Dakota 20

[dodgydaved]

OK, for some years now I have used a Mio 210 with Memory Map - but it now appears to be going home.

One thing I love is the OS map with the current location shown, the cache psoition, and also the little pointy arrow taking me to the cache and the distance data.

I am minded to buy either an Adventurer 2800 - which seems to have all these ~BUT I am not sure if it supports gpx files so I can tap and get a cache description, previous logs and hints. (I already have UK wide MM coverage on my PC - though I am having licence problems at the mo :confused: )

Now I am fairly sure I can get supported gpx files on a Dakota 20, I can also get OS mapping UK wide (at a price) but all the video reviews I have seen suggest that to navigate to a location I need to have just a compass view on the screen - not a map view with compass enabled and cache location illustrated.

Can anyone help, or even better mail me screen shots of a Dakota 20 in action?

Cheers,

DaveD

[AngryBirds]

I have a Dakota 10, which is the same, apart from the electronic compass and SD card. Because the screen is small and the resolution is a bit on the low side, I just use free StreetMap. The good thing with the Dakota 20 is the SD card, you can get the OpenCycle Map for little money.

With the Garmin software and Pocket Queries, importing GPX files in large numbers is very easy. You really get a full set of features for geocaching, that is really why I bought a Dakota. You get two types of geocaching data view, one detailed and one simple for children (or friends). You also get a view for the geocaches listing, including description, hint and even recent logs. The arrow is present in all views, from big to small. We do not rely on Dakota for approach, we use my OS map on my IPhone.

[dodgydaved]

Finished up by getting an Oregon 450t - with OS for S England. Great piece of kit and glad I went that way!!:cheers::cheers:

[AngryBirds]

Great choice! I would have preffered an Oregon, but it was over our budget limit as a first GPS. Maybe for our first 1000th anniversary :D

[Jacaru]

Great choice! I would have preffered an Oregon, but it was over our budget limit as a first GPS. Maybe for our first 1000th anniversary :D

We started with the eTrex Venture HC, that was a great little unit, but after a while we got fed up with printing cache listings for whichever part of the country we were going to be in, then not doing those caches. It became a waste of paper and frustrating as we also ended up taking a printer with us to print other caches out. We decided to upgrade and got the Oregon 550t. It is a great little unit, but like you was way over our budget.
In the end we managed to get a new unit off Ebay which cost us about £100 less than the cost in shops. If you do decide you want to get one eventually, keep an eye on Ebay, or Amazon. To be honest we could have done without the 550t and just gone for the other model as we don't use the camera on this one very often.

[jamesrodgersjr]

Sorry to kinda hijack the thread but I was looking for advice on the same GPSr =0)
I only started geocaching a couple of months ago with the little geko 201 unit (borrowed)
then when the owner wanted it back I managed to get hold of a Venture H (I think)
Anyway to the point lol
I have saved up the money to buy the Dakota 20 unit as I don't have a working printer and paperless on my phone isn't that useful =0/
Is it worth buying the Dakota or should I save a little more and get a better unit?

The other machines I had looked at were the Memory map Adventurer 2800 (the thing that put me off this unit was the lack of interchangeable batteries)
and the satmap active 10

any Ideas or suggestions gratefully received =0)

[dodgydaved]

Sorry to kinda hijack the thread but I was looking for advice on the same GPSr =0)
I only started geocaching a couple of months ago with the little geko 201 unit (borrowed)
then when the owner wanted it back I managed to get hold of a Venture H (I think)
Anyway to the point lol
I have saved up the money to buy the Dakota 20 unit as I don't have a working printer and paperless on my phone isn't that useful =0/
Is it worth buying the Dakota or should I save a little more and get a better unit?

The other machines I had looked at were the Memory map Adventurer 2800 (the thing that put me off this unit was the lack of interchangeable batteries)
and the satmap active 10

any Ideas or suggestions gratefully received =0)



I was very glad I spent the extra on the Oregon (I got mine from handtec for £265 - so and extra £40 or so.)

The European base map seems very detailed - I certainly didn't really need to go the extra for the OS map of S Britain - but then I am a bit of a map freak (PS from Milletts it seems considerably cheaper than from other dealers.)

I looked at the Adventurer - but I could not seem to get information about its usefulness for paperless - the Oregon certainly does that well.

As with all things it is what suites you in the long run and the Oregon suites me:socool::socool:

[DrDick&Vick]

with regards the Adventurer, I contacted Memory Map a few time about it's suitability for Geocaching and even offered to test one and report on it on this forum but they could only send me an email pointing me to the basic info page.

[jamesrodgersjr]

The adventurer was a bit of a non starter for me it's lack of interchangeable batteries and quite short battery life was what put me off
Looks like I will save a little more and go for the Oregon 450t =0)
Thanks for the advice =0)

[AngryBirds]

Is the geocaching software installed on the Garmin recent models, the same for all versions?

[Bear and Ragged]

Is the geocaching software installed on the Garmin recent models, the same for all versions?
No.
There is some difference between the Oregon *00's and the *50's.
Not sure what it is tho! :dunno: