Helpful Hints for Newcomers

For all your general chit chat, caching or not.
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Op Ivy
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Op Ivy » 18 May 11 10:10 am

Does anyone know if there's a way to see how many satellites you're picking up with the Etrex H?

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nibbler
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by nibbler » 18 May 11 1:41 pm

I googled this site http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/eTrex_OwnersManual.pdf
It has basic info on number of satelites

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Op Ivy
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Op Ivy » 18 May 11 3:04 pm

Thanks nibbler! I didn't google for a manual because I already have one but it seems mine is missing half the content of the online version. The advanced skyview page is what I was looking for. On the weekend when GZ kept changing I wondered how many satellites we had but couldn't work out how to find out...

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Op Ivy
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Op Ivy » 04 June 11 9:18 pm

Does anyone know if there's a way to find a location on google maps or nearmaps by entering co-ordinates?

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Bronnie_1990
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Bronnie_1990 » 04 June 11 9:49 pm

normally if you just google the coordinates, you can get google maps to display a map in the results :)


wait, that doesnt make sence, sorry. give me a second :)
Like this?
Image


No idea how this would work with nearmaps!

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Black Bunny
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Black Bunny » 04 June 11 10:44 pm

If you enter loc: S35 AA.BBB E149 CC.DDD you will get the exact location and not the nearest street address

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Yurt
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Yurt » 05 June 11 12:11 am

Do people have road GPS units they can enter coords into? Would be a handy way to get to the right street. I generally have to use the maps to look it up online or use "driving directions" on Gc.com to get that info.

What models would have this? My Navman doesn't.

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Richary
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Richary » 05 June 11 12:17 am

Yurt wrote:Do people have road GPS units they can enter coords into? Would be a handy way to get to the right street. I generally have to use the maps to look it up online or use "driving directions" on Gc.com to get that info.

What models would have this? My Navman doesn't.
My somewhat old TomTom OneXL allows you to enter destination coords which seem to be in WGS84. You can enter as dd mm.mmm and it works fine. The only trick with the thing is that if it knows about a path that gets nearer to the cache it will take you there to where that meets the road, even if it is 4km away. It doesn't realise I can walk over 20m of grass to the path. But for 95% of caches it works OK.

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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by GGau » 05 June 11 12:28 am

Our Garmain Nuvi (can't recall model but it looks like an iphone) does it fine - same input as Richary's, just enter co-ordinates in "where to". It was the main GPS unit we used until I realised just how non-droppable it was and got a 'real' handheld and left it in the car. Just let it know that your "walking" route can be offroad and swap over (from drive to walk) when you get nearby, it will recalculate and drop you pretty much on it.

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Zalgariath
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Zalgariath » 05 June 11 9:53 pm

I found my first 1200 caches on a TomTom OneXL :D With Multi or Mystery Hides which needed co-ords plugged in I just created the waypoints as POIs on the fly, very easy.

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Yurt
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Yurt » 05 June 11 11:14 pm

Yeah I wouldn't want to use one for finding a cache but it would be nice to put coords in and have it guide me to the nearest jumping off point. Sometimes I have to drive around the streets in ever decreasing circles to get close! A bit dodgy on the driving front, one step up from texting I reckon, that's why I normally work out the street before going.
Of course as has been noted, the nearest road may not be the easiest approach to some caches! We learnt this early on using "driving directions" and finding ourselves crossing gorges to get to GZ!

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Bronnie_1990
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Bronnie_1990 » 05 June 11 11:27 pm

I once tried finding a cache using my Nuvi (no idea what the number is, guessing it's an older model than GGau's?) , (i was waiting for either my iPhone or eTrex to find satilites or something?) and that was a bad idea. Never again.

It's quite good at telling me to take trails that dont exist, or to drive through a fence, onto a trail. Hmm, i think i'll just walk?
(a 'nearest EASY access point' would be a wonderful feature. sigh)

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Op Ivy
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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by Op Ivy » 08 June 11 1:06 pm

bubbles_baby123 wrote:normally if you just google the coordinates, you can get google maps to display a map in the results :)
Black Bunny wrote:If you enter loc: S35 AA.BBB E149 CC.DDD you will get the exact location and not the nearest street address
Not sure if I'm doing it right but I can only get an approximation. Degrees are right but there is some variation in minutes and/or seconds of the point marked on the map to what I typed in. Does it only come up with the nearest point that has been marked as a waypoint by someone else?

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Re: Helpful Hints for Newcomers

Post by danozz » 09 June 11 2:40 pm

I think your problem revolves around google maps trying to assist you with your search. Google maps will try to find the nearest business/residence/park etc. To your coords, and drop the pin there. Have a play around by entering "a@s37 12.345 e143 56.789" and see if you can spot what google maps is doing.

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Post by pjmpjm » 10 June 11 2:20 am

Richary wrote: My somewhat old TomTom OneXL allows you to enter destination coords which seem to be in WGS84. You can enter as dd mm.mmm and it works fine. The only trick with the thing is that if it knows about a path that gets nearer to the cache it will take you there to where that meets the road, even if it is 4km away. It doesn't realise I can walk over 20m of grass to the path. But for 95% of caches it works OK.
Same with my newer Tom Tom. After using it for a year now, I don't know what I'd do without it. Needs care, as you say, but mostly excellent.

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