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jmd65

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Everything posted by jmd65

  1. I'm using an old Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx that I bought years ago. I've seen no reason to 'upgrade' to a newer unit or one with more features. I've also used a Galaxy S3 phone and, currently, an iPhone 6. They've all done well for geocaching. The eTrex is nice because of the Transflective screen, which can be read as well in Texas bright sun as it can at night. This is a big plus. It's a small nuisance to have to load waypoints into it, though. On planned outings, it's a must have, partially because batteries last so long. All day caching runs won't run the batteries down much, and spares are easily carried. The S3 smartphone is no longer used, but was very nice. Battery life tended to be a problem, but it could be plugged into a car charger socket to alleviate that. The GeOrg software I used was pretty good (although lacking in a few features in the sorting area). This app can also download PQs, cache updates and such from GC.com while out and about. The iPhone 6 that I currently use is very nice. I really like the Geosphere software for maps and cache info. It has much better sorting capabilities than anything else I've used. The battery is good for a full day of caching activity. As far as GPS accuracy, the eTrex seems to be a small bit more accurate than the iPhone. The S3 comes in a close third. The significant difference is that the eTrex seems to update the location reading more frequently than either of the phones did. As long as you aren't moving quickly, they all seem to do a satisfactory job. Given my experience, if you are moving around pretty quickly close to a cache you're going to overshoot the readings of the phones, while the dedicated device will do fine. These days I mainly use the eTrex as a last resort if I'm having trouble locating a cache, or if the sun is so bright I'm having problems reading the smartphone screen.
  2. I've used my iPod touch 4th gen with a Bluetooth GNS 5870 MFI, and it works. Occasionally the signal can get a bit flaky, but that's the GNS unit.
  3. GCKGF2 in central Texas has 40 redirectors with a final cache. The redirectors were hidden by 36 people. It has everything from engraved plates to ammo cans, and even a projected waypoint, all spread over a 111 mile journey. My brother and I are currently at #30 in the series, caching as we get our schedules in sync.
  4. It is amazingly cool. My brother and I ran it Friday. It's an experience to do the final at night, if you can. Richard Garriott (Lord British) drove up at the parking site of the last leg as we were finalizing our puzzle answers and told us to have fun. We did.
  5. I went to Lowe's Hardware and bought a six foot length of 1.25" diameter wood rod, cut it down a bit, drilled a hole for a cord loop, sprayed it with urethane, and wound some leather strips near one end for a grip. Total cost was about $10. It's very sturdy.
  6. I know of a cache in the foyer of an REI store near my house. There is a lot of traffic going in and out, so you have to be pretty stealthy.
  7. It's not that it can’t, it's that Apple disables multi-tasking for most apps. The iPhone/ iPod Touch/iPad can all play music and podcasts while running other programs.
  8. So am I. I run GSAK in Parallels. It's worth every bit of the hassle.
  9. I load POIs on my nuvi via GSAK. There's a setting in the script to sound an alarm at a user-specified distance from a cache. POI icons don't show up unless you are on very small scale, something like 80 meters or so, then it's a generic green icon. This is a limitation in the nuvi, it's apparently very difficult to increase the size of the icons.
  10. Also, make sure you are using the bearing pointer instead of the course pointer.
  11. I'd like to know how to run the program. I downloaded the demo and installed GSAK, but don't know what to do to get the program to actually run. And what the h*ll is a bottle?
  12. Well, I went for the lifetime update plan yesterday, since I'm satisfied with my nuvi I have for road navigation. I have to say that I've rarely had a more frustrating experience try to find my way though all the steps that it requires to get a map unlocked and then downloaded. It took a good three hours just to get to the point of starting the download. Everything went pretty smoothly after that. It was all worth it, I guess. The updated version has an overpass completion that the older one didn't and now I don't get routed three miles out of my way for caches east of town.
  13. I'd like to try that.... any settings or the like you could furnish? Thanks.
  14. Leaving aside the question of buying versus getting free maps, does anyone have any info on whether Garmin actually does significant changes on their street maps from year to year? I'm considering getting the 2010 edition for my Nuvi to replace the 2009 edition. Thanks.
  15. I found it in less than 10 seconds by entering "gpx2gpi" in Google. It's at: http://www.bigfraud.org/mac/MacGarminTools/ The author says it was written because Garmin offers no Mac version of the POI Loader, which is no longer true. I had forgotten about it, but it is available , I have used it. It may do what you wish. It's at: http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3697 It loads the GPX stuff as a POI so the extra info can be displayed.
  16. If you are wanting to put the descriptions on the Nuvi, you need GSAK and a way to run it on your Mac, since it's a Windows app. There is a macro available to GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) that will convert the GPX to a Points of Interest file (POI) that can be put on your Nuvi. I do it, even though I use an iPod Touch for most of my paperless caching support. There isn’t any other way to do it on a Mac, as far as I know.
  17. There is actually an iPhone forum here at Groundspeak: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...amp;s=&f=70 . The developer is aware of the problem and says there is a fix in the works. On the other hand, if you use the Geosphere app, it already has the function, and is more iPod Touch friendly. (IMHO).
  18. Thank You, I checked as you suggested by searching on name and you are correct. They are all there. I appreciate you taking the time to respond and help me. This puzzled me for a while, also. After someone told me, I went back and paged through the manual and didn't see it in there. It really needs to be, as the question gets asked relatively frequently.
  19. I can reset the trip odometer on my 60CSx. Why couldn't they add the same feature to the Colorado/Oregon series? --Larry I don't think the OP is saying the function is missing. He just wants it in a different location, screenwise. The manual shows a Trip Odometer reset function on page 15.
  20. I've been using Geosphere for quite a while. I get the PQs to it by having them sent to a Yahoo email account (Gmail works also). Piece of cake. The tutorial videos are under the "More" function and are labeled "How to" Videos. Mike
  21. Dunno. If I have one it's by accident. I just get a list of caches in an area I want to go to and have at it, I'm a very casual cacher. And maybe it's because I like to sleep late. The early bird gets the FTF.
  22. It would seem to work as either singular or plural.
  23. I downloaded the one from www.gpsfiledepot.com a few months ago, installed it on my Nuvi, and the only road it would auto-route on was the interstate running though town. Pretty much everything else was off-road. Not very impressive.
  24. Is this true or just some number pulled out of the air? If that's the case then I might just make all my caches PMO so that there is a reward for those few who support the website/business of GC.com. I'd be interested in where that number came from, as well.
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