I purchased a Garmin 60CSX gps (yes you folks recommended that model and as usual cost me more money) to use in upstate PA and on a Kansas trip.  I haven't purchased any additional map just because I honestly don't have any idea what I'm doing with this thing      

All I want it for is marking hot spots, stand locations and finding my way back to my vehicle in new areas. My thoughts were....get a topo, locate the funnels, head in on foot to check them out, mark them on the gps, hang a stand and go.

Any help from you folks would be appreciated.  Do I need any extra downloads on this thing???

Tim

Tim,
Great unit you got there bud !

The way I used mine was to get on google earth, find the funnels, inside corners, etc, etc first. Write down the coordinates on a small notepad then hit the woods. I would plan out a route to hit 6-8 of those spots entering in the coordinates one a time as I went to each spot. Once there, if I needed to fine tune the exact tree I would hunt I would write down those coordinates or go ahead and mark and name it in the unti right there.

By doing it this way from the couch first I saved a ton of time and effort. I also found that what I could see from google earth that my gut feelings were right most of the time once I actually got to that spot on the ground. The sign would be right where it should be. Love the measuring tool on google earth ! I know how far a walk it is from access to the spot before I even get there. With the birds eye view of Google you can also find back doors and short cuts to your spots and know how far you are from other properties and hunting pressure. Technology can be so cool !

Read the manual and decide what functions you will use.  Then go stump shooting and practice using
Them. I would learn the track function.  It can be helpful for getting in and out of stands in the dark. I have the same model of gps.  I use mine to get back to camp in heavy timber after dark a lot.

Thanks Jimmy.....I'll give that a try later on tonight.  So you don't have any topo maps on the gps and are basically relying on google earth?

Have you ever looked at Map Quest Satelite view?  It seems to be a litte crisper than Google Earth.

Tim

http://mapper.acme.com

Try Acme Mapper you can easily convert to Satelite, Topo and also change your corrdiance reference Lat Long to UTM.

I find it more useful than Google

You can also download free topos for Garmin GPss at gpsfiledepot.com