quimbly

Hmm, interesting. I do remember being rather disappointed when I got my 60CS (the original model) and seeing the dreadful base map. I'm wavering again. I might see if the birthday elves would be willing to bring me the Topo maps later this month...

Thank you all for your help. I'm still dithering... Pharisee, thanks for the offer, but I'm a long way from Luton. I think I'm going to stick to paper maps for the moment. I know the Topo maps are only £70, but I've just bought myself a new camera, so I can't quite justify them at the moment. If I meet someone on my caching travels with the Topo maps, I will ask them if I can have a look.

Hmm. I've just had a play with the online maps, and read a few reviews of the mapping software. Nearly all the reviews were bad. Having looked at the online maps, I can't see anything to make me disagree with the reviews - the maps really aren't very nice at all. They might have lots of contour lines, but where are all the paths & bridleways? Even where they're marked, the colour choices seem very poor. I struggled to recognise the area around my own home on the map. This saddens me rather - if the Garmin units are locked to this software only, I might have to investigate other devices. Perhaps I should be looking for some kind of Palm/Pocket PC - which would have a bigger screen anyway? I'm never going to go out without the OS map, but it'd be nice to have some kind of device that meant I only needed to get the map out if I ran out of batteries/dropped it in a stream...

Thank you all for your help; I shall have a shop around for Topo Great Britain. I spent some considerable time earlier today fighting with a big Outdoor Leisure map in high wind & driving rain - having the maps on my GPS would have been a lot less hassle (why is the bit where I'm standing ALWAYS on a fold in the map?)

But I'm more interested in using the GPS to help me navigate the footpaths & open land of the Peak District - I would like an up-to-date Ordnance Survey map with all the footpaths on it.

I have a 60CSx. Bought for geocaching only (well, actually a replacement unit for an older model). But I'm interested in what you can do with actual maps on these things, and neither the Garmin site nor the Memory Map site are much help. Can you buy area maps for the 60CSx, or do you have to buy the whole of the UK? Are the maps small enough scale (1:25000) for walking? Yes, I have a compass, and a big map (one of the waterproof ones). But I am thinking that perhaps I could use the GPS? Apologies if this is a FAQ, but I have really only used the GPS for geocaching, and I'd like to get the most out of it.

This is cool! Exported from GSAK & loaded some onto my TomTom today and it works a treat! I also set mine to 1000 yards alert, and it's amazing how many you drive past. The ones that went off today I think I'd already found, so I really need to filter them better in GSAK before I export them. It really is rather amusing - when I'm approaching a speed camera the TomTom goes "boing!" and if there's a cache near I've set it to the "bugle" sound.

I really don't know why I got a new one back with no charge - there was no explanation, just a summary sheet of what the fault was and the fact that a new unit was shipped to me. The only other time I sent something back (a nadgered Forerunner), they replaced that FOC too - but with the same model, and it was only a month old. Julie

Last week I had a 2.5 year old Garmin GPSmap 60CS with faulty buttons. Phoned up Garmin support, was told it might be up to £89 for a repair, but they'd phone me when they received it to let me know. Sent it off last week and waited. Started to get a bit twitchy by today when I hadn't heard from them - I had sent it Special Del, so I knew it had got there. Came home today to a delivery. Brand spanking new 60CSx, no charge! Really pleased, as I know the new Sirf chips are so much better, after I went from a Forerunner 201 to 205. Went out for a quick celebratory cache & dash to test it - works a treat. Thank you Garmin! Julie

I wish to thank Archer4 for alerting me to this cache. Took me the whole weekend to do! Very rewarding though, and a beautiful area. quimbly

Well, I like a quality long multi - did one on Saturday morning that took us 1.5 hours for the round trip. Really enjoyed it - fabulous weather, lots of wildlife, an interesting monument, beautiful bluebell woods and a well-hidden cache. And we had it all to ourselves - apart from a distant farmer in a Landrover at the far end of the field at one point, we didn't see another human soul. But still, caching to me isn't all about a nice long walk. It can be the excitement of seeing a new cache pop up in your area and knowing that you can dash out at lunchtime from work and bag it - possibly being FTF. One of these opportunities recently got me a lovely FTF pin badge. Even these short dashes can introduce an area you didn't know existed. I can't think of a single cache I've absolutely *hated* - OK, some of them were very quick and fade from memory quickly. But you simply don't know how good/bad a cache is until you get there - and for that reason I don't really filter caches by type. I'm not *that* keen on micros - but then I tend to leave my glasses in the car But I do recall some memorable ones - particular one above the Cat & Fiddle in biting wind & snow - my fingers nearly dropped off signing the log.

The first cache I ever did, I was running & the other half was on his bike. I had worked up quite a sweat, then proceeded to search for the cache (a small one, but not a micro). Took me about 20 minutes. By that time I was starting to shiver a lot. I don't remember what time of year it was, but if you've been running & then stop, you can get cold pretty quickly if you're susceptible that way. Wouldn't recommend it. quimbly

A lot of the time I TNLN, as I don't like to carry too much with me. But I tend to buy trinkets from Tesco, little toys for about 50p; I carry these & if a cache is very bare, I'll leave a thing or two to enhance the cache. I will usually also have a nice keyring or something with me to swap for any more desirable items. The nicest things I've found to leave recently have been wooden animals with a compass inset in them - around a pound from the Staffordshire Wildlife shop at Wolseley Bridge, and also at Amerton Farm - both in Staffordshire. The best thing I've taken from a cache was a hand-painted stone, in the canal narrow boat decoration style. I believe this is a signature item from a couple who live on a narrow boat - afraid I can't remember their "geo-tag".

I'm getting the same problem. A bit annoying as I was planning on a cache or two today.

I believe there are Muntjac deer on the Chase too, although I've never seen one. (Never seen an adder there either.)

I too recognise where the original photo was taken! The bluebells weren't out when I did the cache, although the M6 was bustling. But I do love the bluebells, they're out in the garden now. Gratuitous photo here:

Retrieved the camera from my cache today and developed & scanned the photos. The only person I recognised was M1EYO, as I checked his profile after we seemed to be following him around the Cannock Chase caches a couple of weeks ago. Please let me know if you're in the pics! Quercus Quest photos

The trick to cycle-caching is to have 2 of you, so one can look after the bikes. I got my Geko initially to use when mountain-biking, as I have a rubbish sense of direction and it helps a lot. It was only whilst pootling around on the web I discovered Geocaching, and decided to give it a go. We did our first cache with my bloke cycling and me running, but I realised that caching and running don't really go together, as I got quite cold when I had to stop and hunt for the cache. Then we did most of the caches on Cannock Chase by bike. Most of our subsequent ones have been on foot, but there are some in Derbyshire on the cycle trails, and the Macc Forest Monster, that we plan to do by bike.

Congrats, Deego!

Hiya, using a Geko 201 here. Pretty much the same as your Geko 101 but mine can connect to the computer for downloading waypoints & uploading/downloading tracklogs. You will have no problem with a 101, I've found a Geko perfect for geocaching; the only problem is if you care that most people think you're walking along sending SMSes on your mobile phone! Enjoy geocaching, it's a great sport with great people involved.

My Geko's the same, gets a bit sluggish when it's around zero C. Still works though, and I don't see much impact on battery life. My digital camera seems far more affected by cold, the battery life just plummets in the cold, then revives if you warm it up again. A bit annoying since the camera uses a rechargable battery which you can't easily replace in the field, but the GPSr could be revived by cheap replacement batteries.

I have it turned on on my Geko; got several good sessions connected to EGNOS during the Autumn, but only the occasional blip since November. Got an EGNOS signal very briefly by the Cat & Fiddle late December. I leave it turned on just for the thrill of perhaps seeing the DIFF identifier instead of ACCURACY. Still have no idea what DIFF really means, though

Derbyshire, England, just afore Christmas: http://www.moo.clara.net/graphics/derbyshire.jpg

The most I've travelled in one caching day is perhaps 150 miles. Although there's 317 caches within 50 miles of my home, 100 mile round trips aren't unusual, as the caches are rarely as the crow flies, and my navigating can be atrocious at times.

Well done, currently aiming for 100 myself, but still a while to go, as I have to go further afield after I've bagged the local ones.