Anyone farmiliar with GPS

[Mr. Tom]

I have a Garmin GPS V , never really used it before. Its 4 days till cruise time and I was wondering If anyone here has ever used this one before on a Western Carribean cruise. I've never even opened the box and it seems a bit intimidating to me.

 

Gonna play with it a bit but im sure i'll have questions. Just wondering if anyone here can be a answer man for me .. :)

[Legend]

I've got one but I've never used it on a cruise. If you go to their website there's a lot of information and maps you can download.

[Mr. Tom]

thanks legand, I looked at it. Has some "unlock" feature to access new maps. Guess ill be monkey'ing around with it today. But im darn sure since I dont have a "tech friendly" brain im gonna have questions lol.

 

Thanks a million!! :)

 

BTW found the website

 

http://www.garmin.com/products/gps5/

[GroupCruiser]

I took one along last March to the Eastern Caribbean on the Glory. I set my front porch as a waypoint, and could always tell our current speed, direction, and distance from home. Then I set Port Canaveral, Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten as waypoints. I could always tell how far we had travelled overnight, how far from home, and so on. Right now I'm 2,260 miles from the Philipsburg dock, sitting at my desk. Bummer.

 

You've got to get yours out of the box and learn how to do some of those things before you get there, the ship probably won't wait for you to figure it out.

 

Mine doesn't work at all inside of a building or inside the ship. Had to go on the balcony or the Lido deck to get a good signal.

 

Have fun.

[big_duck]

You may find this of interest:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/

[Mr. Tom]

I read about that a while ago .. boy that sounds like fun!!

 

Couldnt remember the name of it.. thanks for the website!!

[AppleValleyCruisers]

I took one along last March to the Eastern Caribbean on the Glory. I set my front porch as a waypoint, and could always tell our current speed, direction, and distance from home. Then I set Port Canaveral, Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten as waypoints. I could always tell how far we had travelled overnight, how far from home, and so on. Right now I'm 2,260 miles from the Philipsburg dock, sitting at my desk. Bummer.

 

You've got to get yours out of the box and learn how to do some of those things before you get there, the ship probably won't wait for you to figure it out.

 

Mine doesn't work at all inside of a building or inside the ship. Had to go on the balcony or the Lido deck to get a good signal.

 

Have fun.

 

Group, thanks!!!! I have been wanting to get one for hunting and fishing, but could never justify it with the CEO and CFO of the house, who knows I hunt and fish in mostly familiar territory. Now I have a business case to present, and I am sure she can't deny that that would be a lot of fun to use it the way you do/did!

[GroupCruiser]

Thanks, it was cool too in that the GPS registered forward movement away from the pier at Port Canaveral before we could tell we were moving. Cruised through the Port at 5 or 6 mph, then as we neared the outer harbor we picked up speed fast. We averaged around 22 mph when at sea. I could convert it to read in Knots as well, but never did.

[glrounds]

Incredible devices.

 

Have boating friends who can come "home" in thick fog from Catalina or the Channel Islands using preset waypoints which guide them first to the entrance to the harbor, down the route to their berth, making the proper turns at the proper times, within the harbor. Only thing left is to pull into their slip, which they have to do visually.

 

Accuracy to within 3 meters.

 

During the Gulf and Iraqi war when pilots were told to put a 1000 lb GPS-guided bomb into a bathroom of the 7th floor of a particular building, they would ask, "men's or women's ?" An obvious reference to their incredible accuracy. :)

[bandtaxi]

We have used ours twice on Western Caribbean cruises. When we left Jacksonville we could tell the cities all along the coast of Florida. We can always tell the speed and direction. Kind of fun to play with. We mainly use ours for a hobby. . . Geocaching.

[WazAnOkie]

Have been reading up and thinking about getting a GPS. What brands/models would be recommended? Trying to stay between under-buying and then immediately wishing for a new one, and over-buying. Which models have you had experience with?

 

thanks

[Ship Addict]

how do you find a cache in Mexico? I tried to look them up on the geocaching.com site, but you can't narrow your search down to a city in Mexico, and they don't specify real well what town they are in!

[shecat]

We always take ours cruising. To find the caches in Cozumel do a search by geocache name, type in Cozumel. One is called Cozumel Tex-Mex and another Cozumel Coconuts. When you find one of those click on other caches in the area. There is one downtown called Crazy Parrott. If you need more direction than this let me know and I will get more specific.

[Geocachi]

In case anyone is interested and still watching this thread, there is a new forum dedicated to discussing GeoCaching while Cruising. It can be found at www.geocachingcruises.com. Check it out!

 

Are you a "Cruise Cacher"?

[Wennfred]

Have been reading up and thinking about getting a GPS. What brands/models would be recommended? Trying to stay between under-buying and then immediately wishing for a new one, and over-buying. Which models have you had experience with?

thanks

 

I have been itching to buy the Garmin 76C, very nice handheld with color.

[Wennfred]

In case anyone is interested and still watching this thread, there is a new forum dedicated to discussing GeoCaching while Cruising. It can be found at www.geocachingcruises.com. Check it out!

 

Are you a "Cruise Cacher"?

 

Off the top, can you explain to me what is Geocaching and how it works and why should we use it? The first Website looked complicated.

Im a Ham Radio Operator and looking to buy the Garmin 76c, Love gagets, this GeoCaching sounds cool.

 

Thanks

 

Fred

[big_duck]

Off the top, can you explain to me what is Geocaching and how it works and why should we use it? The first Website looked complicated.

Im a Ham Radio Operator and looking to buy the Garmin 76c, Love gagets, this GeoCaching sounds cool.

 

Thanks

 

Fred

 

Fred, it is kind of a cross between a scavanger hunt and orienteering. Someone will put a cache somewhere with a log book and maybe some small items, then publish the long/lat and a description on the geocache site.

 

Using your GPS you go look for the site and try and locate the cache. Once you find the cache, you enter your info in the log. Bring some small items with you if you want and take something from the cache and leave something.

[Wennfred]

Fred, it is kind of a cross between a scavanger hunt and orienteering. Someone will put a cache somewhere with a log book and maybe some small items, then publish the long/lat and a description on the geocache site.

 

Using your GPS you go look for the site and try and locate the cache. Once you find the cache, you enter your info in the log. Bring some small items with you if you want and take something from the cache and leave something.

 

Sounds like alot of fun!! Thanks.. Fred

[D4]

I bought one a couple summers ago just for cruising. I have the Garmin Etrex Legend, but there are new models. It has maps preloaded into it that get into enough detail for me. I would avoid the inexpensive ones that don't have maps.

 

It is fun to always know right where you are and how far you are from everything. Whenever I saw a mass of land, I knew what it was and how far away it was.

 

The first year I got it we cruised the Mexican Riviera. We were in a tropical storm and serpentined the Sea of Cortez all day to escape it. It was neat to track where we were going.)

 

I've taken it on 2 cruises. On the Royal Caribbean Legend ship it worked perfectly from my cabin window. I never could get it to work anywhere inside on the Caribbean Princess.

 

It's also fun to use during flights to know what you're seeing out the window, but sometimes airlines don't let you. I think only one airline said no.

 

I nauseate my DH and kids with it, but once in a while they'll ask me to look something up for them!

[Geocachi]

A great web site to learn about geocaching is http://www.geocaching.com. There is lots of good information there.

 

GeoCaching on a cruise is great fun. It's like creating your own shore excursions. It gets you off the beat path and sometimes takes you place "tourists" don't normally go.

[campdaan]

I took one along last March to the Eastern Caribbean on the Glory.

 

Hi Groupcruiser. Does your GPS say how far you are from your Liberty Cruise ???:D :D :D

[BallFour4]

First, in my humble opinion, there is Garmin and then all the rest. I have a eTrek Legend as a first unit, and a Garmin Quest for the car. I've enjoyed the eTrek on several cruises, and took the Quest on the Rhapsody in June. It was incredible!

 

It does serve you well to capture a couple of waypoints before you leave, I get one for home and one for Galveston. We then do a search for the ports of call and bingo! Color moving maps of the Gulf of Mexico.

 

I've shared the big boys toy with others that cruised with us and many are amazed at the technology.

 

While the expensive color handhelds are nifty, if you are going to cruise once or twice a year then the units with a car mount and power cord are a better investment. The Quest has a rechargable battery and AC adaptor.

 

OK, all that understood this were the ones that ran the projector in elementary... :rolleyes:

 

Drink Upstream From The Herd...

[Wennfred]

took the Quest on the Rhapsody in June. It was incredible![/font]

 

I saw the Quest online just now and it looks nice, Im going with the Garmin 76c because its tailored more for sailing or marine stuff and its a cool looking handheld, not sure what are the differences with both units. The 76c is Geocaching ready as well as BlueChart ready.

 

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap76c/

[jsaadat]

Tom,

 

I noticed several folks with GPS units on out last cruise. One of the guys was nice enough to show me his and explained how it worked etc. I think it would be a blast to have with you on a cruise. When ever I saw him I would ask him how far we were from the next port. (:

 

J

[CM2J2R2S]

We are cruise cachers... have four or five set for FLL and one for each of Panama, Costa Rica and Costa Maya.