kraushad

I am guessing maybe some coins are meant for giveaways (FTF or something like that) and not tracking and moving?? I'll learn with you on this one...

I don't have the topos, but rather have the street maps for my Garmin. I like the fact that it cuts down on the guesswork on how to get close to the cache if I am in unfamilliar territory and it also can work as a driving directions GPS and give me turn by turn in the car. I understand the river thing on topos, but they never proved useful to me... I know if I am going uphill or not (joking)

Hello! I am relatively new too (about a year ago I started hunting) and I understand. I have a son who is 3 and thought that as he gets a little older he will enjoy trading for items. The more caches I go to, the more I see that there are fewer containers that have reasonable SWAG (trade items) in them than I was hoping for. Some of the more jaded (or maybe realistic) cachers seem to have the attitude that if you expect much of anything you are always going to be disappointed when it comes to trade items. I have made a decision that I will leave some good stuff anyway. If everyone makes that same decision, cache contents may improve. If not, at least I can feel good knowing that some kid who got there after me hopefully got some enjoyment out of what I left. Who knows, "paying it forward" may catch on again, but not if we all just give up. Also, I see a few "life lessons" (as I tell my middle school students) to be learned here. First, if every person involved doesn't share a common goal, and work dilligently at it, the quality of the product diminshes greatly. Second, the thrill of the hunt can be its own reward. Not to sound all educational psychology here, but the extrinsic reward of a prize could be replaced the intrinsic reward of accomplishing a challenge, simply for the satisfaction and pride in a job well done. I imagine it was sold to them as a way to get cool prizes, and when it failed to be that, they lost interest. Perhaps just to get them going with you again you could offer age-appropriate prizes for them yourself for each cache they locate with you to help motivate them a bit.... instead of trading items, you could use some of the neat little things you bought and give it to them based on how many caches they find. Or you could reward them with a special treat they like after X number of finds or hunts... You could do this when they don't find something cool to trade from in the cache itself. I realize that this sort of defeats the purpose, but if you really want them to spend the time with you, this could be a way to get them hooked again. I am just trying to help here, so this is just brainstorming. I loved spending time with my grandparents when I was younger, and now they are gone and I cannot. I am hoping I can convince my son as he gets old enough to really start hunting with me, that finding the tupperware IS the reward, and any SWAG is just the icing on the cake. Hopefully I can help him learn to be satisfied with that feeling of accomplishment. I don't at all mean this to sound like a lecture... I am simply thinking out loud, and hoping to encourage you to not let that GPS collect dust! . Good luck.

I second the idea of paperless. Been at it for almost a year now and paperless is awesome once you get it setup. Grab a cheap PDA of Ebay for $20-30 (M500 or 505, 515) with a cradle to connect to PC. Then you can purchase GSAK for about $30, and you are golden. I hated to drop the money but it makes it really easy. A few clicks and you have all the page info in one palm, and the GPS in the other. It has the summary and description as well as the last 5 logs from other finders. You can even log your finds in your Palm by clicking the "found" checkbox, and record what you took/left. This way when you get back to the computer, you simply scroll to your "found" caches in the palm, and enter your notes. Aren't gadgets great?

Love my Vista HCX. It is even reasonable for driving, although we use a Nuvi in the car. I have been very pleased with the features, and usabilitiy and durability. I like the complact size and not having the antenna of the 60CSX sticking up to get in the way. The scren is very bright and extremely clear, although a little smaller than the 60 CSX (which killed me to buy a smaller screen ). I like the clarity more than the size difference. Best thing is too find a store where you can hold them side by side and feel them up a bit. I went to a Gander mountain and was even able to take them outside to try them out with one of the associates (they were slow that night and he offered!). Good luck.

A quick vote for the Garmin Vista HCX - have had nothing but good times with it

I think they are great. There is one not far from where I live that i can always dump some bugs into when I find them. I am usually a rescuer of bugs - many times I find some that have been in a out-of-the-way cache for a long time, and I will move them to the motel to get some miles.... they usually don't last long. Sometimes you will have the other problem too, where people will go to retrieve a bug, and they area lready taken (which seems to be the case with the cache I use), so i feel that I am 'helping".

And you got this to it's location how? The concrete ‘tube’ (300 pounds) was taken with a tractor and I was able to get it 25 feet from it’s final location. Tug, roll and flip to get it set in place. Then I poured 3 bags of sack-create (180 pounds) around the base. The bottom of the tube has rebar out the sides so the concrete I did on location keeps it from tipping over. Then I secured the metal cache (30 pounds) in the concrete with bolts formed in the concrete. The camo was done with 3 tubes of liquid nails, bark, expanding spray foam and paint on sight Shouldn't this cache be archived? I mean it says no temporary caches that won't last longer than 90 days

I have two so far that i can think of, that were under the skirting on a public phone and easily reachable from the driver's seat.

I love the PhD Multi Pens by Sanford. They have a pencil point - good for dry logs a pen point - good for damp logs and a stylus point - good for the PDA stylus and easier to hold.

I am relatively new, but I would love the opportunity to see beautiful spots through virtual caching - if I understand what they are correctly. AND - I was really disappointed when I found out that the cool SWAG wasn't all that cool - so my biggest thing would be to require (under penalty of death of course) that you must trade UP, and for an increasingly interesting or cool gadget or item for people like me that really wanted it to be more like treasure hunting! It doesn't have to be expensive - a cool LED keychain now and then would brighten my spirits (sorry for the pun - okay, no I'm not )

Since I started with this activity on my own, my wife doesn't mind when I go it alone. She is not really the "outdoorsie" type, but is gradually changing into one as our little boy enjoys the outdoors more and more. It is gradually becoming something that we do more and more together just in the short time since I started.

Depends on your level of $$ and your level of gadgetfriekery! I spent a little more than the basic and a little less than the 60CSX and am VERY happy with my Vista HCX.

Yep, the "H" indicates that it is has a hihg-sensitivity receiver for getting a better signal through tree canopies and other "shielded" areas. The Etrex H should be cool! Good luck and have fun!

I am new to GPSing, and use my Vista HCX for geocaching mostly, but I have been using it for autorouting and it does just fine. Perhaps if I had been used to a bigger screen with voice prompts I would care, but it gets the job done, small screen and all. I use a vent mount cell phone holder I got from Verizon wireless for around $20 and it hangs right wher I need it, and is up high enough to push the buttons easily. Once you know which buttons do what, not seeing them on the front is no big deal to me.

I recently shopped GPSs (in December), and one a one salary, wife stays at home with our son budget, I also wanted the most for my money. I bought the Vista HCX on Amazon for about $220 and I am VERY HAPPY with my purchase. I compared it to the 60CSX, but found that I couldn't justify the cost difference for the minimal difference in quality according to all reviews I read. I would recommend while you are ordering to get a 2GB microSD card for maps, and depending on what maps you want, the City Nav 2008 NT maps on DVD are awesome as the base maps are pretty useless other than for interstates.

or very cold areas.... in original packaging I would think it would be cool to find. I use rechargables though so I likely wouldn't need them I always have a spare set, and the DC charger in the truck... saves a ton of $ in the long run. Since our little one goes through batteries in his toys by the hundreds it seems, we decided to go with rechargable everything a few years back (except for stuff that advises akaline only).

If you have a Gander Mountain near you, they are wonderful about letting you get them out. When I shopped there, the sales guy even took me outside the store to try it out (at his suggestion!).

Depending on what case you want, you can sometimes find a generic one for a small digital camera that will work great. As far as screen protection, I went to Best Buy and got some PDA screen protectors that work great to keep the screen pristine (mine is a Vista HCX, but same goal). Unless the Colorado is different from the Vista it will not charge in the car, but will merely not use up your batteries while plugged into a powered outlet. EDITED to add that I tried a case for my Vista but ended up not liking it as I like to be able to plug it in while driving and the Garmin case doesn't really accomodate that. SO, at this point I am trying it without a case, with a screen protector, on a lanyard (just to avoid those drops). I think I like it better this way (except for the fact that it is a little less protected around the outside of the case). In addition a vent mount padded cell phone holder (I got mine at Verizon Wireless) works nicely for my Vista to keep it up near the windshield without spending a lot of money.

Hello, Others will probably respond as well, but the common suggestions willl likely include searching for caches that are not micro or nano sized caches as they can be difficult to find for experienced cachers. Make sure your GPS is set to the right datum, someone else can help with the specifics, but I think WGS84 or something like that is what you want. Searching at night probably made your job harder as well, as some hides are difficult to find even in broad daylight. Look for caches that are larger sized caches if possible for your first few, and have a difficulty and terrain ratings between 1-2. That should give you a better chance. The other mistake I made as a beginner (and continue to make fairly often) was relying too much on the GPS. I was waiting for it to paint me an arrow on the ground pointing at the cache. I forgot that coords can be off as much as 40-50 feet, and that once you get close, it is time to put the GPS in your pocket and "turn over some rocks" Good luck, you will get it, and it will consume you!

The particular attention to the prefix "pre" leads me to believe that this poster is a fan of the great George Carlin - who also mentions that we cannot "pre-board " a plane -- he says "what does this mean.. that we get on the plane before we get on the plane?" too funny...

Wow, I am at Software Version 2.50 and GPS SW Version 2.30 - guess I will be hitting the updater tonight as well. I am not having the screen washout problem but I will still upgrade..... I guess......

Brad I went back and read this - and please excuse me if I am wrong but it looks like the first post said that the 2.50 version didn't fix "Software version - 2.50 GPS Software Version - 2.60" and that those were a couple weeks old. The newer version of the software just came out and that poster said their versions were "Software Version - 2.60 GPS Software Version - 2.60" So I am guessing that this new software update made some difference to the second poster.

When I was shopping for my Vista HCX the lack of maps was the primary complaint people had with them. So I knew I was going to have to get something if I wanted better mapping -- I tried it for a while and found the base maps to be just as inadequate as all the reviews. At amazon I purchased the 2GB card and the City Nav NT together for around $125 plus shipping. Not cheap - but man those maps are good, and the unit will now auto-route with turn by turn really well. Worth the investment in my opinion. EDITED to add that I stopped by Verizon Wireless and got a vent mount clip to hold a cell phone, but works perfectly for the GPS. I forget who makes it (starts with an A) but it has two spring loaded padded side pieces that clamp/ratchet down on the GPS, and then at a push of a button release the tension to let the GPS go. I am pretty picky about such things, and for $20 it was a good buy. It keeps it up high enough to use while driving, and yet not on the windshield blocking my view of the road.

Started the day after Christmas with the same GPS, congrats and ENJOY!