I am looking to get into doing geocache stuff. I like the idea of everyday doing cheap or free adventures right in my hometown. What GPS recievers do you recommend? I know I want 12 channels...What is WAAS? How important is it?

I have used this system and would buy it (easy to use, decent price) but I want your opinions on what system is the best buy for a newbie like myself.

http://www.thegpsstore.com/Detail-Garmi ... xe-GPS.asp

What features do I look for? Oh yeah, I also want to be able to use it in the Jeep for road trips...

http://www.thegpsstore.com/Detail-Lowra ... r-Hunt.asp
http://www.thegpsstore.com/Detail-Garmi ... Legend.asp

Those two systems look good. I geuss being waterproof is another thing I want just in case...

Are these FRS combo units worth a darn?
http://www.thegpsstore.com/Detail-Garmi ... -Radio.asp

Also how do these prices look? If they are high, where should I shop?
My budget is up to $400 for the unit and whatever recommended accessories...

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'02 KJ Sport V6 4x4
3/8" Clevis lift
Rusty's 2.5 lift
255/70/R16 Fleet Farm All Terrain (yes they work)
Class 3 hitch
Hellas
Police Scanner/CB radio
LOST #: JH061986

do not get the rino! my husband's friend saw our garmin 60 cs and had to have a gps because he thought he and his daughters would enjoy geocaching. we told him about the rino and he picked it up. my husband and him took it out at work for some noontime caching and hated it!

it's heavy because of the bigger battery. most gps's take AA batteries but the rino has a custom one that you have to recharge--not good when you run out of juice in the middle of nowhere. the interface it's annoying--it's not as easy as the 60 CS and you have to do multiple button pushes to get the same result as a single button push on the 60 cs.

if i had to have a gps and frs, i'd buy a regular gps and rubberband an frs radio to it.

we've been geocaching for almost a year.

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--Polly

99 Wrangler Sport, Amethyst *~* 9500 lb Mile Marker Winch *~* Bestop Mesh Windows *~* Michelin LTX M/S *~* Custom Rock Shift Knob *~* Cobra 75 WX ST *~* 3" Boulder Bars *~* Full Husky Liners *~* Aiwa Deck *~* JKS Disco's *~* Garmin 60 CS *~* Kilby Gas tank skid *~* Poison Spyder Diff Ring

Hey Joe, I ve done a lot of research(Surfing) on these and here is my findings.

1. Magellan makes units comparable to the Garmin units but their customer service gets a lot of complaints. They came out with the removable memory cards first so their units with the cards are easier to find.

2. The lowrance units have removable memory cards but no USB this is a major drawback, in my opinion. They apparently are not weaterproof, but they guve you an industrial ziplock bag for it, this is wierd to me since they market to the hunting and fishing croud.

3. The Garmin units are the most popular, they have good software, there are other software makers that are compatible with the Garmin. I have read good things about their customer service.

As far as the unit. The 60cs that Polly mentions is a great unit for the money, it does not have the removable memory card if that is important to you, but it has USB so maps can be loaded into the units built in memory. Sams club online has a great price on it. Its the one that I am thinking of buying.

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Gasoline is for washing parts - Alcohol is for drinking - Nitromethane is for racing - Diesel is for hauling.

2005 CRD Limited 4x4 - Deep Beryl Green - Selec-Trac
Trac-Lok - Skid Plates - BFG Radial Long Trail TA's- Rotella T 5W40 Synthetic.

2007 GC CRD Limited. Silver.

I have narrowed it down to the Garmin GPS and V and Garmin Vista C...

Both are in the same price range. The GPS V looks like it would be better for use as a nav system for the Jeep then the vista but the Vista has a color screen and is smaller and lighter. I have also heard that the Vista has a faster processor.

I have used the GPS V and I really liked it but if I can get a smaller, lighter unit, that will be better for caching. The 60CS looks like a good unit but I am really more interested in a rugged system with auto mapping.

Also what equipment do you guys take on a normal cache trip aside from a GPSr?

I have a week off work coming up and I may spend it caching (20 caches that week will be my goal)...

_________________
'02 KJ Sport V6 4x4
3/8" Clevis lift
Rusty's 2.5 lift
255/70/R16 Fleet Farm All Terrain (yes they work)
Class 3 hitch
Hellas
Police Scanner/CB radio
LOST #: JH061986

Make sure you carry a pen to sign logs, thats all you need. but remember if you want to take somthing from a cache you need to leave somthing.

_________________
N8
Lifetime member #NG050001
2004 Sport
Flame Red
cb, full armor
"If you're not living on the edge...You're taking up to much space!"

what do you mean by rugged? we've dropped ours and it's fine. and, we have the city select maps and if you punch in an address it'll route you there. you can tell it if you're in a car or on foot and i'll take you on freeways or surface streets--handy since we have yamaha scooters that can't go on the freeway.

i just checked garmin.com and it says right on the 60 cs that it does "automatice route calculation". also, the 60 cs has the quad helix antenna, which is said to be better. also, i really like the 60 cs's button layout. i'm not a big fan of things with few buttons that are multifunction (like the rino).

if you have an outdoors store that allows you to return a gps without penalty you should try the vista and see if you like it. if not, return it and try something else.

the most important piece of geocaching equipment, besides a gps, will be a pen. there are tons of caches out there that are too small to put pens in to sign the log. one time i didn't have a pen, but did have my camera so i took a picture with me holding the cache and posted it for credit.

we have what we call the "schwag bag" which is what we carry pens, stampers (our signature item), travel bugs, and other assorted tradables around in. that way we have all we need ready to grab and go. (if you have a dog, put some poop bags in there too!)

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--Polly

99 Wrangler Sport, Amethyst *~* 9500 lb Mile Marker Winch *~* Bestop Mesh Windows *~* Michelin LTX M/S *~* Custom Rock Shift Knob *~* Cobra 75 WX ST *~* 3" Boulder Bars *~* Full Husky Liners *~* Aiwa Deck *~* JKS Disco's *~* Garmin 60 CS *~* Kilby Gas tank skid *~* Poison Spyder Diff Ring

I use my V for geocaching and navigation all the time. I do wish it had more memory for maps, but it does fine for me. If I'd had the extra money when I purchased it I might have gone for a 60CS but I was on a bit of a budget. One thing I like about the V is the rotateable antenna, which you can orient for best reception; you can also detach the antenna and connect an external unit if you decide to get one, but I don't have any problems using the existing one. Given the size of the antenna I would guess it is a helical design, but I need to do some research on that. In the end, buy the unit you think you'll use the most.

Edit: did some research and the antenna on the V is a quad-filament helix, which means better reception than the 'patch' antenna on the e-Trex (not that thy're bad).

_________________
Kevin
AD5VG
Just another red Jeep in the world...
L.O.S.T. #KB051963

The 60cs is a little out of my budget...

http://thegpsstore.com/Detail-Garmin-eT ... -Color.asp

Is this a good price on a Vista? I like the small size and color screen...

Anybody use magellan?

There is an eXplorist 400 (sd compatible) for $249 on that site... which might be a good alternative

_________________
'02 KJ Sport V6 4x4
3/8" Clevis lift
Rusty's 2.5 lift
255/70/R16 Fleet Farm All Terrain (yes they work)
Class 3 hitch
Hellas
Police Scanner/CB radio
LOST #: JH061986

when we looked at gps's all the clerks said "don't buy a magellen, they fall apart, they're not rugged at all"

i did read about a geocacher that used a garmin to get to the site and his magellen to find the cache, but who wants that hassle and expense? he claimed that the magellen was better under trees.

_________________
--Polly

99 Wrangler Sport, Amethyst *~* 9500 lb Mile Marker Winch *~* Bestop Mesh Windows *~* Michelin LTX M/S *~* Custom Rock Shift Knob *~* Cobra 75 WX ST *~* 3" Boulder Bars *~* Full Husky Liners *~* Aiwa Deck *~* JKS Disco's *~* Garmin 60 CS *~* Kilby Gas tank skid *~* Poison Spyder Diff Ring

I use a Magellan explorist 100, It dont have any maps, but it did find me 127 caches since i got it in Nov! $99 bucks I am wanting to upgrade though Magellan sport trac color, or Garmin 60 cs.

_________________
N8
Lifetime member #NG050001
2004 Sport
Flame Red
cb, full armor
"If you're not living on the edge...You're taking up to much space!"

thats stupid.. i had a garwin and it was a POS.. everytime i went into woods.. it would drop.. especially here in the NC mtns.. i traded it in and got a magellan sportrac pro.. never had ANY problems.. i have had mine since 2004.. i got the windshield mount with cig lighter hookup.. i take it from the mount to handheld and back.. i have never had a problem.. we do geocaches here in the mtns and usually its in deep leaf cover and no problems.. i dont believe when ppl say.. 'this brand breaks easily'.. etc.. mine has fallen to the ground a few times (i slipped) and not a problem at all.. no matter what we say.. goto www.geocaching.com and goto the forum.. sign up.. and do research.. THEY know the pros/cons for every model.. might even find a used unit cheap there too cause they always upgrade like we do with computers lol

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2004 Renegade 4x4
L.O.S.T. #123321

I don't know what they are like today, but I had an old Magellan GPS2000 that was built like a TANK! Thick ABS plastic body and it took quite a pounding over the years. It's what I started caching with, had something like 100ft accuracy so it was always a challenge to find caches back then, plus I had to input coords by hand - thats when I decided to upgrade to a Garmin Legend. I had been toying with the idea of getting an Explorist when a friend gave me a Lowrance I-finder GO for chirstmas, so now I have a nice handheld unit I can take with me. Hmmm, may have to see if my brother still has that old Magellan...

_________________
Kevin
AD5VG
Just another red Jeep in the world...
L.O.S.T. #KB051963