david5kfull
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Posts posted by david5kfull
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I have released my first travel bug and it has moved, but no mileage has been calculated and no map is available. Am I doing something wrong? This is my bug TB348PM
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I found all of these posts pretty interesting. You can obviously tell that there are just as many ways to play this game as there are opinions to this issue. My expectation is that the more urban the cache, the smaller it will typically be. However, “expectation” is the key word here. I like all types of hides but don’t typically find a lot of enjoyment from those that seemed “thrown” in an area rather than planned. I don’t have a lot placed because I take a lot of time looking for an enjoyable location and spending time constructing a cache that others will appreciate.
You can’t control what others do or how they play the game, but you can control how you do it. If the caches are boring in that area, then don’t search for them. The cache page provides all of the information that you need to determine if this particular hide is something that you are interested in.
If you want to improve your area, it is up to you as the cacher. I have several that I will be placing soon that I am sure no one has seen before. If you establish a reputation that your caches are truly unique, then your caches will be favorites and you will in turn raise the bar to other cachers in your area. That is what I am trying to do… I hope it works…
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Thanks for the advice. I will start doing that.
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I don't know if others are having a huge issue with this, but there have been quite a few times where I have gone after caches, some quite difficult, in order to retrieve the TB or coin that is in the inventory. Recently, I have noticed an increase of caches that say they have a TB, but end up having nothing. What is happening here? Are people just failing to log these items when they move them? Is there a problem with the online system? What can we do about it?
As far as logging, should TB or coin owners do a better job at explicitly explaining what needs to happen if you pick up their item? I have noticed that some people tend to do a great job with this while others provide no instruction at all. Does this frustrate others?
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There are several ways that you can look at this. Sometimes I find a great location, but the cache is lame. Other times I will find a really cool cache in a lame location. Sometimes the whole situation is lame… I think that we as geocachers are the only people that can really improve the situation. I agree that it seems sometimes that a lot of the best locations are already occupied. In this situation, try to make your cache the interesting part. I personally like the “hidden in plain sight” caches in parks or other urban locations. I have also enjoyed a cache recently, while the location wasn’t very interesting, I had to solve a physical puzzle to actually retrieve the cache. There are lots of ways to play the game as well. I just went out and only looked for caches with TBs. I do this quite often if I am about to take a trip so I can assist the owners in getting some distance.
Overall, there are people that spend a great deal of time creating caches and there are others that just keep a pack full of micros and randomly place them as they go about their day. Bottom-line, if you want to create a solution, we should start creating the caches like what we want to find. If we all do it, we will see things change. I have started to create two kinds of caches. Ones for great locations and some for not so great, but interesting… You will start to see these out there soon if you are in the Denver area.
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That is an excellent point.. I took a few friends on mine on a trip with me and they asked questions as to "Are we just going to leave it there?" and "Can we move the cache now that we have found it?" I know that these questions seem obvious to all of us, but they were valid considering that they were not familiar with the game.
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I too have seen tons of negative reviews on the Colorado 400t. Personally, I do not get it. I have been using the unit for about 4 months and I think that it is a great GPS.
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Note that you have only had the unit for four months, with the latest and greatest firmware upgrade. Note that your post is 9 months since the previous one.
You are talking to people who purchased the Colorado when they first came out ( as I did ) - they have struggled with poor performing units that have had many improvements from when this model first came out, how long has it been folks, over a year now? I was lucky and had a decent unit from the start, but it benefited from firmware updates ( i.e. feature adds ) along the way.
Your current Colorado experience has benefited from the complaints and feedback that these people have passed along to Garmin.
I'll give you that one, however, I am not just basing my opinion on what I have read here, I am looking at lots of sites that have posted poor reviews of the Colorado, some as recent as hours before I posted this response. Also, in the last 4 months, I have used my Colorado quite a bit. I typically go caching at least 4 times a week. Sometimes just after work and other times all day when the fish don’t appear to be biting
. In the last 4 months, I have also been backcountry hiking 6 times with two trips being overnight in the mountains. I think that is a pretty good test.I also agree that the Colorado has benefited from the customer feedback, as with lots of products. Even the Delorme, my other GPS, has had major firmware revisions since I purchased it and all have been great improvements in both GPS accuracy and geocaching features.
Overall, I just felt motivated to post a good review as these appear to be few when it comes to the Colorado. I think that we can all agree that when people are unhappy with a product, they want to tell the world… When we like something, we often say nothing.
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I think that this is a typical issue with those new to geocaching. If you look at my map, you will see that most of the caches around my home coordinates have been found. When I started out, I didn’t know enough about the game to determine what was good or bad. That being said, through time, I have started to learn more about the caches that are fun verses the ones that were placed with no imagination.
I can say this, there is one place that I want to place a cache so badly, but too many others have placed random caches in the area prohibiting me from getting this one done right. It is sad to find such a good place for a cache just to be denied the opportunity to create a really fun one due to all of the garage caches within 500 feet of that location.
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Just noticed this was duplicated.... not sure what happened there...
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It always interesting what people envision when they hear certain words. When some hear the word “muggle” they instantly think of “non-geocachers” while others remember Harry Potter references. This can be true for lots of words. What do you think about when you hear “pot”, “chicken”, or “mission”? Some may envision rolling a “fatty” (there’s another one to think about) while others see a flower pot or maybe a cooking pot… A mission could be a task of great importance involving spies and villains while others may consider this an activity within the church.
In reality, it’s just language. So many words have multiple meanings and impact our emotions or thoughts in different ways. Do I use the word “muggle”? No, I never do… Do I feel compelled to strike if from the record….? No… Use whatever words that you want. Explain what you do to others however you feel. If they laugh at you or fail to understand why you do it… Who cares? Are you having fun?
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I guess the good news is that the area that I live in seems to be teaming with caches. I personally like the "hidden in plain view" caches. It is always interesting to see how a fellow cacher has created a naturally looking container....
I just crossed over 300 recently and I have made a practice to look for caches every time I hike, go fly fishing, visit a park, etc... I don't see the fun stopping any time soon.
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I had a hard time wading through all of the reviews of the Colorado in order to determine if it was a good unit or not. I actually have the Colorado 400t and the Delorme PN-40. I like both units and like all things, there are good and bad in both.
I think something to consider is to keep in mind what you are expecting to do with the unit. If you want an overall good GPS that you can take caching, hiking, biking, etc… They are both good for this.
The Colorado has prettier maps and a bigger screen while the Delorme has some better paperless caching features. They are both accurate (I have done several side-by-side tests). The Delorme is more waterproof while the Colorado navigates streets much better.
I have not submerged mine, but I have been hiking in a few storms and not had any issues. Maybe it will be fine, maybe it won’t. I have also never rammed my car into a guard rail to test to see if my airbags work either…
I also do not intend to mount this to my boat nor have the need to scuba dive after caches… so full submersion would be done by accident if ever at all.I am running the latest firmware on both and they both appear to be very stable. I have not experienced the battery life issues that others have complained about either. In fact, batteries last longer in my Colorado than in the Delorme.
I think the best advice would be to always buy anything like this, a GPS, phone, computer, radio, etc… from a retailer that has a good return policy. This will give you the opportunity to test out these items, determine if they meet your expectations, and either keep or return them if needed. That is what I do.
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I seem to hear the same comment all the time after I tell another geocacher in the field how much I like the game… They almost always say “hopefully, you will stick with it”…. Do a lot of people quit after just a few months, a year, etc…?
This has been a blast… I can’t imagine quitting
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I too have seen tons of negative reviews on the Colorado 400t. Personally, I do not get it. I have been using the unit for about 4 months and I think that it is a great GPS. I added the street navigation maps recently and now it is unstoppable. I also own the PN-40 and have done quite a few side-by-side comparisons and in reality, they perform pretty much the same. Many people have complained about battery life, but even this seems to be a little skewed. I tried running standard AAs last time and I got about 15 hours with back-lighting set to go off after 1 minute of no use. I think that it was a huge benefit to go ahead and upgrade to the latest firmware before I entered the field for the first time.
They both seem accurate, reliable, and fun to use. There are some things that I prefer on the PN-40, while others that the 400t does better.
Unfortunately, what I have learned regarding these products and many others is that a good majority of product reviews are worthless. People like to complain while those that are happy will typically post nothing. I have found that sometimes you just have to take the plunge and buy what you think will work.
I think the best advice is to do your research and purchase products from a retail location with a good return policy in the event that it doesn’t meet your own personal expectations.
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I just purchased the Garmin Colorado 400t and was testing it out on some caches today, but I can't seem to figure out a way for it to navigate streets until it reaches the cache location. It does direct or "off road" routes only. Is there a setting that I am missing? It just gives a "routing calculation error no roads" error when I plce the device into "on road" mode. Do I need to purchase an alternate map? Will the topo map not route roads like it does on the Delorme?
Thanks in advance for your help.
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Using the 2.5 Beta now... It is great!!! I am having no issues with the PN-40 and the new caching features are awesome....
. In the last 4 months, I have also been backcountry hiking 6 times with two trips being overnight in the mountains. I think that is a pretty good test.
I also do not intend to mount this to my boat nor have the need to scuba dive after caches… so full submersion would be done by accident if ever at all.
Travel Bug Mileage missing Map Missing
in Trackables
Posted
I did that right after your post... Thanks! It worked