ckhd

BTW - I included these four in my list of 'did not find', because I strongly suspected in advance that the NGS sent some out-of-towner up and he went up the wrong road. Four right in a row unfound? C'mon, nobody is that blind, but they are that lost.

I am completely 100% certain I found where the three disks used to be. If there was a percentage of certainty above 100%, that's where I'd be. Why didn't the NGS find the four before? Because they were sent up from Phoenix, didn't know the area, were totally unaware that US HWY 60 had been moved 2 miles south years earlier, and looked along the wrong highway. That's why they didn't find them, and why I did (I was looking along what was US HWY 60 in 1934, not what was US HWY 60 in 1969). The distances were right, the descriptions were right, the scaled coordinates were close. I did find the right spots. edit for bad spelling

Oh! I guess I need to get a newer set of glasses!!

Umm, you have to know where you're going to get there in the first place. The state moved the highway, so if you're just cruising on HWY 60, you won't even be close! edit for my fat fingers hitting the wrong keys!

I like on the detail page how it has a link to nearest benchmarks and nearest geocaches. What would it take to get the same links on the geocache detail pages? I'd like a quick link to see what benchmarks are near a geocache I'm interested in finding. Also, it would be nice to be able to specify how many results, or how big of a radius. Other than that, it's great! Good work!

Of the first two that are destroyed, the first concrete headwall hasn't completely deteriorated, and the full, round impression of the disk in the concrete is still there. The second one is much more deteriorated, and I found part of the impression (about 40%), in a piece that had fallen away, but was right next to the headwall. The last destroyed one, is at a place where people go and shoot their guns, and vandalize anything in site, including 'concrete culverts'. The culvert was at the correct mileage from town, and the headwall was very deteriorated from 70 years of decay, and people shooting it. There were no other concrete culverts anywhere near this one. I am completely positive that the benchmark was there, and is now gone. I suspect that a vandal saw the benchmark at the last location, swiped it, and then thought, "I wonder if the other culverts along this old highway have these things in them" and then went up the road popping them out.

Dude, if it gets you close enough to the cache to find it, who the heck cares what others think? Use what works for you. I bought a Magellan. Not because of any reviews, not because it's one of the mainstream brands, not because of a whole lot of reasons. I bought it because for 10 years, I've been borrowing my dad's and my best friend's Magellans when I needed a GPS. I have grown accustomed to how Magellan makes things. I borrowed a Garmin something-or-other a couple of weeks before I bought my GPS, and it was hard for me to figure out how to find the screens I wanted. If my dad and best friend had owned Garmins instead of Magellans, I would have been used to how they work and that's what I would have bought. Both brands got me to where I wanted to go, but I am more used to Magellans, so that's what I bought. I did see the Lowrance in Wally world the other day, and wondered a little about them. I also wondered if they were related to Loran, or derived from it or something...

Wanting an actual challenge (and a sense of actually doing something), I made a list of several benchmarks in my area and set out to find them, only I didn't pick just any benchmarks. I picked only ones reported as "mark not found". I found this one: http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=ER0208 And I found positive proof that these two have been destroyed: http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=ER0209 http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=ER0210 And I found very strong evidence that this one has been destroyed (I am 100% certain of it): http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=ER0211 First question is: On the ones that I 'found' but were destroyed, do I flag them as 'found' and also as 'destroyed', or just 'destroyed'? Second question: Who do I tell? Do I tell them about the one I found intact as well as the three I found destroyed? The last time they knew where it was located was in 1934, and the last time they looked was 1969. What's the procedures on that?

You guys are awesome! It worked great! And yes, it was SO much faster than the serial port. Took seconds instead of a painfully long, long time. I only have an 8mb sd card at the moment, but was dreading the day I bought a 128Mb or 256Mb card and started uploading big maps!

I bought a SD card reader, hoping to put maps on my MeriPlat with it, because it HAD to be faster than going through the serial port... Anyway, I can't figure out how to send the 'regions' to the SD card through the card reader. Any help?

Well, I actually didn't buy a GPS until after I did some geocaching, but I've been using GPS units for a long time, so my use of GPS came way before geocaching. I did buy a GPS unit, but not for geocaching. I bought it for a different project, and as a fringe benefit, I get to do geocaching with it (and use it a little for benchmark finding).

I'll play with mine a little bit today. I didn't really notice it last week while I was in Phoenix driving around, but I'll check it out today since I'm stuck in Flagstaff for a couple of days. I'll let you know how mine acts.

?? please define "lagging". What is it? I have a MeriPlat with 5.12, and if you tell me what "lagging" is, I'll tell you how mine works.

D'oh!!! How could I have possibly forgot that one? PPC for me. Have an iPAQ.

I think it's mostly a matter of preference. Ford vs. Chevy. PC vs. Mac. Coke vs Pepsi. I happen to like Chevy, PC, & Coke... and Magellan. I've used Magellan for a LONG time. 10+ years. Mostly because I didn't have my own GPSr, and all the ones I borrowed were Magellans. I got used to how Magellan programs things, used to how they set up screens & buttons. I can easily find what I want on every Magellan I've used. It prompted me to buy a MeriPlat. I have had the chance to recently use a Garmin. It was before I bought my own GPSr. I had a hard time using it, simply because I'm not used to how Garmin programs things. I had a harder time finding a Geocache, but I believe it was because of the settings in the Garmin, and I couldn't figure out how to change any of them. Oh, I had a hard time dealing with the buttons. I like them down on the bottom. Features are nice, but it boils down to functionality. It's like my cell phone and my Mom's cell phone. I have a cheap Nokia, she has an expensive Motorola. I like Motorolas better, but I can make and recieve calls just as easy as she can. Hers has a lot of cool bells & whistles (like voice-activated dialing), but when you look at what's important, the ability to make and recieve a call, they aren't much different. That's how I view GPSr's. Is it accurate enough to find what you're looking for? Then really, who cares if it's Magellan or Garmin (or Cobra, or Ed's discount GPS)? Find something accurate, with the bells & whistles you like & an interface you can use.

I love it too. I map stuff with Delorme, then look at the USA photo maps to see what roads are really there. Magellan maps are OK, Delorme has more detail, but the ultimate detail is a photograph.

Sweet haiku!

If you truly felt like a 12 year old, you would have already had it hooked up to the Internet through a pirated WiFi connection and would have already hacked Groundspeak.com/geocaching.com to up you posts/finds!! I have a Dell laptop too. Love it. Hate the new D series laptops (well, dislike some design features).

Syrian Surprise 4/5 I knew I had to find this one right away. There were plenty of out-of-town 'cachers looking for my caches I set locally, and I was sick of them in my hair. All my caches have a rating of 5/5, so they found only a couple. Had a hard time getting there, muggles everywhere. Finally found it. Good thing I took my bag of trade goodies. TN, left all my WMD. Headed back home to do some cache maintenance. I have this awesome idea for a multi that will end in a spider hole. There should be a rating higher than 5/5 for this one. - Insane Hussein

I tried searching for my answer, but I couldn't find it. I have a Magellan MeriPlat. I also have a cable with bare wires (red, black, yellow, and orange) and an end that fits the GPS (no mysterious 'black box' in the wire like the Magellan website shows). My question is: how do I wire it for both power and data? I assume that the red and black are + and - respectively, and that the black is the data -, but which of last two is data send and which is data recieve. Also, do I hook up 12V to the power? Does the MeriPlat have internal circuitry to drop the voltage to the 3v it uses? I tried searching Magellan's site, but turned up nothing. Any help would be appreciated. edit for my fat fingers hitting the wrong keys

I started with a Magellan Pioneer. Not that accurate, but it got you close. I borrowed my friends Magellan 4000 XL many times, and in spite of it being over a decade old, and not that fancy, it really worked well. Typically got me within 10' of what I was looking for. I have borrowed a Garmin 76 (or something like that), but I had a hard time figuring out how to use it, and got all mixed up with the buttons on the top. I guess I've gotten used to the way Magellan works... I now have a Magellan Meridian Platinum and think it's awesome. I've only had it for five days, but have used the heck out of it and am happy with the purchase!

I know where four dept of int disks are. They are on the four corners of my dad's property, but they aren't listed on the Internet. My guess, the Forest Service just doesn't list them all.

So, if I post a pic of the item found, along with the GPS coordinates, nobody is going to flame me or shun me? I just don't want to do something 'inappropriate' for benchmark hunting. edit to fix my bad spelling

When I log it, am I supposed to post a pic, GPS coordinates, anything?

I WISH!!!! If fines were a percentage of net worth, I'd go 130mph everywhere I went! Every time I got pulled over, the government would have to pay ME!!!