KI4HLW

No problem, I'm not a zealous so I tend to give it to people pretty straight. What is best for me is not best for you. That said... I've had a personal BB for 4 years now but I once had an old job give me an iPhone for a year... I set up my Personal BB to get my work mail so I could actually type a decent response to someone, the spellchecker of the iPhone almost caused its untimely demise out a car window or into an office wall on a few occasions. It is not very friendly to industries that use uncommon terms, and assumes you want to be corrected instead of asking. My Brother, who had worked as a cellular sales rep (government/business) was tired of his BB 2 months ago (after almost 6 years) and wanted an iPhone, I wanted to change to AT&T for the BB Torch anyways so we moved the company account over and got new phones. He brought the iPhone back in 3 weeks, but still wanted a different phone so he bought an android off a friend and went back to the old carrier. Today he tells me he is thinking of coming back to AT&T to get a BB Torch because he can't get anything done. Oh, I should add: One of my businesses.... an iPhone repair store.

The Geomate preloaded data uses all caches over (I believe) 6 months for a better chance at longevity, the thought being a 6 month or older cache is more likely to be there for a while. A newer cache has a higher chance of being archived for one reason or another (often muggled, CO loses interest, just a bad place). Considering the unit may sit on a store shelf for a while, and that people using the preloaded data probably arn't going to update for a while it is a rather ingenious way to insure the caches they look for will likely still exist. That said I still think the upgrade kit (aka. cable) should have just been sold as part of the unit, I quess they wanted to get the price as low as possible to make it more attractive to buyers.

I agree a CO should seek permission, but to assume a No Trespassing sign means they didn't have permission is a big leap. I have a cache in a place with such a sign, it is my business and I gave myself permission to place it, and all geocachers to look for it. I also have a second cache in the works in another parking lot with such a sign, and yes I have permission from that business owner too. Many businesses will place such a sign because it allows police officers to issue a trespassing warning/ticket on the first offense. Without the sign "undesirables" can return a second time before a warning/ticket can be issued, and yes these type of people know this. The act of having permission, or implied permission (aka. a customer) means you are not trespassing. That said, if something led you to believe it may have been placed without permission you should feel free to contact the the CO or the reviewer, inform them of the situation, and ask if permission was received. Personnaly I would find it kinda offensive if someone posted an NA on my cache because they assumed I didn't follow the rules without asking me or the reviewer first.

Did you click the image I posted? It's a link to the GPSCity site, to the RAM part you need. The part in the photo is for the older Explorist XL, the newer 710 model is completely different and would not fit.

Exactly which Disney movies use the term "reach around" in such a context? You kind of made my point, it's all about context. If the cache name is "Reach Around" and you have to reach around an object to get it then there is no sexual context. Same with the other listed examples, Big Jugs on a big jug, try my pie in a fake pie. P.S. Picking one specific innuendo and showwing it is not in a movie, then using that fact in declaring there are no innuendos in the movie is kinda like getting to the GZ, looking under one rock, then declaring the cache missing. http://www.chacha.com/topic/7-most-famous-sexual-innuendos-from-disney-films http://www.asylum.com/2010/08/18/dirtiest-sexual-innuendos-in-childrens-cartoons/

This was the point I tried to make earlier, I don't like the idea of allowing blank logs... but if you see me post "TFTC" or simply "Thanks" I am being polite, would you rather someone say in the log: "This cache really had no original creativity, or basic thought into it, CO obviously just put it out to increase his hide numbers or somehow thinks filling all the available areas with P&Gs, LPCs, and micro's in a bush is a good thing for the hobby. Hopefully one day they will leave the hobby so we can archive this junk and open it up the area for a cache that someone might actually enjoy doing."

Once found a cache that was a sign that was the log, ok I better explain that better. Was hidden behind a wall in an out of the way neighborhood that was never developed after the real estate crash. The Cache was a 4 foot x 1 foot board attached to a 6 foot pole. It was painted to look like a giant log sheet, including FTF space. Attached to a string were a set of colored sharpie markers. You choose one of the markers and sign the board/log. When it was full the old board was hung up at the cachers house and a "replacement log" was put in the location.

NOTE: That will help you log the cache, but without the premium membership you will have no way to know where the cache is in the first place. Only place it is helpful is if a premium member bring out new cachers and after you get home realize you brought them to a premium cache. I've used it once or twice but there is no way it replaces a premium membership. I am also curious why you consider the premium membership a waste of money, I can't imagine myself doing serious caching without it.

It is in the works but had a small delay in release, the following is directly from Maggelan on 1/21/2011: The Vehicle Kit should be available on MagellanGPS.com in a few weeks. The Handlebar mount is targeted for late February or early March.

GPS Jammer??? I have a new idea for a Difficulty 5 cache!

Anyone who was offended by those cache names needs to pay a little more attention to the average Disney Movie your kids are watching, they are full of double-entendre and sexual innuendos hidden there to keep the parents entertained while the kids are oblivious. Anytime I hear complaints like this my first though is "there is a parent who pays no attention to there kids", yes they are trying to be protective and pay attention to what their kids do, but obviously they have never spent the time to actually sit down with their kids and watch a movie together or they would be tearing down the front door to Disney Headquarters. They just plop them in front of the TV and put in a movie they figure is safe per their standards.

There are great COs who can make a P&G interesting, there are bad COs who could make a mountaintop boring. There are great loggers who will turn an LPC into a novel, there are bad loggers who could find a winning lottery ticket on the ground at the GZ and will post "TFTC". I tend to write nice logs when I can, but some caches simply arn't anything to write about. The 30 seconds I take to write the log seems like twice as much time as the CO took placing it. If you throw out an micro in a bush don't expect anyhing more the "TFTC" or "Thanks for the Smile" unless a funny thing happens to me on the way to the cache. I'm happy someone took the time to get the smiley, and if I was a small part of a giant cache run that day I don't expect them to write a log specific to my cache, a log that says "part of our 125 cache streak today from X to Y" is cool in it's own way. This weekend I did 79 caches at Cacheapalooza, most were ammo cans along a trail. I posted stories and tidbits though out the logs along with a generic 2 or 3 sentence "Thank You for being part of this fun day" blurb, but lets be honest, the 12the ammo can under a fallen tree looked just like the 57th one. But you can bet the 2 or 3 that took me to cool spots had some pretty great logs because I remembered them over all the others. Now for the hard honesty, If your caches seem to get a lot of "TFTC" type logs maybe you need to sit back and think about if your cache is really as great as you think it is. Or if it just gets lost in the noise to someone doing a few dozen that day.

The Explorists loads any pictures in the cache description right to the description page on the GPSr if you use VantagePoint or GSAK, I don't remember it doing pictures from the logs though.

I just did a price check of the units MSRP, you can buy 2 Explorist GCs for the price of the Dakota 20, then you both could have your own. Have you considered something further up the Explorist line to get more of an apples to apples comparison, or does the GC simply meet all your needs?

All depends on what "more" you are looking for, iPhone has more games, more apps, more music. Black Berry has more security, more features to organize your life, a true keyboard for quicker typing. I use a blackberry because I own a business and part of a second one, when "Suzy Soccer Mom" asks me why she should get a BB over a iPhone I tell her she shouldn't. But when one of my clients who also owns a business asks me I can sit down and tell them. No one can tell you what Smart Phone, GPS, Car, etc., is right for you unless you tell them who you are. This is why I always laugh when I walk in a chain store and the sales droid starts telling me which model of something is best for me, but never asks what I am going to do with it.

I have a friend with the Explorist GC who loves it, I needed more features and went with an Explorist 710. Magellan really put out a great product with the Explorist line, it is simple to use and you will get hooked on paperless caching.

I have a business where we sell some neat custom stickers and my supplier will do very small minimum orders (in the area of a dozen). For Cachepalooza 5 I had him print me up 24 "iCache" stickers I gave away as swag to nice people I met. I also needed a custom sticker for a cache I am building, was cheap enough to buy a minimum just for the 1 I needed and a few spares if it gets muggled. Dixie Printworx www.dixieprintworx.com (772) 567-0204 (Hope this is Ok to post, if not mods please edit and anyone who wants the info send me a PM)

This is in the works for a future update, you will simply download your "My Finds" .gpx file and upload it to the unit. There is a way to manually edit the files on the GPS to change it but I would not recommend unless you are very comfortable with computers and technology.

The site is down at the moment (looks like a config error) but I have used CacheSense on my BB for over a year and love it.

My best friend is about to be stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan so me and her brother-in-law decided to make a TB race using 2 of her old commander coins from her previous unit. His bug (TB29Z19 "UNITED WE STAND") will be relased by her in Kandahar and is trying to get back home, My bug (TB32WJ7 "DIVIDED WE FALL") starts in her home city and is on a mission to get to Kandahar. We are still finishing up the description pages with Pictures & Links before release day, but you can see the basic idea from the pages above.

Wow, in my neck of the woods you got an hour tops (less then 15 minutes on afternoons/weekends) to get FTF, the only exception is if it posts very late at night... then you got till 7/8am.

I write codes and notes in my high tech logs so I remember things, they may be as simple as LW/CD wich tells me to mention the Log was Wet and the Container Damaged, to a few words like "LB fell in mud", "bone yard", "muggles" which may remind me of a funny story (well not so funny to LB) that happened at the cache, something about the location, or that I converted some muggles to cachers at the site. Then after uploading my field notes I edit them to tell the story since I know exactly where it happened. I feel since I went electronic logging my log quality has actually gone up. As I mentioned in the last post I did a large number of caches this weekend at an event, last year I did a generic copy/paste log because I may remember something interesting happened, but which cache it happened at was lost so I never got to tell the story, or it slipped my mind as I was logging. This year I can't wait to log all our Finds, DNFs, adventures, or misadventures, as we went through the weekend.

I don't know that exact model, but I'll try and help here with what I do know: 1. Is there an easy way to go mostly paperless with my model of gps? What would you suggest? - You can get some additional info into the description area, but your going to be limited on the amount. There is more to true paperless caching then reading the cache size/rating/description 2. After you guys find a cache, I know you can mark it found on the website... but is there a way to "take notes" or somehow manage your finds afterward? I was thinking maybe my gpsr would sync back up with the site and somehow could auto log the finds for me, but I can't see anything like that. - That is one of the features of a true paperless device you are going to have trouble duplicating, the ability to creat the needed file simply dosen't exist on the unit. 3. If I can't do paperless caching, is it worth it to buy the premium membership? Are pocket queries alone worth it? Yes, Yes, Yes... unless you are truly a very casual cacher (only a few caches in a given day and only a few times a month, completely preplanned routes, time to load them all in GPS one at a time) you are going to want to have PQs to load your GPS... this weekend I did 79 caches in 2 day, It was a large event in a state park but I had no preplanned route and even picked up one when I stopped for dinner on the drive home. Without a PQ loading 79 caches would have taken all day. Because of PQs I was able to load all 212 caches in the park, and all the ones on the trip home. Any given day my GPS has my entire county as well as the neighboring ones loaded and ready to go, If I get the urge after work I just grab the GPS and off I go. 4. What else can I do to get the most out of geocaching.com? Attend local events to meet fellow cachers, read logs and the forum to learn more... and don't be afraid to ask questions! Since you just got it a week ago and If you want the features of paperless your best to see if you can return it and buy a paperless unit, the Magellan Explorist GC ($150) and Explorist 310 ($200) are near the same price range and offer full paperless caching. The GC is a geocaching specific unit while the 310 is a general purpose with geocaching features included. Some other members may be able to list some other paperless units in the price range.

USMC - Security Forces MCSFCo Sebana Seca Marksmanship Instructor India 3/1 - 0311 15th MEU

You can get full paperless in the $150 price range, the Magellan Explorist GC costs $150 new and has full paperless features and all the cables. My friend has one and loves it, I had a bigger budget so I went for the Explorist 710. As a bonus you get a free 30 day premium membership with a code in the box, help you do the first major loading and see if you like the premium features before you spend the money.