xjjoe01
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Posts posted by xjjoe01
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We are new to Geocaching and wish to purchase a GPS. I am wondering what is the easiest unit to use and the most user friendly, with the best performance. We want to spend time caching...not becoming frustrated with a new unit that is difficult to use. The Delorme PN-40 sound interesting but I understand it has a steep learning curve. The Colorado seems like a good unit but my understanding is you have to buy a good share of extras if you want to play, such as maps. Can anyone explain these issues to us? Thanks for any help.
We use a Garmin Venture HC for our GPS and GSAK/cachemate for software. This combo is so easy to use, my 11 year old uses this for Geocaching.
Once caches are uploaded, you just chose geocaching from the menu on the GPSr, then it will show you, in order, geocaches you have not found that are closest to you.
To use cachemate, you need a Palm Pilot of some sort, that will bring you to paperless bliss.
Besides, the GPSr, the Palm Pilot, and software will cost you about 200 dollars including shipping. Not that much to have tons of paperless fun.
Joe
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Or, for paperless, just get this:
http://www.tigergps.com/refurbpn20.html
It's all in the box, nothing else to buy, no Palm PDA, no Cachemate, no GSAK.
I'm afraid the price on that doesn't work on the limited budget I mentioned. I'm looking for a $20 or $30 solution to going paperless.
I paid 25 dollars for my Palm M500 a few weeks ago, used of the Internet.
Paperless is the way to go!!
Joe
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I just installed this on my GPSr: eTrex Venture HC, Ver. 3.10, as of Jan 05, 2009 unit software.
Does anybody have any experience with this?
TIA,
Joe
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USAF 1991 to current. Like many others, have been well traveled and have been away many birthdays, special events, and holidays.
Duty Assignments:
Germany
Oklahoma City, OK
Fort Worth,TX
Washington, DC
I have been on every continent except Antarctica, which I am still working on it. My current assignment has brought me to the desert many times. Wife doesn't like it, but accepts and supports when I have to go away on business trips.
God bless those who serve, those who had served, and those who support those who serve.
Joe
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Newbie here and I was wondering how you folks plan for a geocaching trip. I d/l the caches from the site but they are not in any physical order. The first might be in one location and the next might be several miles away. The the third might be closer to the first. Seems that the caches would be aligned closer to each other so that you can get all the caches that are closer to each other without having to zoom all over town and waste gas and time. I have a etrex legend to start off with and have d/l EasyGPS. Once again when I go to the page on the site where it lists all the caches in an area that I want to hit, they are in no particular order. Is there something I am missing?
Just curious as to how you plan a track without having to go to each individual cache page, send info to GPS, and print out the short info. I don't have the cash for a palm pilot right now. But the questions still remains, why doesn't the site(geocaching.com) list the caches in some sort of distance order? And how do you plan a caching trip without zooming all over town yet not taking a lot of time to plan it one cache at at time. Make any sense?
Thanks!
I bought a used M500 for about 25 dollars on the net, which made my geocaching experience tons better! I use GSAK and cachemate as my software team to go find them caches.
Joe
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I logged my visit.
Joe
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Hi I'm looking to get my first handheld GPSr. I just got into the sport and and have been using a Garmin Nuvi 205 with amazing results for a unit not designed for geocaching. I want to buy a Garmin eTrex Venture HC. It looks like it has good reception and some solid features for GC. The price is right too. Will I be disappointed with this unit? Should I just save for a better unit? Thanks.
I have the Venture HC and love it!! I use it with GSAK and cachemate software along with a palm m500 and cache totally paperless. It is great. You won't be disappointed.
Enjoy,
Joe
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hi, new to the fourm, and I bought a garmin venture hc in july 2008 and have used it in a couple of caches and everytime it is always about 30-50 feet off the mark, and it has the WAAS which is supposed to be accurate within 3 meters, has anyone else had this problem? one more thing, it doesnt like to redirect itself very fast, like i could be facing north, turn and walk several feet south and the screen never changes, it there a way to fix this?
Thank you
nick
I use the GPSr as you and do not have those problems. For WAAS to work, you have to manually turn this feature on. I am not sure you did this or not. Also, Garmin has published at least three firmware and chipset updates. Have you updated your Garmin? If not, the process is free. Just copy this and paste in your web browser: http://www8.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp
Then install the software, turn on your GPSr and connect using the supplied USB cable.
Hope this helps,
Joe
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Every time that I have attempted to update my Garmin Venture HC, it has failed. I contacted Garmin by email, but the tech response that I got back from them hasn't helpful at all.
I do remember one caution that came up during my attempt to update was that I should choose the correct update or my unit could be damaged.
I chose the right update. From what I heard a bunch of us that tried to use the webupdater got screwed.
Mine works now, that's good enough for me.
I use a Mac and have the same GPSr as you along with the same problems, but I pulled the cable and repeated this process about 3 times, until the update fully worked. I was worried that I killed the GPSr, but it rebooted itself.
I think Garmin needs to work in their Mac software.
Joe
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I recently started using EasyGPS, but a friend has recently offered to pay for my GSAK registration. Question is, what would I get out of GSAK that I can't do with EasyGPS?
I am sure there must be a hundred former threads about this topic, but my search function was freezing up, and I didn't find anything as I was reading through several pages of old threads. If you can point me in the right direction, that would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I have used both and like GSAK much better. It is a built in Google map for a visual on the GCs and has built in features to go paperless using a pda and cachemate.
You can download GSAK and try it!!
Joe sends
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Hi, I have just gotten started in caching and my 9 year old son has become very interested. He was very disappointed that he could not sign his name and wants to create his own account. Should I let him or should I create another account that is more of a team name?
Thanks for any input.
Z
I have a 3 year old and an 11 year old. We use my account as a family account and let the oldest child sign the log. Seems to work and I can keep tabs on what my oldest is doing.
Joe
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My parents just gave me this unit for Christmas. Just went out to play with it on my first adventure and didn't find it. Guess I need a little practice reading the maps. At one time I was away from the "flag" on the map of the gps and it said I was within 30 feet of the coordinates. But yet the map on Geocaching.com shows the cache to be across the street. Hummm.
Any help or hints on finding a cache would be great. Anyone else have a Garmin nuvi series system? The person at the store said a LOT of hunters and what not come in to get that particular model for finding their way in the woods.
There is actually a Garmin Nuvi that was due to be hitting the stores in the third quarter of 2008. It is waterproof, good for marine and auto, and.......geocaching! (according to the literature.) Have a look at Garmin's website, it is a bit more pricey than the 200 series, but maybe you can trade up? I loved my auto GPS - made a recent drive a lot less stress! The new one also has batteries that are user replaceable, I believe.
Good Luck!
That is the 500 series. Garmin's website list them.
Joe sends
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You could also try asking somebody else who has found it recently if the CO is not responding to your help request. Hopefully, this person belongs to a geocaching club located in your area and maybe you could join it.
Most importantly, have fun!!
Joe
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Can I use a pda to go paperless caching? If so how?
Hello,
I am a "newbe" also and use a Palm M500 (bought for 25.00) and GSAK/cachemate. This combo is amazing!!
You can download GSAK and try it for a while. Cachemate is software you load on the Palm. Then, after you have your Pocket Query loaded into GSAK, you just click file->export-> then cachemate PDB file. A screen will pop up and run the hotsync software for the palm. Then, you are set.
It is that easy and fast.
Enjoy paperless caching!!
Joe
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I have a Garmin Venture HC and I'm having some difficulty loading caches directly to the unit. It did it once, then said it was not detecting a unit. I downloaded the requisite plug-ins and even tested it on the test plug-in...It said it's working fine, but then it doesn't recognize the unit when I try to direct load.
Any ideas?
I am guessing you are trying to send to GPS from Geocaching.com website. Try to close the browser window, unplug the USB cable from the GPS, and make sure the GPS is on. Plug the GPS back into the computer and look at the display to see if it is using computer power. If so, start the browser and log into your account; then try again. You might get a pop up window asking if it is ok; click yes and it should start working. If this does not work, install Garmin's web updater software and try this. Maybe your GPS software is out of date.
Let us know,
Joe
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Not sure if anybody else here has tried, but my Verizon and Blackberry vehicle chargers both work fine with my Garmin Venture GPSr. I think any USB GPSr will also operate on "external power" using any cell phone car charger that has the micro USB connection on it.
Hope this helps and maybe saves a few $$$.
Joe
Sorry for the duplicate post. I don't know why it did that.
Joe
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Sorry for the duplicate post. I don't know why it did that.
Joe
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Not sure if anybody else here has tried, but my Verizon and Blackberry vehicle chargers both work fine with my Garmin Venture GPSr. I think any USB GPSr will also operate on "external power" using any cell phone car charger that has the micro USB connection on it.
Hope this helps and maybe saves a few $$$.
Joe
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Not sure if anybody else here has tried, but my Verizon and Blackberry vehicle chargers both work fine with my Garmin Venture GPSr. I think any USB GPSr will also operate on "external power" using any cell phone car charger that has the micro USB connection on it.
Hope this helps and maybe saves a few $$$.
Joe
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I think the main problem is the possible use of GPS for terrorist navigation. As far as the physical receiver leaking enough RF to cause harm to the airplane is bogus. If this was true, than every iPod, laptop, PSP, ect. would have caused numerous crashes and be 100% inspected and banned from the passenger compartment.
I personally work in the communications field and have had my tech security people (read bug finders) scan my office's GPS systems that we use with our satellite equipment and they leak far less than a typical laptop.
For references, I can not post as they belong to the Government. This is an interesting read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEMPEST
enjoy,
Joe
LAPTOP AND WIRELESS INTERNET?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
I use my Blackberry all the time when my family geocache. I find surfing geocache.com is a breeze to look up past logs or get new information. I think a laptop would be a pain in the backside....If you had one with a GPSr, you could have an "all in one device".
Joe sends