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DaveA

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Everything posted by DaveA

  1. I would agree that there is no unit currently on the market than handles in car and out of car well. The Garmin 7020 is a great unit for in car, but it is incapable of being used out of the car. Any of the units by Magellan or Garmin that are hand held are great for out of the car use, but their limited auto routing features (some have no auto routing capability), lack of voice prompts and small screen limit their use for in vehicle navigation. The Garmin 7020 not only has voice prompts, but tells you the name of the street to turn on instead of just saying 'turn left in .5 miles'. Granted, the text to speech engine sometimes mispronounces words, but one can usually figure out what it means. If you primarily want in vehicle navigation, buy the Garmin and for caching get any cheapo handheld. Really, *any* handheld will work fine for caching. Some have more bells and whistles, but for caching they just aren't needed.
  2. The state of Wisconsin is very supportive of caching. Unfortunately I don't know of any websites that explicitly praise caching. I was thanked by a county park manager for placing a cache as he felt it would attract more people to the park to see what it had to offer. The state DNR (land managers) is also very supportive of caching. Some natural areas like the Horicon Marsh are divided into state controlled and federal controlled areas. The federal portions are off limits to caching, the state portions are open to it even though there is no difference environmental wise between the land areas. Perhaps other Wisconsin cachers have some linkys for you.
  3. Have I got a deal for you. key chain LEDs for 50 cents including shipping These come directly from China. I bought 20 of them and they are terrific. They are incredibly bright given their tiny size. They are held together with 4 small screws so the battery can be replaced although good luck finding a replacement battery for less than the 50 cents a new unit costs. The 50 cents INCLUDES shipping. I have given these to friends and the wife and I also have them on our keychains and they are reliable, quality units. I don't use paypal so I was put off that the site *seems* to only accept paypal, but if you look closely during the checkout process you will see a link that says something like 'don't have paypal, use your credit card' and then you can just pay with your credit card. I have also ordered their flashlight/laser pointers for $1.25 each including shipping. The laser pointer is terrific, the flashlight portion is not. It works, but isn't very bright or useful so they are pretty much just laser pointers. I have bought dollar store laser pointers before and they break almost immediately. The 4 I bought from this site are all still working and one I gave to my 7 year old as a toy so that says something.
  4. I don't find topo maps particularly useful on a gps simply because the screen is so small that you can't really see enough to use it for terrain association. It can be helpful in that they usually show more information on off the road things like lakes, rivers etc. However this varies greatly. I haven't checked for awhile, but last time I checked both Garmin and Magellan have let their topo products age for a long time. Their street software is updated more often and kept reasonably current. I have both for my Magellan, but it is rare I switch to the topo. I suppose if you got into really off road adventures (like miles from the nearest road) the topo information would be more useful. Still, I would not go into such a situation without an actual paper topo map that was as up to date as possible.
  5. I generally think of 'sharing' when caching. Sharing means picking up litter others would encounter on the way to the cache. Sharing means leaving something neat behind in the cache for the next person to find. Sharing means not hoarding anything that others would like and that includes travel bugs. For some travel bugs are an exception. The expressed opinion is often "TBs are meant to travel so anything that gets them traveling is good." My own view is that the responsible thing to do is establish a time limit on TBs in caches one has already found. My own, personal time limit is 30 days. If a TB has been in a cache for 30 or more days I feel free to grab it if I wish from wherever it is regardless of whether I have found the cache previously or not. If I find a previously unfound cache I feel free to grab the TB immediately. My opinion is this strikes a 'sharing' balance between letting cache seekers find a TB and ensuring the TB moves along. If you have a TB hoarder in your area there isn't much you can do other than feel sorry for them. They clearly spend too much time chasing after trinkets with dog tags for numbers on a website. To each their own I guess.
  6. How long have they been in your cache? If they were just placed there a few days ago then you might want to consider that their presence makes your cache more attractive to others and leave them for visitors. If they have been there for awhile and people are either not visiting or not taking them then sure, why not?
  7. Let's reason about this. You said "help it travel to another cache". This is where a bit of soul searching comes into play. Why are you going to a cache you already found to grab anything? Is it *genuinely* to "help"? Or is it to boost your stats or gain something else for yourself? My personal opinion is that if a trackable hasn't been in a cache for 30 days or more it should be left for others who will seek the cache for the first time. If it has been in the cache for 30 days or more then regardless of whether it is in a cache you have found or your own cache, I say it is fair game. My '30 days' is arbitrary. I encourage you to reflect on 'helping the trackable' and 'helping the sport' and 'helping yourself' and come up with your own number of days that strikes a balance between the three. Definitely, but of the choices available to you consider the TB/coin goals, if any, and choose the one most applicable when feasible. Another question for you is this: If you have trouble getting to new caches to release the trackables already in your possession (not a bad thing) why are you thinking of going to already found caches to take what is in them (potentially a bad thing)? It ***sounds*** to me like you have the numbers addiction. This isn't necessarily wrong or bad, but do try and sort things out in your mind. You aren't going to known caches to 'help the TB/coin', you are going there to feed your addiction and if done enough will render your local caches less attractive to first time hunters of bugs/coins because you are making the rounds everytime you learn of one. This deprives others. Again, if you see a trackable sitting for awhile, by all means grab it and move it. But if you are going to simply keep an eye on already found caches and race out for any trackable left in them then you have an addiction, plain and simple. Consider writing down the tracking info and logging it for a number and leaving the item for someone else to move.
  8. I agonized over the choices for my first 'good' flashlight. Based upon the reviews at the candlepower forums as well as some independent review sight I forget the name of as well as the price I went with a Streamlight ProPolymer 4AA LUXEON. One has to be kind of careful with what they buy as Streamlight makes a Xenon version and a slightly pricier model as it meets some profession specification. The xenon isn't quite as bright and I didn't need some specification compliance. The model I bought uses a single LED and 4AA batteries. It is power regulated so it stays at max brightness for around 4 hours with my 2500mah rechargeables and then drops output massively. Initially I thought 4 hours wasn't much, but then I considered that a 'typical' cache experience is under an hour and I have a 15 minute charger for my batteries. It works out to be a long time. The price was around $30 with shipping. I am extremely pleased with this light. I have compared it to the half dozen or so other flashlights around the house from 2-AA lights, 2-D lights etc. Simply put the Streamlight has a very bright center beam that throws seemingly forever. I can see the beam on houses 2 blocks away no problem. It also has a really nice spill radius (the area around the center beam that is effectively illuminated). This makes it work well both for peripheral vision as well as seeing far off. It is waterproof so rain won't faze it. Appears very well made. The light quality is also very nice. Unlike some other LED lights I have there is no blue cast to the light, it is white. There are no dark spots in the beam either. It uniformly lights up everything in the center spot and spill radius. For the money I am not sure if there is a better all around torch.
  9. Are there any web sources for free, printable logos or are they all for sale only due to copyright issues?
  10. At the risk of not knowing, does the vista have a 3 axis compass? I probably am not getting the nomenclature right, but as I recall among electronic compasses there are the cheap type which have to be perfectly level to read accurately and there are the better type which read accurately when not perfectly level. I have a wrist watch that is only accurate to maybe 20 degrees and that assumes I calibrate it frequently and it is perfectly level and I am not in a car and... basically it is nearly worthless. I thought that the vista was using the older technology, but am not sure. I am thinking the 60 series uses the better technology, but again, not sure.
  11. I don't know what this thread is to you, but I know what it is to me. I have stated what it is about to me several times and you have yet to directly address it, you just argue. Do *you* hulabum, support derogatory bookmarks showing up on cache owner's pages? Yes or no. If you answer yes, do you mind my creating a derogatory bookmark to show up on your cache pages? Do *you*, hulabum, support a jihad against cache owners simply because a few people believe their caches are causing some sort of bad thing with no actual evidence (other than subjective) to support their jihad? Simple questions. Please answer.
  12. Of course he does! Since according to his profile, in 5 yrs of caching he's never moved a TB, why else would he be posting here? Yes, yes, of course. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with my disliking derogatory public bookmarks showing up on cache pages without cache owner consent? It also couldn't possibly have anything to do with there being no stats showing TBs, on average, spend more time in a TB hotel with trade policies than in any other cache. Nope, it must be that I am a sub human enemy. Riiiight. Let me know if you are OK with my creating a derogatory bookmark that will show up on your cache pages.
  13. So placing public bookmarks of a derogatory nature on cache owner's pages isn't insulting and inflaming? That is just fine? If that is what you believe let me know and I will be sure to add your 3 caches to my derogatory bookmark list. Everyone who thinks derogatory bookmarks showing up on cache owner's pages without thier consent is cool should feel free to identify themselves here so I can get ya added. I mean why not? TPTB don't seem to mind TB hotel owner's getting derogatory bookmarks on their pages so clearly derogatory bookmarks are OK. Of course i am being facetious, I don't actually have any intention of adding your caches to any derogatory bookmark list. I simply wouldn't do it as it is unacceptable to me. I am curious though if you consider it acceptable?
  14. The machine has CPU and RAM to spare and worked until right after the installation of 5 security patches from MS. My unpatched machine (with less power to spare) still runs it fine. That's why I suspect the security patches. I am not talking about something like a service pack, but the one off security patches MS seems to put out almost weekly now.
  15. Well, I just backed up my Meridian Color and then hard reset it. Left it in the driveway for a good while and then looked at it. It isn't showing all 4 WAAS sats, but it is showing 3 where it used to show only 2. I didn't have to prevent it from 'seeing' in any direction, just left it out. I assume this is because the new birds are now officially online? In any event WAAS birds high in the sky are good news.
  16. I keep telling you to get some facts before waging your jihad and yet you keep not getting facts. You are incorrect that Eartha's stats include all TB hotels. Eartha searched on a search phrase and said roughly 1/3 were disabled or archived with TBs listed as being in them. That search phrase is unlikely to have caught all TB hotels. It doesn't matter though. Let's reason about this. Eartha DID NOT isolate TB hotels with a take one leave one policy. It was all TB hotels without distinction that matched a search phrase. In other words the stats Eartha presented, while interesting, were not in any way relevant to the discussion. Now, if Earth's stats said that 5% of TB hotels get archived with TBs in them and 30% of hotels with trade rules get archived with TBs in them, that would mean something. I have said this several times already but, for the stats to be meaningful, they have to be compared against something. They can't be cherry picked stats and they can't be stats compared to nothing. They have to be stats for TB hotels with rules to either all other TB hotels or all just all TBs and how long they have spent in TB hotels with rules compared to other caches. I really don't think I am saying anything at all controversial here. I don't understand why I have to keep repeating it each time you cite yet another meaningless statistic. While I am not for restrictive rules in general, if that rule isn't resulting in any harm I see no reason to challenge it. Cache owners have long set up restrictive rules and the general consensus has always been they can make whatever rules they wish. You haven't shown the rule causes any harm, you simply wish to believe it does. If the rule isn't harming TBs, then there is no reason to deviate from the norm. If the rule is harming TBs then there is reason to oppose it. Get some facts first so you actually know instead of assuming. Even if I agreed with you 100% on TB hotels with rules, I would absolutely not agree with the completely trailer trash idea of making derogatory bookmarks to show up on other people's cache pages. Since the powers that be haven't said a word on this topic we can't know what, if any, thoughts they have on this but never before have I seen anything appear on a cache page from another member that the cache owner couldn't remove if they saw fit. I can't see any reason for bookmarks to be an exception since some low class members are now exploiting bookmarks as weapon to try and force others to do things their way. I define jihad as a battle that close minded bigots wage. Seems to fit this case. You don't have stats to show any harm is done. There may or may not be, but you don't know. You simply take it on faith and 'personal experience' and that is enough for you. You also support the denigration of other people's caches right on their cache page simply because the derogatory bookmark agrees with your view. Seems jihad enough for me. If I made a bookmark of all your caches that was derogatory I don't think you would care for it. If one person can make a derogatory bookmark, why not everyone start doing it?
  17. LOL, I can't give you meaningful stats, nor can you give me meaningful stats. Meaningful stats would have to come from the Groundspeak database so an average could be seen. Anything less is not particularly meaningful. Certainly you can see that? Why do you say I am the only dissenting opinion? Read the threads, I am not the only one. I think you mistake me as being in favor of restrictive rules. I have plainly said I am not. I am against derogatory bookmarks showing up on people's cache pages without their having the ability to remove them just like they can remove offending logs. I think this will cause increasing problems as time goes on and people create more and more derogatory bookmarks. I also said I question whether or not a TB, ON AVERAGE, sits in a TB hotel with rules than in any other cache. That is all.
  18. Not 100% sure how it would work if you took the memory card from the 500 to the XL. I *think* it is GPS unit serial # locked and wouldn't work. However, for certain if you put the card in a card reader and wipe it clean and then deinstall the software from your PC you could start over and it would work fine. There is no way for the CD to know how many times it has installed or to what it has installed.
  19. I have had Mapsend Direct Route v 1 for quite awhile. When I switched to Windows XP it stopped working and Magellan released a patch. The problem was their copy protection and XP didn't play well together. Mapsend didn't recognize the CD in the drive. Well, on my work laptop we are constantly getting security updates from Microsoft and while I don't know what patch it was that got installed (it is all behind the scenes), MapSend Direct Route v 1 again stopped working. There is no error, it simply doesn't start at all. I have uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times to no avail. The software continues to work on my home machine (also XP), but I haven't applied any updates from M$ for months. Magellan support hasn't responded, but I notice they have dropped support of v 1 and are requiring a paid upgrade to v2 or 3. Funny since it is their copy protection that breaks the product. Anyway, the moral here is I strongly suspect one of the latest MS patches for XP is the culprit so all those of you running XP and using Direct Route v. 1 be careful.
  20. Unsure why you are addressing this to me. I didn't pull the 'my numbers are greater than yours therefore I am right' routine. It was pulled on me Back to the topic, I am not in favor of restrictive rules either. My issue is that geocaching.com is allowing a public bookmark which is derogatory in nature (TB prisons) to be placed on other people's cache pages without their consent. This seems to fly against everything I had thought Groundspeak wanted on the main site. I see no difference between derogatory public bookmarks appearing on cache owner pages and derogatory logs on the cache page. The only difference is the cache owner would be able to remove the offending logs at their discretion, but they cannot do so with public bookmarks. Just how much latitude do people have with the derogatory bookmarks? How far will it be allowed to go? My other issue is that I am not sure a TB hotel with a trade policy actually results in TBs sitting for a longer period of time than they do in other caches. I am not sure this isn't the case either, but I think before people go all jihad on other members (most of whom I am sure had the best of intentions with their TB hotels) there ought to be some facts instead of speculation. Going through "some" caches and comparing them to "some" other caches isn't meaningful. The stats would have to be gathered from the database which no regular or premium member can do. I am not suggesting it is necessary to do this, but I would think people would be a little nicer to each other when they don't have facts supporting their jihad.
  21. Why not? If movement for the sake of movement is the goal, the TBs moved, right? When you say 'many' hotel owners snatch up TBs for their hotels, what is the actual percentage? Do you know or are you cherry picking stats that fit your view? (rhetorical question since it is now obvious you have researched nothing before formulating your views). You don't know why anyone other than yourself spends money on TB tags, attaches them to some item and places them out in public areas. Sure, having them move is probably a goal most, if not all of the time, but again, you are mistaking movement for the sake of movement with quality of movement. Movement that doesn't advance the TB's goals is not desired by TB owners with specific goals. That a TB hotel imposes a restriction on movement isn't inherently bad. If it results in a cacher showing up with a TB to trade for another TB it might just work out really well. There might be 10 TBs in the cache and the visitor can only trade 1 for 1 which means they will have to sort through the 10 in the cache and determine which one has goals they can actually help rather than just grab it and move it any old place. Given that my join date is two years before yours I would say your track record for making assumptions is pretty poor. I encourage you to start looking for actual facts instead of relying upon your assumptions which are clearly divorced from reality. You are on a crusade over an issue you have no actual facts on. You rely upon surface judgements and speculation and even then you use language to suggest more people agree with you than appear to. Your entire position is based upon an assumption you apparently can't be bothered to fact check. And you seem to be eager to assume your presumptions are correct and call for banning/archiving caches and making derogatory public bookmarks. In summary you are calling for a rule against a rule and your basis is simply non fact checked speculation. Nice.
  22. I used the phrase 'super fast travel' because other where talking about 'restricting' movement. My question is this: does imposing an unenforceable trade rule on a TB hotel result in movement that is slower than in other caches, on the average? I don't know the answer. Neither do you. Thus, I see no reason to worry about it. You are also assuming TB owners don't prefer restrictions on movement. If the restriction results in the TB moving only into the hands of those who know what a TB is and the hands of those who will help it on it's specific goal rather than just move it willy nilly is this a bad thing? I like the idea of a TB hotel with some rules, at least in theory. I like the idea that my investement is being handled by those who know what TBs are rather than those who mistake it as a trade item. I favor rules that result in people leaving my TB sit and wait for someone who will help it fulfill it's goal rather than just move it a couple miles to the next cache on their multiple cache foray. In other words I do not value movement for the sake of movement. The argument against TB hotels with rules is that the rules limit movement in ways the TB owner doesn't like. My argument is that sometimes this is true, other times it is not. If someone doesn't want their TB in a TB hotel with rules, then let them state that on the instruction sheet accompanying thier TB. Of course that instruction sheet will go unread and ignored, but this just illustrates the pointlessness of worrying about other people's rules and the futility of championing counter rules.
  23. You don't know that, you assume that by looking at the stats associated with the account I am posting from. In my opinion, the primary fault in your position is you simply assume too much about others without any solid evidence that the 'others' are as you think they are. And you have yet to show that TBs in hotels with rules, on average, move less often than TBs not placed in them. You have yet to show that TBs in hotels with rules disappear more often than TBs in other caches. You have yet to show that fast travel is a greater priority among TB owners than (perceived greater) safe travel. You have presented 'facts' based upon your own interpretation of your experiences and nothing more. And based upon your opinions you promote the archiving and banning of caches you don't like as well as antagonistic bookmarks appearing on cache pages without the cache owner's consent. If you had some actual hard data to present to show that TB owners were being routinely screwed over with TBhotels with a trade policy/suggestion then you would have a leg to stand on. As it is your entire position is based upon speculation. And upon that speculation you are not only supporting, but promoting bans and antagonistic bookmarks on other people's cache pages. Congratulations, you have appointed yourself as a geo cop. Agreed, which is why I find it odd that some are championing the idea of cleaning out "TB prisons" as a matter of principle. If moving just any old place is the goal of the TB then fine, but otherwise the noble TB avenger is just moving the TB for the sake of moving (and getting a stat boost) rather than actually furthering the TB's stated goals. Why don't we all just be honest with each other? The primary reason to oppose a policy resulting in the controlled release of TBs to a larger group of people is because some people are stats mongers and don't wish to leave any TBs behind for someone else to play with? It is pure selfishness masquerading as nobility in my opinion. If your *sincere* goal is helping other TB owners move/fulfill it's goal then don't raid TB hotels of all TBs. Visit them with a TB and swap for a TB whose goal you can help fulfill. If you can't or won't help fulfill it, leave it behind for someone else. If a TB sits for a long time because it has a goal few are willing/able to help it meet, that is the problem of the TB owner for setting such a goal. Fast travel isn't the only issue. Safe travel and travel to those willing/able to meet the goals is also important.
  24. How can i be any more clear? I own a TB and don't have any problem with it going to a TB hotel with a trade policy. The argument against TB hotels with a trade policy is that it is a cache owner trumping the wishes of the TB owner. In some cases this is undoubtedly true. In other cases it is undoubtedly not true. To assume it is universally true is an error. I object when someone refers to 'TB owners' as a likeminded group and represents their opinion as my own. I object when someone tries to get a type of cache banned that isn't violating any law. I object when someone takes their own view so seriously that they create an antagonistic public boomark that will show up on other people's cache pages. Thats about all there is to it. Evidently some believe that every TB owner values super fast travel above all else and consider themselves worthy to seek bans, place antagonistic public bookmarks on other people's caches, raid caches of all TBs while leaving nothing for anyone else behind and all the while consider themselves champions of nobility rather than self proclaimed police who claim to represent people that don't even agree with them.
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