SimbaJamey

I started out playing with a Vista and then a 60 and quickly became frustrated by the lack of information I had even though I was tweaking the fields it loaded. That above anything else got me to move up to a Colorado straight away. I don't really plan my caching adventures per se, and even when I do I tend to not follow the plan. So I keep the Colorado updated with about 900 caches I haven't found around home and in the places I'm most likely to be, that way when I have a little free time or happen to be driving by one I can go caching. As for reading the pages...Well, sometimes. Usually, now that I've got a little more experience. I'm often reading the page as I'm walking up to the cache, but there are times I just go for it with just the coordinates and then work through the steps if I can't find it right away (Look...Read the page...Look...Read the logs...Look...Read the hint). I DNFed the last cache I looked for on a successful day Friday...I read the page and I think I read the logs, but never worked my way to the hint...and it was a give-away hint too so I'm sure we would have made the grab had I read it...Oh well. So no, I don't always read the page, especially for P&Gs, but if I'm in a cool location I will almost always read it before I look around. I will say though, the more caches I get under my belt, the more I'm reading the pages before I even press 'go' on the Colorado...getting to the, "When you've seen one, you've seen them all" point with certain hides so I'm trying to weed them out before waste the gas. (I may have to try that 'filter by average log length' thing eventually)

I think he's talking about something I ran into yesterday for the first time and also found quite annoying... When you get to the map with WhereTo ...That's where the problem is...you can't pan the map once it shows it to you. So you can get to the point on the map, but you can't move the map to see what's around it.

This is probably happening because you are using GSAK to load your files and you are stripping off the GC when you export to your Colorado. If you use the default GSAK export settings, or better yet, the very cool GSAK export macro you can avoid this issue. Thanks! I figured it was something like that. Sounds like in recreational mode you switched the track setting to track up? Have you checked in _both_ profiles that the track mode is set to Track Up? GO$Rs The Automotive profile is set to automotive mode. The recreational is set to Track Up. But after switching profiles (and IIRC sometimes just randomly) it would switch on it's own to North Up on the recreational profile. And it happened a lot...at least a dozen times.

I just installed the 2.8 update and the unit seems to do things (menu pages, map draws) faster than it had been. I have high hopes for this one...When I got my Co. in May it came with the 2.6 software and worked great right out of the box. Right before 2.7 came out I think I saw a location error once or twice but for the past month or so it's been happening constantly! And yes, I did 2.7 but it only seemed to make it worse. Now on a day when I go out for 3 caches, I have to power-cycle the unit usually for 2 of them because it gets to the point where I realize something's not right. After the power-cycle I usually end up about 200' from the cache and every time it turns out I walked right past it at some point but the Co. never said I got closer than about 100' before the power-cycle. I had been looking here for a place to put this but it seems the Co. complaints have become fewer and farther between (Oddly, right about the time mine started having problems). One new problem I've been having for a month or so is that my field-notes will no longer upload, the GC page kept telling me 0 records found. I finally figured it out this past Sunday, it's leaving the GC off the beginning of the cache ID. When I put it there and saved the file it worked exactly how it's supposed to. Anyone else having this issue? And lastly, although this one hasn't happened in a while (maybe since 2.7?)...I'm pretty sure it would happen when I was switching profiles between automotive and recreational (Pretty much the only 2 I ever use) that the Co. would CONSTANTLY switch it's self from Track Up to North Up.

This may be stupid but.... I too was having short battery life with my rechargeables (Kodak 2500mah), sometimes as little as 3 hours with limited backlight usage. I invested in a much better charger, one that monitors what's happening in the individual batteries to make sure each one is being fully charged and I'm now getting 3-4 times the battery life I was and I use the backlight a lot more than I used to. It was less than $30 and it made a world of difference!

So far so good. Seems to be doing things faster...and at my desk I'm staying in the 20's for accuracy and it used to not be able to get a lock at all here. Anything has to be better that 2.7!

I was recently placing a multi in a local woodsy park. Went back the next day to confirm my #'s...and couldn't find my own final (The GPS was apparently about 50' off on that stage the day before). While I was searching for mine...I came across the final for a multi in that park that had been archived about a year before after many months of DNFs due to a missing first stage. As it turned out, I guess I picked a really good spot to hide my final because it was within about 30' of the old one! (I didn't know there had ever been a cache there when I hid mine, found out half way through the process by talking to the township approver who had found the previous cache a couple of years ago.) Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that you can't count on muggles having found that cache...I found an ammo can sitting in the crux of a tree not far off a busy busy trail that hadn't been found or opened in a year and a half. It was right out there in the open, very easy to see but hadn't been touched since the last cacher find. Now that I know they're out there....I'm surpriseed there aren't more accidental finds on ones like that.

I met with my local township parks administrator on Friday...not only is he a cacher, and one who gets VERY excited about the sport, he said he would like there to be at least one cache in every park in the township! He also works with other people in his position and other agencies to get them to allow caches on their lands and even place some themselves. He also runs classes on Geocaching through the township every few months. He said he averages about 8 people per class. I'm heading out the door in a few minutes to try to help him out with his goal

My only real injury so far (other than the old knees 'popping' and getting sore) is one I'm unfortunately kinda famous for. As the saying goes, "A day at work for me isn't a day at work until I've hit my head." Well, caching seems to be similar to working for me...I can't even count the number of branches and stuff I've hit my head on while looking at the GPS or searching for a cache. (the worst are when I crouch down to grab the cache and sign the log...and then forget why I had crouched down and after signing the log and re-hiding the cache...I stand up into whatever it was I crouched under just a minute or two before...D'OH!!!)

Wow! that one is COOL! I may have to go pick up one or two of them (If I ever see them anywhere)! Many many possible uses including caching...Although I've yet to find a cache that would require an extended magnet like that to retrieve it....but hmmmmmm, I could always make one!

What about, "The pursuit of Happiness"? I think that's onea dem dere Rights thingies. When I'm happy, I smile. When I find a cache, I get a smiley. Not too big a leap, eh? I just got back from scoping out a local park for some cache placements I'll be doing tonight or tomorrow. I've been thinking about it for months and working on cool caches about as long. I finally got up the gumption yesterday and went to the township building and met with the local parks guy. We've had email contact happening for a while and he sent me a pdf of the approval form months ago. I was still hesitant and even placed my first 2 caches outside his jurisdiction (and closer to home). Well...I gotta tell ya, I now see my hesitation (and the original premise of this thread?) as kinda ridiculous now. I walked in and the dude was totally excited to see me and get a chance to talk caching. He's a huge enthusiast of the sport. He said one of his goals is to have at least one cache in every park in the township. He talked about other agencies that have hidden them on their properties and encouraged cachers to do so as well. He's also on the inside trying to change the opinions of the other people like him pointing out the benefits of bringing people on-site as well as being able to yay or nay specific locations. It was pretty much what Keystone was describing. I'd rather fill out a form and get approval, rather than see my cache being blown up by the bomb squad on the evening news or picked up by the cops when someone is caught finding it. Sure, I'm new so I missed the days when Geocaching was truly covert. But the cat's out of the bag and there are over half a million out there and it seems that not everyone plays with such high standards. The first thing I asked the Parks guy was, "Is there anyplace you don't want caches?" He said, "No, there are no ecologically sensitive areas that would be a problem." Personally, I'd be pretty bummed out if I placed one somewhere and the area got trashed or the geotrail had some kind of negative impact on the area.

You're up at 3am waiting for the glue to dry on your latest cache creation so you can flip it over and cammo the other side.

Runtime Error: Legacy System: Flash Drive: Microprocessor: Dual Core Processor: Load Balancing: Resource Hog: Locked: /Exit:

As someone who was recently in the same boat but has jumped ship with a couple of hides I have one piece of advice to offer... Take everything with a grain of salt...and don't take anything personally. I agree 100% with the seek out and follow the rules advice (I contacted my local reviewers and township officials for advice months before hiding a cache). Do your research and then come up with something cool you'd enjoy finding. But then seriously...grow a thick skin about it. I placed my first a few weeks ago, the first finder said the D/T ratings were low so I emailed and asked what he thought they should be since he's got a couple of years in and thousands of finds and I'm still under 100. The response was a long rant about everything that's wrong with noob cachers. My skin is pretty thin....so I was really bummed out. The subsequent logs were more complimentary and some were downright funny. Feeling a little better about it after that, I went for another hide a month later. The same guy FTFed my 2nd and left a short acronym B.S. log. Then it went a day without being found and I really started to have doubts (Local caches usually get lots of early activity). But then the logs started coming in and they started getting A LOT better... "Fantastically nice!" "Nice hide had me thinking about this for a while" "...VERY MUCH APPRECIATED" "The GPS took me right there, then I found the cache right away, but what a great hide. TFTC!" (Although not in his jurisdiction, this was from my local township approval person). Grain of salt. And then once you place it...especially if you put a lot of time and effort into the creation and hiding spot location selection...be prepared! Both of my caches so far are close enough to home that I can check on them constantly (I can just about see the 2nd from where I'm sitting)... From what I've seen so far...only about 1 out of 4 cachers will put the cache back where they found it. (Find it wedged into a crevice in a tree...leave it laying on the sidewalk. Makes sense to me. Find it in a creek...leave it on the bank. Makes sense to me.) Edit: Realized I shou'd have posted a full log here that I snipped previously...this is one on my second cache..."tfth This is the quickest I have every found a cache. I hope yours has a longer lfespan than the one I did. After 4 cachers I had to change the container. Love the concept. Took a lot of time and patience to create it. VERY MUCH APPRECIATED" Grain of salt. Oh...and MOST importantly......HAVE FUN!!!!!!

I'm not reading this thread. I'm not reading this thread. I'm not reading this thread. I'm not reading this thread. I'm not reading this thread. I don't need to know I can get notifications sent to my phone. I don't need to know I can get notifications sent to my phone. I don't need to know I can get notifications sent to my phone. I don't need to know I can get notifications sent to my phone. Crap. I just set it up.

How much wrong information can you pack into a single post? Your guideline saturation distance is off by a factor almost 4, and it's in no way the OPs fault that he didn't know where the final location of a mystery or multi-cache was. And using Google or Yahoo is pointless when the actual location your checking for is unknown. Yes, I addressed this same bizarre post also in my earlier post, and.... I must note that the author also claims that caches must be placed "within 600 metres of another cache." This would mean that there MUST be a cache located every 600 meters in each direction, in a grid formation! And, who knows WHERE she or he got the bizarre figure of 600 meters! Dagnabbit Vinny! I couldn't believe nobody noticed that either! I got more and more excited as I got deeper and deeper into the thread coming up with better and better snarks as that kept getting quoted without anyone calling him on it. What am I going to do for fun now? sheesh. edited for speelink

When I started caching I watched all sorts of YouTube videos about caching.... There's one where a couple gets engaged. Easy to search for, because it came up on lots of geocaching searches. Looked like they had fun

PC-7 Or PC-11 if you want it to be white. Nothing better. (and yes, sand the plastic first.)

I like the, "Until I'm not having fun anymore" idea. I think a lot of it depends on the cache. I've been stumped by some more challenging ones and go WAY beyond the 7 minute rule. When I first started I spent 6 hours (over the course of 2 weeks) looking for a nano on a sign post right up the street (I usually find nanos a lot more quickly now having seem one before). A cool local multi took me probably half a dozen attempts and about 10 hours to finally get the smiley, I had to email the last finder (The CO seems to be gone) and get a nudge in the right direction (The coordinates for a stage were completely wrong) literally..."North East corner of the site" I took a friend along and we scoured several acres of woods before finding it on our, "One last look before we go home". One thing I've learned is that when the frustration level gets too high, I walk away and come back another time with fresh eyes. A caveat though is that I've not had to travel very far for my caching adventures yet. I don't know how long I'd spend on individual caches if I was far from home working with a plan and couldn't easily return for another try. The ones I make multiple attempts at or spend lots of time on tend to be ones very close to home or ones I pass on my way to places I drive to often. I tend to like the ones that stump me more than the ones I walk up to and make the grab and move on. They're the more memorable ones to me. I've also stayed and hung out where the cache brought me lots of times (usually with older caches) just to enjoy the scenery. I've DNFed 7 caches in my short time playing. 3 I kept working on til I found them, 1 was archived because it's apparently been missing since last year (and the same missing CO)...and the other 3 I'm sure I'll go after again before too long. The last thing I'll say is that the happiest I have ever been to find a cache was the one that took me 6 tries, 10 hours, and an email hint from the previous finder. Like I wrote in the log...I practically skipped home I was so happy to finally get that one off the map! Hmmmm....if I wasn't allergic to math I'd probably say something like the level of joy that comes with making the find is directly proportional to the amount of frustration getting there.

I really like Green. Purple is good too. Orange...not so much. I'm (constantly reminded that I'm) still a cherry but I have cached with lots of my muggle friends and relatives already. Some have signed the logs, some have not. One has signed the logs with 2 different names but has never logged online (When you look up 'computer illiterate'...) One that has almost never signed the logs has created an account and logged her dozen plus finds online. So to summarize... Some people like chocolate. Some people like vanilla. I just love Ice Cream!

I was on Amazon the other day searching for Bison Tubes...when I put Geocaching into the search, one of the things it returned were, "Finger Flashlights" Little LED flashlights you wear like rings (IIRC it was 4 for $20) Sounded interesting.

One that I recently went out to FTF... Published at 5:02 in the afternoon. I had the cache in hand at 5:04 (It's pretty much across the street from where I live). I was the 7th person to sign the log! There was an ice-cream-social event cache in town earlier that day and I think the host placed a bunch of local caches for the attendees to FTF that morning before they were published.

I just saw this posted as a note: 3 hours and that's not a DNF???

Although this is a dead (fallen) tree....it shows the awesome power they (trees) have. The rock the tree lifted off the ground when it fell is about the size of a small car and probably weighs at least 6000 pounds.

I never used to care either...But one of my caching friends got Lyme this year and I found a tick on one of my cats after I got home from a caching adventure (they are indoor cats, the tick was spotted crawling on the cat while the cat was sitting on my lap) So I started spraying my clothes with the premetherin stuff. That way, even if I bring them home...they are dead or about to die. It's worked well, I haven't found a single tick on me (or a cat) since I started using it (And I had several earlier this summer, including one that was dug in for a day or two before I found it and I ended up with a funky rash at the point of attack).