Your GPSr Locationless, Locationless, Locationless
By Sol de Lune on 15-Nov-14. Waypoint GA6986

This one has had a good run, but it's to go.....

I don’t own a traditional portable GPS. I had a Garmin,but the screen was too small for my old eyes to read the numbers, so I gave it to my son dalerious. I usually use my iPad as a GPS, and find it pretty accurate to locate caches.
I placed it down beside this cache I found in the Creswick Forest, to show the coordinates, and took the photo with my iPhone, and have only just realised, as I log this, that the iPad screen reflected the trees above. Never mind, you get the idea.
I have not included the coordinates as that would give away the position of this mystery cache, which is one of 25 GeoArt caches making up the Christmas Down Under GC series, in the shape of a Christmas tree, and most of them nearby a pine plantation. The series was runner-up in the best series published in 2017.
Thanks for the Locationless Sol de lune.

Rated: for Overall Experience

To be honest I use my iPhone more than my Garmin for general navigation. Actually I use the GC app as a general map (even when not geocaching) and add GCA waypoints as extra waypoints to nearby GC caches. I just haven't got around to fully sussing out the Garmin yet. And it looks like it is out of batteries again so it's not even trying to be friends with me.

But the Garmin doesn't have a camera so it's in the photo. And not content with a simple photo I have included it with some Nintendo 64 cartridges (retro gamers might know that Skyfox 64 was actually sold as Lylat Wars in Australia, in any case was the first game to make use of the N64 "Rumble Pak") and some tuna (what can I say about canned tuna? My favourite flavour is the jalapeno one, but I do like how the "Tuna Inferno" has a warning.) Oh and also there's my KISS Hello Kitty!

Make of that what you will, dear ancestors who might discover this in the year 2118.

I mostly use my phone app for easy caches but for others I have a Garmin Oregon 300. Photo is of my GPS with our trip Mascot & TB "Bowra". I bought it 2nd hand last year and am still getting used to some of it's functions. TFTC

A Garmin Etrex20 is my GPS of choice. Here it is located at a recently found trig point . TFTC

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The Garmin GPSmap 62s gets the job done for the DaFiChNi's. Thanks Sol De Lune for organising thge locationless cache.

This photo show our gps at an earthcache in Fingal Heads NSW.

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As much of a techie as I am, I like my portable devices to fit on one device.

I had another phone for a while (after my current one was under RMA). But I'm now down to one, and no extra camera

I can screenshot my GPS app though!

Part of the iphone gps crowd I am afraid. Not too bad at finding the little blighter's with geosphere.

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I had to upgrade my old Oregon 300 to a 550 model recently. Still a trust unit.

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I use a Garmin Montanna 650T for back up it is my android phone with c:geo

Here is my GPSr, a simple by reliable unit.

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This is my gps awaiting some use today.

Our family GPS unit. Well, it's dad's but he lets us use it when we go out scavenging with him. I like to play pokemon, to be honest.

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My sister and I only go caching when there is a GA game on, like the scavenger hunt. So we use his gps. This is it

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My GPS. A Garmin Oregon 650. Given as a gift to me a year or two ago after my old Orgenon 450 starting acting up. A great device that works terrific as long as you lock the screen before you temporarily place it in your pocket. The slightest touch will change all of your menus. Many a moment has been spent trying to work out how to undo something I accidentally did.

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Primary device is my tool of the trade a Garmin etrex 10

Primary device is a Samsung Note 5 smartphone with the Garmin etrex 20 as a backup. That said we use the Garmin when placing a hide.

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I use two GPS devices depending on whether I plan to Geocache or not.

I own a Garmin 450 but use Chwiliwr's old Garmin 550 as that is the one I have access to when I decide to cache.

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I do have a Magellan but have never really learned how to use it so I generally use Chwiliwr's device when I go out by myself but otherwise use him.

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This is the forth or fifth GPS device that I have used.

I started with a bluetooth NAVMAN GPS connected to a PDA device. All it ever gave me was coordinates and I had to work out which way to go and how far. Even for such a long in the tooth device it is still the most consistently accurate as far as actual coordinates are concerned.

I think that we are spoiled in what the current GPS devices, phone or dedicated, will do for us.

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this one is quite easy. put both my first and current gps in the photo.

Cheers

I've recently upgraded to a new Galaxy S7. The camera is better than the S3...which I used to take this shot haha GPS seems better too!

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I was hesitant to log this as I actually use my Samsung Galaxy phone. Initially when I started I had an old Garmin GPSr which has now been recycled. I found the app GACacher far easier to use and could easily snap photos etc. I've uploaded a photo of the main page of the app.

For Christmas I gave myself a Garmin eTrex Touch 25. I am still learning to use it so sometimes I revert to using my Samsung phone for backup. The Garmin is great and has already been used on a few trips on Port Phillip Bay.
My friends were very interested in comparing my eTrex to the GPSr they had one their boat. It passed the accuracy test for location and speed recording.
TFTC Sol de Lune

Rated: for Overall Experience

I use my iphone as a GPS which has got me into a bit of bother sometimes with the "photo must include your GPS" stipulations. (tend to end up sticking a hand or shadow in the pick if possible)

so this is my iphone in the mirror in the hall.

Rated: for Overall Experience

When I began caching I was using my little Garmin 255 car GPS. It was fairly accurate by drove me nuts because I couldn't zoom in really close, resulting in me primarily using my smartphone. I recently picked up a Magellan 510 (it was selling cheap) and it too drove me nuts sending me all over the place and round in circles, so my smartphone was the preferred pick. This week I was blessed by another cacher, a long time Magellan user, who set up my Magellan and gave me some guidance on use and showed me show to use the compass of which I knew nothing about. While I googled and tried to learn it didn't help much. Following some practice runs on various waypoints all looks very promising so I am hopeful we are now winning and I won't infuriate hubz on wild goose chases. IMHO using a smartphone spoils a cacher, this cacher: there is no way I could use something with basic black and white mapping like the Garmin etrex 10, i've been spoilt. Thanks for an easy locationless.

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I used to have an etrex 30 but I left it behind at a cache somewhere. I used only my phone for a while until it let me down one day on a FTF hunt. Shortly after that I got an etrex 25 touch which I'm very happy with.
If I'm caching with my phone I often use my
Pebble watch with the. geocaching app that I helped develop. It helps save the phone battery by not having to turn pov the screen as often.

I started caching back in 2007 with my ever faithful Magellan explorist XL and it is still my main device. I ventured into a Garmin Oregon 300 for wherigo etc and then I was offered a bargain on a brand new Magellan 710 which I could not decline. All three are useful when I hide caches.

Rated: for Overall Experience

For most of our caching life we have used Garmin Etrex H GPS units. When they became hard to obtain, we bought a Garmin Extrex 10 but were never completely happy. Finally. when memory became an issue, we upgraded to Garmin GPSMap64s units and we have been very happy (especially as we have one each). As well as being very accurate, they can store 20 times more caches than our previous units which makes travelling much easier (not having to reload GPS units each night). A photo of one of our Garmin GPSMap64s units has been added to the Gallery. Thanks Sol de Lune for the cache.

Well I usually iPhone cache these days, though there is an eTrex around somewhere. But being an older one that only handles 500 waypoints it doesn't get me too far from home in Sydney, having everything in NSW and ACT in the iPhone is easier - especially as I used to do a lot of work travel and could end up anywhere between Newcastle and Nowra with little warning if we had a service call. Nowadays that doesn't seem to be my role.

Anyway, iPhone photographed in the bathroom mirror. Cheers Sol de lune, another one for the Summer Scavenge Hunt.

Spotting this cache on the scavenger hunt's list has prompted me to take this little piccy with Seeka, showing off her pretty side with my Garmin - a birthday present last year. TFTC Sol de Lune.

Rated: for Overall Experience

A Garmin montana and Seeka - what more do you need?!! Well actually, the iPhone for it's up to the minute info, is second to none when a new cache get's published/co-ords get changed/caches are temporarily disabled or archived/you get distracted from your planned route and end up in cacheless download area etc. Yes, MrsG loves phone caching but for reliable co-ordinate accuracy (and coverage), the GPS wins hands down.
TFTC Sol de lune

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So I have a Magellan exploring 110 which I don't use as I don't really like it. I tend to use my smart phone these days which if you carefully look in the photo you can see the reflection of it in the screen of the GPS

Our current GPSr is a Garmin GPSmap 62s. We've been using it since September 2011, and have been looking at upgrading for a while.

I've included in the photo our first two GPSr's. Our current Garmin looks waaay more used than the two older ones!

Thanks Sol de lune.

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My GPS is a garmin 64s which i use for work logging positions when installing measurement probes in crops. I actually rarely use it for caching, instead i use my iphone 6s because i take it with me everywhere and is far easier to load and log caches. I use the L4C Pro app because you can download the map of a whole country for offline use, can quickly download 100's of caches for offline use and can choose the time when submitting a log which fixes the 17 hour lag of geocaching.com

GPS and trigpoint

I have a garmin oregon 300 which I loaded with OSM maps. Suits me well and it's a nice size for my hands

Well this used to be Caughtatwork's however he passed it down to me. It's a good GPS it does what it has to, it gets me where I need to be and allows me to find the caches that I have to.

Took a photo of my gpsr while sitting working on the latest SSS game and geocaching puzzles. I have had a Garmin Montana for about 3 years now. It has been great and is still going despite being dropped, kicked and out in the rain and weather many times. Great to have the choice of lithium battery or triple A batteries for those long treks. TFTC

Rated: for Overall Experience

Started caching using a basic etrex but then bought a garmin 60csx..which gives exc coords as can average any number of pts. After that pur a garmin montana 650t...purely because it can use oztopo maps...which are brilliant but have found coords a bit iffy under canopy. I still use the 60csx for hiding caches...photo attached.

I am too young to own a device so I have included my granddad as he takes me to all the caches.

We use a Nuvi500, a Garmin62s and a Samsung phone with the Geocaching Australia app installed.

We use a Garmin Dakota 20. It is looking a bit worse for wear but gets the job done. TFTL

Rated: for Overall Experience

Participating in the Summer Scavenger Series. We currently cache with a Garmin Oregon 600t. Thanks Sol De Lune

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I have a Garmin Monterra. It runs on an Android platform so I can install apps on it. However, it seems to be a bit of a forgotten product by Garmin and now when I plug it into my PC the PC no longer recognizes it as existing, so I have to virtually transfer GPX files to it.

Easy peasy, I just use my Magellan...... It does the job

Current main use weapon of choice, Garmin Montana 650t
Previous, and still used, Magellan Explorist XL (Vastly superior internal file structure management tools, can do things Garmins can't do, so used on odd occasions)(But miss the touch screen of the Montana!!)
First Magellan 315, still used on some overseas occasions.

All still in working order!

We tend to mostly use our phones for finding caches now, but rely entirely on my Etrex20 for hiding, so we get more accurate coords.

Rated: for Overall Experience

It was a pleasure to find out that geocaching.com.au has locationless caches. This is my first cache on this site, mostly just for practices to learn the ropes. The gps I currently use is a Garmin Oregon 600. It is the basic model in that line, I have topo maps loaded for Washington State where I live, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho where I also play. The picture was taken showing my home coordinates with the GPS locked onto 12 satellites inside my house. It is a nice unit.

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I have used a number over the years that include.

2 different blackberry phones

iphone 4,5,6+

2 ipads

garmin GPS60 and now I'm using mostly the Oregon 300.

Will upgrade soon.

TFTL

Rated: for Overall Experience

I use my iPhone to geocache with - it does present problems sometimes especially with GA caches. Not sure what GPS to get so further research is required. Now how to get a picture of me & my phone ??

I started with a Garmin Etrex 10 then bought a Magellan eXplorist GC which I am very happy with.
I wish I hadn't given my nephew the Garmin , but never mind, as sometimes a spare would be handy.

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After finding two Geocaches I asked a friend from the Netherlands (couldn't find anymore further away) and he recommended the Garmin eTrex30. For the following reasons: GPS and Glonass, OpenStreetMap compatible, Geocaching compatible, customizable menu orders etc. And I admit: He was 100% correct on it.

It hangs on the side of my pants, in the pocket of my jacket or on the handlebars of my bicycle. 100% happy.

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It's not much of a photo, but it is a selfie of a phone (and a thumb pressing the button). Could have made it more elegant by using a remote shutter control, but that would take the spontaneity from the exercise. Perhaps if I do ever end up with a real GPSr I can log a better one.

I was given this Magellan for my birthday this year by my sister who walks a lot - she is slowly walking the whole of Australia. She has been doing Western Australia from bottom to top this year and I think she is now in the NT somewhere.

Inspired by GA7102, Locationless by 12, I decided to try for 12 in 12...minutes. I dragged Gangstella along to do the camera work and navigate so I could drive safely... and our two dogs. Instead of logging a photo here, I have a video link instead. It is shaky, blurry, over and underexposed, but it does the job...just.

http://youtu.be/M0dNB7EwKQk

As you will see we had fun finding them all and the dogs loved the end of it all.
Thanks

attached is a photo of my second GPSr and my current GPSr. The Garmin is from the 1990s before we could get greater accuracy. If you went for a walk you expected to be able to see your starting point from where the GPSr brought you back to (usually about 30 to 50 metres apart) But it was good. Current days they are a lot more accurate and faster

Rated: for Overall Experience

The thing I like about this locationless is that I'm shopping for a new unit....this is like a review hub. Looks like the Garmin Oregon Series is popular.

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i like this one sol
as it was a look in my bag and found
thank you

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GCA 1083 - 10780. My good old trusty Garmin Oregon 550t...

I have found a few thousand caches with this little guy. Never had any problems either. Handy to have a spare camera as well.

TFTC !!

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My very first GPSr was a Magellan Trailblazer XL, purchased new in 1995, when employed as a rock-licker in remote Western Australia. The XL suffered fatal errors when Y2K kicked in. Years later got a Magellan Explorist 610, however lost it in Tasmania in early 2015. Replacement a Garmin Oregon 600t, it's infinitely better than the previous.. thanks..!!

Rated: for Overall Experience

It is not even that easy to get a picture of your GPS as the GPS is normally my camera!
I started out with doing the first 10-20 caches with a TomTom car navigation attached to the car, so the cache had to be really close to the road. Then I bought a Garmin Etrex, but soon changed to a Garmin GPSMAP60. Went through 2 of these and now I am up to my second Garmin OREGON 550 already.
Wilbert67

Hi Sol de lune
I started caching with a TomTom Street Navigator and now use a Garmin Oregon 450.
One day, I'll be able to cache just using cacher's senses but until that day arrives, I'll rely on the 450; which will be forever and a day!
TFTC and cheers
OldSaint.

My Main GPS is a Montana 650t

We started with a Magellan eXplorist GC and now use a Garmin 62s. Naturally supplemented by our smart phones (1 pictured and 1 used as the camera). The kids use the Magellan now. cheers gooseandegg

The first GPSr I bought was a Garmin Vista Cx; the second I bought was a Garmin Vista HCx and the newest is a Garmin Etrex 20. They all work and I use then all especially when I have family or friends coming geocaching with me.

My first 60 geocaches were sans-GPSr altogether, using a combination of google maps and printouts. My 61st was a doddle with my new iphone4 with the GC app. I have a Magellan 310 but with my relatively poor eyesight, I find the brightness, font size and touch screen of the iphone to be a more convenient solution. It may be less accurate from a GPS perspective, but I reckon that kind of adds to the hunting anyway so I don't mind that.
Thanks for the locationless Sol De Lune, and for all your others too!
Cheers
MajuraHathi

Rated: for Overall Experience

Having started out with a very basic Etrex, I eventually was able to justify getting the Garmin Oregan pictured.
Occasionally I use the phone as well, mostly if I have a few spare minutes before/after work in a new area, but I don't like the lack of accuracy and the lack of accelerometer in my phone as it can't point me closer like the Oregan can.

(GCA Find #551)

We use a Garmin - we love it. We take it on holidays with us.
Here it is in Ecuador over the (supposed) Equator.

Thanks Sol de lune

This is my first Oregon 550 at Greenwich in the park about 100m away from the original Prime Meridian is (despite the scientific reasons for the difference I'm sure the Americans/French did this deliberately just to annoy the British! ) Sadly, it died when it fell onto cobblestones in Brugge, Belgium so I had to replace it with another

We use a Garmin Oregon 600, as recommended by a certain well known cacher who sells them at his premises
TFTC

847. Well the first two are the same Sol but the third was a Montana 600. This one was in my pocket when I fell and broke the screen. Eventually Garmin Australia replaced it but due to available stock replaced it with a Montana 650T. It's still working sort of but is unable to talk to the PC after it proved not to be entirely sea worthy. SO maybe a Monterra next?

TFTC and the correct title!

Rated: for Overall Experience

My GPSr's,

Garmin Yellow e-trex - had a couple of these before updating. Still have one...just in case.

Garmin Oregon 300 - (not in photo) had one of these that lasted a couple of years before updating again.

Garmin Oregon 550T - Current GPSr, however the 1st one was run over and smashed (see photo) however the 2nd one is still going strong.

Very happy with our Garmin known as 'Gertie' ... we also use our iPads where the coverage is available. Thanks Sol de lune for this locationless :0

Rated: for Overall Experience

We bought our first GPS (Garmin nuvi 1350) in preparation for a trip to New Zealand as the device came with maps for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to leaving on the trip we were introduced to geocaching by our youngest daughter (chocolate_ali) and we used our nuvi both as a road and walking GPS. The nuvi was good when driving, not that accurate when walking. After finding over 100 caches in Tasmania, we headed to New Zealand and found about 80 caches on the North Island. Crossing Cook Strait was too much for the nuvi. When we arrived at Nelson, it went into melt down and gave us nothing but garbage. We went to a local store but the cost of a replacement nuvi was exorbitant – besides, it was still under warranty but only when we got back to Australia. We then looked at the options and the cheapest was a Garmin EtrexH. We set off for our tour of the South Island and soon discovered that the EtrexH was excellent when walking but hopeless when driving. We had discovered that we needed two GPS units – one for driving, the other when walking. When the warranty issue was sorted out after coming back to Australia caching went very well until both Mrs and Mr y’stassie wanted an EtrexH (especially when caching in different areas). Ebay was the source of a second ExtrexH. After a couple of years one of the EtrexH units decided to go on strike. Mr y’stassie went to buy a new one only to discover that they were no longer being produced. he bought the replacement model, an Etrex10. Mrs y’stassie was “welded” to the EtrexH and found the Etrex10 very different. So, a watch was kept on Ebay for EtrexH units and we managed to buy another two at low cost. That is why we cache with three GPS units as shown in the photo added to the Gallery – one for driving and the other two for walking. We have found the EtrexH and Extrex10 units to be very accurate and reliable. The quick loading of .gpx files from our computers into the GPS units overcomes memory limitations. The only deficiency has been their “non-Chirp” capabilities but we have got around that problem for the only occasion when it was needed.

Only 6 weeks old but taken me to around 70 caches.

For a number of years now I have been using a Magellan eXplorist GC. This is a relatively cheap GPS that is simple to use and works nicely with gsak. Prior to this I used a Garmin eTrex for some time, but found this very limiting. The eXplorist allows the storage of many more waypoints as well as all the other details for a paperless geocaching experience (except for many of those puzzle caches!). When it next comes time to upgrade I will probably look for a touch screen model that also allows for better pre-loaded maps including contour lines and walking tracks/roads.

Well, I started out with a Garmin 60cSX. A couple of years later it disappeared so, despite protest from the Wench, I bought a Garmin 62s. Next time I pulled out my boots for a bike ride there was the 60 sitting in the boot. Now I have two GPS's.

The photo shows the 62 connected to my little netbook as GSAK does its job of publishing a heap of cache finds along the road between Bookham and Goulburn today.

Thanks Sol de lune.

This is our second GPS, a Garmin Dakota 20. The first is still in use as a backup and is a Garmin Dakota 10. Thanks for a very easy smilie!!!

My Magellan eXpolorist 710 is the third GPSr I've owned with the previous two being Garmins. It talks to me & tells me where to go, has great maps & features.

#GA244 - 09:50; Dropped by the GCA site to pick up the daily dragonZone bonus and spotted a few more locationless. A quick snap of the Magellan eXplorist 710 and iPhone 5C which I use, then back to do the log! TFTC Sol de lune

Rated: for Overall Experience

These are what I use. Garmin Oregon and navigate along roads with Nuvi 500

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Very happy with my Garmin

Here is a photo of my helpful Garmin GPSmap 62s! This has so many good features on it that has assisted us in to getting thousands of caches within the year that we have had it. TFTC Sol de lune!

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Alwayse been happy with my Garmin but I also use an iphone.

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The trusty Garmin Oregon that I brought off a fellow cacher

I sometimes use he iphone too

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Here's a photo of my trusty Gamin Oregon 300 GPSr, taken recently while logging a locationless ("Sensational Seeds") in the Bullaburra area of the Blue Mountains of NSW.



I've used it for more than five years now and it's rarely led me astray.

There are lots of exterior scratches, of course, but everything still works just fine.

Rated: for Overall Experience

These are the two I use ...

Basic but trustworthy
TFTC

At this moment, my weapon of choice is a Garmin 550T....