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The NEOGeodogs

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Everything posted by The NEOGeodogs

  1. Whether the life of the log book is preserved by being closed depends on the type of log book and the quality. With spiral binders, especially the low quality ones, the repeated opening and individual page turning, closing them seems to have a detrimental effect on them. For glue bound log books it closing it seems to help it some but we often find many loose pages in the cache. For stitch bound log books definitely close them. It depends on the cacher, not whether it's open or closed. To leave the log book open guides the next cacher to the next clean space (hopefully) , helping to keep the logs in chronological order. Based on our caches, it doesn't seem to help either way as log entries are disorganized, we find that some cachers don't like to use the back of a page, especially if the pages flip up. Yes. Seemingly trivial, but we have pondered this topic also on the caches we find, we make the decision based on the type of log book, how we found it, and its condition.
  2. Yep! Let us know how it's progressing!
  3. There will inevitably be problems with people not following directions, but it sounds like a fun, creative idea, try it a out a couple times and let us know how it works!
  4. Well we seem to be GPSr collectors, we have a Magellan Sportrak Map, Meridian Gold, Meridian Color and a Garmin GPSMAP 76 CS. I can tell you our experiences, the Magellans' perform very well under a tree canopy, they are rugged, easy to use and more than enough to find caches with, the Garmin just doesn't "see" satellites as well as the Magellans under tree cover. The features of the Garmin are outstanding, Auto routing, daylight readable color, nice geocaching feature, electronic compass and barometer (nice to see how steep our ascent/decent was while caching in PA and WV!) The quality has been disappointing, failed compass and lockups. We are on our second GPSMAP 76CS, Garmin replaced the first unit at no charge, but the second day of use the battery connector tab snapped, we're sending it back for repair... the average time has been two weeks to get it back. We have read numerous posts and spoke to many local cachers who have nothing but wonderful things to say about Garmin... we must just be unlucky. Either would be acceptable for just geocaching, but if you want to leverage your investment, get a unit that has plenty of memory to download maps and points of interest and does auto routing navigation. Hope that helps!
  5. <.02> I get itchy just reading the posts! I have become very sensitive to PI over the years, I was one of the "lucky" ones who never had a reaction in my younger days, then one day I bad reaction, and ever since merely looking at a picture of PI causes an itchy rash to appear! I use Zanfel, it stops the itch immediately, and usually only takes one application. It's ridiculously expensive, you get an ounce for $35.00 at drug stores, but I've bought some off of ebay for much less. It's worked for me, YMMV. Good luck! </.02>
  6. I've used a cheap photo vest I found on ebayfor the past summer. It worked well, it has so many pockets I was able to leave the cache bag in the truck. (in case you're wondering, no I don't sell photo vests)
  7. We've been collecting sig items since we started, it's just about the only thing we'll trade for in caches. We leave, laminated cache cards, regular and micro sized, signature cache loot and numbered "NEO Geodogs[tm]" trackable on our webite. You can also see some of the sig items we've collected.
  8. I never used to be allergic, I was constantly exploring the woods as a kid, I actually hid in some while playing paintball! Then one day it happened... I had become allergic. Broke out with a horrific rash. Went to the Dr. and received a referral to a dermatologist, who gave me a shot and a warning, each subsequent exposure could be worse than the last. Since then I've had a few more reactions, and yep it seems as though I'm more sensitive. So be thankful your not allergic, just don't go looking for trouble! If you do find yourself with an itchy case of Poison Ivy I recommend Zanfel, expensive, but it has worked well for me. YMMV.
  9. Arrow heads with your name on them? You can get some here, other places too, write your name on them with a paint pen found at craft stores.
  10. Well my experience with Garmin and my GPSMAP 76 CS must be the exception. I received it as a gift, after 5 months the compass quit, didn't drop it or anything, it just quit working. I had to disable the compass to get it to work. Received an RMA and received it back after a two week wait. Worked for about 3 months when it started to not turn on, spontaneously turn off, and then locked up completely navigating. I received the worst customer service from any company in recent memory. The agent suggested that I "Ebay" it if I was having so many problems and was dissatisfied I eventually received a replacement after several phone calls and arguments. The battery contact just broke on the replacement yesterday, I'm not looking forward to getting it repaired again, I'll let you know how it works out and how long this one takes. I also have a Magellan Sportrak Map, out first GPSr, it developed cracks in the case, I contacted Magellan via web site and was issued a RGA and received the GPSr back in 5 days, with a new case and a new suction cup mount and manual free, with a nice note apologizing. I also purchased a Magellan Meridian Gold while the Garmin was in for its first repair, and a Magellan Meridian Color for another team member. I appreciate the Magellan's performance and the ease of entering coordinates in the field. I really like the features on the Garmin GPSMAP 76CS, especially the geocaching feature, the auto-routing, the newest one works much better than the first one (yes I updated the firmware on every release) and the easy to read display. I don't like the data entry method in field, and I am not impressed at all with their customer service. I'm certain I must be the exception, but the phone support has been horrible for me. Email support was good, except that they referred me to the phone support. I think both have unique qualities, strengths and weaknesses, you'll have to judge for yourself. Good luck and let us know what you decide.
  11. Ditto! There's bunches of cachers around NEO and the best way I can think of to find a group to go caching with is to post on geochums. Coincidentally there is a new Waymark, NEO Tour Guides, that points to this area. Good suggestions made there and a quick way to find someone local to go caching with. Good luck and happy caching!
  12. I'm not a chemical engineer, professional photographer, nor do I have any other qualifications to testify on single use camera performance in in front of a senate subcommittee, but I have put several cameras in caches (Lock n Lock & Drybox) over several seasons and had no problems. This is in North East Ohio, so there was plenty of cold, snow, rain, heat and humidity. Used the bargain brand Office Max camera and a Wal-mart special. Judge for yourself, the pics are posted on our website under the "Cache Photo Albums" link.
  13. We have a trackable sig item we leave in caches. We couldn't afford 100's of travel bug dog tags so we track them by attaching our own tags to them with a link to our web page. We are planning on coding the web page ("Track NEO Geodogs!") so we don't have to transcribe log entries. We started doing this shortly after we started caching and it has been working out pretty well for us.
  14. Fantastic frantic fun! A great event that took the "alien hunting" teams around town. It looked like a "chinese fire drill" at the new caches in North East Ohio!, we can't wait for the 2006 event, "Fragglestock - Peace, Love and Serenity Now"
  15. There are cachers who letterbox too and they have stamps the use when signing the log, in addition we've seen customized stickers and of course a wide variety of signature cache calling cards and other signature items, including customized coins, some are also trackable! Take a peek at our collection to get an idea. We've only been doing it for a relatively short time, some other cachers have nice collections of sig items on-line too! Your imagination is your guide as to what could be your signature/personalized treasure.
  16. We really like finding signature calling cards in the cache, it's cool to find them from visiting cachers just visiting the area, they are usually informative and entertaining and gives us something else to do. We have collected a variety of them in addition to other signature items, take a peek here.
  17. As the cache owner I think it's up to you. Different people do play differently, but I believe your approach is fair. The email asked them to change the log type, if the don't change they log, I believe it's your decision, if it were me I'd let it slide, simply because I don't care about anybody else's numbers but my/our own. We don't log "smilies on caches we don't open. I make that distinction because sometimes it's impossible to sign the log, either because it's a pulpy mess or some other physical constraint, in those cases we either replace the log, or leave some other evidence that we found the cache. If the cache owner emails us and says that's not good enough and requests we change the log to a note, we would... but that's how WE play the game. $0.02
  18. Perhaps a new set of attributes, similar to the cache size attributes. We have come to appreciate the new attributes and import both cache type and container size into map point to get a great visual representation of the caches in an area and help us decide which ones we would like to search for on a trip. Additional attributes that would further define the characteristics of the Mystery cache would be great. We have recently started searching for night caches, some of which are Mystery caches, it would be great to have additional search capabilities. The cache owners can then select the appropriate attributes for their cache, and have a catch all "unknown" set as default and let the owners change it.
  19. We cache with our dogs regularly. Our dogs are "recycled", from shelters or rescue groups. With dogs like this you don't always get the full story about their tempermanet and behavior. We follow the posted rules whenever we cache or hike. If there are no posted rules we let common sense be our guide. As others have posted, some people have dog "issues" and we are respectful to them and local rules. We have taken our dogs to obedience classes an work with them almost daily on their commands, both on an off leash. Your dog should master some basic commands off the leash, our favorites are "Heel","Down", "Leave it", "Sit", "Heel Sit", "Sit Stay", "Down Stay" and "Come" The most important in our opinion are "Down", the dog should stop whatever it's doing and lay down and await you next command. "Come", your dog immediately returns to you, does not pass go, does not collect $200 , and "Leave it" , your dog ignores whatever has its attention at the moment and turns its attenetion to you. There are some basics all dog should master, these are the foundation of the AKC Good Citizenship test. Dog Scouts is another group that advocates well behaved dogs, and may be of interest. Your local library should have a wide selection of training books. We use only positive reinforcement, using homemade treats. Training your dog should be enjoyable to both you and your dog, keep the lessons simple, fun and short. Repetitive and consistent commands and rewards have always provided us with good results. Good luck training your geodog!
  20. We prefer the telescoping aluminum kind, they are easy to travel with. An added extra bonus is that the top cap screws off and it acts as a monopod for our cameras. We screw the camera on to it and stick it in the ground and use the remote or timer for a "cheesy" group picture. The one we bought from Cabelas also has a handy elastic sling that allows you to carry the stick on your back (great when crawling up a wet concrete spillway as we found out this weekend!)We like the look of wooden ones, and in a pinch grab a branch off the forest floor to use as a hiking staff when we wrongly assumed we didn't need our hiking sticks for a 1/1 cache
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