My 12yr old son has started to Geocache and has been using a combination of phone & car sat nav with mixed results. The roadside caches are fine but once in forest the sat nav does not have enough detail and he is getting frustrated!
Can anyone recommend a hand held sat nav capable with forests, off road etc at a resonable price. My good friend has just bought one at about £250 which is FAR more than I planned to spend, even half that amount makes my eyes water!!
Any suggestions?
Thanks Wendy
------------- Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends...
George Bernard Shaw
Thanks for the suggestion I will have a look now, does it allow downloading information onto it at this price. Have heard Matt mention this facility but knowing him that means we should be looking at top of the range sat navs lol!
Wendy
------------- Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends...
George Bernard Shaw
ive been looking to get one too but the prices are just crazy!! i go onto good old google maps and try and pinpoint best i can where the cache is, draw myself a simple map and go from there, so far its worked and there have only been a couple i really felt i needed a gps for.
I use a Garmin Etrex H along with a serial cable and adaptor to connect to the PC to download waypoints. LINK the serial cable and adaptor were off eBay.
If you are a premium member on geocaching.com then you will also be able to download pocket queries this way.
More expensive units will include usb cables, maps etc.
The main disadvantage with the cheaper units is that they won't connect direct to the computer USB, you need an adaptor/extension. Also they don't have memory cards for putting more detailed maps on to help once off road.
I found my first 400 + caches using my Garmin Nuvi sat nav, it's brilliant as you can download PQs if you're a Premium Member which give you all the info from the cache page. I have a Legend now which has the Garmin Topo maps on, but they aren't that good for finding footpaths etc. I usually print off the Streetmap view from the cache page if I haven't got an OS map of the area.
You can get the OS maps to put on if the unit has enough memory, but it is expensive - think £300 odd.
------------- Caz
If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, just keep going till you go round the bend.
I'm curious about that too, Ali. I got the Desire as well (free on contract). it does Google Maps of course and I've been tinkering with an app called G Grid Ref which can hold an OS map - it can also give you OS grid refs if you like a real map.
I solely use my iphone for finding ours & up to now its been brilliant but our friend uses his nokia & that finds them just as good as ours.
I'll watch this thread though as i'd like to buy my 13 year old his own GPS thing but the price of them i've lloked at on geocaching.com is extortionate.
Thanks for the suggestion I will have a look now, does it allow downloading information onto it at this price. Have heard Matt mention this facility but knowing him that means we should be looking at top of the range sat navs lol!
Wendy
Yes it does. I useEasy GPSwhich is free and very easy to use
you`ll need a cable to connect the Garmin Etrex to your USB port (about a tenner off e bay or the like) . Its one of the more accurate GPS units out there. O.K no colour and no fancy graphics but it does the job a treat.
I have the garmin etrex H, which I purchased last christmas from blacks and it doent allow downloads from a pc.
Everything has to be manually entered but it is very accurate and easy to use compaired with my dakota 20 that was £200 and can be used for paperless geocaching.
------------- 2013
March: Ferry Meadows
April: North Morte, North Devon
May: Lyndon Top, Rutland
May: Top Lodge.
June: Fairy's lodge
July: La Croix Du Vieux Pont
August: West Beeston,
I have the garmin etrex H, which I purchased last christmas from blacks and it doent allow downloads from a pc.
Everything has to be manually entered but it is very accurate and easy to use compaired with my dakota 20 that was £200 and can be used for paperless geocaching.
Pullup - yes it does. I have the same model and transfer everything from my pc