as77

Last night I was out caching at dusk in the woods. Suddenly I hear some noise, like something moving on the ground about 20 feet from me... what the hell could it be... couldn't see anything but it came closer and closer... finally I see something moving, very close to the ground, some white and black patches, seems to be some hairy stuff, still approaching... movement is very wierd, wavy, different parts of the thing moving in different directions, and the entire thing seemed to be pretty big, maybe the size of a big cat, but the mass was moving very close to the ground, slowly but steadily advancing towards me... now at this point I was a bit scared, could this thing be a snake or what? but it seems to be hairy... I jumped out of the woods (I was at the edge) but the thing was still coming right at me. I turn on my small LED flashlight and I see two little eyes on the thing lighting up... then this hairy mass suddenly turns around and moves away, still with a movement reminding me of a snake. I did some research on the internet and now I think I know what this thing was. Anyone wants to make a guess before I describe mine? Ah, the location is Western New York (upstate).

You can buy the appropriate cable from www.thesupplynet.com for $60. (The serial interace should be used.) Then you can transfer the waypoints with the program G7ToCE.

As I see the TB has been found.

So what if defining fun for others is fun for me?

The Sportrak has better reception under tree cover.

Recently, there has been a tendency in my area for hard multis to appear in highly muggly areas. Like there is a difficulty 4.5 micro in the middle of the city park in an open area (lawn decently mowed) with houses and playground closeby, lots of people walking by, people sitting around in their gardens just 50 feet away, etc. Frankly, I just hate those. For some people it might present a special challenge but I just can't enjoy these. As if I'm going to crawl under the park benches for an hour while being watched, yeah right. I prefer to search for a cache in total privacy. And why should I go at 4 a.m. just to avoid muggles? The other nuisance is fishermen. I have done a lot of caches near creeks and lakes and these guys are just everywhere. The worst kind of muggles: they don't go away but sit there for hours. Once a micro was hidden about 10 feet behind the back of a guy who was sitting there fishing. It really makes me upset. I wish all caches were hidden in isolated areas.

The only program that can use Garmin Mapsource maps is the one that comes with Garmin's cfQue CompactFlash GPS device.

Why spend so much? There is an equivalent cable from gpsgeek.com for $7.45.

heh... thanks. So simple, I don't know how I could miss it.

Is there a way to add a waypoint manually? I needed this functionality but I couldn't find it.

Frankly, I see a lot of room for improvement for the site. Cache ratings is one of the improvements I would like to see.

geobernd, that's very smart. You are definitely safety-conscious. I do none of these. I don't take anything with me (well almost) and I don't tell anyone where I'm going

I never met another geocacher. Also, if someone is approaching, I hide my GPS so no one would know I'm geocaching. Maybe they hide theirs too, cause I have never seen anyone walking with a GPS. Besides, I would hate to join other cachers. I want to find the cache myself, that's the whole point.

It all boils down to what you consider as "one attempt". 1 attempt does not necessarily equal 1 visit. For harder caches or when you run out of time, one attempt can consist of several visits. Just because you divided your attempt into more than one visits because of time or other constraints doesn't mean you have to log a DNF after each visit. That's completely unnecesssary. Once you feel that your attempt is finished, you should log the outcome. In the middle of your attempt no logs are necessary. It's not a blog where you report on your progress. E.g. there is this extremely hard multi near where I live. Difficulty 4.5 and it is indicated that it requires good eyes and tricky thinking. Lots of DNFs in the logs. Owner posted a note that all parts are in order just a day before I went out for it. I made 3 or 4 relatively short visits (didn't want to stay long because it is a muggle-saturated area), every time with new ideas about where the first part could be and what I want to check. I didn't submit any logs after these visits. Finally I ran out of new ideas and gave up for the time being. I then posted a DNF. In my mind these 3 or 4 visits constitute one attempt, not 3 or 4 attempts. Or let's say you have a 4-stage multi and you find 2 parts, start searching for the 3rd but run out of time and come back the next day for the 3rd and 4th. Should you log a DNF after the first visit? No. After you finished your attempt and don't plan to go back within reasonable time (or ever) you should log.

That's a good point. However, part of what I expect of a cache that it shows me the interesting places in the area. If I can find the cache while missing the interesting places then that cache is badly placed. I consider a cache as a guide for me that helps find the worthwhile places.

Caching alone is inherently less safe than with company. E.g. you could fall and break your leg, and then there's nobody to help you, etc. But that's OK, it even adds to the thrill of it. It's still a lot safer than a number of other hobbies, it's actually quite safe. Harder caches are usually easier to find with company: you simply have more eyes and hands. But then there is a high chance it will not be you who actually finds the cache. Depending on your attitude and relationship with the other person you may feel disappointed. I know I prefer to find the caches myself.

Even if the Gekos have the same antenna as the Etrexes, I have read comparative reviews about the two and there is general agreement that the Gekos get a fix faster and hold it far better under tree canopy than the Etrexes. Looks like Garmin did a great job optimizing the hard- and software to achieve this.

No. These are usually hard ones, difficulty 4-5. If I think the cache harder than it's rating I will indicate that in my log when I finally found it. And he does see my DNF if I give up. That is not true. As I have clearly described, I will log a DNF after I give up or cannot return to the cache anytime soon. I think what I'm doing is completely fair. Nothing wrong with it. Who says I'm limited to one visit to find a cache? If while searching for a cache I get hungry and go home for lunch then return then you think I should log a DNF while home?

If I can't find the cache but I feel that I have still not exhausted all my possibilities and I intend to continue the search really soon then I don't log a DNF. I go back the next day and continue where I stopped. It's not a DNF because it's not a failure, I just need more time/thinking. When I finally find it, I usually indicate in the log that I made several visits to it. If however I'm stumped and I feel that I cannot really do much more than what I already did and I do not intend to (or cannot) return anytime soon, i.e. have practically given up, then I log a DNF. I still might make another attempt weeks or months later, but it's uncertain so the DNF should be there.

The Etrexes have the least sensitive antenna. Just about any other GPSr device on the market is more sensitive, even the Gekos. The ones having a big quadrifilar antenna are the most sensitive ones.

Wouldn't that be considered a commercial cache? Those are not allowed on geocaching.com.

Yes, in the same way as your skin is made out of leather.

I have a virtual cache idea, I would like to hear opinions about it. The site is the oldest tree in a big city. It's about 300 years old, quite huge and there is a plaque on it saying this is the oldest tree. It's in a residential area close to downtown and it's mostly unknown to people. I don't see any good place to put a physical cache there, it's just an old street with nice, old houses, cars parking on the street.

The Hungarian geocaching website at www.geocaching.hu uses user ratings. Each finder is requested to provide three scores from 1 to 5: for the place (i.e. surroundings), the hide and the presentation on the web. This system has worked very well for years now. BTW this website is a lot more advanced than gc.com, with a number of great, advanced features. Although it's true that there are only about 1000 caches in Hungary, so the database is not very big.

It's not possible. You're going to have to buy Magellan's software.