GPSOkie

Welcome aboard ! Don't get down because you had trouble with micros. I am at 51 finds and I have difficulty with some micros as well. In fact, I looked for two last weekend and DNF'd them both. I advocate a team approach (the more eyes, the better) and lots of practice. You will eventually get good at spoting micro hiding spots

I watch caches for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is I DNF'ed it and I want to see if someone finds it. Recently, I had a cache that I could not find for the life of me. I added it to my watch list and read the next three finds and one of them logged something that clued me in on where the cache was located. Sure enough, I went out the next day and found it right away. Another reason I watch a cache is because I want to see if someone took something I traded. every once in a while I put something in a cache that is unusual or cool and I like to read the comments on my swag I also have a cache near my workplace that I can see from my window. I watch it because I see people finding it and I want to see who they are.

Welcome to the addiction !!

I'm cheap and I use a Palm TX and Plucker. It combined with downloading the .loc files pretty much allows me to cache for free. I downiload the .loc files to my iFinder using GPSBable and download the cache pages using Plucker and Sunrise. I end up with matching waypoints and cache page and skip the premium membership and any softwarethat I have to pay for that way. All the said, as soon as I have money available on my card, I will go premium to get PQs.

I love my H2O. I have owned Garmin and Magellan units, as well as one previous Lowrance unit. A lot of it is personal preference, but I prefer Lowrance. It doesn't hurt that they are located less than a mile from where I work and I can drop in to their factory store on my lunch if I need something

I've only hidden one cache but I'm still a newbie. I'm going to hide my second cache this weekend, though. Initially, I will probably hide one cache to every 25 I find. Later on, I'm sure I will hide at a greater frequency. For now, I'm still learning. I have really enjoyed the logs and emails I've received about my first cache !

Yes, we had the great experience of meeting one half of The Sooners yesterday at a cache. They are very active in placing and finding caches in our area. It was nice to visit with someone that has a lot of experience ! Here is the log of our encounter.

I use a RAM mount with the suction cup for my pickup. Works great and I can move the mount from vehicle to vehicle as I travel in a work vehicle frequently.

Yes, I'm glad it was brought up in this forum as I don't often wander into the TB Forum and as I pointed out earlier, I was doing this and didn't know it was improper. I too, appreciate the more experienced cachers sharing their knowledge with us newbies. I learn a lot hanging here in the forums ! I do agree with azell, though. There is very little guidance on this topic for newbies. I went back and looked through much of the documentation in the getting started area and FAQs and didn't see reference to this. I'm kind of an over achiever on being informed about hobbies I take on and I completely missed that I should not trade TBs.

Whoops, I did not know that !! I'm glad I ran across this topic as I have been trading with travel bugs (only twice). I had not thought about it that way, but I see the point now that it has been pointed out. I guess it is newbie error as I certainly wasn't trying to do anything wrong or cheat anybody. If it helps, I often trade up or leave things when I take nothing.

Actually, that is the reason I decided to jump into caching was to get out and start walking and lose some weight. I started caching 11/23/2005 and as of today, I have lost aout 25 pounds. Of course, some of that has to do with watching my portions as well. But I am definitely in a little better physical shape than I was when I started. Hiking does not tax me nearly as bad as it did two months ago.

They are okay, but they are base level maps only. They are as good as any of the base level maps I've seen with my previous Lowrance, magellan, and Garmin units. I had a Go2 for a little while and they are intended for travel on major roadways and highways. To be honest, though, the base level maps on most GPSrs are the same way. If they were great, there would be no incentive to buy the expensive upgrade maps My big complaint with the Go2 was related to the size of the screen. A base level map on a small screen is not terribly helpful. If you need high level maps, you will have to buy a GPSr that will allow you to upgrade the maps and then buy the associated software with said maps. Like the previous poster said, the big issue with the Go models is that you cannot upgrade the maps.

In a matter or less than two months, I've corrupted 5 co-workers

I think one thing we have to consider is that everything is precious to someone somewhere. All it takes is pissing off the right people and it will lead to infringement to the sport. My other hobby is metal detecting. I can't tell you how many stories I've read about careless metal detectorist leading to banning or restriction to the hobby. Where I live it took only one careless detectorist leaving holes every to make a historic park off limits to all the remaining careful detectorist. I would hate to see our sport of geocaching come under close scrutiny on a local or national level.

Another option is to copy and paste the cache page into a text file in Note Pad. Save the file as (cache name).txt and go to this website: Click Click the upload and convert button and it will generate a zip file. Unzip the file into you notes folder and you can then access the page on your iPod by going to Extras/notes/cache name. I know it is a bunch of steps, but it works and if you already have an iPod, you might give it a go.

I have fun alone or with a team. Team caching is a lot more fun, though

I picked up my first two sig items today. One was a wooden "coin" with the caher's info on it and the other was a really cool foam car. After seeing them today, I too, am in search of a cool sig item.

Wow, there are a lot of great sites !! I just updated my blog and added many of them. I still have more to add though.

welcome aboard !!

I just placed my first cache a couple of weeks ago and I tried to put some nice stuff in it. I'm sure as time goes by, the value of the cache will decrease. It just seems to be the nature of the beast. I do have to admit that I found a cache today that had some nice items. I actually wasn't sure what I wanted to take from the cache initially because there were several nice items. Unfortuantely, that is not always the case. When I come across a cache like that, I take nothing and try to leave something nice or of interest.

It's a little creepy here tonight. The house smells like a fire pit and when you walk outside, you can see a lot of smoke. Kinda looks like fog. I'm not sure where the fire is and I haven't heard and sirens so it must not be nearby. The way the wind is blowing, it very well could be a ways off. Boy, do we need rain.

Hmmm...I feel your pain. My GM100 died after years of service. However, mine just would not turn on anymore, so maybe it is something else than what happened to mine. I took my GM100 up to Lowrance (since they are about a half a mile from where I work) and they were not able to fix it. Being the nice folks they are, Lowrance offered me a substanial discount toward a new unit since my GM100 was not repairable. You might try that route. At least if it is not repairable, they may be able to make a new unit very affordable.

Here is my geocaching blog: GPSOkie's Geocaching Blog

Here is my geocaching blog: GPSOkie's Geocaching Blog

Congrats on your first find !!!! I just found number 30 today so I'm a bit of a newbie myself