garmini

quote: I don't give a rat's a$$ who is ahead or behind of me. This suggests an obvious compromise. Create a stats page that is made up of all cachers whether they opt in or not, BUT only display the name of the cacher if they opt in. E.g., AREA RANKINGS Name Finds -------------------------------------- 1. southdeltan 1.345 zillion 2. <anonymous> 1.244 zillion ... 23234. <anonymous> 9,943 23235. garmini 5 This would give the stats junkies the numbers they crave while respecting the privacy of those who don't want to be entered into a competition without their consent.

quote: Never heard of fire ants. Would they be in Virginia? From this link, it would appear that fire ants are occasionally found as far north as Maryland, but they are mostly found further south. Lucky you. Lockley: Imported Fire Ants

>>On a recent hunt, I got something on my ankle and foot. Looks like poison ivy but the bubbles/blisters were bigger - up to 1/4" tall. Stranger yet was the areas affected were covered with socks. Each bubble was round and separated but near others, as though individual bites maybe. VERY itchy. Sounds like fire ants. Do you have those where you live? I've heard that ammonia applied immediately stops the itching and blistering, but I have never tried this myself.

The internal quad-helix antenna on my 76S will occasionally lose signal when under dense cover, up against a cliff, or the batteries are low. Overall its about the same performance as I get from the etrex with the internal patch antenna. The External antenna I got for my 76S seems to be vastly better. I've been thinking about fixing up a way to take it with me when I go caching in the woods. I think maybe shaving the top of my head and using the suction cup mount will do the trick.

I have a 76s and an etrex Legend (same as the vista but w/less memory, and no compass or altimeter). I really enjoy both units. I love the small size and weight of the etrex. I can carry it easily in my shirt or jeans pocket, and its very easy to be discreet when using it in public (e.g. urban geocaching). On the downside, the screen is so small I have to take reading glasses along on all my adventures, which sucks majorly. (I've already lost a pair of prescription lenses this way) The bigger screen and external antenna connection make the 76s a much better choice for using in a vehicle or airplane. Much has been made of the patch vs quad-helix antennae. In my (admittedly short) experience it is not entirely clear-cut which works better in all situations. I think the patch is supposed to have better reception of satellites directly overhead, while the quad-helix has better reception of satellites on the horizon. I have had the 76s lose reception while up against a steep canyon wall and all the satellites on the horizon were on the "wrong" side of the canyon. I sometimes take both units caching, and I haven't noticed that either is uniformly better.

I just made a flight on Delta this last week. I took my 76S along and and external antenna w/suction cup mount. I didn't get any flak at all from either airport security or the flight crew. It worked great. I was able to get really good satellite reception up there, about 8 ft accuracy in 3D differential mode. Having the external antenna was nice because I didn't have to hold the unit up against the window. My family took up the entire row and we were able to pass the unit around and watch our progress. I was interested to see that the barometric altimiter showed an elevation of about 6500 ft at cruising altitiude. I think that means that the cabin is pressurized to that altitude. Does that sound about right?

My legend works intermittantly in the back seat of my car. I let my 6 y.o. son hold it because he likes to watch our progress on the little map. Of course he could watch our progress just by looking out the window, but that wouldn't involve any electronic gear so what would be the point? As my wife likes to say, the apple don't fall too far from the tree.

If you have the patience to wait for the best deal, you can usually get really good deals on ebay. If you want something RIGHT NOW and still want a good deal, I have recently had a good experience with GPSnow.com. I bought a 76s for only 1-2% above what I saw them selling for on ebay. I placed my order at 3pm and they shipped it the same day. They only charged $10 for 2nd day FedEx, which is what most ebay sellers were quoting for regular ground.

I was wondering about this. Did you get any funny looks from airport security?