NEW GPS USER

[rakinray]

G/day all, well its happened :o i finally got a GPS its a Navman tracker 500i fitted it in " OLD MATE " today, i read the manual on the how to use but if anyone can give me some help on the best and easiest way to get me up and running id be for ever gratefull. ;D

CHEERS RAY :D

[mackmauler]

Ray, read the manual twice and practice using the functions...youll be well ahead of many gps users if you follow that simple advice ;)

[aquarius]

Giday Ray......Mate now your going to have fun punching in all those way points..lol
I found the best way to set the gps up was rather than getting gps marks out of books put your own in while out on the water.......Im not 100% certain but i think nowdays they are accurate to 10 metres.
REMEMBER ITS A STRAIGHT LINE YOUR TRAVELLING...POINT A TO POINT B......You can make up a route of several marks..example;Wello to Spit Beacon to S/W Rocks to Goat and so on.
Good luck in setting it up and if you would like a couple of marks to start you off i can send them to you via PM.
Cheers #Brent :)

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

for the next year think GPS. Every trip think in advance what you can get out of it to install in your GPS (trails, unmarked beacons etc). When deliberately marking a trail for future reference don't frig around & also know what error you are dealing with & allow for it (ie don't travel too close to beacons).I actually spent 2 full days at the pin & logan ignoring the fish & marking trails & unlit beacons - I can now travel the pin blind at night or in a storm with confidence.

Clean-up your GPS (datawise) at the end of each trip.

Read the GPS manual every chance you get, twice as Rob said is a minimum.

[Kerry]

Manual ;) good place to start and if after readin it the second time (3rd time, 4th time, ....) ???, then start again at page 1, it will eventually start to make some sense.

What someone could show you in 5 minutes in front of the unit would take a manual plus some here to explain in print.

Anybody you know (who knows what they're on about) you could drag around to have a look at your "new GPS" ;)

Cheers, Kerry.

[rakinray]

Thanks for the info guys i was a bit overwhelmed at first but as you guys have suggested im on my third edition of the manual. ::) Iwould be interested to hear what type units you guys use and also what is the most used features, mine tracks, plots and gets my drinks :o looks like the wifes done herself out of a job ! Any marks would be greatly recieved thanks brent, seems like ill be out checking on beacons and and my normal fishing spots for some time cris ,but i like your idea of checking for errors. If you see a boat zig zaging around the bay dont mind its probably me ;D

CHEERS RAY :)

[littlejim]

Rackinray,

I second all the suggestions to read the manual every night before you go to bed, and instead of watching the cricket. I found it was good to learn one thing at a time, in my case marking where I caught a fish was first. repetition means you eventually get the hang of it, and then you can move on to another task. Take the book, or a copy of it, with you on the boat so you can look it up. the early models, especially, made it a real chore to do even the basics. like learning swahili but eventually it sticks in the grey cells and becomes easy.

[Cloud_9]

yep had my GPS for 15 months i have furuno GP31,
and i can tell you go sit in your boat with the book and set up a couple dummy waypoints so you can figure out how to find them get back to them how to log them and so forth.
last but not least, work out your goto screen, and how you get to your marks.
took me about 9 months to work out properly
mate all had advise but deferent GPS they all work deferently.
the down side you get very dependent on the bloody things.
mine was away on warranty repair i was stuffed.