Newbie HELP - Where do I start?

[PixieQueen]

Long story short - I purchased a Garmin 650 without any preloaded maps. What do I do now?

[Boyd]

What is a "Garmin 650"? Oregon 650? Montana 650? Rino 650? It probably doesn't make much difference in the context of your question, but since you have asked "where do I start", when seeking help in the forums it makes things easier if you provide as much info as possible.

How will you been using your GPS? What do you expect from it? Do you need a lot of "hand holding" with technical things? If so, then Garmin provides full tech support when you purchase their maps and can talk you through any problems you have with installation. Their maps also have some features not available on any of the free maps on this site. See this discussion: http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php?topic=4036.0

There are some excellent free maps here as well. But you will have to do a little more work to get them installed in some cases. The problems are almost always solvable, but the process can be very frustrating for some non-technical people.

I'd suggest just browsing the maps here and downloading anything that looks interesting - it's free so you don't stand anything to lose. http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/

This tutorial explains the installation process: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-open-maps-in-garmin-basecamp/

And this tutorial will tell you how to send the maps to your GPS: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-load-maps-on-my-garmin-gps-unit/

Hopefully you'll find some that you like and then you'll be all set. If you have problems you can get help here in the forums or you can contact the author directly. But if you find the whole process frustrating, then you might be a candidate for purchasing Garmin's commercial products.

If you want aerial imagery, Garmin Birdseye is a pretty good deal at $30 for 12 months of unlimited downloads (you can keep what you download even after the subscription expires).

[PixieQueen]

I apologize. It is an Oregon 650.

I am fairly tech savvy, only I've never owned a "real" GPS. I will be using this for geocaching, kayaking, hiking, biking, etc.. I spend a fair amount of time outdoors doing different activities.

I wanted to make sure I was going about things in the right way to get what I wanted when I open the box. What I'm looking for out of my GPS is being able to get where I want on the map and being able to mark waypoints/locations as well.

[Boyd]

Well then my advice above still stands, download a bunch of free maps and see if you like them. However, when you say you want to "get where I want on the map", what does that mean? Do you want the GPS to guide you turn by turn? If so, that requires a special kind of map that contains routing information. When you go to the maps page here, check the box that says "routable" under "search by map features".

As you will see, hardly any of the maps at GPSFileDepot have that capability. If you need this feature, Garmin's 24k topo series might be a better choice.

[PixieQueen]

Thank you for all of help/advice. I'm not looking for turn by turn directions. My only experience is with a Gamin Nuvi (for the car) and a Magellan Explorist (geocaching, and marking some waypoints). As expected, the Magellan will freeze and then jump to the location. And if there is any kind of tree canopy, coverage is hit and miss. I bought the Oregon hoping to eliminate some of the usage hassles and enjoy the convenience of having the GPS and to expand my use for hunting, kayaking and other activities.

I was mainly concerned that when I received the unit (today ), there would be something I needed to do that wasn't really outlined in the directions/instructions.

[Boyd]

Sounds like you aren't really a "newbie", I'm sure you'll figure everything out fine. Unless something has changed recently, when you register your GPS with Garmin, they'll send you back a discount coupon that can be used for maps and accessories. You could use that to purchase a Birdseye subscription for something like $27 if that interests you.

More info here: http://www.garmin.com/en-US/maps/outdoor

Have fun with the new GPS!