NimravusHSSR

LOL! Oops, I meant yards. Anyway, yes some reflective material shines with UV but I've tried walking through the woods without a regular light on and I was tripping every few feet. So I think people will bring a regular flashlight anyway.

I think a UV cache can be done. You just have to lead them to a location say a couple of hundred years off the trail with reflective material. Then place one rock with UV paint down, under which should be the cache or the final coordinate. A UV trail would be tough to do.

Tactical Warehouse is excellent. Other places to check are: Island Security Group Arizona GUn Runners Bright Guy In fact, if you go to: Dealers you'll find a ton of dealers. The Surefire Digital Series is incredible. It has digital regulation so every time you turn the flashlight on, it's at full brightness unlike other lights that start to dim throughout the life of the battery. With the Lumamax series, there is 5watt LED models available from LUmiLed, it's brilliant white like HID. An incandescent looks downright yellow. Anyway, I take LED lights and Surefires on my night hikes. Headlamps are cool too. There's a new LED headlamp by Petzl, the TIKKA Plus with 4 LEDs, 4 modes. Anyhoo....night hikes become fun.

I'm already broke. I discovered the world of Flashlights. There are flashlights out there that will make Maglites, Streamlights, Pelicans etc look like toys. The common flashlight is soooo dim. Imagine holding a flashlight in your hand much smaller than a 2D Maglite that is brighter than your cars headlight. Or a Light thats half the size of a Mag 2AA but produces a pure white flood brighter than a 5D Maglite. Words cannot describe the build quality, durability and brightness of some of these fine lights. I can saw a Maglight in half, and it won't even sratch the finish of these lights...what company produces these lights you ask? SureFire Makes night hikes much better.

MapAdvisor, Don't pay attention to those people, for some reason I think it makes them feel good to bad mouth things. Like a television, instead of turning the channel those people will sit and watch the whole thing complaining about it. I think if this program is not for someone, then use the BACK button and carry on.

Walmart UV light won't work. You need a real UV flashlight if you want it to shine out 50-100 yards out. The cheapies you buy at Walmart is more for close up 10-20 feet or so if even that. The Inova X5 tactical U.V. works good and it's rugged. All aluminum, virtually indestructable: The ARC AAA U.V. works fine too: A decent U.V. light worth anything will cost around $50 on up and professional grade costing in the $100s. Otherwise, they produce a whole lot of visible light and will break if run over by a car. A good one won't do either. I actually thought about a U.V. night cache but with all the cheap U.V. lights out there, I'd have to mark the trail every 10-20 feet. I would rather place it every 50 yards or so but I doubt if most people would shell out $$ for a decent U.V. light just for night caching. So that idea died. You can find Clear U.V. paint on the net for about $25 a pint. That with a clear coat paint will protect it from the elements.

I have the green ones, they work good clipped to trees. Can barely see them even if you look for them. The trick is put it far away from trails so no one spots them but they light up under flashlight.

These are clips made of reflector material and reflect brightly. These would be easy to mark night trails leading to a night cache. Couple this with a UV painted Geocaching Rock containing the final coordinate and voila...a true night cache. [This message was edited by FlashMaster on September 21, 2003 at 11:02 AM.]

southdeltan, Thanks for the clarification. I haven't noticed any real world differences either. My buddy I go caching with has an eTrex Camo w/o WAAS. I have WAAS on my vista, it's a crapshoot who comes closer to the cache.

First off, the SA can be regionally turned on/off so the war in Iraq would not affect us here. They turned it on in the theater of war, namely the Middle East. (I was in the Navy - Never Again Volunteer Yourself ) The EPE your reading on the GPS is not accurate. Just because your not seeing an improvement on EPE readings with WAAS on or off, doesn't mean your not getting a more accurate reading. Comon, if your GPSr knew it was "12 ft off" then WHY DOES IT TELL YOU THE WRONG COORDINATES? Things to make you go hmmmm... And what is "consumer grade"? Doesn't it all crunch the same signal? The processor speed and features are pretty much the difference. In the Navy, the GPSr I used were the same accuracy, just different features and much more rugged. It doesn't use a "Professional Grade" number crunching system Why the missles are so accurate is because it gets in the general area by GPS signals, then it uses a camera and terrain recognition software to put it on the target. There is no mapping software on the GPSr's I used in the Navy as well. This is to force the user to use a map with the coordinates for position location. GPS information must always be backed up with a map (not software, the paper kind) in the Navy because of accuracy concerns. So just because a $1000 GPSr says it has better EPE than the eTrex, doesn't mean jack. EPE is misunderstood by most. [This message was edited by FlashMaster on September 20, 2003 at 10:31 PM.] [This message was edited by FlashMaster on September 20, 2003 at 10:41 PM.]

A wireless Bluetooth one. That way your not bound by wires. And everyone around you with a Bluetooth PDA + mapping software can all share the GPSr signal.

quote:Originally posted by dicox:After starting geocaching this summer I am totatly conviced that the average geocacher does not need anything more than A GEKO 101.Given the proper co-ordinates I have been able to find every cache I have searched for. Quite frankly I would find a WASS receiver as overkill. Its easy enough finding caches with a GEKO 101. Using a WASS receiver would be like using the ladies tee at the golf course. I like using my own obsevation skills in conjunction with using the receiver. Honestly, what sport is there, if the receiver does all the work for you? What is an average geocacher? What was the sampling (survey) size?

Picture next to your name.

Unfortunately, everything is relative. Even "value". What is valuable to you may not be to me. For example, my Garmin iQue has a built in routing, voice prompted GPSr built into a full function Palm PDA. For $450, that's a great value to me. I would have to get the StreetPilot $800 + a PDA if it were not for the iQue. I just got the Compaq iPaq and that is a great value to me because it is so thin it comfortably fits in my shirt pocket without sagging. I'm still awaiting a Teletype BlueTooth GPSr to show up which will increase it's flexibility. But to do what the iQue can do, I had to spend $500 and buy a seperate GPSr. The mapping software is mediocre compared with Garmin/Magellan ones also. Basically, a PPC can do everything a PALM can do and vice versa. I can't think of anything one or the other cannot do. Having that in mind, it's just an interface preference.

Sheesh, this is one of those "no win" threads. Palm is faster, better, more powerfull.... no no..PPC is faster, better, more powerfull... I have both and it's a matter of preference I think. They can both do pretty much the same of everything. I just encoded the Matrix movie last night for my Palm in case I'm bored. Of course my iPaq can do the same. I think the only difference is the interface at this point. So comparing the iPaq and the iQue, I still can't say which I prefer more.

Bags are great for waterproofness but they provide little shock protection. A PDA Box is better: THIS OR THIS

U.V. Paint is about $25 a pint. Just post coordinates with an built in error of 100 ft radius or so. Dip a rock in U.V. paint, coat with clearCoat. Bury the cache under the rock and voila....a night cache that can only be done with a U.V. light. I thought about a trail using U.V. paint coated rocks for a couple miles in the woods but I figure not alot of people will shell out $60 for a U.V. flashlight good enough to shine 50 feet or so to follow it.

If you have more I'll take a few. Thanks.

What is PocketPC?

Ok, will do. I got the iPaq 1945 already but the GPS receiver I want is on backorder. The iPaq is very nice, not as rugged but half the size of the iQue. It comfortably fits in my shirt pocket it's so small and light. I think I'll like this setup if the Bluetooth GPS thing works. I love the Garmin GPS Software so I hope it's as good.

Yeah, I have the eTrex starting up with: Reward if Found: Please call ***-***-**** or See Attached Sticker

If you buy the Stufbak stickers individually it's only about $2. I figure it's worth it even if i have a fraction of a chance to get it back. I even have them on 4 sets of keys. My car key will cost me about $70 + 30 programming to replace so a $25 reward is worth it. I think alot of people will return keys for $25, esp since it's so easy to do so. They call a free # or enter it on the internet. They return it to stufbak (they send a pre-paid box so no cost to the finder) and then it gets returned to me. No need to give out my personal information. So for $2, and a reqard I figure it's worth it. It's eyecatching too, most of my friends have noticed the sticker, esp the "REWARD" part.

yeah the price on that one is outrageous. there are other ones that are around $100 or so but bigger. I like this one because of it's size. I can clip it to my camelbak and everyone that goes hiking with me can have GPS on their PDA. I have the Garmin iQue but it's a bit large for EDC (every day carry) so I was thinking about getting the iPaq 1945 and a bluetooth GPS. That way, I can carry the iPaq for work, the iQue 3600 for the car and Vista or iPaq for hiking. There are some on ebay (keyword: bluetooth gps) but it's larger. [This message was edited by FlashMaster on August 30, 2003 at 11:54 PM.]

I have a Stuffbak sticker on all my stuff. Even keys.

Here is a great Bluetooth GPS: Bluetooth GPS You can clip it anywhere or on your dash and have GPS info sent to your Bluetooth PDA. If you don't have bluetooth, you can easily add a CF or SD bluetooth card to your PDA. If you know of any rechargeable models smaller, please post. I'm getting one of these soon after I exhaust all other choices. Thanks. This would work with a Laptop w bluetooth also. Or with a PCMCIA Bluetooth adaptor. And then print out topo or street map using this: Bluetooth Printer Adaptor