Chi-Town Cacher

Hello. You are definitely correct that the great majority of geocachers use Garmin brand GPSr's. However, there is a growing number of us that are very happy with our Delorme PNs and think they are wonderful. Most folks just kind of give advice on the line of something like 2 sentences long telling you they love their GPS and that you should buy it too. However to make a truely informed decision you will need to know not just the pros of owning a particular model GPSr, but also the cons of owning it because every GPSr does have both pros and cons of owning them. Personally I can't imagine not spending the extra $30 and getting a much better GPSr for geocaching, but that is my personal opinion and others may not agree. Paperless caching is AWESOME! For the $30 difference in price I believe it's a HUGE upgrade to go to the PN-40 and then you won't have to worry about wanting to upgrade in a few months and shelling out a few hundred more later. Not to mention the $199 sale price now is a price that makes it an especially good time to buy a PN-40. If you'd like to see what I consider to be both the pros and cons of owning a PN-40 you can CLICK HERE . Probably the best way to get a well balanced view of the pros and cons of any GPSr would be to go to Amazon.com and read the reviews on both the units you are considering. Good luck in your search for a good GPSr for your family's needs. Welcome to the game!

Hi. If you are a subscriber to the Map Library in addition to aerial imagery and other types of maps they have recently added topo maps for Canada. Granted Canadian topo is not included in the price of the GPSr, but for a very nominal fee it can be downloaded from the Map Library just like lots of other neat optional things for your GPSr. Happy caching!

Hello. All GPSr's will have both pros and cons so make sure to read the reviews for whatever you end up buying (actually I should say if you decide to buy a different GPSr). Personally I own a Delorme PN-40 and I love it. If you'd like to view a list of what I see the pros and cons of owning a Delorme PN-40 you can CLICK HERE . As a couple folks above have pointed out you can use GSAK to get the information you seek to to your current GPSr, but from what I've read it will be fragmented and kind of clumsy to access. On a paperless geocaching GPSr (like a Delorme PN-40 or one of the Garmin paperless models) you'll get everything you see on the cache page except for images right on your GPSr screen. It really is a huge step up from not being paperless. With both Amazon.com and Walmart.com having the Delorme PN-40 on sale right now for only $199 there are some fabulous deals out there. Good luck regardless of which way you end up going. Happy caching!

If you CLICK HERE you can see the thread I was referencing above. Just figured I'd better post the link so others could verify if my little theory is correct or not. Hopefully somebody can give you a definite answer. Good luck!

Over in another Groundspeak forum recently I saw a post from one of the Groundspeak gurus and he mentioned vaguely that Geocaching.com had made a recent change to something in PQs. He also said that they had not coordinated the change with some other 3rd party vendors and it was causing some problems with those vendors applications. He said they had changed things back to the old way now so maybe if you reorder the PQ and try again it will work better this time. That's my best guess, but I'm sure others that are much more tech savvy than I can verify if that is possibly the cause of your aggravations or not. P.S. He did also mention in the future they'd work more closely with 3rd party vendors before initiating changes that could potentially affect them.

Hi HHH. Sorry I don't know the information that you are seeking. However, I did want to say congratulations on that accomplishment. I've been a fan of your Geosnippets for a while now and I can certainly see your shows as being a great way to spread the word about our sport go those who have not been exposed to it. Again congratulations and keep up the great work!

I need to preface this post by admitting that I am one of the worst cachers to ever hunt for tupperware and ammo cans. It wasn't until kind or recently that I felt comfortable enough to even start logging my DNFs and it wasn't until I got my newest GPSr that has a field note capability that I can say with certaintly that I'm now logging all my DNFs. For some reason logging DNFs seem to slip my mind much more than logging finds (I suspect that is true with a lot of folks). Anyways, there are LOTS of caches that have given me fits, but there is one that I just never seemed to be able to totally forget about even though every time I searched for it I swore I'd never go back looking for it again. It is Tree Hollow and it's definitely been a toughy for me. While I have to admit to being very frustrated with it and not always enjoying my searches for it I have to say that I think when I finally found it it moved it from being one of my most hated caches to one of my most memorable ones. All I can say is thank goodness most caches don't stick in my mind and haunt me like this one did. Realistically though if there weren't the tough ones then it would be a game that would bet boring real quickly. Of course it's hard to focus on that while you're having an incredibly difficult time finding the cache that everybody else logs as a very easy park and grab.

I'm thinking your theory about this thread showing up on internet search engine results could be true. However, I be more inclined to believe the OP writes much more interesting thread titles than most of us so therefore it catches peoples attention more. Another factor that may play into the unusually high number of views could be folks like me who know from reading other posts that the OP has written that more than likely this thread will be interesting too so they check it out. Lastly I'd propose that reading through this thread it highlights the very creative comedy writing skills of some of our fellow forum dwellers and comedy is much more enjoyable to read than say, "Why don't other cachers participate in CITO?" Now to get back on topic I thought I was going to agree with a previous responder and then at the last second they went in a totally opposite direction than I would have gone. I do believe there is a good likelyhood of getting grant money for this type of operation. The reason is that geocachers behaviour is so similar to terrorists that watching films of geocachers could make an excellent training aid for Homeland Security or even for training the public in general what to keep an eye out for near locations that could be likely to be of interest to terrorists.

Hello and welcome to the game! I'd warn you about the addictive nature of this little past time of ours, but I think the warning would fall on deaf ears. It was just a little over a year ago that I got bit by the geocaching bug and I find it to be a really fun way to get outdoors and find new locations. Hunting caches is fun, but let me tell you a simple way to improve the fun factor tremendously. Take a kid caching. If you have children take them out with you. If you have no children then borrow some from family members. Since my duaghter was grown already and living several states away when I discovered geocaching what I did was borrow 3 of my sisters boys to take out with me. It makes a fun activity a great activity. Anyways I'd better let you go so you can do something productive (like maybe geocaching). Welcome to the game and be safe while you're out driving your truck!

Hi. I'm not familiar with that line of GPSr's, but it may be helpful to others who are more knowledgable if you can say what model of Bushnell GPS you're considering.

I have a series of TBs that I've released called the Dead Presidents series. I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this idea, but they are my favorites so far. For me the most surprising part is that generally speaking the majority of them seem to be surviving and travel. If you'd like to see one you may CLICK HERE . Happy caching!

Hi Norm. I just did a little experiment with the small town of Rudyard, MI and ordered aerial imagery of it and then I moved it to the History section using the steps I outlined earlier. Then I went back to resubmit a map request for the town afterwards and the only downside I saw was that it wouldn't allow me to reuse the name "Rudyard" since I'd already used that name earlier. So I changed the name of my download to "Rudyard1" just to make it slightly different than the name already on file and it went through just fine once it had a unique name that I hadn't used earlier. I checked out the aerial imagery itself and don't see any difference in quality compared to a "normal" one. Have a great day!

I like the price history chart on it. Thanks for sharing the info.

Hi. Feel free to add it if you want and also feel free to tweak the wording if you find you can clarify my jumbled thoughts. Between lack of quality sleep and lack of caffeine coursing through my system this morning it was kind of hard to get my thoughts expressed. I'm glad it's something that others can use. Happy caching! Edit to add: Hi Highlandermike. I'm glad you were able to get past that problem. It sure can be frustrating until you get the workaround. Happy caching! Hi Norm. I'd never thought about the fact that maybe others weren't aware of that particular workaround. I will do as you suggested and post it in the Delorme forum you suggested. Have a great day!

Hello. It sounds like you are having the same frustration I occasionally run up against. If you follow the following steps it will make the situation easier to deal with (it won't help your download failure rate go down, but it will make it easier to work around). If you're getting hit with the 3 pending downlooads message because you either have failed or just unwanted downloads still pending in your downloads area it's pretty easy to correct. 1. Select the first download you want to get moved from your download area to the history area (basically it's sort of like you're cancelling that order, while I'm pretty sure that technically that's probably not a correct explanation that's how I think of it). 2. Next at the bottom of the download area click the button to download that selected map segment or aerial image. 3. As soon as you see the download start to process hit the cancel button on the download dialog box where it shows the progress of your download. 4. Be prepared because after you cancell the download it will automatically restart the download you just hit the cancell button for. As soon as it restarts repeat Step #3 above. 5. After you cancell it the 2nd time then you will see your dialog box at the bottom of the page change to a kind of dark gray color (sorry I'm colorblind so the dark gray part may be wrong due to my bad eyes). One of the options described in that area is to move the offending download from the Downloads section to the History section. Click to send it to History and your headache is gone. 6. Start repeating the process all over until all the downloads you want to get rid of are gone. As long as downloads are sitting in the Download section they count in that you already have 3 downloads pending formula (sorry I know formula is not the best word but it's early and I"m still needing more caffeine). Hopefully this will help you out. Why do download failures happen? I don't know, but like you I've gone to downloading smaller segments so that way if it does fail I don't have an hours time wasted. Good luck!

Welcome to the game! I won't argue with you since I whole heartedly agree with you about this being a great game. I just wish I'd known about it when my daughter was young and still living at home. Oh well I make the best of it and just borrow my nephews and enjoy the day with them. Again welcome to the game.

Hi. I tried to locate a really good comparison of several different units that Starbrand recently did but I couldn't locate it. It seemed like a fair comparison that nobody seemed to have any major objections to so if you can find that it will probably be helpful to you. It is here in this forum if you want to look for it. I did run across a thread that at a glance looks like maybe it may help you. To see the thread I did find you can CLICK HERE . If you want to see my list of pros and cons for the Delorme PN-40 you can CLICK HERE . Good luck in your search for info!

Hi. I'm sorry I didn't get my thoughts expressed clearly in my last post. I do realize that an inch bigger would be close to 50% bigger than the PN-40. What I was trying to say (and I did so very poorly) was I thought the Oregon screen would have been about 50% bigger than the size it turned out to be. Hopefully that makes more sense. None of the GPSr's on display were turned on and Bass Pro Shops was doing a pretty brisk business since it was Black Friday so I didn't ask to see them powered up. Basically I didn't want to use up to much of the salesmans time since I recognized it was a busy day for them and I didn't want to keep him from helping paying customers. Sorry I'm not a tech savvy person so the talk of pixel counts is flying over my head, but I think from you mentioning it that bigger numbers must be better. I suppose you're right, but I think my screen is pretty awesome even if the numbers are smaller. I am looking forward to going out next Spring with a local Oregon owner though so I can have a better appreciation for what the Garmin line of higher end units have to offer. I don't expect to change my preferences or that of the Garmin owner, but maybe we will both be able to learn a little something about how a different group plays the same game. Sorry for my earlier miscommunication. Happy caching!

I've been cruising Amazon.com, thanks for the tip though! My request is two-fold--give back to the community by funding someone's geocache-fund by buying old equipment, as well as minimize my budget as much as possible. I'd like to shoot for sub-100 if I could. But if no offer arises within my $0-150+ range, I'll probably go with Amazon.com in a few weeks (after finals.) Thanks again! Very nice! I like the way you think. Yeah, we sometimes disagree with each other here on the forums, but then we see somebody like you looking out for others and it reminds us that generally speaking geocachers are a great bunch of people. Thanks for the reminder!

MC were you looking at an Oregon or a Dakota? The Oregon screen is nearly an inch larger compared to a PN-40 and that's a huge difference considering the PN screen is only 2.2" diagonal. Also the Oregon has 96000 pixels compared to just 38720 on the Delorme. You really didn't think that difference was noticeable or worth considering? Hello again. The salesman told me that it was an Oregon I believe the 300 model. Maybe I'm blind, but no I really thought it looked only a touch bigger than the Delormes right next to it. Who knows maybe I'm the only one that feels that way, but to my eyes it definitely was deserving of a little laugh since I'd thought it was going to be a good 50% bigger than the screen I saw last Friday. So no for me the difference in screen size is very negligible, but who knows maybe I'm the only one that feels that way. After the Spring thaw I'll get with a local Oregon user and let them show me the ropes of their unit. I doubt that I'll be changing GPSr's anytime soon, but I would just out of curiosities sake like to see first hand what folks are buying that's different than what I ended up with. The good news is that there are enough different manufacturers out there that most of us can find something to our liking. Well there's a cache I've DNFed twice in the last week or so that was just found again so I'm off to see if maybe yesterdays finder might have moved it back to it's original coords. Happy caching everybody!

Welcome to the forum! You say you liked the Delorme PN-20 when you used one in the past, are you aware it's available right now new on Amazon.com for $150.57? I think the PN-30 is there new also for $203.87 and the PN-40 for $234.57 new so depending on if you're open to buying brand new those may be an option for you. Good luck!

Thanks for posting your review! I recommend the Delorme PN-40 very frequently based on my experiences with it that are very similar to your exerience right out of the box. It's good to know that I'm not the only person that found it very easy to use even without reading the owners manual. Have a great time with your new toy!

It looks like the Western U.S. update is the one you need. Roughly speaking if you were to draw a line straight South from the western edge of the Chicago suburbs then everything to the West of that line would be on the Western U.S. update. Happy caching!

Greetings! My keyboard is messing up so to save me typing and aggravation I'll just provide a link. If you follow the link you will find the answer to your question. CLICK HERE Edit to add: If it were me I'd buy at $229 rather than waiting trying to save $30 and then the price might go back up to $399 and you'd hate yourself for waiting. However, I recommended buying at $239 when this first started and then it dropped to $199 so that proves I don't know and am only giving my best guess which is not always correct. Good luck!

I used to own a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx and hated it. There is one reason I will never recommend the eTrex line (which the Vista is part of). That is because it has had a flaw in it for years that Garmin either can not or will not fix even though it's been going on for years. Now I don't know if it's 0.3%, 2%, 8% or some other percentage of units that experiences this defect, but at least now you can make an informed decision about whether it's something you should worry about. To read up on the defect you can CLICK HERE . Besides the above I'd also like to ask you if you have ever considered a Delorme PN-30 or PN-40? These are currently on sale on Amazon.com for about the normal price of the eTrex Vista HCx. Just for arguments sake lets say the Vista is a good unit (which 99% would agree). However, they're not paperless capable, you can't load aerial imagery to it and lots of other neat things that a Delorme PN owner can do. If you'd like to read more on this awesome GPSr the you can CLICK HERE to read what I see the pros and cons of the Delorme PN series as being. I'd just hate for you to shell out $220 for an eTrex Vista and then 6 months down the road you find out that for about $20 more you could have had a vastly superior GPSr. Good luck in finding the best GPSr for your needs!