this would be a pretty good arae to search in when the ground is covered with leaves....it sint so big an area if you are looking for soemthing above ground like a building or something. How could it possibly be used for navigating a boat through shoals or sandbars or even for finding a favorite fishing spot without any landmarks to go by? maybe I have read themanual wrong but I know it says that the leg of a "route" cant be shorter than 1/10 of a mile and that is as claos as the indicator will go...also the numbers never change until you leave the screen you are in and retuen...is that normal? Is it possible to buy a GPS that works in "real time"?? Any help would be gretaly appreciated...realy enjoyed getting out in the woods with the kids and walking...havenet donw that in years!!!! Quote Link to comment
+BrownMule & Jackrabbit Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 This is not normal. Your GPS should tell you how close your are and count down every foot. Tell us what type of GPS receiver you have and someone can help you. _________________________________________________________ On the other hand, you have different fingers. . Quote Link to comment
+RB_Nielsen Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 My GPSr routinely guides me to within 20 feet of the cache, and just as often closer than that. Best one so far was when my GPSr put me within an incredible 2 feet of the cache. I've never had it drop off any where near 1/10 of a mile away, no never. Quote Link to comment
+Nellamit Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 My old lowrance glabalnav200 will only read distance to the 1/10 of a mile, then you have to actually watch the coordinates. My Garmin Legend usually gets me to within 20 feet though. Quote Link to comment
+Prime Suspect Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 Had you told us what model of GPS you have, we could have offered more assistance. As a rule of thumb, when asking for help, a lot of information is better than a little, or in this case, none at all. I don't mean to jump on your case, but time and again I've seen people take the time to post questions, then don't bother to include information that would obviously be helpful to those trying to answer the question. If the numbers aren't changing while you walk around, my guess is that you're looking at the waypoint screen instead of the navigation screen. Quote Link to comment
+Brown Dwarf Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 I've had good luck with an old Garmin 12XL, which will only indicate distance down to one hundreth of a mile, about fifty feet. What with other possible errors, I may have to look in a circle of about seventy-five feet in diameter. Too big to search, yes -- so here's where you have to start thinking like a cacher. Even though the circle may be large, there are only a few places where something the size of a cache could be hidden. Look for traces left by other hunters. Look for sticks piled in an unnatural way. This doesn't help? Use the clue shamelessly; that's why it's there. To tune your eye, you may want to do a handful of easy caches first. As you acquire THE FORCE, move up to harder ones. I'm still embarrassed by how long it took me to find my first one -- and by how easily I still overlook some easy ones. But that's what makes it fun. Quote Link to comment
+shawhh Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 hey brown dwarf, i too use a garmin 12xl. if you set the units to metric it will count down to within 10 meters. i've found this to be much better for caching than using the statute miles. good luck. -harry Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 A leg is one segment of a route. A route is a group of waypoints connected by legs to take you some place. A single waypoint shouldn't have a leg attached to it unless it's part of a route. Any waypoint in geocaching.com should be 'part of a route'. Make sure you are not somehow trying to follow a route instead of going to a waypoint. It could very well be that a leg has a minimum distance of 0.1 miles. That's no unreasonable for a route since thats 528' but has nothing to do with going to a waypoint. Wherever you go there you are. Quote Link to comment
+Kewaneh & Shark Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 It sounds to me like you may just have to adjust some of the settings on your GPSr, or possibly update the software. My first GPSr was a Magellan 315 and it only showed to the nearest 0.01 mile (53 feet) when I first got it. I knew that the unit was able measure closer than that, but it was unable to show me any different until I updated the onboard software. Once that was done, when I got within 0.1 mile of a waypoint, the distance units would automatically change from miles to feet. Most newer GPSrs can measure in feet and older units can be updated. Check to see if the company that makes your GPSr has a website. You should be able to download a patch or an update there. If, for some reason, that can't be done, Shawhh's suggestion of changing the units from miles to metric will get you closer, i.e. 0.01 mile = 53 feet and 10 meters = 35 feet. As far as the GPSr working in real time: it should be doing that already. An inexpensive GPSr can generally only show a few things when it is sitting still, like your present position, and bearing & distance to a waypoint, and maybe a few others. It needs to be moving in order to show your heading & speed and other things like 'Estimated Time of Arrival' (ETA), 'Vector Made Good' (VMG), and 'Cross Track Error' (XTE), if the unit has those options. They are all done in real time. Something to remember about the recreational GPSrs that we use for this sport is that they have an inherent error of about 10 meters (35 feet) built into them. A WAAS enabled GPSr has an error of about 5 meters (17 feet). That's not to say that they can't be closer than that, and they usually are, but there is still some amount of error. That error can (and usually is) multiplied when you consider that there are two GPSr units involved - the one setting the cache and the one searching for the cache. Consequently, the search area can get big - sometimes. Most times, they are pretty close. Brown Dwarf has good advice about hunting for caches: do some easy ones first, look for things out of the ordinary, use the clue if you need (want) to, and don't get too frustrated when you can't find one. Don't be afraid to skip one over and try it again in a few weeks either. After you do a few, you will begin to think like a cacher - you will acquire the FORCE. (...Or maybe it acquires you.) Keep on Caching! - Kewaneh Quote Link to comment
+LoneHowler Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 My Rino at best has about a 5-7 foot accuracy and it once placed smak dab right on top of a cache, it told me I was a foot away, I was standing with the tree that it was hidden under right in front of me! More to see, More to do Quote Link to comment
Hunt2871 Posted January 29, 2003 Author Share Posted January 29, 2003 Thanks for all of the advice...The GPS unit we are using is a Magellan 310...it is about two years old......I am going to try their web page to see what i am doing wrong...again any advice is greatly appreciated!!! Quote Link to comment
pdumas Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Maybe nothing at all, sometimes my unit is at 5 to 10 feet and other days it's 25 to 30. I have found the slower I work around a cache sight the better I am at finding it. Quote Link to comment
Dale_Lynn Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 I don't know anything bout your 310, but my Meridian GPS changes from miles to feet when I am less that 1/10 mile from waypoint. If rolls over to 538 feet at 1/10 mile and counts down as I get closer to waypoint. It once said I was 2 feet from a waypoint (cache) when in actual I was stand on little bluff where cache was actually in little nitch under edge of bluff... Check and see if there are any options you can use to set different forms of distance measurements. Dale -------------------------------------------------------- I'm Diagonally Parked, In A Parallel Universe. -------------------------------------------------------- Quote Link to comment
+captaincooder Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 Do you have your Datum set correctly? This was my problem for a while...I was using standard USGS 7.5' topo maps, which utilize NAD 27 CONUS map datum (as you can see down at the bottom of the map), but my GPS came with the default setting of WGS 84 datum. I couldn't get any closer than 250 yards to something, according to the map. Then I read a book and figured out my mistake. Just changing the setting on my GPS to match my map fixed the mistake, and now I can get to within about 25 feet or so.captaincooder@yahoo.com Quote Link to comment
+writer Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 As people have noted, usually you can find yourself within 20 or 30 feet of a cache. Technically speaking, GPS technology in consumer units (assuming that you aren't using the additional WAAS signals) only guarantees you within 15 meters, or just about 50 feet. Given that you use one unit and the cache owner uses another, that could add up to 100 feet. I've found myself 60 to 100 feet off only to think I was doing something wrong, return another day, and be directed to a more reasonable proximity. However, the GPS definitions are only on a 95% confidence level. That means 5% of the time, you could be way, way off. That could explain the tenth of a mile. Try again and see if you are again off as far. As someone else suggested, check that the datum (the measurement references) is set to WGS84. There are many datums in use. In the US, it's typicaly to find topographic maps using NAD29 or NAD27. But geocaching.com uses WGS84. If you are mismatching the datums, the disparity varies, but can be as large as a couple of miles, I think. Quote Link to comment
+LaPaglia Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 After reviewing the manual for the 310 it would appear that it only allows 2 digits after the decimal point. This would prevent the 310 from showing a distance smaller than 1/10 of a mile. The 315 and up have 3 digits and allow displays in feet for distances less than 1/10 of a mile. Lapaglia Muga Muchu (forget yourself, focus) Quote Link to comment
+Poindexter Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 15 meter accuracy is a very conservative value and the fact is that todays receivers usually do much better. With a clear 360° view of the horizon, the 95% error value averages about 7 meters. Accuracy is highly dependent on satellite geometry so all bets are off when signals are being blocked in one or more directions. EPE values are based on 50% or less error values and that is why they fluctuate so much and should only be used as a rough guide as to what your actual accuracy may be. See the following web page for test results with and without WAAS corrections. http://users.erols.com/dlwilson/gpswaas.htm Quote Link to comment
Sewer Rat Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 i want to know whats a good motel to start with i am thinking abot getting a geko 201 but looking for advise please answer Z rat Z Quote Link to comment
+RangerRick Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 Cheesyrat, For a motel, Holiday Inn is a good starter and you should be just fine geocaching with the Geko. Quote Link to comment
Stefanoodle Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 I'm not familiar with the Magellan 310; I have a Trailblazer XL, which is ancient. It also has a two-digit decimal display. So when approaching a cache the closest it gives me is in units of 10 metres (about 35 feet). However, I now usually use UTM to indicate my position (and enter the cache co-ordinates). This display is in metres, and I can usually find the cache more easily than using the count-down when I'm close. As mentioned by others in various threads, satellite geometry and the number of satellites you are picking up can greatly affect the success of your hunt. Quote Link to comment
+captaincooder Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 I've had good luck with Super 8 Motels--clean, comfortable, appealing and relatively inexpensive. Quote Link to comment
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