The Southlanders

Hopefully this is an isolated incident but I just wanted to inform everyone of our problem before you might make a purchase of your own from this company. We ordered a new gpsr and some accesories from gpsexplorer.com. Their price for the gps was the cheapest I could find and they claim on their website that they process their orders fast......sounds like a good deal right? It had been a couple days and I hadn't heard anything from the company so I decided to give them a phone call. The rep said that our credit card was denied, that I needed to call them up to find out why. He also claimed that an e-mail was sent to me stating that this happened, but we never recieved one. I thought that mabey I might have typed our address wrong. So I called the credit card company up, it ended up being red flagged for security reasons because we haven't used the card in a while and it was a large purchase. Ok, so I confirm that it was me who purchased it and they said that everything was good to go. No big deal, stuff happens, we should be getting the package in a few days. Later that day we got an e-mail from gpsexplore that our order was confirmed and that we would get another e-mail when it gets shipped (so they do have our correct e-mail address???). Well, 2 more days went by and we still haven't heard anything, so I called them back up again. I talked to a different rep and he told me my card was declined again. At this point I'm starting to get a little upset asking why I haven't been informed that this was happening and I was given the old "I apologize m'am line". He then said that they "call" the cutomer when things like this happen within 12 to 24 hours. I then said that this time frame had expired both times without any notice, and was given no explanation for how that could be. I also explained that I payed extra for 3 day shipping to gaurantee that I would have everything for the following weekend, so I tried getting them to overnight it at no extra charge so I could still recieve it by the weekend. I thought this would be fair since I was never informed about the credit card issues. The guy said there was nothing that he could do and gave the "I apologize m'am line again. So I asked to speak to his supervisor, and I was put on hold. I explained the situation to the supervisor and he started yelling at me! Then I asked to speak to the owner and was told that he wasn't around. I asked when he would be around and was told that he didn't know. I then asked for the owners phone number and was told that he doesn't deal with the public. I really did not appreciate being yelled at, so I went ahead and cancelled my order. The story continues, I again called up my credit card company to see what was going on, why it was declined again. They said it was never declined a second time, that there weren't any other attempts! At this point, I'm very irritated with gspexplorer.com's customer service and when I get mad, I get MAD and don't give up. So I again called up gpsexplorer. I managed to get ahold of the guy that I talked to earlier and told him what happened with the credit card company. Now his story changes. Now he states that he never said my card was denied a second time. At this point, I'm so irritated that I start yelling trying to figure out why I'm being lied to like this. He then "asks" if he can transfer me to another guy, I ask what this other guys job title is and he flat out ignores me! He "asks" me again and I just said fine. The next guy answers the phone (he ended up being the cust. rep guy that I talked to the first day) and I explained the whole situation again. He put me on hold and came back with the following offer, he said that they would be willing to ship it 2 day for no extra cost. I reluctantly agreed only because the website had their own rebate in addition to garmins rebate, and I knew that I couldn't get it anywhere else for that price. And because of this rebate, I was told that they were going to actually lose a few dollars over this tranaction. I really liked the idea of them losing money! It will be interesting to see what happens from here. We were thinking about upgrading our second gps if we really liked this new one, but at this point I would rather pay the extra money than to give this company more buisness. Sorry about the long rant, but I really needed to get it out!

I never get caught peeing because I never try to hide the fact that I am peeing, Just kidding. My wife has caught me a few times, now she just learns if I stray behind don't ask and i won't tell. On a recent caching outing with fellow caches i inspired a TB called Full Bladder. Being a Guy is great.

We, Like Rizgar learned of geocaching through the Wheresgeorge website. I took a look at GC.com and announced to my wife we needed to buy a gps to go look for tupperware in the woods. At first she thought I was nuts but after the first cache we were both hooked. (It didn't hurt that our first cache find was a really good hide)

I would say that they are less detailed than the maps on GC.com, the basemaps include interstates, US routes, most state routes (At least in IL) and major roads. Alot of secondary roads are not on there and forget the side streets. We did ok for a while with the basemaps, after a while we decided to get Mapsource which was 99 bucks and it is very detailed, I have no complaints about it.

I would suggest the Garmin Etrex Legend (the blue one) It has a nice display, its tough, it has very basic basemaps, enough memory to get the job done if you want to load Mapsource maps, and it is easy to use. I think you can get them for around 140 bucks online (sometimes cheaper). The Legends bigger brother the Vista is almost the same unit except it has more memory for storing maps, an altimeter ( which is useless for me) an actual compass (which is nice but not neccesary) and from what I have found an appetite for batteries compared to the Legend. We got our Vista for 200 bucks online. Our Magellan Sportrack Pro is also a nice unit, I just prefer the Garmins over it. However the Magellan seems to get better reception under tree cover sometimes, although the garmin does fine most of the time.

Battery level and size doesn't matter on ours either. I have tried every kind of battery we had (at least 5 different types) from alkaline to NIMH to lithium and it just kept shutting down even when sitting still. I don't buy the battery size argument either. It must be somthing internal to the unit. FWIW our etrex Legend is just fine using all sorts of different batteries and has never once shut off.

Well as of now its boxed up and off to gamin. Luckily we have a backup gps so we can still cache The software was updated so who knows. It just is agravating, the unit was only 4 weeks old and did it from the start.

Has anyone else had a problem with thier vista shutting down? Mine is a month old and it will shut down with no rhyme or reason. The unit could be perfectly still and it will just shut off, and garmin told me to check for current software (which it had) and try changing brands of batteries. I have tried alkaline, NIMH and Nicad it doesnt matter. Now I know I have read of battery contact problems though that always seems to occour when the unit is bounced around. I am sending the unit back to garmin, but I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem? BTW Our Etrex legend is fine under the same conditions.

I would be willing to assume the most dangerous part of geocaching is actually the car ride to the caching areas. Look How many people per year die in car wrecks per year in the U.s. Enough to wipe out small towns(40,000 plus a year). I think it comes down to personal responsibility, If you feel that it is unsafe, don't do it. There are plenty of caches in well traveled areas to hit instead of remote ones. You can be doing a city micro and get hit by a car or robbed. You Could be sitting in your house typing in the forums and there could be a violent home invasion. You never know. You must use common sense and be safe, pay attention, use your instincts,and it cant hurt to take a self defense course. We carry mace with us at all times, Pay attention, and if it doesn't feel right we turn back. Granted there are some characters in the woods, but they are everywhere. I will admit I don't like the idea of my wife going out on any trails alone, but she does some times, not geocaching, but bike riding. I have confidence she can handle it though. And like I said before The car ride is the most dangerous part about it all. So be aware, be smart, Have fun, Live life. Or Stay in the house and hope some criminal doesn't bust down your door and hold you hostage. Life is risky, And finite. Make the most out of it.

Our sporttrak map was purchase in Jan 04 from sams club. Date code is 3503. No visible cracks yet. I did strip out the retaining screw and nut for the battery compartment, I do believe it was my fault. Somehow the case got a nic in it causing the battery compartment to go in hard and I forced it in with the screw stripping it out. Ductape is holding the batteries in now. The unit has seen cold and hot temps.

During a recent one week trip to colorado springs Co. there were a bunch of off road caches to be had. the jeep got a good work out on that trip. A far cry from our northern Il home. i do know that there are alot of forest trail in MI. Alot near silver lake. Not ure about caches though The southlanders