Capitalpete

Just tell him it cost about $120 each time you go out (remember the $100 hamburger?) , he can play with a GPS, talk a special language, wear easily identifiable clothing, talk about new wonderful electronic components, the inherent danger of the sport, close calls with buddies, being directly affected by the weather, and hang out in the coffee shop afterwards doing a little "hanger geocaching" just like flying. He will like it, you just have to present it in the right manner. Afterall he IS A PILOT........LOL PS. Flying is where I learned how to use a GPS, it costs a whole lot more to go flying now than when I started in the 80's, but the GPS units are a whole lot more accurate and cost a lot less now.

Greetings Al, Welcome to Geocaching using a GPS! I am not sure if you have the owners manual with you GPS so I thought I would post a link to the online version of the manual that you can download for free. Find it here, Garmin 75 owners manual. It sort of reminds me of Maxwell Smarts Shoe phone, I am not sure why, but it just does. Anyway, enjoy geocaching!

Sigh,,, yes that is all part of it. Usually you discover that you input the coordinates wrong after you get home again. On the brightside, you both got outside today and spent some time together.......

Can you please post a picture showing the wound that the dog inflicted on the CHILD so that I can make a fair comparison before I answer your question. I am assuming that you felt the damage was sufficient enought to warrant a trip to the ER, as just by reading your posts and your webpage you do not appear to be someone who over reacts, or goes running to the doctors with a boo boo. You seem to be a "together" person who likely is very self sufficent. My point here is that you took the CHILD to the ER Room, you were concerned enough about the damage that it was not just a little bite. Children should not be scared to live in their own home. I think that someone said that already. I am not talking about being scared of monsters in the closet or under the bed. This is REAL, and a child, or any other person should not have to live with that fear in their own home. We put rails on stairs, we don't let children use table saws or use firearms, or leave sharp knives laying around. I think you already know what you need to do, you have decided what is best for the child. Remember we are talking about the safety of the child here.Why are you second guessing yourself? I am sorry if this sounds jaded or blunt. But the reality is that we need to put our CHILDREN AND THEIR SAFETY FIRST, and our feelings about an animal second. The child did not ask to get bitten. And yes, we too have animals, and yes I have had dogs and dogs with children. But I know where my priorities are, they are in protecting my children. Criminal, please do not be offended by my post, I simply want to state the obvious fact that some people tend to put dogs and their own personal feelings as a higher priority than the safety and well being of children. There is plenty of time for dogs when the children are grown and out of the house.

"with this handy device, you will always be able to find the nearest Tim Horton's Donut shop"

This seems to be a good arguement against paperless caching! Trees be damned, I am gonna print this stuff off so I can hopefully prove what I am doing. With my luck I would reach for my PDA and be shot before I could turn it on.

Hey, glad we could help you! Enjoy your time GEOCACHING, and your time together with the family. As the wife says "it's not worth getting frustrated over (learning how to do the advanced things) just get out there and enjoy it. If you just get hung up on learning all the features right away then you will not be able to enjoy geocaching and that is the whole reason that you bought the GPS anyway" Enjoy caching, ask again if you have other questions as this board is the very next place you should read after reading your manual.....LOL......

Good, it worked! I was wondering who was going to be the first to comment! I just wanted to take a poke at those who complain about parking at a cache, as I think I did once. We are fortunate that we live in the middle of one of the busiest caching areas in North America. Our own cache is located about 200 meters away, and there are literally hundreds of them withing a 30 minute bike ride from our home. Really no need to drive to them. An SUV would be pointless where we live, it does not snow much here, when it does we stay home. We live in a city where the roads are paved, and shopping for groceries and everything else is no more than a 20 minute walk away. We still drive the same car that we have had for the last 9 years and have no plans to buy another one for quite a while, with the cost of gas the way it is we try not to drive a whole lot. I love poking fun at people for buying them to go "conquer" the shopping mall! If I want to spend $60 000 on something, I am going to buy a bigger sailboat. I can at least put a custom name on it without having to be limited to certain number of letters or pay a crazy fee for the priviledge of having it personal!

If the smilies were offensive, they would not have put them on the board. Welcome to GEOCACHING! Feel free to post your smilies and your questions or comments!

Just joking around with ya. I doubt I could find my butt without a GPS! I might try it sometime, just for kicks, though. (finding a cache, not my butt!) Gee, I heard it was both hands and a map, now he needs a GPS also!

Look at it this way. Take the total cost of the unit, and software, then divide that figure by the amount of times that you will use the GPS to do something fun in an entire year. The result is a "cost per cache" figure, and I suspect it will end up less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee. When people ask about getting a GPS, I suggest to get one that you will use in the most amount of places, activities, and uses. Many people want to get one "just for boating" or "just for hiking". That is pretty limited, as I point out to people that you spend far more time driving in your car than actually using your boat or hiking, so why not get a unit that is suitable for BOTH. I highly recommend the Legend if you want a less expensive GPS. Yes, you could get a non-mapping unit but why would you unless it is for a back up unit. The Legend when combined with a mapsource product will help you find addresses, find ATM or bank machines, find Gas stations, restaurants, etc etc. You can also upload Topographical maps and have a detailed map of your hiking trails. You can get a bike mount and use it to cycle train, find a favorite fishing spot, find your way back to the car at the park or at the mall. Get a car mount for your unit and use it, get a carry case and then pack it with you for walks, get the most use out of your GPS and enjoy it. As for choices of unit; -Consider who has the biggest share of the GPS market, who has the most choice of maps available and for what price, a cheap unit is useless if the maps available cost more than the unit, or if the maps don't cover your area. -Consider who has the best warranty, which unit is waterproof, shockproof and who stands behind their product when the warranty does run out. -Consider who offers free firmware upgrades for all of their products. Then consider who owns the company who makes the units. -Consider what else the manufacturer makes, they may make a great toaster, but what do they know about GPS units. -Consider that certain manufacturers make units for Military and Commercial aviation uses, chances are they really know what they are doing and how to make it work well. -Consider that you likely spent far less time to research your television, stereo or automobile purchase than you did your GPS purchase. -Consider that if you buy from a good dealer, and not just be concerned about saving a few pennies the dealer will SHOW YOU HOW TO USE YOUR NEW GPS, and that makes it useful to you right out of the box. I considered all of these things when I decided to sell GPS units. That is why I chose the American owned company of GARMIN. Ask anyone who really knows how to use theirs, and you will understand. Welcome to GEOCACHING!

If I had known there was going to be a test, I would have studied.........

Well, I don't know what the heck that is. If you are running a PDA then you will have to make certain that your hotsync program is off, or else you cannot communicate with your GPS. I also have a GPSMAP76S, so I will offer you this advice. 1-Print off the pages of the cache that you want to find, use the printer friendly version (follow the link on the page) unless you own an ink jet refill business. 2-Turn your GPS on, put it in GPS off mode. 3-Press and hold the enter key, this will make the "markway point" page appear 4-Use the rocker switch to highlight the location, edit it to match the cache page location that you have selected. Change the waypoint symbol to show a GEOCACHE symbol (optional) and then change the name to show the name of the cache that you input. 5-Get out there and find the GEOCACHE. Why does everyone always want to learn the advanced features as soon as they open the box? Learn to use your GPS FIRST, then move on to uploading/downloading with software, their laptop, their pda....... One day you may not have your computer and PDA, and actually have to manually enter the waypoints. Unless you learn this now you will always have to carry your owners manual with you, just to know these things. Truthfully, I get people in the store who have had their eTrex for 3 years and do not know how to manually edit waypoints. They insist they need a "newer and better" GPS, but actually they just need to read their manual and learn how to use their own GPS. PS: All new GPS76, GPSMAP76 and GPSMAP76S units are sold new with a cable, only the GPS72 is offered without a cable.

Hmm,,, reporting a post. Is that just as effective as "write to your elected official"??? LOL

Things of absolute neccesity to carry in the geocache backpack, or any other backpack for that matter. -Duct tape, any color, but you must really carry this. -electrical tape, for something that you will have to take the tape off again. -Zipties, of many sizes and varieties, take some that have the screw eyes in them as they are really valuable for fixing things and holding them to something. -Rope, always carry rope. I mean real good rope too, not polypropelyne rope. -a real leatherman. Not a "cheap knock off, blades are already dull, screwdrivers will break when you use them, rusts in the case piece of crap" -spare change, to use when repairing things or use in a pay phone when all else fails -Ziplock bags, again use the real brand here as when you need them, you really need them. -a small length of Marine grade electrical wire, about 14-16ga can be either single or double. Marine grade is tinned copper wire and will not corrode. -stainless steel seizing wire, used by sailors and aircraft mechanics when they really do not want things to come apart again by accident. -a really good quality folding/locking knife with a large blade. Now "thats a knife" I have used all of these things to repair GPS units on friends boats. One memorable trip my friend lost the springs and connectors from the battery tray of his GPS12. I was able to fabricate a new set from items in my backpack in less than 10 minutes and we were able to once again navigate with the GPS. Which was a good thing because he neglected to tell us that he did not have real charts for the are of Desolation sound that we were in! Have also used these items to Jerry Rig GPS mounts together for use on the boats. Most sailors are notoriously cheap so they tend not to invest in real mounts for their GPS units, so you always end up rigging something together but hopefully before you lose the GPS over the side!

Well I don't know about others, but we try to WALK or cycle to our geocaches, that is one reason we do not have hundreds and hundreds of finds yet. To us Geocaching is about getting out and spending time together as a family doing something fun and cheap. For us, conquering the outdoors is something we do on mountain bike, in our sailboat or by foot, not in an SUV. We have a GPS guided stroller, mountain bikes, and sailboat complete with dinghy. This spring we (us along with Rasputin and others) will be placing Geocaches on other islands that we get to sailing on weekends and evenings. The car will do you no good as there is no access via car ferries!

Yes that is true, but you can also get an altitude fix by using the gps to calibrate the altimeter. As one would expect, the barometric altimeter woud be reading the pressurized cabin pressure which is somewhere around 8000+/-. Go to the satellite page and look for the gps elevation display. Then if you want simply go to the altimeter page and recalibrate using GPS elevation as the benchmark. Alternatively you can set the altitude using your known elevation as most times the airline crew will tell you the current cruising elevation and speed of the aircraft. I know that on my overseas flights most of the airlines I fly all have built in entertainment systems in the seatback that can track the planes present speed, altititude and position. It is interesting to see just how accurate this information is next to your own GPS.

Try using one of Geocaching.com lanyards! , yet another great reason to have a lanyard on it. We use ours on our sailboat, on the Pacific, and truthfully I am always afraid that I am going to lose it. Now I could maybe live with that, but knowing that it is floating there, just waiting to be found by someone else really bothers me So it is in a Garmin mount, with the lanyard firmly fastened around the rail at all times..... By the way, I think that you will really like the GPSMAP76S. It is easy to understand and use, and has a LOT of great features. Only problem is that it is larger to pack around hiking, but the bigger screen does make it easier to use in the car.

Criminal, Sorry to hear of your predicament, but I am glad that it did not end in a worse manner. Choices such as these are very difficult to make, they are strewn with volitile emotions and feelings for both the people and animals involved. If this is your instictive feeling then do what you have to do. It is the right thing to do as children are that......children, and it takes a PARENT to make these choices and protect your child. Unfortunately not enough people are as strong as you are and take dangerous chances with children around animals. The news stories these days are full of stories of dogs attacking children and people. This is nothing new, but previously people valued people more than dogs and did not keep dangerous animals in close proximity of children and innocent people. Hunting dogs are born and breed to hunt, fighting dogs such as chows, Staffordshire terriers and others are bred to do just that, hunt and fight, and they are very good at that. They are not bred as "family dogs" like labs or retrievers, so why pretend that they are. Sorry for being off topic here, obviously you did not go out and get any of these dangerous breeds, but you still ended up with a situation that you identified as having potential for danger. I suppose you could have had to make this decision if the dog were any sort of breed, sometimes it can just happen. I keep parrots and cockatoos. And they do have the potential to inflict great harm on our two children if we were to let them interact. But I do not let them interact with my birds any more than I let them play with my power tools. But if given the need to make a choice such as yours, I would be doing the exact same thing. Congratulations for making the choice based on what you need to do as a parent, not what you want to do as a pet owner. Tough choice, but you are not alone.

Hello CJ! If you wish, I would GLADLY mail you some Geocaching stickers or other gear to trade you for RUSSIAN GEOCACHING stickers or Shirts! I think that it would be great to have "Russian Geocache Gear" or stickers on my car! Please feel free to contact me through Geocaching, and I will mail the items directly to your home. I think it would be a great trade! Sincerly, Pete

I am gonna get a tattoo over my entire body, of myself, only taller..................

Floppy disks? You can get information on floppy disks? I just upgraded to one of these (now check out the celebrity in the ad) and it uses this thing to record the data. How you you fold up a floppy disk to fit in it? I searched this entire site and could not find the answer...... How about using an etch a sketch instead?

So what do you do? Yell "FORE" and play through? This is silly.......it is only a game, you know for fun, not a "game" like major league baseball or hockey for millions of dollars.....also What's up with the numbers game? Since when do number of finds mean that it is ok to rush ahead or ruin other peoples fun. I mean this for both parties as I was not there and do not want to get into this arguement, but it does bring up a good point. I agree with Cacherunner, and I sincerely hope to meet more cachers on the trail!

GARMIN= Garmin, in case you missed it, is a combination of the names of the founders of the company, who's names are Gary Burrell (this is the GAR part) and Dr. Min Kao (this would be the MIN part). What did you think it was? The name of the pub in Ireland where the Irish Rovers were first discovered? The REAL irish rovers, these guys, not to be confused with these guys...LOL As found on this page....and now you know, the rest of the story.

Figures, I forgot to actually answer the question. What do you mean by no software? Do you not even have the america's basemap in your unit? Check out the Garmin website cartography page here for suitable software for your uses. Both Mariner and I live in Canada, and I am sure that he will agree that the new Canadian mapsource is Excellent. The coverage and ease of use are great, and they work well with all Garmin mapping units and live well with other software in my computers. I can switch between Mapsource, City Navigator, and extended basemaps with no problems. However there are people here that do want more topographical information, and hopefully soon it will be available for Canada. People in the USA have great access to accurate Topographical maps already, and we look forward to having that sometime. But when you consider that more people live in the Los Angeles basin than live in all of Canada, we cannot complain at all. If you want to have a little better reception for you Garmin unit check out getting a rebroadcaster unit such as all in one backpack units or one of these portable rebroadcasters Hope this helps. (edited for silly spelling mistakes....)