LaTuFu

If its something that doesn't require too much odd-looking behavior for the scene, I don't mind them. But if I wind up having to spend too much time in one spot scrounging around, generally drawing "what the heck is he doing" looks, I just keep on going. A good, well hidden micro can be fun, and looking while among the general public adds to the excitement sometimes. But if my definition of "fun and well hidden" is different than the Cache owner's, I'll just move along. Usually the only time I go after an urban micro if I am traveling is if I'm there for some other reason. So I don't have more than 5-10 minutes to spare looking for it.

GSAK is the Geocache Swiss Army Knife thats available elsewhere on the site for download. A useful utility for managing your hunts. If you want to make your life easier, "paperless caching" is the way to go. This can be done a lot of ways, but most often its done with some combination of GSAK, a PDA or smartphone, and your GPSr. Hope that helps a little. I use my Blackberry and my GPSr. If I'm in an area with a signal (not so useful on my weekends in the mountains), I can use the phone's browser to look up the caches on the wap site. I use GSAK to help me manage my Pocket Queries, and if I ever get around to it, I'll get an old PDA off ebay to use GPXView for the cache pages.

I had this same question last year when I bought my first unit. I read a few threads on here that had similar discussions. I went with the Garmin in part because of the reputation issues with Magellan. But the other reason that I went with Garmin is its devices are supported by the gc site. Pretty nice being able to quickload a waypoint or cache to the device for a spur of the moment hunt. It does get pricey when you start adding the City Navigator and/or Topo software, but those are optional (although they do dramatically increase the usefulness of the device). I think you'll be very satisfied with the Garmin. Its been a great purchase for me.

Try looking in this section of the site. There is a link that tells you where to enter the info from your Paypal receipt: Hope that helps.

The first time it enables me to make an informed decision to stick to the trail rather than give in to my temptation to "beeline", it'll probably pay for itself twice.

Pretty much all the major US carriers announced Unlimited "All" plans within 24 hours of each other. Sprint does happen to have a fairly cheap option, relative to the other carriers. But the tradeoff in coverage, at least in my area, is not worth the savings to switch. A 30% savings doesn't make sense when I would lose 50% of my coverage. I downloaded GN at 1:00 AM last night, and for some reason (probably being half asleep) I didn't give Handmark my phone number. I sent off an email to Handmark/GN support this morning before I went to work. Rebecca emailed me at lunchtime (first thing in the AM for them) and asked me to provide her with the info she needed to fix it. I was up and running before I left work. Haven't had a chance to hunt with it yet, but I've searched for local caches. The "wow" factor is definitely there.

I've found CN to be invaluable for all of the reasons others have stated. I bought my GPS60cx for Geocaching, and found the base map very wanting. I bought CN as part of a bundle "auto" kit from Amazon. The functionality of CN has me taking the Garmin with me everywhere. I use the autorouting to get me to the cache. In most of the urban areas I've Cached, its been great. As the weather improves and its backcountry season, I've been reminded how nice it would be to have topo information on the screen, too. I'll probably pick up Topo later this spring as well.

It didn't stop me when gas hit $3 a gallon, it won't stop me when gas hits $4 a gallon. I might combine a few things with the trips, i.e. throw in a trip to the store on the way back. I'll team up with a geobuddy for longer trips and split the gas cost. Nothing different than what I'm already doing, though. Inflation is a normal part of life. Its like taxes. Its always there. Sometimes its higher than other years.

I just picked up a BB 8310 Curve, and I downloaded the Trimble Geocache Navigator for it. I'll see how it goes.

My original post was an attempt to share some of my learning experiences with a new hobby. 8 pages later, its a pissing contest over who had the wittiest Star Wars metaphor about the imminent demise of this game. Should I drive by some farms and see if there are some dead horses left for you guys to beat on? No wonder most members don't like posting in these forums.

It is fascinating to watch the mutation and evolution of this thread.

My (brief) experience has been very positive. They are people, too. If they aren't familiar with the exact area that you are trying to place, all they have to go on is the coordinates and information that you provide on your submission. They compare that to the other caches in the area to determine if yours meets the guidelines. I have one cache that is being held up due to the multi-cache situation others have referred to. My local reviewer, far from being "power hungry" has actually been quite the opposite. He has been very helpful and informative while we traded notes back and forth. At the end of the day, this cache isn't going to get published because of the location of another cache, but I don't blame the reviewer for that. Its frustrating to find a good spot for a hide, only to learn that it is too close to another hide. But you can't fault your reviewer for that or personalize it just because you aren't getting your cache placed. Have you tried contacting a couple of the other caches near yours to see if they were willing to archive or move? Have you scouted to find a different location farther away?

I am certainly not saying "its the micros, stupid" or anything like that. There were a couple of micros, like this one, that were well worth the effort, because they were unique or in a beautiful location. Spending the time looking for it was enjoyable because of the location. For me it was learning my own definition of "inspired hide". Lifting a skirt on a light pole, wondering how many wasp's nests I'll disturb this time, just didn't have the same appeal to me after a while. Don't get me wrong, the first day of the trip, it was fun pulling off the interstate here and there to find a hide within an easy distance of the car. But after a while that wore off and I started looking for more. I learned more about what I don't enjoy, and thats not a bad thing. Even before I left on this trip, I had no plans to toss a film canister in a bush any time soon. The difficulty I am having placing my own caches is thinking of an area I would like to have someone visit to search for one, only to find that the veteran cachers in my area have already beaten me to it. There is a Wal-Mart without one down the road though... Back to my original topic, this trip helped me develop my own tastes in what I enjoy about this game. That will be reflected in the caches I hunt in the future, as well as the ones I place for others at some point. Going out to scratch a couple of DNFs off my list. Happy 4th to all.

Yeah, there were definitely some great caches on this trip, and a few of them were micros. It was the location and/or the hunt that made it fun. Culling out Micros would have eliminated this. Looking back on the ones I didn't enjoy, they were all hidden by the same 2 or 3 people. Although those hiders may well have some excellent caches somewhere, the odds would be with me if I was somehow able to filter out by user. (Don't go down the GSAK path, I'm aware. I think more robust filtering ability should be available when I'm building my pocket query.)

I knew I could count on you to connect this discussion to Poo. Its funny on any level, in any thread. Yep, all healed up now. Although I think I may have chipped something in there. I have full range of motion in my elbow, doesn't hurt unless I press directly on it. Oh well, its my drinking elbow and guitar pickin' elbow, and it doesn't seem to affect either of those activities. Or one other not mentionable on this forum, for that matter. So what if there is a little lump on the end of my elbow. Doesn't everybody have a lump somewhere? Going back to my homebrew and playing Seven Bridges Road.

I have the week off and the house to myself (offspring with the Ex at the beach this week), so I decided to hop in the car and go on a caching road trip to the SW corner of Virginia and the Eastern part of TN. Not too far from me, but far enough I wouldn't drive here all the time. Spent the night before downloading the Pocket Queries to my GPS and the ebook to my mobile phone. Took off Sunday morning looking forward to some fun. Loaded up a waypoint in my GPS, then got started. Found a couple, kept hitting "find next" after each successful find. Things were going great, until... ...I could take it no more. It was one mind numbing micro after another. I got to a point where I could tell who the owner of the cache was by the particular brand of micro container he was buying. I figured out another person by the total lack of creativity in his hides. Quantity was his goal, not quantity. One hide area dragged me thru the middle of an illegal dump, just off the interstate--just outside the 528' boundary for placing another cache (My GPS said that cache was .12 miles from the hide I where I was standing). From the hide, I could see the phone booth where someone else had also placed a micro. I didn't even bother looking for that one, I just took the DNF and moved on. As I was standing at a broken open electrical junction box (Yes, that was supposed to be where it was hidden, in or around a live junction box) in a shopping center, within eyesight of two other micros at opposite ends of the same shopping center, I finally had my fill. Unfortunately, while making my pocket query, in my "youthfulness" as a cacher I did not attempt to filter out micros. Having no idea that almost every single one of these hides was a micro, I didn't know any better. With literally 2,000 waypoints in my PQ, and no way to sort them, I was drowning in them. There were a handful of truly wonderful caches, however. There was a gorgeous virtual that took me to a 100 year old limestone bridge, a small container hide that brought me to a 150 year old church and spring, among many others. Hidden among the alphabet soup of micros under lamp skirts (I dodged more wasps than I ever care to admit) I found a few that made the trip worthwhile. I hate to sound like some of the crotchety old timers that haunt this forum (never thought I would agree with them) but after spending 2 days sifting through micros, I'm not a big fan of them. I used to be indifferent, now I prefer to leave them alone. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a micro--when its placed somewhere that is enjoyable! I took a DNF on one this morning just off the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. Beautiful site, great hike to reach it. It stinks that I didn't find it, but I enjoyed myself completely. A local cacher in my area uses micros quite a bit, but they all seem to have a purpose, a nice location, or are the clue to a much larger container. Taking a DNF on a guardrail micro just doesn't give me the same feeling of appreciation. I have no regrets, I learned what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy about this game. The numbers folks can have the micros, I suppose, I bear them no ill will. (And I highly recommend the Tri-Cities/Bristol/Abingdon, VA area for those folks, you'll be in heaven!) Now if you'll excuse me, I received a shiny new Red Jeep TB in the mail yesterday, I have to scout out a few caches in the area worthy of its placement. I'm off all week, I think I can find a good place for her. I'll value the customized filter on my Pocket Query builder from now on. Cheers and thanks for the opportunity to share my travels. [/rant] [coldbeer]

Standing firmly corrected.

The Legend comes with no data card, as mentioned before. With this unit, you pretty much have nowhere to go from an upgrade/mapping standpoint. With the 60Cx you can add additional mapping software, including auto navigation, if desired.

Honestly, unless you really like the gee whiz factor of an electronic compass and altimeter, I don't see the fascination with the "S" model. The compass needs recalibration from time to time. I have the Cx, and it works great. I chose it because I am just old fashioned and I like using a handheld compass. If you aren't going to be doing a lot of long hiking (I would define that as any sustained hike longer than 60 minutes) away from the mobile home, the Cx will be more than enough. Take a compass with you for the times that you find yourself needing to maintain orientation. Definitely get the City Navigator. It is a great software package, it will increase the functionality of your unit. It helps me with geocaching quite a bit in the more urban areas of the cities, since it will autoroute you right up to the parking area. The base map shipped with the unit will only give you "crow flies" navigation capability, which can make it more difficult if you are traveling in an urban/suburban area that it unfamiliar to you.

I'm guessing you are talking about the GPSMap 60Cx or Csx. The "S" model has an electronic compass and altimeter, which you may not necessarily need. If you don't want the mapping functions that the unit is capable of, you may want to look at the eTrex series. I will say that I used my 60Cx for about a month without the maps, and I recently purchased the City Navigator Map. It has dramatically improved the effectiveness of this unit. Just something to think about in case you'd like to upgrade later. I dunno about getting accuracy to 3 feet, however. Even on a clear day in the open, I think the best you're going to see from any commercial unit is about 15-20 feet. Thats been my experience with mine, YMMV.

Signing the log (online or in the logbook) is your opportunity to express your thoughts about the Cache Owner's efforts creating the hide. Or your efforts finding it! Howver, it is purely voluntary. You can always sign the log with your Cacher Name and something like TFTC ("Thanks For The Cache") or TNLNSL ("Took Nothing Left Nothing Signed Log") and move on to the next one. Its your experience out there, define it as you like.

I think any time your objective is to please everyone, all you do is make your own job more difficult, less fun, and in the end you never quite complete the objective. Its like demanding perfection of yourself or your significant other. As hard as you might work at it, you'll never quite get there. I'd say follow the basic guidelines, avoid the political/religious/weapons/food/smelly things and go with items that YOU would like to find in a cache. If you are happy with your cache and it was fun putting it together, the majority of your visitors will appreciate the effort. For those that could find no joy in your cache, well, you probably couldn't have pleased them anyway.

I think we're wandering waaaaay OT here....

That's a great way to look at it! My thoughts exactly.

Snoogans I like you even more now. I'm sure you were lying awake at night fretting about it. Yep, its a great hobby, but sooo expensive.