I Am Sooo Frustrated!!

[my_aperture]

I have been trying to geocache for the past two weeks but I haven't found a single one yet because of my stupid 7 year old gps... the coords are like 20 miles off. I WANT TO GEOCACHE SO BADLY!!!! And I can't really afford a new gps unless it's under $100 or something (poor college student).

 

[+Skyman]

Try Ebay the little yellow etrex go for less than $100.00 all the time, but first make shure your gps is set to the proper grid system.

[+sTeamTraen]

Sounds more like a datum problem. GPS devices don't get rusty or need oil changes.

[+Skyman]

Try reading through this thread it should be helpful An older thread

[+Skyman]

Your unit has a setting called "datum" Be sure it's set to WGS84

[+VegasCacheHounds]

Quick question: What type of GPS unit do you have? If we know this, maybe we might be able to help you make some changes to the settings.

[my_aperture]

Quick question: What type of GPS unit do you have? If we know this, maybe we might be able to help you make some changes to the settings.

I'm not sure exactly, all I can see on it is:

Garmin, GPS 12, 12 Channel... it's pretty old, and black.

[+reveritt]

I started geocaching with a 10-year-old GPS receiver. It had no WAAS, and it took a while to get a fix, and it went through batteries at an alarming pace, but I was able to find caches. Where I ran into problems was with hiding caches. I was not able to provide the degree of accuracy in my posted coordinates that cachers were used to. I had to correct my listings using coordinates provided by the early finders.

 

An old receiver may not get you as close to the cache as a new one, but there are some techniques you can use. I found the following to be useful:

• Proceed slowly. When you get close to the cache location, stop and wait for the unit to get a good fix. Note the distance and bearing to the cache.
  
• When you stop, hold the unit up in front of you so as not to block signals from one direction with your body.
  
• Try approaching the cache from several directions. That often seems to help.
  
• Most of all--don't rely too much on the gadget; use your eyes and your brain. Look for hiding places and unnatural arrangements of sticks, stones, etc. that may be camouflage.
  

[+Thot]

What is the make and model of your unit? Do you have a screen that shows the number of satellites it has located and whether is has a good signal?

 

As others have suggested, I'd say it's more likely your unit works than not when you figure out how to apply it properly.

Edited July 5, 2005 by Thot

[+Skyman]

Quick question:  What type of GPS unit do you have?  If we know this, maybe we might be able to help you make some changes to the settings.

I'm not sure exactly, all I can see on it is:

Garmin, GPS 12, 12 Channel... it's pretty old, and black.

here is a link for Garmin manuals you can dounload one for your unit its free just scroll down to GPS Handhelds and you will see a download link

 

Garmin manuals

 

Its in pdf but it should help let us know.

[+Skyman]

Here is a direct link for you I think it is the right model the buy link is for a hard copy manual

 

Link for your model I think ?

[+Renegade Knight]

Old models also use UTM which is way to show coordinates. Using UTM with your GPS may give you the accuracy you need. Cache listings also show the UTM coordinates for the cache.

[+Skyman]

Good point and info RK

[+wvcoalcat]

I used a 12XL (just a little beefed up from the 12) for the first year or so and found it to be a fairly decent, basic unit. One thing you'll have to keep in mind is that the distance displayed will be in 0.01 miles or 0.01 kilometers. You can't change this. Once it "zeros" you're still only within 53' of the listed co-ords, instead of the newer units that will display feet.

[+Blaidd-Drwg]

I just sold my Garmin 12. It worked, and still works, fine for geocaching. It's just a matter of insuring that the settings, and the coordinates are entered correctly. The manual should provide all the info you need.

[+Blaidd-Drwg]

Also, you might check your regional forum and see if there is someone else in the area that could take you under their wing for a successful hunt. Most experienced cachers can fumble through the menus and insure that your set up correctly.

[+shawhh]

i found several hundred caches with my garmin gps12 before i upgraded to get mapping. it will work fine as long as your settings are correct. be sure you have the correct datum (wgs84) for caching work. be careful when entering coordinates and it should work fine. the unit, since it came about before selective availability was discontinued will not give accuracy less than 10 meters, but the antenna is, hands down, the best of any of the 4 gpsr's i've owned. it will acquire and hold lock under anything! it is a rugged and faithful unit, intuitive to operate, and supports a wide variety of datums and coordinate types. good luck. -harry

[WH]

My first GPS was a Garmin Etrex Vista. Earlier this year I upgraded to the Garmin 60CS. What an awesome little GPS that is but, unfortunately, well out of the $100 or less price range.

[+Moore9KSUcats]

We still have a Garmin 12. Mostly it is a matter of datum (already mentioned) and getting used to your particular unit. Going with an experienced geocacher is an excellent idea, too. We did upgrade 2 years ago, but used that one for 2 years, and found almost 200 hides with it.

 

Our biggest problem was entering the coordinates correctly! We entered them by hand, and sometimes fat fingered the numbers, which did get us lost.

 

Start out with some very easy ones, have fun, and it will get better.

[+briansnat]

Nice, new GPS for 68 bucks.

[+hikergps]

I have a Magellan 2000, made before yours. Something that you may have to do is re-initialize it. This is like a self calibration. One of the online manual links in an earlier post will tell you how. It is very important that the GPS not move while you are doing this. I live near the 47th parallel and my son was walking around the yard with it while it was initializing. After it was done it said that I lived in Canada, above the 49th parallel. Make sure you put in a fresh set of batteries and have lots of patience for the initialization process, it takes a while. Mine took an hour.