jicknarson

Why do they still insist on making these screens so small? Even the Montana has a 4" display, it's like they took a step backwards with their latest offering. I just don't get it. I was anticipating their next GPS to have a larger display than the Montana even, but I guess that's not to be the case. Guess I'll stick with my trusty smartphone. An older phone at that, (LG G3) and I love the 5.5 inch display, and the GPS is pretty decent, even in the trees, and I "need" the turn by turn navigation that my phone offers, lol. Not necessarily intending to cast aspersions on the 700, just "wondering out loud" why they designed it like they did, and in hopes that Garmin design team reads this stuff - maybe take the hint & design a new model with the features I (and I'm sure many others) would like to have. Speaking for myself, the smaller screen was a pro, not a con. I don't have large hands. The smaller size of the Oregon series as compared to the Montana made it a better fit for me. I have had Oregons for years and can see the screen just fine. Another benefit is not having to replace my rather spendy bike mount. Ordered my 750 yesterday.

Here's mine... Happy Holidays

OK.... quote and reference whole thread. This is the most I've laughed at forum posts in a long time. You go, coldgears! Now, when you can find ammo cans at the 89 cent store, I'll get in line!

No.

This pretty much sums up where I am at. I will be glad to comply and edit my listings, but don't have the technical ability to determine which are the culprits. The HTML editor I use does the dirty work. I just type and click. I need help with this.

No ammo cans lost their lives in construction of this cache! That would be a total abuse of my ideal cache container! Okay. I've been dying to know... Did you rip-off the ones that were in the Latitude 47 blog? That's kind of insulting, Coldgears. I didn't "rip off" anything. I'm sure you read Knowschad's response in the LPC thread. I had not seen that series until you posted it. As I said, all ideas came from my imagination. The intent of the series that this cache is part of was to create a LPC that was interesting, unusual and different, and that is what I tried to do. Thanks to all who had positive comments.

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..." Um... no. Nothing ewwwwwwwwww about the "other stuff". More like moss and rock and bark and other stuff like that. Trick of the camera that it looks ewwww-worthy.

No ammo cans lost their lives in construction of this cache! That would be a total abuse of my ideal cache container!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. But... last log states this whole thing may have been removed by construction workers, so moot point. Edited to add: no hot glue sticks lost their life in the construction of this cache. What resembles glue blobs is just... well... other stuff.

I'm in the camp of those who avoid dropping trackables in puzzle caches. In general, these get fewer visits than regulars, so a bug or coin may end up sitting there for quite a while. I also will not place a trackable in a State Park cache. Many that are dropped in those locations go missing in action - too many finders new to geocaching, who have no clue what to do with the item and think it is free for the taking. Seems like they have become the Bermuda Triangle of travelers. (not the tourist kind)

Oh, yeah... I like this much more than the "ranking" system! Yes, the vote allotment is generous, but I like that, too. How often have you had a caching trip out on great trails, with three outstanding hides in a row? I've had that experience more than once. I don't look at the system as a way of picking my favorite of the last 10 caches I've found, but more as a way to highlight the best. A good day can hold several "bests", and I plan on reserving some votes for those days. It's gonna be fun to see how this shakes out - glad to have something new to investigate on these long winter days.

It's about land manager perceptions. They've been known to overreact. One county park system banned geocaching because a logbook mentioned that someone left a pocket knife in a cache. The knife was no longer in the cache but the mere mention that there had been one in the cache was enough for the park system to ban geocaching because "weapons" were being placed in them. I think it was shortly after that incident that knives were added to the banned list. Unfortunately right about that time I found some name brand (Wenger) Swiss Army knives on a closeout sale for $5 each and bought a dozen to use as cache swag. I had placed about half of them in caches when knives were added to the banned items list. Hey - thanks for the history lesson. I never was aware of that - guess it comes down to the perception of pocketknives as weapons vs pocketknives as tools. Bummer about the SA knives - what great swag! Beats the heck out of McToys....

Daisy Duke is my Golden caching companion. Same experience as edscott - she will often locate the cache, especially if it's been recently found... but if I'm not paying attention she'll quickly move on to other things. Lots more fun to cache with a canine! (edited to fix pic)

My 2 cents.... I agree with the logs questioning the "inappropriateness" of pocket knives as swag. Never did understand that taboo. If placed in remote hides, chances are pretty slim that unchaperoned children are going to get their hands on them. Not many parents would turn their kid loose with a gps and say "see ya later" - at least, not at an age where a pocketknife would be a hazard to their safety. As to a pocketknife being considered dangerous or threatening, where does that logic end? How about a corkscrew? Nail file? Swizzle sticks? Screwdriver? I've left all of those. Not many items that could not theoretically cause injury.....

Thanks much, both for the topic and this answer - just what I was looking for. Now, to try it....

Just finished updating my 550 from version 3.52 via Garmin dashboard with no apparent problems. Huzzah.

The eraser end of a pencil works well, and the price is right.

I don't keep it a secret, but neither do I feel the urge to start long explanations with people I just don't think will get it. Sometimes leads to funny situations... A coworker often heard me talking to friends about the well-hidden "cash" I had found, but never asked about it. Only months later did I find out that she thought I spent my free time out hunting for change with a metal detector. She actually thought I was stashing my savings in containers out in the wilds when I mentioned hiding a cache. I guess she was right, if you count the FTF dollar that's commonly included around these parts!

If I am making a trip out to a cache that took some effort to place and to get to, I try to make sure I bring a quality item to drop off - not necessarily to trade. I think of it as a token of my appreciation to the CO. The item isn't necessarily something spendy - my latest favorites are MN Wild tote bags that were on sale for a buck at K Mart.

Downloaded the Firefox version a while ago and have been using it happily. This is great - makes logging so much easier when I can do it from the cache page. I often refer to previous logs, refresh my memory on the CO, or check the name of a TB I picked up - this saves a whole lot of clicking. Thanks much!

Have to add my .02 here... I started out with the Etrex Legend, and upgraded (by light years) to an Oregon 550 about six months ago. Other than a couple of minor software glitches which were easily solved, the Oregon has fully lived up to my expectations. It is accurate, obtains and holds signal well, and has been very rugged (purchase of Zagg's InvisibleShield or similar screen protector is a must, in my opinion). The Oregon was very easy to "learn" and customize, and does everything I want it to do.... and probably a whole lot more that I haven't discovered yet. Best $$$ I ever spent! The 550 does not have topo maps preloaded, but free downloads from gpsfiledepot.com took care of that - easily. The price was right. Forgot to add: An important issue for me was which GPSr felt the most comfortable in my hand. The Oregon/Colorado series were a bit smaller than some of the other Garmins, making them a better fit for me.

Meant to add: I realize that you can achieve higher numbers, if pure numbers are your goal. As Chokecherry said, the Cities is a cache dense area... but the Migizi trail is a great blend of density and creativity. Depends on what kind of numbers you are trying to rack up.

I highly recommend the Migizi Trail in the Cass Lake area. Aix Sponsa and I found at least 35 caches in a day trip (we each had some individual ones thrown in on the way there) and I followed up with 31 the next day, starting in Bemidji and then heading back to Cass Lake and points east. I ended up with 72 caches in two days, which is phenomenal for me... I am in no way a speed cacher....and these were not p&g's. The majority of them were unique in some way, and the bike trail was mostly shady and scenic. The hides were close enough to each other that we could walk the trail, picking up five or six and then driving to the next group. Some were challenging, some were entertaining, mostly micros, some smalls and regulars - a nice variety. The local cachers have done a great job of making this a destination well worth the trip! Fun times....

I just found this thread, and it is exactly what I was looking for. I just placed my InvisibleShield order, and used a 20% off coupon I found here http://www.retailmenot.com/view/zagg.com. Took a few bucks off the price, which paid for the standard shipping. After having a less-than-ideal experience with a screen protector I purchased on eBay, I am optimistic that this will be the answer - received my Oregon 550 yesterday, I love it, and I don't want any scratches on that baby! Thanks to all for sharing their experiences....