phinstr

Thanks for the quick replies. I will check out the Delorme software. As for being able to "spring" for the software , it is really much simpler than not having the money. I didnt get the cable out of shear laziness..... and the fact that it has taken some time to finally get my wife involved in geocaching. Now that she enjoys it more, it is getting a little old punching numbers in by hand AND it is easier to justify the expense if the wife is a part of it. Also, the fact that I have 4 computers wirelessly connected throughout the house and to the internet via fiber optic line may have stressed my "fun" budget a bit. I think my wife thinks I have enough gadgets as it is..... Is that possible?

I have been a Geocacher for a number of years (very on and off) partially due to the PIA of manually entering the coords into the Etrex. Yes I could buy a more expensive device but I am kind of attached to the little yellow bugger. Anyway, I currently purchased the cabling that will enable me to have my laptop connected to the Etrex connected to power. My question is, what is a good inexpensive software package to use with this bucket of bolts I have cluged together?javascript:emoticon I would really like something where I can download my tracks to a map and see where Ive been....... I'm sure some of you more seasoned Geocachers have opinions out there. Thanks in advance for your support.

Try these 2 out. I think the former one is less expensive but may not have as broad a product line. I believe pfranc is a manufactured and may be able to get one custom made http://rnrplace.com/rnr_store/ http://pfranc.com/ phinstr

I have a yellow and here is what I do. I hold the enter button (lower left hand side) in and this "marks" a waypoint. Hold it in long enough for the page to change to the waypoint page. Then use the up/down keys (upper left hand side) to move to cursor to the coordinates and press the enter button again. You then have to go through the slow rendition of inputing letters and numbers by scrolling with the up/down keys. Press the enter button after each correct letter or number. The unit automatically indexes to the next space. Press the enter button again to activate, etc, etc, etc. It can take a while. Once you have the coordinates in, you can move to the name of the waypoint and change that in a similar manner. You can also change the symbol for the waypoint too. Hope this helps. I have not invested in a cable or software though I did download cachemate for my Palm.

GeckoGeek, I went to the Benchmark you suggested and my little yellow GPSr indicated I was off only 3.6ft. Close enough for government work. I guess the 30ft I am seeing is the combined error of my GPSr and those of the person hiding the cache. I cant complain about less than 4 ft. Thanks everyone for all your help

Thanks for all the help. I think I probably need to find a benchmark and check it out. FYI: Map Datum: WSG84 Units: Statute North Ref: Magnetic Variance: 018'E I dont know what all that means but that's what it is. I currently recide in Washington state N47'26.081 W120'20.060 Does the aforementioned information make sense for my location? Thanks again for your help. Now if I could only be the one to find the caches instead of my wife......

I have an Etrex Yellow and it always seems to read ~30ft off. I know this is a less expensive model and I dont think it has WAAS but is this normal? I thought it would be closer...... All we do is Geocache so we do okay but my wife says "upgrade" ( ). Now, she is still a penny pincher so what is the next best bang for the buck? I probably need to stay under $200 or she'll have my... Though she has found more caches than I have. Do I need the maps? Do I need to connect to the computer? Maybe I should get a new one and give her the old! Phinstr