MeeCachers

I agree that the Find function is fantastic, and one of the really useful features on this unit. I have the City Select V5 maps installed, and the options I have on the "Find" screen are: - Waypoints - Geocaches - Cities - Exits - Recent Finds - All POI - Addresses - Intersections - Shopping - Food - Lodging - Entertainment - Attractions - Services - Transportation - Emergency & Government Each of these has many sub-categories as well. For example, if you select food you can search by type of restaurant. If you select lodging you can differentiate between hotels / motels and campgrounds. Under Entertainment, you can search by type of entertainment (bars, movie theatres, casinos, golf courses, skiing, bowling, etc.) I think you get the picture. In addition to searching by sub-category, you can also search by name or change your reference point for a new proximity search. The screen and menus are quite intuitive and easy to use - definitely a big plus. All-in-all the richness of the "find" feature has been one of the big surprises with this unit - and it has been a huge "WOW" factor when showing it to others.

I have now had my 60c for one week and have used the geocaching feature a few times. It certainly has more functionality than what is reported above. If you use the "find" function (one button on front) and then select geocaches, you are presented with a list of geocaches sorted in order of nearest proximity to your current location. Pressing the "menu" button allows you to search for a cache by name, or change your reference point for another proximity search. Once you select a geocache to go to - you can choose to navigate either "off road" or "on road" (contrary to what is posted above). When you actually find the geocache, you mark it as "found" from the geocache navigation screen. The cache is then marked as found (different status and different symbol). An entry is also created on the calendar, noting that the geocache was found on that date. Finally, one a cache is found, it will not appear on the "Find Geocache" screen - unless you select "Menu" and tell it to look for only "Found" caches. Overall, not earth shattering, but definitely good utility for geocachers and a lot more functionality than what is being reported by others.

I have now been using my new 60C for five days, along with City Select V5. I took it with my on a business trip to Monterey, so I have had lots of opportunity to play with the autorouting capability. This is an awesome unit, and I have been the envy of anyone who has seen it. In terms of recalculating when you miss a turn, the 60C seems to do this within about 15 -30 seconds or so after you miss the turn. The recalc process is very quick - in my experience less than five seconds to give you a new route from when it starts the recalc. The "Find" function is amazing as well - accessible through a dedicated button on the front. You can find any number of things including geocaches, intersections, hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, airport, as well as any address you enter. The other night in Monterey we were scouting for a restaurant - two button pushes later I had a listing of all restaurants in the vicinity ranked from nearest to farthest. Hmm... how about Italian restaurants? Hit the menu button and you can filter by a wide variety of categories of restaurants. This unit has been so invaluable this trip, that I will never travel again without it.

When I did the steps that I outlined, what came through into the "Notes" field on the GPSMAP 60C was the cache name field (full cache name plus name of hider). The terrain and difficulty did not come through, but I haven't had a chance yet to play around and see if I can find a way to make it work. I am sure it is possible by remapping the GPX fields (maybe using GPXSpinner first??). Unfortunately I am now on the road so I will not be able to experiment further for the next week.

I received my GPSMAP 60C today, and have been having a blast playing around with it. This is really a great little unit. In terms of downloading waypoints to it over USB, it is really not that difficult if you have a MapSource software product. I ordered City Select with my 60C. All you have to do is take a GPX file and covert it to Garmin PCX5 format using GPSBabel. Save the file as a .wpt file, which you can then import into MapSource, and download to the 60c over USB. Although this sounds a little convoluted, it is actually quite fast to do. I did the all the steps above in less than two minutes for downloading 100 waypoints.

I just got a phone call from GPSCentral.ca. They have the GPSMAP 60c in stock, and will be sending mine out tonight on the bus. I WILL HAVE IT IN MY HANDS TOMORROW!!! Just in time, as I am leaving for a week in California on Sunday and will have lots of opportunity to test this baby out. They don't have the GPSMAP 60cs yet - may be a couple more weeks.

quote:Originally posted by ChiefPig: Do you think non-caching Canadians would be threatened when they find an unattended military hardware, in this case an ammo box, out in the wild? I am just worried that somebody would call the cops the first time a non-cacher accidentially finds my cache ChiefPig - I notice that you are from the Edmonton area. I am aware of at least two caches around here that are in ammo boxes: Duck House Bearfoot-1 Both these caches have been out there for over a year with no difficulty. I would tend not to place one in an urban area, or near any significant structures (bridges, etc.) however.

One of the main issues you will encounter with your proposal is that many GPS models (eTrex series for example) only support six character waypoint names.

I can almost guarantee that this cache is burnt given where the fire on Okanagan mountain is currently. However, it is in an ammo can, so I guess it will be a test to see how well one of those can stand up to a forest fire. When we found the cache at the end of July, the whole area around was tinder-dry. The lichen at the cache site was all brown, and crumbled into powder if you happened to step on it.

I use MS Streets & Trips 2002. Does everything I need for now, and you can't beat the price. Have heard some less than favorable things about the 2003 version, so I don't plan to upgrade.

quote:Originally posted by MedicP1: Martmann I don't know for sure that it is a quad or a patch. I don't remember where I got that from, I think it said it picked up 12 SATS, and I assumed that that would make it a quad. The shop keeper said it was the yellow eTrex that was the most basic (ie. no maps, etc). I am not that versed on the various units...yet!!! The eTrex Yellow definitely uses a patch antenna, but that really has nothing to do with how many birds it can pull in (12). It would be great if it had a quad antenna as the patch antenna is the weakest part of what is otherwise a great unit.

I have been using a Yellow eTrex for a year and a half, and it is a very reliable and easy to use little unit. $100 is a great price for one as well. I lent my yellow eTrex out to a local scout leader who wanted to try this "geocaching thing". I spent about 5 minutes with the leader going over the basic operation of the unit. The scout troup had a blast hunting down the geocache, and actually raised money to buy their own GPS unit (an eTrex yellow no less). The only thing that is a little bit tricky with the eTrex is the method for entering coordinates. However, once you get the hang of it, you will find out why the eTrex is consistently rated one of the easiest units to learn and use. Good luck.

I'll take May 20 - for no other reason than that it is my birthday.

quote:Originally posted by Foghorn Leghorn:I feel plantman should have left someone in charge of his caches since he will be away for so long. I believe Plantman did leave someone in charge of his caches - I believe it was YellowCode3? You may wish to contact him. Some of the more active cachers from the Victoria area would probably know for sure.

quote:Originally posted by PDOP's:I just noticed that http://www.gpscitycanada.com/ is now carrying Geocaching.com products. Their prices appear to be a couple of bucks cheaper on most items than http://www.gpscentral.ca/ I checked both sites to do some quick comparisons. On all the items that I looked at (travel bugs, long-sleeve shirts, compass, window decal) the prices were identical. Where are you seeing the price differences? I also see that GPS Central has the geocaching vests which GPS City does not.

This topic has already been discussed extensively in this thread It makes for great reading - and yes I can relate to a lot of the sentiments expressed there.

According to this site: Etrex Series Comparison Only the Venture, Legend and Vista in the ETrex line have the geocaching icons, the other three (Basic Yellow, Camo and Summit) do not.

quote:Originally posted by glynnfam:Isn't .ca for Canadian domains? Yes, .ca is most definitely reserved for Canadian domains.

......................... Gord & Family

If you look at the whois? information for this domain, Whois for geocaching.ca you will see that it is clearly not registered to Groundspeak but rather to one, Ebenezer Thevasagayam. Looks like a squatter to me...

quote:Originally posted by RobertM:Hi, I'll be in Edmonton for business on Monday (Sep 16) and would like to cache a bit while I'm there but will be dressed in a suit and tie so they have to be easy to access in terms of getting there as well as it shouldn't require kilometres of bush-wacking. Anything like that available near the airport or in close vicinity to the West Edmonton Mall? Thanks Rob Hmmm... that could be a bit of a challenge. I have visited (or planted) almost all of the caches in the Edmonton area, and there are really none that come to mind that fit your criteria. There are a couple that are along well maintained (gravel or bark) trails in nature areas - but you would look a little odd visiting these with a suit and tie on. There is a virtual at the Edmonton legislature building (where you would not fell inconspicuous in a suit and tie): First Post - Edmonton but it is not really near either the airport or WEM. If you are able to bring a quick change of clothes along, you could try: Three Musketeers at Whitemud Creek as you will have to drive by the south parking access to this area on your way to WEM from the airport. This cache is about a 1 km walk along well maintained trails - no bushwacking required. You could also try: FB Pin Cache this cache is the opposite direction from the the Whitemud Creek cache, although along the same ravine system. More bushwacking is required to get to this one. If you like, I could email you a MS Streets & Trips screen shot with all the Edmonton caches near the airport - WEM corridor marked with pushpins. Gord [This message was edited by MeeCachers on September 13, 2002 at 09:54 AM.]

Confluence mapping - Confluence

Tough question. I have used all of the first three options at one point or another. EAch has their strengths and weaknesses. We are going on a two week vacation, and last night I used the geoclipping app to download the cache information for caches along the route because I could think of no reasonable way to create a query that would accomplish what I was looking for. I have also found the MobiPocket interface to be somewhat non-intuitive to use - although the Pocket Query Generator is much more time efficient than the geoclipping app for bulkloading a whole bunch of caches at once (providing you can define a query to cover your request).

quote:Originally posted by nyisutter: Are there any cachers from or around Viking, Alberta here? I had an idea for some travel bugs and would like to start them in or near Viking. I am a huge fan of the Sutter Brothers, hockey players from Viking and would like to send some Sutter Brother hockey cards out as bugs, starting in their home town of Viking and then traveling to the various cities in their hockey careers.Thanks!! Wow, great idea for a cache - but it may be a tough one to pull off. There are currently no caches in or near Viking, Alberta. The nearest cache is over 100 km (60+ miles) away to the east. It was placed a month ago and has not been visited yet. This area is quite rural and there are no active geocachers to my knowledge. I am from Edmonton which is the nearest large urban center to Viking. It is about 135 km (85 miles) away from Viking. There are a number of active geocachers in Edmonton so it is a possibility. You could also try Red Deer which is about an hour and a half south of Edmonton - it is where most of the Sutter brothers played their junior hockey. There are a few geocachers there, plus Red Deer is on a major north-south highway so it gets a fair amount of traffic. There is a travel bug cache in Red Deer right now with a number of toy cars waiting to venture out on a "Cannonball Rally". About three have been picked up so far in the last month. Let me know if I can help.

quote:Originally posted by mtncycler: 8 travel bugs in the Geocannonball ranch cache by MrBond, in Red Deer alberta!on June21/02 N 52 16.025 W 113 51.515 please help the bugs see both Canadian coasts! What a great concept. We'll be coming through Red Deer in about a week's time and will pick up a bug and drop it off in the Kelowna area - first stop on the way to Vancouver.