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Post by relikborg on May 5, 2010 11:35:40 GMT -6
What GPS units do you guys all use? I started out with a garmin gps 60 then got the 60 cs. Now I have a colorado 400t. Though lately I have been using my Motorola Droid with the C:geo app for quick caching runs.
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Post by blaird83 on May 5, 2010 12:28:52 GMT -6
i've got a few that i use. [red]EDIT: Link Broken due to URL address change. Will try to fix. [/red]
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Post by Cowboy Camper on May 7, 2010 20:30:40 GMT -6
In Feb. of 2008, I started caching with a Walmart sale priced Magellan eXplorist 210. At the time, the old store was closing down in preparation for the 2 new stores to open up (2 stores, never understood that logic in it's entirety... but I digress) and I thought I was getting a bargain at $150 bucks. It's not a bad unit, and it has served Very well to get my daughter and I started up with Geocaching. Still have it fact, though Seldom used these days. ( a PITA to load caches to it...) Christmas of 2009 had me wanting 2 goals. An Upgrade for me and a GPS'r of her own for the DD. While shopping around in stores here, I found a Magellan Triton 400 for 1/2 Off Retail! So I bought it and used it for a short time. Good Unit, pretty well set for what I hear is called Paperless Geocaching. (All Info is IN the GPSr when loaded.) It's still a bit of a PITA to load caches though, and the Color screen cannot be seen without the use of the backlight. That said, the Battery life Sucks in the Triton! Enter the Garmin eTrex Venture HC.:After buying the Triton and was a little disappointed with some aspects of it, I also felt bad about doing the Hand Me Down thing as a Gift for DD. Also, I've been wanting to try out a Garmin, as I've heard SO many good things about them and also Many are hand in hand at the Geocache site and that makes loading caches Easy! Well, after having received hers via UPS after placing a Walmart.com order ($120 I think... not bad) I found that unit SO Simple to use I fell it Love with it immediately. Having NO patience at all, I went to the new Stores and found another one for $169 ish (?) and got it for myself. After that, I learned about GSAK (converts the useless GC numbers into cache Names for me) and I find myself wanting another one so that the wife has her own unit. Hmm, another Upgrade plan for me that won't make me feel so bad? Dunno just yet, still considering it. Meanwhile, the poor Magellan's have been staying Home while the 3 of us have been out Caching! With 2 Garmin eTrex Venture HC's in hand.
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Post by pickwhip on Oct 28, 2010 18:50:44 GMT -6
I just started so I am using my Epic 4G phone running Android and the c:geo app. It works wonderfully although battery life is a major issue if you want to spend all day caching. One thing I have noticed is that maybe 5% of the time the GPS position and the google map don't line up correctly, so this has thrown me off a few times. Otherwise I'm loving it!
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Post by Cowboy Camper on Oct 28, 2010 19:48:25 GMT -6
Since you're using a Phone, a 12v or Cig Lighter charger should help keep a charge on the battery, yes? It helped with the Triton for the short time that I used it. As for Google Maps and actual Cache locations. They hardly Ever meet up, even if taken from the GC Site provided maps. Reason being is simply because there are Several different methods to display coordinates. I could drum up a list if your interested, but to make it easy for now, the methods used just aren't the same. (Why? don't know, it's just that way) Example: The folks here at the forums went on a run and worked on a Multi Cache that involved a Coord Adjustment within the GPS unit. At first, that one really stumped us before I realized that I had to change the settings in my GPS unit into a different method of coord #'s entry. We ended up Finding the end cache, and in the end that was really a fun Learning Experience! ;D So I'm glad you're having a good time with this game so far.
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Post by siameseretriever on Oct 28, 2010 20:11:59 GMT -6
I started with a Garmin eTrex Legend, which I thought I could also use in the car... I did not understand about detailed maps (and the associated expense!) at the time, so I was a lot frustrated. I got it right when I moved to Chicago, which has the worst paper maps ever. I cached with it for a few years (2 the first year and a half I cached, then really started a year later), until the antenna wire broke. Just my luck, it died as I was about to leave for a trip to Florida, so in a panic, I bought a Magellan and a 60CSx. I hated the Magellan, and ended up sending it to my mother in Tennessee, who is also a cacher.
In the meantime, I got a StreetPilot C320 for the car. It is awesome for the car, and I can load caches into it. I don't take it out of the car for caching as it wants me to be on the road.
The 60CSx is the mother of all GPSrs for me. Garmin makes it really easy to load and unload points of interest and geocaches. I have been paperless for a while, using cachemate first on a few Palm Pilots, and now a PocketPC.
I have had the 60CSx for about 4 years now, and it has not ever had any real issues. The SD card inside that stores the mapset jiggled loose once, but that was it. I also switched to rechargeable batteries about a year ago, and that does not seem to cause any issues either.
I am not sure if I will go with a Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Dakota, whatever when this one dies. I am so used to the way this one works, but it lacks the whereigo and chirp functionality. But, that is not a deal breaker for me, especially considering the cost difference between them.
I don't have a smartphone, but I have heard a lot of good things about c:geo, for Droid phones. Blackberry has a cache app as well, and so does the iPhone. I think I would use them more to log my finds from the field or to look up old logs than I would be to use them as the GPSr, but I am used to having two devices - the 60CSx and the PocketPC for old logs and such.
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Post by Cowboy Camper on Oct 29, 2010 19:49:08 GMT -6
Sounds like you and I could have a good talk about Garmin, Magellan, Cache GPSr and also Car GPSr's, Joe. I'm short on Time and Energy right now, but I Really think we will have a great talk about the Units we use (or have used) when our Event Class comes up next month!
Paperless Caching. Oh, yes, I'd live to have that as an Option. Years ago I had a pocket PC that might have worked? with caching programs now, but it's long lost. Even if I found the thing, the batteries are DEAD and not even replaceable. (BS, IMHO...) Anyhow, I was recently given a Smart Phone from work that also acted a bit like that Pocket PC, but without the air time to include the Internet capacity. I don't know off hand where that is at the moment either, but I think I could find it and bring it back to life. At least as the Pocket PC. (With GSAK?) Again, good for the Event Class, huh? I'll be sure to try to find that to bring along. I dunno for sure, but I may be more blessed with Hardware than I realize. Maybe?
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