Randomness

What GPS would you guys recommend to start doing this? Something that can be easily used for backpacking, too, and is not to expensive?

JoKEpLaYeR

I really like my Garmin eTrax Legend. Ability to upload maps, 8mb of storage, compass, etc makes it a good unit.

Randomness

How much storage is enough, or how much do you need?

DrBeau

So I've been looking and I can't seem to be able to fidn any 4x4 caches. Is there a specific site to go to or anything? My G/F's dad loves to geocache, but he doesn't own a 4wd, so i don't know what he knows about 4x4 caches.

midiwall

??? I'm confused as to what you mean by "4x4 caches". Do you mean a cache that's only accessible by a 4x4 vehicle?

"The" caching site is http://www.geocaching.com, and you can search for caches in a variety of ways. Possibly using the "Keyword" search may lead you to some off-road adventures.

fwiw, I've always wanted to put one at the top of one of the trails around here.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

You can often search for the Terrain and possibly Difficulty of the cache. Also helps to search in some areas where you know there is some off-road areas. For example, when I head down to the Death Valley area, I'll search for caches nearby to areas I will be at then narrow them down by ones that look like they are "hard to get to".

Here are a few like that:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache...f-3d8fc823496b
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache...7-d719a2d20cc3
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/neare...t&submit4=Find

DrBeau

Thanks guys. Geocaching.com is where I was looking, but I was having trouble finding things around me. I had found one in Oklahoma though.

dibble9012

looks like fun, theres a lot around here, one 2 miles away, and another one 8 miles away, and a bunch of others in between

Racer944

I've been reading this and this sounds like an awesome way for me to have fun in the outdoors this summer and only has an initial cost. This sounds perfect for me, in short. I've been reading around online and have found a GPS unit that I like and was wondering what ya'll have to say about it, or which ones you would say for me to get. I was looking at the Garmin eTrex Vista and it seems to have the features I want, compass, altimeter, battery life, and best of all, a compact and durable housing. This will probably be used A LOT, so could you help me out and give some advice on buying one, and which one to buy? Thanks ya'll

Racer944

Bump, hard for me to believe ya'll don't have an opinion on a subject. Any info would be greatly appreciated

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Just about any GPS will work. Get something with the features you want and go for it. I have a Garmin StreetPilot-III. It is better suited for automobile use, which is my main requirement, but it gets by as a handheld, too. Try searching on the web for information about the unit you want to get and see if there are any reviews on it:

http://gpsinformation.net/

SkyRat

I have a Garmin eTrex Vista and love it.
I have not used it much lately but I would definitely get something with a compass. It is nice to have a heading without having to be moving. Those without a compass have compass like features, but you have to be moving for them to work. They tell you your direction by working with the satellite data as it changes.

I hope to start geocaching soon...

Racer944

thank you very much for the info, and thanks for the website, that really helps

midiwall

Also pick up as many as you can and see how they feel in your hand - don't forget to put batteries in them or "adjust" for the additional weight.

Some people like buttons on the front of the unit, some people prefer them on the side. Keep in mind that it can be "best" to be able to get to basic functions (zoom, waypoints, screen select) with one hand, and also watch out for any key layout that covers up the display as you use it.

I have a Magellan Meridian Gold and love it. It's stood up the test of time (about 4 years of use) and Magellan still releases software updates for it. But, it's a bit heavy compared to other units out there.

A couple of years ago I bought my daughter a Magellan SportTrak Map which is the same basic UI and feature set of the Meridian Gold but about 1/2 the weight - and it floats!


There are a LOT of choices these days... I would generally recommend that you stick with either Garmin or Magellan and like I say, get to a store where you can pick them up and hold them (Best Buy, Circuit City, _good_ sports stores, etc).

Set a budget and stick to it... it's easy to get lost in "oooo, color!" and then realize that color displays will eat your batteries faster than B&W and a good high rez B&W display will be easier to read than paying the same $$$ for a lower rez color display.

Yoda

Wife and I went out this weekend. She can never find the ammo can sized ones. I find them and then "steer" her to it. Sunday, she found a micro cache (the size of an AA battery) I wasn't even close to finding it.

Bobby

I just bought a Magellan eXplorist 600. It's a bit pricey but has all the features I was looking for and it's very compact. I haven't started looking for caches yet but I downloaded a few.

The eXplorist series are compact and nice. They start at under $100 for the 100 and go up to $350 for the 600. [url-http://www.tigergps.com]TigerGPS[/url] has great prices but they didn't have the 600 in stock so I had to cancel my order and get it from TheGPSStore for about $25 more. The only downside to the 400, 500 and 600 is that they use a lith-ion battery and not AA's but the battery lasts about 12-17hrs. They also support SD cards so you can upload tons of stuff. They're waterproof to 1 meter for 30 mins (IPX-7 specs)

I can't really give you a good review on the 600 yet b/c I only got it yesterday but so far it's pretty cool.

-Bobby