clan_Barron

I believe that The Hobos used to (still do?) maintain a scrapbook with pictures of themselves at every cache they found.

Curious as to why you don't like the TOPO7 software and what you think a "good" mapping software is? I have Magellan, Garmin and Delorme devices and the associated Mapsend, Mapsource and TOPO7 software and I think that TOPO7 is by far the the best of the bunch. Granted the interface takes a little getting used to but as a 12+ year user of the GNU/Linux OS I'm used to "non-standard" interfaces so it was no big deal. Also curious as to why you find the track logging crude as compared to the Garmins?

We also started caching with a Sportrak (and Meridian) and have been very pleased with our recent move to a Delorme Earthmate PN-40.

What are you wishing to calibrate? Compass? Altimeter? There is no GPSr that I know of that the user can "calibrate" the accuracy or position on. I don't know about the PN-20 manual but the PN-40 manual is pretty hefty and provides pretty clear instructions on compass and altimeter calibration. On the 40 you go to Setup->Calibrate and choose Compass or Altimeter then follow the on screen instructions. As for "accuracy" as expressed in EPE (Estimated Positional Error, I think) on average my 40 is around +/-6ft mostly. That compares to between +/-10 to 14 ft EPE most of the time on my Magellan Meridian Platinum

I'd find yours if ya lived up here in the "south Georgia" part Florida but you place 'em too far away from us Would I notice if someone was avoiding are caches? I wouldn't know unless then told me and then I'd care so little that I'd probably forget they told me by the next day What were we talking about?????

I'll continue on from my answer to The Yinnie's, above, if I may: 1. PN-20 speed relative to PN-40: Yes, the PN-20 is markedly slower. However, I never felt overly burdened, or frustrated, by its inherent speed while geocaching with it. Its redraw/refresh speed was still enough that I could not outwalk it, even at close in zoom levels. Similarly, now caching with the faster PN-40, I do not give forth with a great sigh of relief and unbounded joy. 2. PN-20 lack of barometric altimeter: Same answer as above regarding the traditional compass, I never felt constrained by the lack of such while caching with the -20 nor do I use it now with my -40. Note that the PN-20 does provide altitude/elevation readings as calculated from satellite data and I would not consider using those as a great disadvantage over the other, if needed. 3. Aerial photo and USGS 3DTQ imagery: Yes, this is the great advantage of the PNs as contrasted to others. For the overwhelming majority PN users, it is the case whereby the frosting is more important than the cake. I have forsaken the use of maps for geocaching now that I have the imagery available to me. I the CDOQQ, color aerial photo imagery, for back country caching and the H-Res City 133 USGS photo imagery for around town geocaching. With the geocache icon overlaid on the photo image, I just walk toward the icon, zooming in as I go. A reply that is witty and useful, my favorite kind Thanks CowboyPapa

Hey I was just getting ready to start a thread with this exact same title. My Meridian Platinum has served me well for almost 2k worth of caches all across the US and parts of Europe but it's starting to show it's age from all the miles traveled and abuse it's taken while hiking, Jeepin', kayaking and caching. I'm looking into either a PN-20 or PN-40 as a replacement. I've tried to read everything I can here and on the Delorme forums but I still can't make up my mind. A 20 fits better into my budget at this time but a 40 fits better into my techno lust geek cravings. I've read all the stuff about how "slow" the 20 is when routing but I won't need it to do that because that's what I have a Nuvi for. What I need a handheld for is all the stuff that a Nuvi 200w wasn't meant for, like hiking, Jeepin', kayaking and caching. Gotta use the right tool for the job The ability to use aerial imagery, USGS quads, etc. is what draws me to the 20 and 40. Is the 20 just too slow to take advantage of those things or in my slow moving applications (hey, I can't walk or kayak that fast) is it more than acceptable in performance? I guess I'm looking for a value/price comparison of, is the additional speed (+magnetic compass, the altimeter) worth the extra $$$ (and time it will take to come up with the extra cash) or is the extra speed a "nice to have" that's not a necessity for my intended use. I need the input of reliable somebody that has used both and can say "yeah the screen redraw times really suck, I'd wait" or " In your intended use, screen redraw times are on par with insert name of device here and should not be an issue"

I agree, I think caching profiles should be private but forum profiles should be public. (This way we know where to show up with the pitch forks and torches)

There are quite a few cachers with travel bug (the bug made from a barcode) tattoos

Yeah! They're not hiding enough caches. Ratio should be 1:1 Hey some people get more of a kick from hiding than finding, nothing wrong with that.

As the owner of a 315, Sportrak and Meridian Platinum that's great news!

How about the view from this cache (GCCFD4) in the Florida Keys. The view is A+ . This isn't our picture (but is one from the logs) I'm trying to find the sunset pics we took and will post them when I find them.

Thanks I'll update my link That article is 100 years old in computer years but I'm always amazed and honored when people take the time to email me and say how useful they still find it.

If all you want is the PalmOS on the device, I believe that all you need to do is a hard reset to return it to the original factory state. If you need the Palm desktop software (which, I believe, is all that comes on the disk) you can download it for free at http://www.palm.com/us/support/palmdesktop.html

The URL of the article on Paperless Caching by Clan Barron ( ) on the Florida Geocching Association website has changed. It's now "http://www.floridacaching.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=9"

As I see it, the problem is that some hardcore backpackers think that geocaching "takes away from their wilderness experience" as expressed in this post at Backpacker.com. There are even those who say that even if they can't see the cache, just knowing it's there detracts from the experience Discussed on GC.com in this thread

We use the NHFA rule. If we are Not Having Fun Anymore we stop. Sometimes that's a couple minutes on a "needle in a haystack" type hide or it's been as much as 1 hour+ on a very cleverly hidden one that we knew we had to be staring right at, that took a couple tries to find.

Check out this thread

About $800 worth of damage when I ripped the soft top off my Jeep while caching. It was about 1am and we had snaked our way up the side of a bluff over looking Rodman rersevior (on what was more of a ATV trail than a Jeep trail) on our way to two caches. After finding the caches we found that the trail didn't continue as the map showed but was blocked by downed trees. Turning 8 Jeeps around on a narrow trail with a 40 ft drop on one side and many, many trees on the other was quite a feat. My Jeep has 6" of lift and is running 35x12.50 tires so it sits quite high. On the way up the trail we passed under a large, low hanging limb that I was not sure I would make it under (but did with about a half inch to spare). It was a different story on the way down. I was doing about 3 mph as I passed under the limb and was looking to see if I would clear. My rear wheel ran over a root as the center bow passed under the limb, causing my clearance to be minus half an inch . before I could stop the stress on the center bow snapped it and ripped the top in half down the middle. What really sucked was that we were camping and it literally rained 2"-3" that night . Good thing I had the floor plugs out . It was a bit chilly as I drove 100 miles home in misty February rain. I had to drive to work with no top for a couple days. Had to replace the soft top frame and soft top. Did it hurt financially? YES! But as I told the guys I was with, if you can't afford to break (or lose something) then you don't need to be out playing with it. At least the fun I had camping, caching & Jeepin' took some of the sting out of the $800 it cost me to find those caches []

Forget the serial transfer stuff. Buy a 1 gig SD card and an SD card reader. From GSAK do and export to Magellan SD card and save to the SD card. plop the SD card in your unit and go to the card utilities menu and load the waypoints into main memory from there.

I personally recommend THIS webpage

Excellent point about making the goals clear. With travelbug hotels a lot of people drop stuff on vacation and don't log until they get home. I've have many times where I look at the bugs in the box and I'm not sure if I should pick it up and bring it home or let it stay because it's goal is near by,

I hit the travel bug cache at Shannon Airport every time I'm in Ireland on business (also found the Dublin airport travel bug hotel the one time I flew through there). Found a cache in Germany while there on business and many caches in Scotland. I love to cache whenever I get the chance to while traveling on business domestically or abroad.

dang double post.

Anti- ? Now that right there is funny (even it it's not true ) In a galaxy far, far away, a long, long time ago I once spent the day geocaching in the deep dark woods of north Florida with Snoogans and Cudjo and he was very social (Snoogans not Cudjo, Cudjo was a little yippie and feisty). But I stray from the topic at hand. I'd classify Snoog as an ecletic, discerning (but social) cacher with an undefinable quality and flair. I would define myself as someone who now actually cacher more when I travel than when I'm home. I love to cache and get out of the hotel when I'm in a new city, state or country.