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  1. #21
    Member dallas's Avatar
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    I second the recommendation of a Garmin unit.

    Good products plus you can only download to a Garmin unit on the geocache.com site.

    This is a lot of fun. We're getting the Scouts involved in searching for geocaches on some of our monthly campouts.

    dallas

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ramblinrev View Post
    the more you want to use the GPS for navigation the more you will need to spend. The cheaper units do not usually have map capacity. While they will keep track of where you go, they can not tell you where you need to go. For example, they may show the coordinates as a quarter mile to the right but the only way there is a road that takes you 2 miles away from the cache until it turns up another ravine and heads back.

    If you want urban navigation plan on big bucks. I have a very basic etrax which I bought on ebay for $60. Works fine for geocaching with the navigational limitations taken into account.
    I disagree that you need a sophisticated GPS. A basic Etrex is all you need to navigate. Spend the difference on some good mapping software and print your own maps with UTM grids and set your GPS on the same. A GPS will never ever replace a map, regardless of how much storage it has, until it will charge itself from the sun and has a holographic screen that will project out map sized. No such critter exists, and most of us couldn't afford it if it did, which would make a Rube Goldberg device.

    A GPS is a great navigational aid, but you still have to know how to navigate, and to do that precisely you have to have a map. I have no intention of starting a flame war here about this topic, I've been involved in a couple on WB (many there think you need neither a map nor compass, and certainly not a GPS). Here is a link to the best article on map, compass, and GPS use I've seen:

    http://www.kifaru.net/plot_blust.htm

  3. #23
    Senior Member Ramblinrev's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Take-a-knee View Post
    I disagree that you need a sophisticated GPS. A basic Etrex is all you need to navigate. Spend the difference on some good mapping software and print your own maps with UTM grids and set your GPS on the same. A GPS will never ever replace a map, regardless of how much storage it has, until it will charge itself from the sun and has a holographic screen that will project out map sized. No such critter exists, and most of us couldn't afford it if it did, which would make a Rube Goldberg device.

    A GPS is a great navigational aid, but you still have to know how to navigate, and to do that precisely you have to have a map. I have no intention of starting a flame war here about this topic, I've been involved in a couple on WB (many there think you need neither a map nor compass, and certainly not a GPS). Here is a link to the best article on map, compass, and GPS use I've seen:

    http://www.kifaru.net/plot_blust.htm
    The capacity of the etrex depends greatly on the model. There is _no_ map capability on my etrex. None. Nada. To "navigate" in terms of the GPS telling you to go to thus and such a point you need to set the waypoints on the computer and import the data to the GPS. But there will be no map. Simply a list of waypoints. With my machine I can not enter a destination waypoint and have the unit guide me step by step to the destination without entering all that information myself.

    Yes... you can go from one place to another following the basic simplest etrex. But it ain't easy and you can't do it on the fly. When I was speaking of navigating I was talking about entering my son's address in Pittsburg and having the GPS navigate the travel plan for me. If you want that kind of flexibility you need to spend a whole lot more than I spent for this model.
    I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.

    "Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
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  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ramblinrev View Post
    The capacity of the etrex depends greatly on the model. There is _no_ map capability on my etrex. None. Nada. To "navigate" in terms of the GPS telling you to go to thus and such a point you need to set the waypoints on the computer and import the data to the GPS. But there will be no map. Simply a list of waypoints. With my machine I can not enter a destination waypoint and have the unit guide me step by step to the destination without entering all that information myself.

    Yes... you can go from one place to another following the basic simplest etrex. But it ain't easy and you can't do it on the fly. When I was speaking of navigating I was talking about entering my son's address in Pittsburg and having the GPS navigate the travel plan for me. If you want that kind of flexibility you need to spend a whole lot more than I spent for this model.
    Okay we are talking apples and oranges here, a GPS for auto use and one for bushwhacking/trail use serve different needs. You can't fumble with a map while driving, or at least you shouldn't. For a hiker, he can and should use a map, you orient yourself to, and onto (your location) the map. You merely use the GPS to confirm your location on that map. UTM coordinates make that really, really easy to do, they are quite similar to MGRS coordinates like the military uses. Your "memory" is the map, no need for a digital version for a hiker, IMO. The screen on a hand held GPS won't be large enough to bring up a map in a large enough scale to be readable and produce a map portion large enough to allow you to successfully terrain associate, that is, to look at the surrounding relief and locate yourself on the map.

  5. #25
    Senior Member Ramblinrev's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Take-a-knee View Post
    Okay we are talking apples and oranges here, a GPS for auto use and one for bushwhacking/trail use serve different needs. You can't fumble with a map while driving, or at least you shouldn't. For a hiker, he can and should use a map, you orient yourself to, and onto (your location) the map. You merely use the GPS to confirm your location on that map. UTM coordinates make that really, really easy to do, they are quite similar to MGRS coordinates like the military uses. Your "memory" is the map, no need for a digital version for a hiker, IMO. The screen on a hand held GPS won't be large enough to bring up a map in a large enough scale to be readable and produce a map portion large enough to allow you to successfully terrain associate, that is, to look at the surrounding relief and locate yourself on the map.
    Agreed...... no problem...
    I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.

    "Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
    Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn

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  6. #26
    slowhike's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NCPatrick View Post
    What are some good GPS's I should look for? Not looking to spend an awful lot on this new hobby (yet ).
    REI has a spread sheet (chart) showing quite a few different models w/ most all their features, including price.

    I think there are several geo catches in Linville Gorge, which is a great place to hang your hammock BTW.
    I too will something make and joy in it's making

  7. #27
    New Member beeman's Avatar
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    I have some cool coins my son and I leave in the caches we find. They are patterned after a doubloon kind of coin we found in a cache. If anyone would like one, message me with your address.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  8. #28
    Senior Member 6 feet over's Avatar
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    Fitting your GPS to your goals is fine advice. I would add that getting one with an internal compass is WELL worth the cost. Without it, you have to be moving to get proper bearings, and this can be difficult at times.

    I personally have two of the Garmin Rino series, which is both GPS and two-way radio. It has an alarm, altimeter, weather radio, and best of all it can transmit your location to another Rino user. (It also works with other radio types,without position transmit capability)

    This is certainly not the least expensive model, but if you're in a situation where you'd be carrying a two-way or weather radio anyway, it saves weight by combining two items you'd have.
    The harder I work, the luckier I get.

  9. #29
    Senior Member moski's Avatar
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    Found my first one today, it was a easy one.
    But it was crowded around it since it was really, really close to a popular beach.
    Just perfect to have a 4 year son that needed to pee, the spot i picked was naturally
    where i suspected the cache to be.
    Found it, signed the log, put it back before the son was done, no one saw a thing.
    Kind of fun.

  10. #30
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    The problem is, when you don't have a 4 year old son, you have to be a bit more creative with your excuses. It's also difficult when the cache owner decides to stand by and make comments.

    I've been looking to get into doing some longer cache hikes, including some camping ones. Unfortunately, finding a hammock to hold 400 lbs at the moment is tricky (that's just me, not any of the other stuff.) Working on losing about 100 lbs to start.

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