starscream2

There is a convenient "Back" button to get you back to the "main" screen. Here's a screenshot of mine: Note: The coords show up garbled to protect my home's coordinates. I do not expect visitors! Just to point this out to avoid confusion. The pictures and methods posted by shotgunpr do NOT appear to be taken from a Nuvi 200. I am about 99.9% sure the nuvi 200 does not support the screens shown in those pictures.

Personally, I would never enter such posted/closed at night areas myself, for any reason, much less to find a geocache. And I disapprove of others doing it. It is not only disrespectful to the land manager, but can also earn this sport an ill-needed black eye. But when you speak above of "now allowing" such offenses, the reality is: it is beyond your power, and mine, and that of Groundspeak, to prevent such behaviors, without expending incredible amounts of funds, effort and time. Lastly, another reason why I am so against geocachers entering parks at night is the domino effect of these so-called "small crimes". These people start with supposedly mild misdemeanor offenses such as trespassing in a park during closed hours, and, next thing you know, they are drinking alcohol and shooting heroin, and then they graduate to crack cocaine and robbing banks to support their habit, and then it is a small step to full-blown horrid offenses such as serial murders and robbing little old ladies on the sidewalk. To me some of the responsiblity comes on the hider. If you hide a cache in a place with restricted hours, you should do everything you can to list all the relevant information on cache's page. I would not hesitate to include a statement saying any finds made outside of legal visting hours will have their logs deleted. Sure people can lie and say the finds were within posted hours, but at least the hider is doing the right thing and trying to encourage others to as well. If the hider does not post the hours or warnings then I don't see how they could feel right about deleting logs for people claiming to find it after hours. As far as people intentionally going after FTF when they know they are violating the hours of the park, it is just wrong. If they do get caught or seen, it gives the geocaching community a bad name. It is about respecting the parks and places that allow us to geocache and honoring their rules. In a time where in many places we struggle to convince parks that geocaching is a good safe fun way to use the land, having people disrespect their rules just to get FTF is not going to help.

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before i try that with my nuvi 200 can you tell me how to get it back to normal mode from there? i don't want to be stuck on that screen. thanks. Just do the reverse instructions that got you to the pedestrian mode in the 1st place in your settings. My tips for successfully using the Nuvi 200: 1) Pedestrian / Off-road Mode. (I don't have my Nuvi in front of me and am struggling to remember if this is two different settings or one.. If the GPS is completely ignoring roads and drawing a line right to the cache it is correct, if you still see it using road navigation it is not going to work) 2) Map settings should be set to "North Up". Carrying a compass with you to know which direction is north can be helpful as well. 3) Zoom all the way in as you approach the site. Those first three are crucial settings that in my opinion are pretty much required for the Nuvi 200 to work for finding caches. 4. [Optional/Advanced] Download and install better 3rd party pointers. The vehicle icons that come with the Nuvi 200 are both: Big and Centered. This means your position is in the center of the huge arrow (or car) not at the tip. This can make it difficult to see exactly where you are on the map. Downloading and install smaller pointers that show your position at the point of the arrow (or center of crosshairs is good too) helps.

Sounds like you are close to getting it right. In addition to "pedestrian" and "off road" make sure you do a couple more things... 1) Have the display or map set to "North UP", the commonly used 3-D view for road navigation does not work too well for geocaching. If North is up on the display you can then tell which direction N, S, E, W you need to go. You may need a compass to help determine which way North is from you. 2) Make sure you zoom all the way in. If you are zoomed in the max you should be able to get a lot closer than 300 feet away before the two icons are over the top of each other. Basically the vehicle icon is where you are at, and there should be a line between you and the cache to follow. This line should be visible until you are within 20-30 feet of the cache, maybe even closer. 3) Download better vehicle icons. There are third party vehicle icons in the shape of arrows, or my personal favorite a crosshairs. These are smaller and better for geocaching. The vehicle icons that come install on a Nuvi are a bit too large and it is hard to see exactly where you are "in" the icon. For most of the cars and points you location is actually in the "center" of the icon. The third party vehicles fixes this to make you at the point of the point or X of the crosshairs.

1) Each geocache has a difficulty rating. Since you are off to a rough start make sure you pick only difficulty 1-2. Difficulties 3-5 can be tough even for experienced cachers. 2) Each geocache lists a size. Start by looking for some that are regular or large sized. I would recommend to avoid micro size until after you have a few finds under your belt. Beside the kids likely will enjoy the bigger ones better. 3) You need your GPS to get you closer than "the park". Geocaches are WELL HIDDEN. Even easy ones are well hidden. Searching a whole park is too big of an area. A Garmin nuvi should be able to get you within 20' of the cache. Without more details on why it couldn't get you closer I don't know what to say. As mentioned above are you in pedistrian mode? off-road mode? North UP map display? Zoomed all the way in? I have never used the nuvi 680, but I have used a nuvi 200. I would be surprised if the nuvi 680 was not capable of getting you to within 20 feet. I suspect you just are not familar with the different modes needed for geocaching.

The part I disagree about is that the nuvi is not as good getting you right to the cache, that is somehow is harder to use or less accruate. That simply is just not true. I will totally concede that it: 1) runs out of battery in 3-4 hours. 2) is not water-proof. Very true and both great reasons to get a handheld *IF* those are issues for you, for many cachers these might be non-issues. What I disagree with is that the nuvi is harder to use, and less accurate, or somehow less capable for getting you right to the cache. I use it side by side and often instead of my Venture HC. It is just as accurate, even in wooded areas I have not had any problems with the nuvi directing me within 20 feet of the cache. I do not see the signal bounce around any more than my Venture HC. I have successfully found several caches of all sizes, and locations with the nuvi and with the Venture HC. The nuvi gets me to the same number of feet away as the Venture consistantly. To state that the nuvi can't get the same accuracy or consistancy as a good handheld in my experience is just not true. The ease of use I guess is a matter of personal preference. Certainly the nuvi "works" differently from handhelds, but I disagree that it is harder. On the Venture HC I pick the cache and follow the arrow. On the nuvi 200 I pick the cache, zoom in and follow the line. The nuvi has a brighter, easier to read map screen, and even my kids can follow the line to the cache. I guess I personally fail to see how the navigation screen on the handheld is that much easier or more convenient to use. In the end on both models I just walk until the number of feet it is showing is 20 feet or less and then start searching. *Tip for nuvi users... find and download 3rd party vehicle icons, I use a small crosshairs vehicle for caching. For me if I am going out all afternoon caching, or have the kids with me I bring the Venture HC. If I hit a few caches after work, or go grab one or two around town solo mostly I just grab the nuvi and go. Being a newbie that kept reading all the psots about how much better the handhelds are, and going out and getting a highly recommended one, I guess I was/am disappointed in the difference. Certainly I appreciate the battery life, but the overall use is well... about the same as the nuvi I already had. (In regards to the Outdoor Classroom cache the knowschad referenced. If I remember correctly I used the Venture HC to find that one, so I can't make any claims for the nuvi regarding that particular cache)

Very well put, Brian! These people that post that they cache with a Nuvi and think that it works well really should cache for a while with a handheld unit for a while before they insist that its easy to play tennis with a baseball bat. I have a Nuvi, and its great for getting me to the park, and its great for holding information on the caches, but if that were all I had to get me from the parking lot to the cache, I'd probably find another hobby. Did it and have to disagree with you. I own and use a Garmin Venture HC and still maintain that using the Nuvi 200 is just as easy and good to use. I concede the point that the battery life is an issue *if* you are out caching all day. Aside from that if you just hit caches that are within two-three hours, the overall ease of use it the same. I see a lot of negativity toward the nuvi's here and everyone encouraged to go get a good handheld. Frankly having gone and got a "good" handheld myself I don't understand what the big deal about them is. The nuvi is easy to use, accurate and in general works great for caching. I think really you have to ask yourself a few questions to see if the handheld is really going to be better for you or not. Are you going to go on cache outings that last longer than 4 hours? Do you let kids use the GPS that drop it or bang it around? Do you cache in the rain? Are you favorite caches extremely rugged and off-trail? If the answers to any of those are "yes" maybe a handheld is not a bad idea. However, if you are an adult urban cacher, which is not at all uncommon, likely I don't think you will see any vast improvement in a handheld.

Hello, Being form the Rochester MN area I will give my opinions. I have not done all of them in the area, but a lot of them. So I don't know what your favorite type of caches are and will break down some of my personal favorites in each type. Larger Caches in wooded parks: Rochester has a few parks that are fairly wooded that have several larger caches with trade goods in them. In all of these parks most of the caches are not super hard to find and are mostly near groomed trail systems. These parks have some hills and certainly will give you good hiking opportunities, but all are well marked and groomed, and none are extremely steep or difficult to hike. Quarry Hill Park in SE Rochester. (about 10 caches) Example: Quarry Hill Replay: Cache Your Breath GC16YC9 Chester Woods Park (about 5 miles east of Rochester does require a small daily entrance fee) (5 caches) Example: ChesterWoods cache GCGCXN Essex Park in NE Rochester (6 caches) Example: Essex Park Cache GCGQ08 If Urban Micros are more your style. Less hiking and maybe slightly more difficult searching. I think the SCUM (School of Common Urban Micros) series in Rochester is very well done. The owner has a series of 13 unique and interesting micro hides that they have put a lot of thought effort into. Example one in this series is: SCUM101: Intro to magnetic keyholders GC1422F There are several good puzzles in the Rochester area if you enjoy them. A few of my favorites to solve were: GEO-OPOLY: Community Chest #3 GC111W1 Geo-opoly: Community Chest #2 GC113F9 GEO-OPOLY: Community Chest #1 GC10GKN Geo-opoly Chance #3 GC11990 If you want really rugged terrain or super hard ones... probably you need to travel east to the river bluffs. Winona, Red Wing, and Lacrosse have some rugged ones in the river bluffs, some great hiking and climbing there. I did the Plowline Trail series near GoodView/Winona over Father's day. Great series, but it was a 6 hour hike to get all 12 caches there. Anyway I hope this helps give you some ideas of where to

On my grand total of two hides I left an unactivated geocoin in the first, and a $1 scratch-off lotto ticket in the second. In both I had a printed certificate for the FTF. I have been FTF 3 or 4 times and never saw any prize. I could see doing another unactivated coin in a future hide if I thought the cache was especially clever and challenging. Otherwise I kind of like the $1 scratch off ticket (in a zip-lock to keep it dry of course) idea in general. I have waffled on the whole FTF prize concept. On one hand the same people tend to be the FTF over and over, so that is the aspect of the game they love, that is cool, but why should those same people get all the prizes? On the other hand at least in my area the FTF race is not so over-competitive that no one has a chance. There is a variety of FTF'ers heck I managed to get three myself so anyone could do it. Also I noticed that the common FTF people often note TNLN even when there is a good FTF prize, which is cool of them to let others have the prizes if they have gotten several prizes in the past. I think the unactivated geocoin I left went to the third finder. Lastly, I guess I sort of don't like listing the FTF prizes in the cache description. It just seems tacky to me. I am not that bothered about, if others want to do it okay.. but I can't see myself doing it. On my caches the FTF prize will always be a surprise. It just seems odd to read cache pages and see FTF prize listings that are 2 years old.. after the first few people take those items that information is old.

It sounds like you have it correct. You do not have to trade for a bug or coin, just take them and make sure you move them to a different cache, and log which one you took it from and which one you put it in. To put a bug or geocoin into play, you need to buy an "unactived" one. There are several websites that sell them, and in fact you can purchase the tags for bugs directly from this website. If you do buy a coin or bug just make sure it is "trackable on geocaching.com" and "unactivated". Then you can activate it and become the owner and start it up. Other coin tips/info: Some coins/bugs have specific goals listed on their website, or on an info sheet that is clipped to the item. You should try to follow the goals, if something says I want to go to the west coast, don't move it east, etc. It is generally accepted that you can hold onto an item for 2-3 weeks at most. If you are going on a trip or something and want to hold a coin longer than that you should email the coin owner first and make sure it is okay. There is often newbie confusion when logging coin. "Discovered" means you saw the coin but didn't pick it up. "Retrieved" means you saw the coin and did pick it up. I try to be a little be picky about where I leave coins and trackables. If a cache is not hidden well or has a recent history of being muggled or in a heavy traffic area, that increases the chance coins and bugs get stolen. I like to leave them a little off the beaten path, or in cache that appears to be well hidden.

I don't see what the difference is, or what waiting buys anyone. If I am at the computer doing logging and have the coin in front of me, I am going to log it right then and there rather than set it aside and forget about it, then wonder what happened when I try to place it in another cache and see that it is not in my inventory. The only thing that irritates me is when I am in the situation of not logging on for a few days, someone grabs a TB or coin I placed, but does not dip in the cache they found it from. As long as it is dipped into the cache it was retreived from and that cache shows on the trackable's map correct go for it. I think "waiting" is just a logging error waiting to happen myself. I don't see how it is polite or anything else. The original person still got the stats showing they picked it up. They still have the option of writing a note in the TB page if they desire too. As long as the TB got the mileage correct and ends up in the right inventory, who cares who clicked the buttons to make that happen?

My thought is that if you are moving away for a long time that could be turned into permanent, don't hide any new ones. There is always newbies struggling to find hiding spots coming into the sport, chances are someone will find those interesting spots. Maintenance can vary so much. Could be someone muggles your caches right away, and you start getting DNFs could be they last for years with no problems. There is no way to know. I just think it is a bad precedence to go hide them and then leave forever. If you do archive then you have litter some place that you are unable to pick up. If there is a local person that can maintain them, let them be under that person's name, so if there is problems, questions, etc a local person can answer them. Even though this is a bit different situation, it has a lot of similarities to a "vacation cache" which is heavily frowned on. Where someone puts a cache someplace and then leaves that place forever. I agree with the last poster, if/when you do come back, hide them at that time.

I would pick today. The queries usually generate pretty fast, but not always. Also since you have not done this before it will give you more time to go through the process and figure out how to make sure everything is downloaded correctly into the GPS. Really no difference between doing it today vs tomorrow. You won't get any changes that happen after you do the query. So any new caches that pop up tonight, or old caches that get disabled tonight. But really the likelyhood that that making any difference is very low.

Yes, As a premium member you can setup a pocket query. A pocket query might be something like: Give me the nearest 200 unfound, active, non-puzzle caches to my home cordinates. You can set it up to allow or disallow based on several criteria. This query will email you a file. The file will be in GPX format. There are several free or cheap programs that can read the GPX file and download all the points to your GPS. Some Examples: Garmin POI Loader (found free on Garmin's website) Mapsource (comes with many Garmin GPS units) EasyGPS (free, works with several brands of GPS units).

You make some good reasonable points there. I do hear what you are saying and certainly don't completely disagree. The puzzle/mutli issue gets rehashed a lot. The problem is that if there a system to find out where they are, people would use that system to go logs finds of the cache. I don't know how that one can be solved. On one hand people should be allowed to make good multi/puzzles without having to worry about a "backdoor" that people can use to cheat, on the other hand it does make it more difficult to know where you can place new hides. I guess I am in the camp that sort of wants the reviewer to have a pretty quick trigger finger on the archive button if someone does point something out. Sure people get hurt and sick but really in the big picture that has to be pretty rare that someone claims an invalid problem with a cache right at a time when the owner is unable to defend that hide. I would rather "chance" that occurance then have mutiple people get tickets for tresspassing or something because the reviewer was slow to archive it. I have to think that in the vast majority of the cases where invalid information leads to a caching being archived the owner would respond to the reviewer and get it turned back on quickly.

I thought I understood your complaint, but now you are losing me a bit.... Whose rules are too harsh? Geocaching.com guidelines? If so which rules in particular do you want changed if you were king of it? Do you want geocaching.com to say it is okay to place caches in posted areas? Or at least look the other way if you want to place a cache in such an area? Do you want to do away with the solicitation rule? (Thus allowing businesses all over the place to setup caches in their stores, and/or allowing caches to be full page ads for products). Do you want to eliminate the 528' rule? Or is the point that because some caches out there violate some of these rules, you think the reviewer should look the other way when new caches are posted? I am just trying to understand what your main complaint is and how you would change things. It seems like your main problem was the solicitation guideline for your caches. So maybe just that rule you have an issue with? But then the examples you give where regarding the proximity rule and posted signs. Did you like finding caches by posted signs and think the geocaching should stop cracking down on those and be more leniant?

I am personally glad the reviewers are strict when they look through caches. I as a cache finder I do NOT want to get yelled for being on private property, do NOT want a $500 ticket for tresspassing, do NOT want caches pages to be ads for local businesses, etc. The more questions they can ask to prevent this stuff the better. I do agree just hearing your description without seeing the full details they were a bit harsh with the solicitation angle. I don't get the impression you were try to advertise anything, and I think the reviewer has some freedom in what they consider solicitation. But again this is completely based on what you wrote, maybe if I saw their point of view I would change my mind. I have seen other posts like this and the advice has always been when you submit your caches for publishing document everything and detail it for the reviewer as much as possible. Pictures, details, proof of permission, etc. The more stuff proving the hide is valid, the better chance it will be published quickly. If I was a reviewer any cache that came through without any information would be srutinized and questioned heavily. It is on the hider to prove the location is valid. As for others ignoring or skirting guidelines. That is a sure way just to cause the reviewer to try to crack down more, while the same time giving geocaching to get a bad name. People complain about the geocache cops out there... well try following the guidelines and using common sense. You see it in the forums every week, someone complaing that their "great" location got archived even though it was in obvious guideline violation. I don't know what the deal is. There are plenty of good spots that meet all guidelines, but whether is a numbers game to get more hides or what, but people have to keep trying to hide in spots that are not valid and then get upset when it gets revoked.

You pulled the cache. Good. You contacted the cache owner. Good. Reasonable? A month in my book. Others will feel differently. Your current log should indicate the issue so others know what's up. After a month use the SBA log and also let the reviewer know the steps you have taken and the time frame. Then move on with life and caching. That's what I'd do anyway. If you pulled the cache, wouldn't you log the SBA right away? Otherwise you are going to have people visiting that area looking for a missing cache. Not everyone is going to read the logs and know it is missing. I usually only look at the logs after I can't find something. There is no way to my knowledge for someone other than the owner to temporarily disable it. If I was in the situation I would pull the cache, send the owner the details of what happened, immediately log the SBA (only because the cache has been pulled). Then the owner can deal with the situation. If they want to fight over whose land it really is and get it reactivated great. Say the muggle was lying, all the owner has to do it and prove the cache is on valid public land to the reviewer and get it turned back on. There is a couple situations where like this where I wish there was something in between archive and maintance. Something like a request for the reviewer to temporarily disable the cache. Then you could temp disable it for a month, and give the owner longer to respond. But since that option doesn't exist, I think you have to SBA.

That said, as an owner and active user of both the Garmin Venture HC and Garmin nuvi. If I am doing urban caching around town, it is the Nuvi that always comes with, and the Venture HC that sometimes gets left at home. As stated the one killer for the Nuvi on long caching trips is the battery life. Mine says 5 hours, but I lucky to get around 3 hours on a full charge in reality, I can easily be away from my car long enough for that to be a factor. I think it is overstated how much better handhelds are compared to the nuvi. Really if the nuvi had replacable batteries I probably would have just stayed with the as my single GPSr. However, I would not be discouraged from using the Nuvi as a way to see if you like geocaching or for caching around town where battery life is not an issue. I feel that the ease of use, accuracy, and ability to actually locate caches between the Venture HC and Nuvi is about equal. A lot of people use car GPS like the Nuvi to get started in caching and see what it is like. Just make sure the settings are correct as noted above and in the other threads that people have linked to. Since you already have the nuvi try it out and find some caches. If you decide that you do like caching a lot and need the longer battery life/more durable unit you can always get a handheld unit at that time.

The Garmin Nuvi units actually work pretty well for finding caches. I have used a Nuvi 200 to find several caches. The accuracy and ease of use is very similar to my handheld GPSr. My big issue with the Nuvi units is that the battery, you simply can not go out caching all day, it will eventually run out and then you are done. Thus I do own a handheld Garmin Venture HC as well. My top tips for using the Nuvi for caching: (Assuming a Nuvi 200 which does NOT have cordinate display) In the settings make sure: 1) Display is set so North is UP. Bring a compass with to know which direction north is. 2) Pedestrian Mode 3) Off-road Mode 4) When approaching the location zoom all the way in. You should be able to see how far away you are and in which direction. Get within 20 feet and start searching. Also I strongly recommend to change the vehicle to a much smaller crosshairs or arrow. There are several 3rd party "vehicles" that you can download into the nuvi from various websites. The default vehicles have two main problems. They are very large, making it hard to see exactly where you are on the map. Your location is in the center of the vehicle. Yes, even the pointer your location is not at the tip, but smack in the middle. The 3rd party vehicles fix both of these problems, they are smaller and designed such that you can be at the tip of the pointer or in the center of the crosshairs. Lastly, be careful with the unit, it is really not made to be out hiking with. I usually carry mine in a ziplock bag to keep it from getting wet. It is also possible to create your own wrist strap with a few large rubber bands if you are worried about dropping it.

Thanks! That did the trick.

Okay, I know I saw a thread about this, and not too long ago. But I have tried searching for it and can not find it. I must not be searching the correct keywords or something. The problem: I type in the directions in Google Earth, it picks a very different route than what I am going to take. I understand how to mark pinpoints in Google Earth and do several sets of directions that make up the final route. But I do not know how to get that turned into a single continuous kml file that I can upload and generate a pocket query on.

For solo caching one or two around town, I wear a Pouch containing: My GPSr a compass pocket knife geocoins TBs small notebook (my journal) couple pencils/pens spare batteries whistle sometimes one or two small trade items sometimes PDA pencil sharpner If I am out caching with the kids, or an any kind of extended trip I add a backpack containing: bug spray water bottles first aid kit zip lock bags (regular and bead size) replacement logbooks flashlight a bunch of toys/swag/trade items extra compass sun block extra pens/pencils

Sounds good to me. As long you are good at logging all the coins you take and move. Don't hold them super long, and respect the goals of the trackables, but go ahead and move all you want to. I would rather have a good responsible people move a lot of coins than people who don't log them, hold on to them long periods of time, lose them, or steal. TB hotels/motels/depots... I am wary of them myself. They seem like a coin thief magnet, and are often placed in "convenient" places for travellers which might make them more exposed to getting muggled. If you do setup a TB hotel make sure it is a in a very well hidden place where muggles will not have any chance of accidentally stumbling across it. I am pretty new to caching as well, but my reactions to some TB hotels is basically I can't beleive people think this is a "safe" spot to leave coins... where by my way of thinking it should be the opposite, TB hotels should be among best hidden caches out there, far away from normal muggle areas. Along the same vein, if you do bring back a lot of coins try to spread them out. If you place a lot of coins all in one cache and a coin thief or muggle did find it, they could get them all in one shot. Spread them out across several caches just to be safe.