Wesbo

This is going to cost you... Now you'll start buying rechargeable AAs whenever you see them, you'll start buying groceries based on their containers, and you'll want some paper topos, a back-up GPSr, and so on...

For me the best part is the hint...

Airmapper: Send me a message with your code so far and the file locations where you want things saved and so on, and I'll take a stab at it. It's been a while, but I used to feed my family automating Outlook. W

Thanks for the suggestions.... I appreciate any help I can get!! I've got less than a week now before I need to decide if I can take this unit on vacation with me (or return it for another model) so I can get back to geocaching. I would blame the pear tree. The OR reacts poorly to pitted fruit. Try somewhere where are citrus trees... Seriously, if yours if resetting itself, that's weird. Did you specify your battery type (>>Setup >>System >>Battery Type) to nimh? To do a hard reset, press and hold on the top left corner of the screen while starting the unit. Hold that spot, and you should get a dialog about resetting the unit. hth, Wes

I'll apologize in advance if these are dumb questions... Did you set the GPS mode to WAAS? If you're done a reset since then, did you remember to set it back? Are you on the latest firmware? Are you sure? I loaded the latest firmware but it didn't 'take' for some reason. I didn't realize it until I checked a few days later. Had to load it again and this time it 'stuck' good. Are you inside a faraday cage? Are your batteries good? Have you tried a reset (make sure to turn WAAS back on if it resets itself)? Have you tried a 'hard' reset? If you still have your old GPSr handy, have you left them both to 'settle' for 20 minutes or so and then compared coordinates? Are they close? This would indicate that at least the antenna and software knows what it is doing. Just trying to eliminate sources of potential issues.

Idiot + spare time + anonymity = plundered cache

This is after about 3 minutes outside on my front porch with my OR 400t...

Not to hijack or anything, but keep a few things in mind... If the EPE is 10 feet, it doesn't exactly mean that it puts you 10 feet from the cache. Nor does an EPE of 50 feet mean you will be 50 feet from the cache. The cache might not even be at the coordinates listed. Who knows if the cache hider had an up-to-date unit and had 12 satellites locked, or if he/she had an old antique unit and had a lock to one satellite.

Please don't get fancy with tags in logs. Regular text works really well for exporting to a GPSr or manipulating via other tools...

Was your ebay Colorado NIB? It may be that you bought somebody else's problem or just ended up with a bum copy. Maybe you could hook up with a local geocacher with a similar unit and compare to see if your issues are truly hardware issues. If they are and you are under warranty, let Garmin make it good for you.

Yep and not thinking it through. How often a cache is found is not a direct result of how difficult it is, but more of how convenient it is. Sure, difficulty played a part of convenience, but only a part. How close it is to folks is the major factor. A moderately difficult cache at a popular tourist destination will be found a lot more often then a very easy, but out of the way, cache. Why should the cache near a dense cacher population be punished. Additionally, a cache that is moderately entertaining will be found much less often than a much harder, though wildly entertaining, cache. The reason is reputation. The most infamous caches will get found more often than less so ones, but which one would have the higher score? Yes, the lesser cache. Why should the more popular cache be punished? Basing a scoring system, and the resultant competition, on a flawed system is not exactly desirable. You're right, of course, but a weighted score isn't supposed to be perfect or fair. Just a supplement to find count.

They are in EVERY crawlspace in North Carolina...

It will self-regulate. That cache will be found less frequently than a nano in a grate in the WalMart parking lot in Orlando... Probably...

Pull!!

Let's say that I organize a deathmarch, and the main objective is an extreme-terrain cache that everyone needs for a Fizzy challenge cache, so we have great turnout. The cache was hidden 3 years ago, but until this weekend, it had been found only 5 times. This weekend, a few dozen cachers log finds. Are past finds any less valuable than they were before the deathmarch? Are future finds any less valuable than they would have been without the deathmarch? It might make sense to count stars (difficulty*terrain, or difficulty+terrain-1, or whatever formula tickles your fancy) if counting smilies isn't enough. But weighting based on the number of previous finds seems wonky. The best caches should be the ones everyone wants to find, and that everyone encourages others to find. Uh... Maybe I was overcomplicating things. But using the 'find frequency' (not # of previous finds) is kind of self-regulating. I like things that are self-regulating.

At the risk of overcomplicating things, it would be nice if there were two 'scores': 1. Total find count 2. Weighted find count In my ideal system (remember, I might be overcomplicating things) your weighted score for each cache would be significantly greater than 1 for caches that are found infrequently, and much less than 1 for caches that are found often. So the guy climbing a rock face or hiking five miles to find a cache that only gets found four times a year would get, let's say, 10 added to his Weighted find count. Meanwhile, a find of a P&G in a busy parking lot that gets found ten times a day would count for .1: Find a rarely visited cache = 10 points Find a cache that gets found all the time = .2 or .3 points Maybe this would encourage the numbers people to seek out the rarely found caches. But I might be overcomplicating things. Wes

2002 F250 crew cab diesel 4x4. Sounds and smells like a school bus. Al Gore cries when I start it up... But lately I've been driving an inherited 98 Buick LeSabre. Gets great mpg, and it's like driving a waterbed.

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks very much. Wes

Sorry, but I can't figure this one out from what I've found online. If you download the appropriate street maps, what is the on-road routing capability of this unit? Will it provide turn-by-turn directions on the screen? I'm looking at it as an off-road/geocaching device, but if it offered good on-road navigation that would be a huge plus. Thanks, Wes

I don't care for woods-grown meth. Too 'Gamey' for me...

A GPS V looks like a gun? You have got to be kidding. What kind of hysterical idiot would think a GPS V looks like a gun?

A GPS V looks like a gun? You have got to be kidding. What kind of hysterical idiot would think a GPS V looks like a gun?

I certainly don't see anything wrong with caches in Disney World. I know there are lots of wilderness area in Disney World that would lend themselves quite nicely to a cache. As long as the cache placer and subsequent finders are discrete, where's the harm? Of course, lugging an ammo can down main street and digging a hole to hide it in right next to cinderella's castle would be stupid...

I certainly don't see anything wrong with caches in Disney World. I know there are lots of wilderness area in Disney World that would lend themselves quite nicely to a cache. As long as the cache placer and subsequent finders are discrete, where's the harm? Of course, lugging an ammo can down main street and digging a hole to hide it in right next to cinderella's castle would be stupid...

It was mentioned in another thread that Magellan will do this for free, and only charges $3.50 or so for shipping the unit back. I wish I'd known this before I plunked down cash for a cable...