WeAreGaughen

SOLD

I recently upgraded to a GPSMAP 60Cx so I have no use for my eTrex, nor any of the accessories I have for it. "Old Blue," as I named it, helped me find a little more than 2000 caches in two years. Here's the situation: it began getting lines across the display screen, sometimes a little bit, sometimes a lot. I dealt with it for several months but now it seems to have stopped working, though I don't want to take it apart to see if there's a loose wire in there somewhere. Being that it isn't working properly, I can't sell the unit by itself but I will throw it in for free if someone wants the accessories. I don't know, maybe you're handy with small electronics and would be able to fix it. The accessories are: eTrex holder with belt clip Belkin lanyard for the holder Garmin eTrex Venture/Legend/Vista instructional DVD (sealed) Garmin GPS-to-serial port wire serial port to USB adaptor wire (with install disc) $20 including shipping --Brendan/WeAreGaughen

kind of in my neck of the woods: Downey/Bell Gardens San Dimas/La Verne Covina/West Covina I've only done 100 in a day once, but we've had a few half days of caching with 60-70 finds in those areas

Interesting stuff...it seems difficult to pin down exactly "why" geocaching appeals to different people, since a number of aspects of the hobby appeal to people in different ways.

I've run into a few local cachers on FTF hunts or after events, so those run-ins aren't all that exciting. However two encounters stick out in my mind as truly bizarre since neither myself nor the cachers I met were from the area. 1) April 2008 - I was in Omaha for an academic conference and had an afternoon to walk around downtown. I must have looked pretty obvious staring down at my GPS wandering around a park, when I heard someone say "did you find it yet?" Turns out it was another out-of-town cacher, visiting from South Dakota. 2) June 2008 - Driving across the country from Philadelphia to LA. I had time for one cache in Flagstaff AZ when I ran into a cacher from Phoenix. Kinda makes me wonder how many caching encounters I might have had if I were a few minutes earlier or later.

I would also be willing to help you out, send me a message

just like everybody else, I updated to 3.9 and haven't had ANY problems since. and in response to rhondavid 3 posts up, I used a serial-to-USB cable to make the update since I don't own a computer with a serial port. The only issue I had was having to upload the driver for the cable - bit of work for someone like me who's technologically challenged. Found the cable on eBay too for $15 including shipping.

I have the exact same unit (Garmin eTrex legend) and just recently have been having the EXACT same problems. Weird. It started with some difficulty using the toggle switch (or whatever that button is called above the upper left hand corner of the screen). At first it would respond to up and down commands but not left or right. As someone who caches the old fashioned way - I'm NOT technically inclined and still enter all my waypoints manually - it was frustrating but it only did this on 10 or 12 occasions, and it went away when I turned it off and back on. Next the screen backlight function started being funny - I'd push the light button on the side and the entire screen would turn light, lit up but blank. It only did this once or twice but still worked fine for daytime use. Then just this weekend something else strange happened. The GPS worked ok as long as it was level but the screen flickered off and on as soon as I picked it up or put it at an angle. Today the trusty old Garmin started having the exact same symptoms that you described: it would track the satellites, and would be on long enough for me to enter a waypoint and start searching, then the screen would suddenly shut off except for a vertical line running all the way from the top to the bottom. The power button wouldn't fix it and I had to take out the batteries for it to go away. After this happening 2 or 3 times I gave up and called it a day. Oh well. The GPS ("Ol' Blue") helped me find about 800 caches over the past 10 months, and not bad for something I picked up used on ebay. But I fear its lifespan has reached its end, and I suspect the same for yours too

Yes, but I have done it without a GPS a couple of times to get FTFs. I found my first 150 or so without a GPS. Most of the time it's not necessary to use one for urban caches, plus I hadn't really figured out how to use my GPS all that well yet. Once I started going for multi caches, puzzle caches and looking for ones out in the woods (what? Los Angeles has woods??) it's GPS or nothing. Still, some of the urban ones don't really require it, but I'd still say its easier with a GPS than without one.

I'm at an internship at USC twice a week. Mostly unsupervised, I spend an hour or so every time I'm here researching for caches to look for on my way home. But hey, I'm not getting paid or anything, so...