Cam, Beck, Mum & Dad

I've been trying to find out if I can use the 12v car charger from my cellphone (HTC/QTek) to power my Vista CX. Obviously the plug fits, but I can't find any input/output voltage info either for the Vista, the Garmin car charging cable or the charging cable that works my phone. I'm a bit worried about "frying" the insides of my gps. Does your wifes Razr charger work ok? Graham

We see a lot of PaperMint containers covered in black tape with a magnet under the tape. Waterproof-ish and a real challenge to find. Graham PS Julie says way more than waterproof-ish. Never found a wet one.

Enjoy the hunt. Trade if you want. Put some effort into the logs. That's my view, but I wouldn't try and force it on anyone. This is for fun guys - each to his own Graham

Ok - back home and up to date now. Will check about login next time. Thanks Graham

Help! l'm at a campsite trying to log my finds using Palm web pro on a palm tungsten T3. It usually works fine but all I have got for the last couple of days is a viewstate invalid error. any thoughts on what might be causing the problem? thanks, Graham

I live in Norway and most of the caches seem to have bags around them. As far as I can see they collect the wter to make sure the cache gets soaked. Is it common elsewhere? We've done some caches in France which also had bags round. I just dont see the point - all the containers I've ever found look plenty waterproof on their own. Graham

Rebecca (7) says: Hardest cache to find would be nothing because she doesn't care Cartoons wouldn't be able to do it because they are only on the TV Mum and Dad geocache because they want to hurt their legs Cameron (10) says: Hardest cache he can imagine would be a really small mircocache in a snakepit Dr Zoidberg would hide food somewhere underwater Dad geocaches so he has a reason to buy a better GPS every now and then! Dad says "go to bed".

We found one in Bergen (Norway) today that was made out of a Smart Media card case and a small magnet. Evil, but fun Got to go - my daughter is bellowing down my left ear about my choice of ani frog. Graham

Check the file size. My camera is set to download as a TIFF file by default. Often its ok but soometimes the file is too big too upload. I get the same message as you at this point - if I resave the file as a JPEG it's heaps smaller (of course) and uploads with no problem. Graham

Has anyone else had problems uploading images to cache logs over the last week or so? We always take a picture or two to liven up the log a bit but I've been unable to post any of them since last Saturday. Maybe it's just me? Graham

Great - thanks for the link. Quicker than any corporate support pages! Graham

Agree it's not a big deal generally - it's just if I jet off to say India for example I need to remember to swap maps. But then I guess I need to get into habit anyway! Graham

Hi everybody, It's my birthday - I got a Vista and a Mapsource CD. Cool. But..... When I go to upload the mapdata I get a message saying "You will overwrite Garmin preloaded data" . Checked the Garmin updates and there is a utility for restoring the basemap. It says that using the utility will erase installed maps . Does this mean I can't have the basemap and my regional maps loaded on the vista at the same time? Or does it mean once I used the utility once and reloaded my maps everything will be cool? Graham

Sure thing.... I'm pretty new to this and I bought the eTrex yellow just out of curiosity about 6 months before I learned about caching. Now I want to upgrade I did a bit more research to find out what I want and where to get it. I understand that the Magellans use a quad helix antenna, which I also understand allows signals to be picked up at lower elevations to the horizon than the patch antenna used in the eTrex. This means you can get a fix when there is very heavy overhead cover, but it also makes it more likley that you pick up reflections from surrounding objects (eg buildings etc). If the GPS uses the reflections to get the fix it can give a false reading (I read about variations of over 100m). I've also read that the Magellans project your track if you are moving slowly which means you can walk straight past the cache, then need to turnaround and go back. Mind you, I do plenty of that anyway . I have to stress I've never used a Magellan, so all the above is based on hearsay/internet searching. It's probably all rubbish. I bought the eTrex because I saw it in a shop and it looked interesting. I guess I'lll stick with Garmin now because I used and liked the eTrex, plus they have just released full 1:50000 coverage of Norway where I live. Graham

Sorry guys, started this then disappeared with work for a couple of days. I think Maps would be useful for finding the general location and parking areas. In Norway most of the roads swing way off course and back again - sometimes you are actually going away from the cache. If I don't have a paper map of the area I can't always tell if I'm on the right track. I could buy more paper maps, but that kinda defeats the object for me Also - I like to build a general understanding of local geography, espacially when I'm away from home or flying to somewhere new. I thinkt this probably means I'll go with the vista mainly for the extra memory. Graham

Compass is a good feature. Right noe I hang a Silva round the neck of one my kids and hope they don't lose it. What do you think of the displays on the Legend and Vista? I've heard they can be bit fussy. Graham

We did a multicache that ended up at a mailbox, right in with all the other mailboxes for that street. Pretty cool for Norway.

I've got a Yellow eTrex I've had for about a year. For the last few weeks I've been thinking as I drive along to the next cache wouldn't it be cool (and vaguely useful) to have maps on my GPSr. I don't want a Magellan (low horizon signals and slingshot) and I definately want handheld that fits in my phone holder in the car. So - Legend or Vista? I like the compass and the barometric altimeter but I'm an anorak so I use my GPS on the plane (don't tell anyone! Anyway, I happen to know it's perfectly safe ). Can I turn off the barometric bit on the Vista so that it's not confused by cabin pressure? Also, 8meg vs 24meg (I think). how big a map can I get in 8 meg? I live in Norway and will get the 1:25000 CD for the Vestlandet region and leave it on the GPSr. Any views? Thanks. Graham

When, despite the fact it rains every Sunday in Bergen, you sit looking sadly out the window until they all agree to come and climb a wet slippy mountain just to outdo your best mates cache count Cam, Beck, Mum & Dad (Dad looked sad)

or you could just use your bluetooth phone and pda and surf to gc.com while you are stood at top of the mountain.