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[hotel21]

Since the recent thread regarding hobbies, I was intreagued by the 'Geocaching' one.  So much so that I have had a go at a couple of caches nearby me using my TomTom 710 as a hand held GPS but, unsurprisingly, its not the best when you are partway up a hillside.

So.  Anyone have a reasonable Garmin Etrex, preferably with mapping, that I could purchase or alternatively, be able to advise whats best for geocaching and where to purchase?  I have logged onto a couple of UK geocache websites looking for advice/answers but they are slow, to say the least, quite unlike here.   :-/

[Markie]

cant help with the thread Brucie....But i`m intreagued too now; 'Geocaching'  :-/

[hotel21]

check out http://www.geocaching.com/ for what its about.

Put in your postcode at the search function on the top right side and see what is hiding near you.  It certainly took me to a few wee corners round my way that I regularly pass but simply did not see, if you follow....

[Kevin Wood]

I must admit I got quite interested in that too. Haven't got off my @rse and looked for any yet though!

I've got a Garmin Etrex Vista, which is quite nice. It has a barometric altimeter and a magnetic compass built in so you can use it both to find out where you are and to figure out bearings against local landmarks, etc.

You can download maps to it to overlay roads, etc. although, while this looks impressive, it's by no means essential if you're just navigating to a waypoint, and it's no use if you're off the beaten track, of course.

The software that comes with it is pretty rubbish, TBH, and this is a common theme with Garmin. They are very good at building the hand held devices and not too good at the supporting applications IMHO. Having said that, once you've downloaded the maps you want, it's pretty much stand-alone.

The hardware is also a little flaky in that sometimes the display packs up and you have to twist the case a little to get it back.

However, if you can do without the moving map and compass, I'd say go for a Garmin GPS12XL from Ebay. Totally bomb proof and reliable, if a little heavy on batteries. Failing that one of the other ETrex models although they don't look as robust.

If you have a PocketPC with GPS you might want to consider MemoryMap. That allows you to overlay proper ordnance survey maps.

Cheers,

Kevin

[TheBoy]

if you have a pda, i have Memory Map software (digital OS maps tied to gps) - not sure if thats what you are after...

[VXL V6]

if you have a pda, i have Memory Map software (digital OS maps tied to gps) - not sure if thats what you are after...

Sounds interesting software, could be useful for a little hobby of mine.... ROC Posts, see here:- http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/index2.shtml

Incidently as you use a PDA could I ask what GPS unit you use because mine is pants!

[Entwood]

Memory Map and whole of UK in both 25K and 50K .. as .qct files ....  

[TheBoy]

if you have a pda, i have Memory Map software (digital OS maps tied to gps) - not sure if thats what you are after...

Sounds interesting software, could be useful for a little hobby of mine.... ROC Posts, see here:- http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/index2.shtml

Incidently as you use a PDA could I ask what GPS unit you use because mine is pants!

In the car, I use the geniune Tomtom wired.  For bluetooth, I vary (tend to drop them etc, and they have ceramic antennas which damage easy, so regularly replace). Tend to get whatever I can cheap from ebay

[Kevin Wood]

I've got a bluetooth one that came with CoPilot software for the PocketPC. It's a decent GPS receiver IMHO. (don't ask me about CoPilot). You might be able to pick one up on its' own on ebay perhaps?

Kevin

[Taxi_Driver]

check out http://www.geocaching.com/ for what its about.

Put in your postcode at the search function on the top right side and see what is hiding near you.  It certainly took me to a few wee corners round my way that I regularly pass but simply did not see, if you follow....

Very interesting B  

Will have to take Holly on a few different walks to see what i find  

And see how my TT510 gets on  :-/