Jeep4two

I'll try to address the two items you mentioned. Waypoint averaging may be hidden, but going in the menu settings (in settings for any particular profile) will allow you to scroll through all the available menu items. Waypoint averaging may be disabled, select it to enable it. To use it - just activate it then pick the waypoint you want to average on (making sure of course that you are at that point) or create a new one. You should take readings no closer than 90 minutes apart and of course make sure you have the best possible signal/reception. For the img files - just place them in your Garmin folder and as long as the map img file has the .img extension it should be available in your Setup -> Maps settings for each profile (use enable/disable to make various maps active for that profile).

Forgot to say: To checkup on online sellers, I use www.resellerratings.com

When researching my Oregon 400t purchase I used Google Shopping to pinpoint the lowest price. I saved about $200 over retail list and got the best price available at the time. Prices are always changing. For example - if I had waited a week I could have gotten in on a special on the Oregon 400T for $60 less. That's the way it goes. Once you decide to pull the trigger, checkup on the site you decide to buy from and go for it. I used a small outdoor retailer out of Michigan (http://www.northadamsoutdoors.com/). Their customer service was great, price was great and an overall nice transaction.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but the trails that interest me for the time being are int he following table in the db, KY_TRAILS, and records 28, 29, 30, 31, and 63. I may run to the office this afternoon and play around a little too.

Timpat - thanks for the reply - I'll send you a message.

Check the logs for the cache in question. There should be a note by the cache owner or reviewer explaining the reason for the cache being disabled or archived. There are also notes in red at the top of the cache page explaining the status, and the logs will give the details needed to explain the situation.

Most cache owners would be fine with you adding a new page or log sheet in a micro (or other cache size) but you shouldn't take the original out. If there's not room for a new sheet in the container you should look for a way to leave your mark on the existing log - and let the cache owner know that it's full and needs attention. This can be done in your log on the cache page, or if the log is unusable you could consider a needs maintenance or an e-mail to the cache owner. I would never be comfortable taking a logsheet out of a cache.

I've had caches be virtually perfect to the coordinates, and some off by as much as 60 feet or so. As the others said conditions are variable for all cachers including the hider. As you get more accustomed to finding caches you'll start to learn to look like a hider would look for a place to hide. Once your GPSr puts you at what it thinks is Ground Zero - look down. If it's not there gradually expand your search area looking for logical hiding spots as if you were looking for a good place to hide a cache. Being familiar with the cache size and description from the cache page (or having a copy with your or on your GPSr if it supports paperless) is by far the easiest way to improve your success. Enjoy being hooked!

While exploring some awesome maps that I recently found for Kentucky (http://kygeonet.ky.gov/kytrails/viewer.htm) I found that you can also download the GIS data in GDB format (not Mapsource GDB files, but rather a .MDB database file). I'm not sure if this data can be used to convert to GPX files for individual trails or not. It is used by the ERSI system to render data in layers on the basemaps in the browers. While I have the files I really don't know how to proceed to get the trails converted to a GPX series of files that can be used for loading trails to my GPSr. Anyone got experience with this and know if its possible and what the process is like? I don't have ArcGIS at home, but have access to it at the college I work for - but of course don't have a clue how to use it so that doesn't help me much. I may ask around to find out if there is a professor that would be able to help. Thanks - Jeep4Two

Nice hides... History of the game and a multi for a first hide. I have some ideas for a multi in the future. I hope to bring more cachers to our area and maybe spark an interest in some of the local folks. Thanks for sharing.

At about 90 finds I finally found a location that met all my basic requirements for a first hide (First, close enough for easy maintenance, but also significant enough to want to bring people to). My first hide was on a trail in a close by state park (see profile) on a trail that was absolutely unexpected for me. My wife and I had decided to do some hiking on the trails of this park to see if there was any potential. There was already one cache and we had enjoyed it very much this spring and I we had our very first find (now archived) here back in 2005. After living in the are for almost 13 years we hadn't explored this area - what a shame. After hiking about 5 or 6 miles of trails we found a spot that we really liked. Ground zero was actually not real significant but the loop where it was hidden was a nice .5 mile jaunt that is really a nice relaxing place to be. After getting familiar with the guidelines and obtaining permissions for the placement our reviewer published it today. A few cachers from the area were quick to make the FTF and gave great feedback in logs and e-mails. It was very satisfying and I look forward to continue giving back to the Geocaching community with new hides. I may not be able to maintain hundreds (or even dozens) but I look forward to my caches bringing joy to fellow cachers out there as theirs do for me. Got a story about a first hide?

Street navigation on the Oregon is fine unless you just "Have" to have the voice prompts. The beeps are loud enough for me, even in the Jeep with the top down. I have the 400t Oregon, and am currently using Metroguide 6 (converted to support on device routing using Metrowizzz) an it works great. I'll agree with a few othe other posts. If just want a single device for all things - I highly recommend the Oregon. If you are in no hurry then you can wait around and see what the Dakota looks like but I don't see the screen issue as an issue at all. I love my Oregon.

This is a proprietary interface - in other words special Garmin connection for the data cable as jholly pointed out. You can pick one up at the Garmin site or elsewhere but make sure get one that is USB with serial to USB drivers, and is compatible with Mac. If there is such a thing. That will enable you to hook the unit up to your computer and easily transfer waypoints to your unit and keep you from haivng to manually enter them.

What model of GPSr? My pocket queries show the hint on a totally separate page in my GPSr - but I have an Oregon 400t. Post your model and you may be able to get more insight.

Seems to be a nice toy for the family that approves. I feel if the swag doesn't violate any of the guidelines then it's OK. I don't want to use caching as a way to impose my societal beliefs on anyone else. If I didn't want the cap gun for my kids the I'd TNLNSL. However if you find it terribly objectionable then as others said, trade up or even and turn the cap gun in to Toy's R Us to be melted and made into cabbage patch kids.

I'll point out the obvious just in case: Check your junk/spam filter to make sure they aren't getting caught there (add @geocaching.com to your safe sender list). Of course make sure you check a day of the week on the query to get it to run. If you check today's date it should run fairly quickly and generate the e-mail. Info on PQ's here: http://www.markwell.us/pq.htm There is also the possibility that the queries are just running slowly - that does happen from time to time.

There really is no comparison between these units. Both the Colorado and Oregon have a high sensitivity receiver (its rumored the Colorado has slightly better accuracy and reception over the Oregon). Your unit has a standard chip much like my old eTrex Legend. The reception and ability to maintain a lock under tree cover and other difficult conditions is a night and day difference. That said - the paperless features of the Colorado and Oregon are great. Mostly they have the same features overall with different input methods. The Colorado of course uses the roller wheel when the Oregon has the touchscreen. Many will say bad things about the Oregon's screen brightness, but I've had mine for a fwe months now and I love it. It's not as bright as some screens, and of course I wouldn't mind if it were brighter but used the same amount or less battery but it performs just fine. I've yet to encounter a condition where the screen is unreadable. Again - I upgraded from an eTrex Legend and spent about $400 for the Oregon 400t and I've never looked back. I still carry my Legend with me as a backup and the wife tries to use it but so often she's lost the satellite lock while I'm just happily navigating my way to the cache.

I'd highly recommended getting whichever model fits your needs the best. I have an Oregon and highly recommend it. I've been very happy with it as a routing GPSr in the car, caching GPSr on the trail and general use for hiking and such. The screen is great for me - I don't have any problem with it but as others said some folks don't like the brightness. I have yet to be in any lighting or usage conditions where the screen prohibited me from using the device. I've been pleased with the accuracy so far even with a few glitches, but Garmin is working on refining the software for the Oregon so I expect to see those little problems gradually go away. The touchscreen interface is a dream to use making it easy to input data when needed (paperless caching field notes or adding info to way points, etc.) and also makes getting from screen to screen much nicer than having to fumble with 10 different buttons on the front and side. Again - your mileage may vary. Of course there's the Delorme PN-40 - somewhat less expensive with paperless features. My biggest recommendation no matter what: Get the paperless features. It greatly simplifies the caching preparation and hunt eliminating waste of paper and time that non-paperless units require you to use on the front end of a day out. This is regardless of what brand or model you choose.

Above posters correct. I've never seen a trail map that would offer auto routing. Heck, I can't even find any trail maps for my area to overlay on my built in maps. However Autorouting and a compatible (called routable) map for your handheld can help you when driving/biking from cache location to location saving time in unfamiliar areas. It also makes your GPSr more of a multi use tool - I use my Oregon for caching, hiking and driving with no need to have $$ tied up in a 2nd device for driving.

EasyGPS will only send the basics of the cache over to your unit. Try GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) and see how you like that. It will do what you want. You coiuld also just copy your pocket queries direction to the X:\Garmin\GPX folder too while in mass storage mode.

You'll need the data cable for your unit - then just go to Garmins site and find the Webupdate page: http://www8.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp The WGS84 Dataum is the most important part - that can cause your coords to be quite a bit off. I have a eTrex Legend as a backup unit and it's not great in heavy tree cover but my first 50 finds or so plus some that weren't logged a few years ago were all with my eTrex Legend so you'll be fine with it once you update. Be sure to give your unit about 20 minutes with a clear view of the sky before starting out on the trail - this can be done in the dashboard of your car as you drive to your cache area - that will help to update the almanac data improving lock and accuracy. Hold your Vista out in front of your a little (away from your body) once you start to get close the the cache (I'd say about the last .1 miles) to also help with signal quality under tree cover.

Using the Where To? button, then Coordinates will work, or Mark Waypoint then choose Save and Edit to change name, icon and location to manually enter lots of info.

My dad got some of the Energizer 2500 mAh batteries (with the standard charger) and they were terrible. They wouldn't hold a charge and even if you used them within 48 hours of charging he would get very little life out of them in his digital camera. I've been using a mix of Duracell 2350 and 2550 as well as Lenmar 2500 mAh batteries. They perform very well and I'm getting about 8 hours of run time and good shelf life from them all. My next battery purchase will include the new low discharge batteries with a smart charger to help condition when charging but for now I'm happy with my setup.

www.gpsfiledepot.com has lots of free maps. There are even some routable garmin street maps as part of the OSM project - but they aren't nearly as refined as you would get with a retail product and don't have POIs. The topos are good however and there are others. If you want street maping the CityNav product from Garmin is great, and you could also get an older product like a used copy of Metroguide North America (last version was 6). The Metroguide maps can be made routable by using Metrowizzz to convert them. The retail route isn't the cheapest but the Garmin maps do a much better job of routing and give you thousands and thousands of POIs (restaurants, shopping, etc)

Instant gratification will cost you. If you can wait a few days for delivery there are much lower cost options out there. For example: Free shipping Kingston 4Gb microSDHC for $8.99 at newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820134527 Or the same basic card in the 8Gb model for $19.99 with free shipping: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820134717 Not sure about compatibility of the 8Gb with your unit however Hard to compare to China-Marts prices.