Garmin Chirp Geocaching Wireless Beacon Reviews
Garmin Chirp Geocaching Wireless Beacon
- Geocaching beacon automatically transmits data every two seconds with a range of up to 32 feet (10 meters)
- Stores hints, multi-cache coordinates, counts visitors, and confirms the cache is nearby
- Up to one year battery life with continuous use; battery is user-replaceable
- Durable and waterproof device features a cache-perfect small size
- Password protected to prevent reprogramming of chirp device
“The Garmin Chirp Geocaching Beacon is the new one-of-a-kind wireless beacon from Garmin International designed specifically for the outdoor adventures of geocaching. Chirp is affordable, durable, waterproof and communicates with, and can be programmed by, compatible wireless-enabled Garmin handhelds (sold separately). A Garmin Chirp geocaching beacon verifies that a cache is nearby, access chirp’s hints and see how many visitors have visited a cache. Chirp adds another dimension to multi-caching by allowing users to retrieve multi-cache coordinates, making chirp the ultimate geocaching tool. A new addition to GPS games, Chirp has up to one year of battery life, gives you the ability to password protect chirp, and is sized for being eas
More GPS with Customer Reviews
Bracketron UCH-101-BL Universal Cup-iT II Mount with Grip-iT for GPSA quick and easy cup holder mounting kit that secures most portable devices. The Cup-iT’s sturdy flex shaft and 360° rotating c…
Garmin GPSMAP 78sc 2.6-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and ChartplotterFeaturing a bright 2.6-Inch LCD color display with built-in basemap and high-sensitivity GPS receiver, the GPSMAP 78 series takes …
Valerie
April 30, 2012Neat little device,
Well I wasn’t too happy when this came out. I have a Delorme and this requires a Garmin. Well since I wasn’t too happy with my Delorme anyway, I found a Oregon 450 on here for a great price and got one of these too. Stupidly I thought you needed a chirp to find a chirp. Next time I’ll learn to read a bit about it first. I have done 2 chirp caches in my neighborhood and have found it amazing. If you get near a beacon and it gives you cords to the next stage, you don’t even have to type the cords in. Just hit go. Amazing. We have tested the range. Stuck it in a pill bottle and stood across the room. It still picked it up. Left it on my desk and went outside. Still picked it up. Of course, didn’t do to well when we put it in an altoids can. Sometimes it picked it up with it next to it, others you had to open the can. Also had it in my glovebox in my car. Stood a good 20 ft away and held my gps over my head and it picked it up. Of course the car’s metal got in the way.
Yes, the battery is a major pain to get in and out and so is getting the back on and off, but it’s supposed to be waterproof. It is also password protected. I just wish Garmin hadn’t made it Garmin specific unit exclusive.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Lenny
April 30, 2012Has potential, but too expensive,
I got one of these to play around with when it was first available. It’s an interesting little device. It won’t change the game of geocaching radically, but it does add to it. The main thing holding it back will be the cost.
It is a little transmitter, good for up to 30 feet or so. It broadcasts a beacon continuously at low power. If a compatible unit detects this beacon, it will send out a request to it, and it will then dump out its data. This consists of its name (9 characters), description (50 characters) and coordinates. It also sends out information such as number of visitors (it does not count unique visitors – if a unit requests data twice, it is counted twice) and low battery alert.
The battery compartment is not easy to open. Removing the battery is also difficult – I found that using a strong magnet is the easiest way of getting it out. Garmin claims the battery should last for a year.
The typical use for this will be one of the stages of a multistage cache. A geocacher will go to a location where the chirp is located. From there, they will receive instructions from it to go to the next location, without having to search out a container with a slip of paper pointing them to the next stage.
Some people are also using it as a travel bug for their car, in addition to a window decal. That way people can “discover” their vehicle travel bug wirelessly.
For security, the device can only be re-programmed by the same GPS that programmed it, or with the serial number of the unit. So write down the serial number of your GPSr just in case you lose or damage it.
The device comes with a little piece of self adhesive velcro for attaching to a surface. Any other attachment method needs to be improvised by the owner.
There are several limitations to the device. While you can save the name and coordinates by pressing “Go” after receiving the information, it will not save the description. If two chirps are close to each other, the behavior seems to be that only one of them will be active. This behavior could change with firmware updates.
Note that only some Garmin models are compatible. The lowest end models of the Oregon, Dakota, and GPSMap 62/78 does not have the hardware to support chirp. It appears unlikely that Colorado support will be added. There’s currently some work by other equipment manufacturer to support this. iPhone and Android support might be available some day.
Was this review helpful to you?
|