ok gps guru's teach me

[gman82001]

Ok guys Santa brought me a garmin rino 530hcx and I knew going into it the book was Going to suck but I also saw guys say that there are videos out there but for the life ofme Im not finding much on you tube is there a secret spot out there with lots of beginner info for me to learn with. I already downloaded the gps hunting maps for Wyoming this morning and went for a little ride around town to check the landowner stuff and it looks good I'm just pretty green on gps stuff so want to learn all the ins and outs of this thing. Thanks in advance for the help

 

[Khunter]

Use it a lot and be curious enough to punch all the buttons and menu's and read
the manual on each and you will get the hang of it and the useful features.

 

[2rocky]

To save battery turn off the radio.

play with it. Seriously. use the navigation to go to the store. mark your trail when you go for a walk. flip through the screens as you are out and about. Mark places in your yard and around town and then upload those paths and waypoints to a topo map program. Just do it when you don't really care about the data and information, before it is important stuff.

After you burn through 3 sets of batteries, if you still have questions, I'm sure we can address specific issues.

Video links:

http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/rino/index.html

 

[Sytes]

I have the same. First use was this past season. Enjoyed the functions. Had a previous one that did not have topo maps - simply tag your location and return to that spot as needed. This one (as with others of non pre historic age) It is great viewing of the topo's etc.

Hunting gps maps has some great tutorial videos and information that simplified my use. Once I learned the basics from them, the basic gps functions fell into place.

I bought the download version as I use my computer(s) to view areas (larger screen / ease of use). The radio function as mentioned above sucks more juice though it is nice to have w/o carrying around another unit.

Only thing I do not like this the ease for the volume to return to max level if accidentally bumped on the right key. Have to lock the keys (simple enough) though if forgotten, seems to always nudge the key at the wrong times...

 

[schmalts]

Make sure you do this, Learn the meaning of the basic terms like Waypoint, heading, bearing, track, course. Without knowing these it is tough to understand the rest.
Learn how to mark a waypoint, edit a waypoint, and enter a waypoint manually. Learn to know where to look for your GPS accuracy at the moment so you can wait for smallest accuracy tolerance before marking a waypoint.
And most important, REMEMBER TO MARK a waypoint before you leave your vehicle or newly established camp. Without that waypoint finding your way back to the truck or camp is not going to be fun.
Play with it. I highly suggest doing some geocaching to learn how to use it. It is fun, and real life practice. http://www.geocaching.com/
If you don't know what geocaching is, it is a huge network of users who use GPS to find and create little hidden treasures, or "caches" out in the world. Create an account, you will be shocked how many caches are within a 30 minute drive of your home unless you live in a real back country area. Kids love it too. Rules are if you take something from the cache, you should leave something as well. little trinkets like key chains, business promo items, little kid toys are the usual. I am sure everyone has some junk they could part with. But, you dont have to take or leave anything, you can just find it.

 

[gman82001]

Ok thanks guys I've been playing all day and starting to find a lot of the stuff it has to offer seems like this us going to be a great tool like .I say I got the wyo download but I have the garmin topo's from my other gps that I rarely used and they seem to work in base camp would it be ok to load some of the other stuff in there like say Colorado and not have problems with messing up my wyo mapset. We go down there quite often and it would be cool to have some maps for it as well.. I'm for sure going to look into the geo caching stuff that would be a great way to learn stuff with out the pressure of hunting hanging over my head thanks for the idea