Hi People

[+stevexxx]

Hi there just joined the forum and am new to geocaching. What i need to know is what gps would be suitable for me and the girlfriend to use. I have been looking at the 60cs ones that are for sale on ebay for about £320 but it says they are american so will have the usa maps hard wired in. Do i need to have an english one for geocatching? or is the american one ok also is this easy to use and install the software? that tells it where the catches are?.Ive also roped a couple of friends into this and there getting a unit soon too. sorry if this sounds a little confused but any advice you can give would be most helpfull.

[+kbootb]

I've not got a gps with mapping on as in the 60cs. I think that is way over the top for getting into geocaching. Unless you also want to use it for navigating on the road as well.

 

Also, I'm not too sure if the price on eBay is much of a bargain. Retail price in UK at this shop is £323 plus VAT i.e. £379.

 

That's in the UK so will have EU map.

 

Also, if it is being imported, a fair number are stopped by customs and have VAT applied to them. ( I also hear that some couriers then apply a fee to this as well to handle the VAT transaction)

 

To be honest most people start with something like the yellow Etrex (in fact there are many that continue with it as well) This would cost about £80 at the shop metnioned above.

 

One thing to beware of with this unit is the GPS only points in the right direction when you are moving. Stand still and rotate on the spot and the arrow will no longer be pointing in the right direction. I decided to move up the range and get one that has an electronic compass that kicks in when you have been standing still for a while.

 

But... it's not my money... and if you know you want it for more than just caching then I hear many good things about it.

 

Others will know if you can install the UK maps over the pre-installed ones.

 

The software for uploading cache co-ordinates is pretty simple stuff. Most people here seem to us GSAK (just do a search for it). EasyGPS works but isn't as clever.

 

Don't forget you will need a cable to connect to the PC.

 

You would probably find it useful to become a premium member. A small annual fee allows you to set up queries that will send you batches of cache descriptions by e-mail, up to 500 at a time, on a scheduled basis. Most people prefer that to trawling through listings and downloading the ones they want.

 

Also, the only info that goes to the GPSr is the co-ordinates to create a waypoint. All the description and hints that you see on the web page will be lost. So you either print out the pages or use some form of Pocket PC or Palm to carry that around with you.

 

For the £300 + you were thinking of spending, I bet many people here would buy a cheaper GPS and be a fair way towards buying a PDA.

 

Hope that helps. People here are really helpful, but please read as much as you can on the geocaching site, and the resources pinned at the top of the forum to avoid asking for help with every thing. But no-one minds answering a question if you have read up and are still stuck.

[Deego]

Hi and welcome

 

The USA 60cs will come with USA maps You can download UK maps in to it, but you will need to buy the additional mapsource Europe CD. You dont NEED maps on the GPS for geocaching but it can help with some of the caches.

 

ALL GPSr can be used from the basic to the most expensive so its hard to recomend what to spend your cash on, but I have seen the 60cs for £255 on ebay so look around first.

 

if you need anything else just ask away

[+stevexxx]

Thanks for your help guys the english 60 sounds best. Ive got an xda 2 pda if thats any use for reading the clues?

[nobby.nobbs]

do you really need the 60cs? i've got the 60c and a compass. cheaper combination, batteries last ages longer, compass will still work no matter what and i don't really need to know how high up i am. just a thought.

 

pda should be ok loads of different programs to use to read the clues, become prmium member, makes life loads easier and doesn't cost much.

[+Stuey]

Ive got an xda 2 pda if thats any use for reading the clues?

Superb, with an XDA2 you can get live cache pages out in the field if you need them. I'd definitely recommend a one month premium membership of Geocaching.com as a trial to see if you think getting cache page details stored on your XDA will be useful (it will be), then you'll probably get an annual membership when you realise how cheap it is at the moment with the current US/UK exchange rate.

 

I'd make sure whatever GPSr you get, you get a data cable to connect it to your XDA. That will make it very useful if you ever get mapping software.

 

If it was me, I'd get a cheaper GPSr and buy a copy of Memory-Map so you get Ordnance Survey maps of the UK on your XDA as well. OS maps are very useful for caching, much more useful than the road maps that you might get on any GPSr.

 

Having said all this, the 60CS is a lovely GPSr!

[+kbootb]

Totally agree with Stuey. Save your money on the GPSr, add memory map. It adds a whole lot more to the experience.

[+Nellies Knackers]

I just use a garmin etrex vista which does great, cost £180 from ebay with europe basemap loaded, came direct from the states but didn't have any import tax added.

I'm chuffed with it.

Whats a pda for?? sound a bit too hi tech for me!

[+House Of Boo]

Live by the yellow Garmin, die by the yellow Garmin... Bought it without knowing anything about Geocaching and hasnt hindered us at all... Memory Map and a yellow Garmin has suited us so far and we're almost a year into this strange "sport"!

 

House Of Boo

[Dave from Glanton]

Live by the yellow Garmin, die by the yellow Garmin

I second that - that was the unit which got me into caching.

I've tried GPS units with integrated mapping but personally, I still prefer to read paper for a map. I think its a bit like the reading text from computer screen versus reading text from a printed page debate - there's just something about reading a paper map which scores over looking at a screen.

[+Inukshuk and Arwen]

I too use a yellow etrex and to be honest I reckon its all you really need. Works fine in the car too so for less than £100 its ideal unless the money's really burning a hole in your pocket!

 

A cheap digi camera is very handy too - especially whn you start sending in articles to the mag

 

good luck and best wishes

Inukshuk

[+McDeHack]

Yellow Etrex on ebay they are selling for about £60 new. I have had one for 4 years. I sold it once and was sorry. I had got a street pilot. But the person I sold it to also wanted later to sell it so I bought it back.

As said by others. A Yellow etrex and I use 'Street map' on paper print outs.

[+Messe]

Welcome to this strange sport...Garmin etrex will do the job for most caches..,you can get OS map of the area from Ordinance Survey.co.uk(print it out dont buy its FREE!! that way).You can either print cache sheet out or get the details from your WAP phone at http:rtr.ca/geo..just stick in the Co-Ords of cache,it will also tell you anymore local caches.Hope that helps.....see you on the trail.Happy hunting.

[+stevexxx]

Thanks for all of your help guys but now im really confused I dont know what to buy? i just want somthung thats going to be easy to use and easy to put the info into. i wanted the 60 as its got a geocaching mode that looks easy to use but now im starting to think i would be better with a yellow one

[+McDeHack]

Stevexxx

Don't be confused. Any questions will be answered on here.

I have tried all different types of GPSRs for road nav and tried them for caching. Etrex yellow, Streetpilot mono and colour, Ipaq with Navman jacket, Tomtom 2 and 3. And at present I have a Tomtom go. Plus of course the old faithful Etrex yellow.

You can see from the posts that the simplest and cheapest solution is the Etrex and paper versions.

The battery life in the etrex is.. Well lots of hours. I have done 3 expeditions over the last 3 weeks and still have the same batteries in. (About 15 caches).

All that can happen to printed out maps is they can get wet. ( No batteries to run down as in the ipaq.)

[Moss Trooper]

Could try the Magellan Sportrak Colour.. Shows where yer are.. of course. or off course!! has compass, seems better than garmin one.. has barometer... is EU base map and yer can get UK topo's for it.

 

239 from one ebay seller.. I know I bought one.. still has em.. just checked.

 

UK topo's down to 25000 whole of UK fer 130 quid. Me thinks Garmin has missed the boat.

 

Gets better sat locks too

Edited December 18, 2004 by Moss Trooper

[+stevexxx]

Guys i got a tomtom3 set up for my xda which i borrowed of a mate from work is there anyway to go geocaching with this. its got a little silver blue tooth box for in the car but it seems to work just as well if you carry it. really lookin forward to gettin my first proper gps but is there anything i can do with this to have a practice?

[+Another Mr Lizard]

We found our first few caches using a Windows PDA and TomTom 3. The only problem we had was that the TomTom software thinks you're in a car, so if you're walking anywhere near a road, it thinks you're actually on the road...! We eventually splashed out on Memory Map software, which shows where you are on an Ordnance Survey map.

[+stevexxx]

So i can use it ? Great but how do i input the locations? Mine just asks for a postcode or address

[+MarcB]

I think it could be best to start with a really basic model (just in case you don't like the sport/hobby). This way it gives you a nice grounding in what actually goes on... upgrade to the techy stuff after you've got a few hides under your belt

(of course it's up to you though!)

MarcB

Edited December 19, 2004 by MarcB

[+Another Mr Lizard]

So i can use it ? Great but how do i input the locations? Mine just asks for a postcode or address

Start TomTom Navigator, and select "Map" from the main menu. From the Tools menu, select "go to co-ordinates". You have to enter the co-ordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds. Bear in mind that the cache page has the co-ordinates in minutes decimal, but if you follow the link "convert to NAD27 at Jeeep.com" on the cache page, it will give you them in minutes and seconds. I hope this helps!

[+stevexxx]

Ican see the box where you type the co ords but i cant delete the ones allready in there? ie my location

[+stu_and_sarah]

Hi there just joined the forum and am new to geocaching. What i need to know is what gps would be suitable for me and the girlfriend to use. I have been looking at the 60cs ones that are for sale on ebay for about £320 but it says they are american so will have the usa maps hard wired in.

The 60cs at http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk are £379.94 incl. VAT if that helps?

 

I really like ours. We still have our yellow etrex as I couldn't bear to part with it when we upgraded. The yellow is brilliant, but the mapping and route planning in the 60cs is great!

 

Sarah

--

[+Stuey]

Ican see the box where you type the co ords but i cant delete the ones allready in there? ie my location

Just type over it. It looks like the cursor is in the wrong place, but just type, it works....

[+Messe]

By looking at the replys Yellow Etrex......Yellow Etrex.....Yellow Etrex..Cheap,faithfull,tough,easy to use,can get you with-in a few feet of caches in good conditions,wont let you down....unless in a pot hole,cave,underwater,Amazon Rainforest ,but i bet it will still works on the moon???? (Does It???)

[+Stuey]

By looking at the replys Yellow Etrex.

Just make sure you have the data cable (the Yellow Etrex doesn't come with one - or didn't last time I looked). The manual waypoint inputting on the yellow etrex is terrible! You will want to do it with your PC or PDA.

 

The one thing I don't like about the yellow etrex is the low-res screen. The Venture is a higher-res screen and has a data cable included.

 

The 60CS of course has a lovely colour screen!!!

 

Up to you at the end of the day though.

[+DomHeknows]

the other thing to do is post your location and see if anyone will meet up with you - that way you get a chance to see some gps's and try them out.

[+lymisme]

hi guys

 

I bought a brand new Garmin 60 CS with EU basemap on ebay for only 250 pounds. The shipping is 18 pounds. I didn't pay any custom tax.

 

here is the item I bought

My ebay item

 

The same seller sold a 60CS in 220 pounds several days before my bid.

 

I have to say, everything in UK is too expensive.

[JackiePenn]

I didn't pay any custom tax.

 

.... yet.

[+Tupperware Hunters]

i have a maggelen sportrack and rutson can sell data cables for £10.00

[+Tupperware Hunters]

ohh im not a tadpole any more cool

[+tonycollins]

OK - Lotsa conflicting advice here. Now I'll add my twopennrth

 

In my opinion you either want to use a simple GPS (like the yellow etrex) or if you really want mapping, then a PDA.

 

I use the MIO Mitac PDA which has a built in GPS receiver (actually I have the medion badged version which Aldi sell occaisionally) Mine cost me 250 with car satnav software, but this (sw) is no good for geocaching. You can get the unit alone for around £220 here http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/11354

 

You can pay more if you want car satnav included.

 

For geocaching mapping software, the choices seem to be memory map, or fugawi (as in "where the fugawi" - don't care how old it is, it still makes me laugh)

 

I chose fugawi simply based on price (both give you 1:50000 OS Maps). Fugawi is around 40 to 45 for 1/4 of the country. Memory map is around 40 for 1/12 of the country.

 

The real advantage of a PDA over a mapping GPS is all the other stuff you can do with it - such as downloading all the cache pages complete, enabling paperless caching.

[+Tupperware Hunters]

good answer

[+John Stead]

If you want to add the facility to search for waypoint to a PDA there is GPSDash http://gpsdash.com/overview.php . I have not used it seriously as I am fortunate enough to have a dedicated GPS as well as a PDA but it does seem to be quite effective.

[+tonycollins]

Alternatives to GPSDash are

 

http://vitotechnology.com/en/products/navigatorii.html

(didn't seem to work proplerly with my Mitac

 

http://www.tinystocks.com/gps.html

Haven't tried this yet

 

http://www.gpstuner.com/

Been playing with this for a couple of days. Seems quite good (a couple of very minor issues), and is targetted at geocaching. In particular, can import loc and gpx files, and has a waypoint averaging function for getting an accurate waypoint (for cache placement)

[+Beds Clangers]

Blimey it's all rubbish

 

GPS, provided it has an inbuilt compass, will get you to the last 10m!!

 

BUT, you will need Memory Map, Fugawi, etc to tell you which 10m that is

 

Nick

[+Sue and Bernie]

There is one point that I would like to throw in - we got into GPS (and then geo-geeking) through cycling. This led us start with the classic yellow Etrex, a neat, compact unit that simply clips onto the handbars of a bike.

 

As stated earlier - you need to buy a data cable and, like us, a handlebar mount - that, like us, will serve you when you upgrade throught the Etrex family.

 

While the yellow job does a fine job for the "as the crow flies" routing, or following a pre-determined and download route, the mapping units such as the Legend or Vista are tops for road use. They have hi-rez screens and come with a data cable.

 

The Vista C (and Legend C) bring colour and autorouting to a bicycle!

 

There is a big however with these units - you have to use either "City Select" or "City Navigator" with them to get the autorouting facility. This software, unlocked to a GPS unit by its internal serial number, is extremely expensive.

 

If you already own a high end Garmin unit that came complete with either of these software packages, you will be able to use your unused second "unlock".

[+dysdera]

Just to add my ten pennyworth.

 

When we go out, we have a PPC which runs Tom Tom 3 to get us to the approximate location, We then use my sons Mio digiwalker PPC with Memory maps installed to get us to the location via the correct footpaths. I also have this installed on my HP5550 which I use together with a Fortuna Xtrac bluetooth Gps for the occasions when Thomas is at school.

I then use a GPSMAP 60CS for the final journey to the cache. We also have a laptop, which is wired to the GPSMAP 6oCS with memory map running which I can use on the seat beside me to find footpaths etc and parking when I am driving while caching on my own.

 

This is all a fairly expensive setup, but we have built it up over the last year or so and it suits us fine.

 

As for the 60CS it is the best bit of kit I have ever had and I bought it from the states, the compass is wonderful when you are under the trees although the altimater is of limited use. The battery life on this unit is fantastic, far in excess of my old etrex legend.

[+The Forester]

Hi, and welcome aboard.

 

If you want good value for money to go geocaching, spend around £70 on a yellow Etrex. It'll get you to the vicinity of the cache every time.

 

If you want bells and whistles and don't have a tight budget, splash out on something like the Magellan SporTrack Color and/or go for a PDA.

 

If you've got a very large budget, or a well-funded client like I have, get a Thuraya phone hooked up to your GPS and watch your position in realtime via SatComm and SatNav. Spooky!!

 

Cheers, The Forester

[+The Forester]

rutson can sell data cables for £10.00

Wow!!!

 

I juz lerve GC.com's forum!

 

I badly need to replace my lost data cable for my SporTrack Pro and I dreaded to ask my retailer how big a bucket of cash they would demand to replace it.

 

An email is now on its way to rutson to check whether I really can get one for a tenner.

 

Cheers, The Forester

Yet another reason not to boycott the forum as a result of a couple of stinky decisions by the powers that be

[+plippy]

Hi for what its worth i have a 60c and its great for geocaching brought two one for mate on e-bay for 220+shipping £18 no vat well worth it also have a mio pda with tom-tom 3 with fugawi but havent worked out how to use it fror routes yet so at the end of the day its up to you what you want.