The Kentish Roses

DOH, feel thick now, THANK YOU! :-)

I'm a premium member but I seem to have lost google maps as the maps within the geocaching website. When I click on the drop down it gives me a huge list of maps but none are google, they all appear to be open source. Have Groundspeak stopped using Google maps on their page? Ta in advance.

I've got one, I love it, have you been to talkie toaster's website to download his free maps for this device? They are FAB! The guy is a true gent, puts in a lot of work so we can all have free maps for our GPSs.

We upgraded to a Garmin Etrex 20 at the beginning of the year and it's FAB! TalkieToaster (google talkietoaster and maps) very kindly compiles free maps and they work peachy with the Etrex 20. This is very handy for seeing just where a cache is, ie, it might be .3 of a mile away, but with maps you can see if that .3 of a mile if the other side of a river or a motorway for example. It's set up for paperless caching, meaning you can create a pocket query of your chosen area from the geocaching site and download up to a 1000 caches, including all their descriptions, hints, waypoints and recent logs (current to when you created the query). I would highly recommend this device. It doesn't have a compass built in, I don't find this a bind, just means you have to wander off for 3 or 4 yards to see what direction the cache is from your current location. If you can splash the cash, go for the Etrex 30, this has a compass. In my opinion, don't buy the Etrex 20, there are no maps, it's very basic. Hope this helps, enjoy caching.

@The Patrician ; Thank you, I forgot to mention, we did that last night too but no joy there. It's borked good and proper me thinks.

Agree with The Frosties, firmware is usually on the PCB not accessible in the same way as "standard files". Looks like it's a sending back to Garmin job. Thanks for the replies so far.

Hi All, I hope someone can help. After purchasing my own Etrex 20 (which I love btw) a geo-buddy decided to buy one too. It arrived the other week and I went round to see him last night and to set it up for him. Anyway, the long and the short is I've broken his GPS! I showed him how to update the firmware, something I have successfully done on mine but somehow the firmware on his device is now corrupt! I've fried his firmware! When the GPS is now turned on it says the system files are not present and the GPS goes no further. We've tried a hard reset "menu" "select" and "power" buttons held for 30 seconds, but no joy. We've tried removing the batteries and then repeating the above, no joy. We've tried re-connecting to the PC and re-running the update but it says the file is corrupt. There doesn't seem to be too much out there on Google for this unit, but looking at this failure for older Etrex models it's a return to Garmin job. Is this the case or can we do something to force the firmware onto the unit? Cheers in advance.

We were visiting family in Cornwall last summer so took some time to do a bit of caching, these were our faves: GCMTM2 Delford bridge micro - Not the most amazing cache but the (it's a film canister if I remember rightly) but the place is fab in the summer, if it's a hot day it's great for spending the day, and paddling. Take an inflatable boat if you have one. It's a small river (in the summer) with a bridge, hence the name. perfect for days with the kids. like being at the beach, but in the middle of Bodmin Moor! :-) GC13TKK, A little bit of cheese. We really enjoyed the walk on this one, wasn't too far for little legs, some fun (safe) scrambling at GZ. Plenty of rocks to climb over. GC2K9E1, if you like a good beach, like a bit of a climb and love being in full view and using loads of stealth then this is a good cache, I enjoyed this one just because you have to be very sneaky, but looking at the logs it may have gone, worth keeping an eye out though. GZ is up above the beach in FULL view of everyone on the beach. Hope this helps.

We had the pleasure of getting our hands on this much travelled bug a couple of years ago http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=c5d65b7d-d8a1-4307-8d19-1372abd10c00 31412m and still going.

Surely film pots have their place? What's the difference between them and a magnetic nano stuck to a lamp post? I don't have a big problem with them. The one thing I would like to see change is peoples' attitudes towards swaps. Since caching really took off I've noticed that the rule of "replace anything taken with something of equal or greater value" seems to have died a death. So many "regular" sized caches where I would expect to find some good swaps for the kids contain tat out of crackers, pine cones etc etc. Apart from getting me out and about with the family I really liked the idea of the kids walking away with some toys, but I've not come across any decent swag for ages. Toy cars, parrachuting men, marbles, packs of rubbers etc don't cost the earth, I just wish more people took decent swaps out with them. The way the swag is going now a days, I have no issue with film pots, they contain the same amount of quality swaps as many of the regular sized caches out there!

one last question, promise, how much should I ask for my Garmin Venture HC? I think I still have the box. The unit has a couple of scratches on the side of the screen but they do not impact on what you are looking at, other than that great condition, comes with the PC lead, I was thinking £70/£80 is that fair? I need to sell it to help pay for the Etrex 20! :-)

cheers frosty, I'm not too fussed on the 30, I'm already used to walking a couple of feet to get the direction of travel when I use my current GPS so the compass isn't that high on my wish list (plus I always carry a "real" compass with me), but, always good to see if one can get a bargain! :-) cheers for the info.

frosty, what shop did you compare the go-outdoors price to in order to get it that cheap? I'm kicking myself, go outdoors had 20% off everything just before Christmas and I dithered and didn't buy one, grrrr.

Thanks guys, it was the talkietoaster ones I was refering to at the end of my post. I certainly don't expect OS quality maps for free, so talkie toaster could be perfect. I just want some sort of map that, if I'm in an area I don't know and want to find a cache it gives me some sort of idea as to where it is, ie the other side of a main road, in the town, on the outskirts of town etc etc, sounds like the 20 is the way to go, along with talkie toaster's maps.

Hi All, This is my first post on here. I currently own a Garmin Etrex venture HC and love it, it so accurate (better than my friend's magellan) and does everything I want, but I'm thinking of upgrading to their new Etrex 10 to take advantage of paperless caching rather than print out reams of paper everytime I go out. I keep looking at the Etrex 20 for the mapping function but don't like (or rather can't afford) the cost of the OS maps, so this puts me off pushing the boat out and getting the Etrex 20. My question, is there another way to get OS style maps onto a GPS like the Etrex 20 without paying the price for official maps? I'm not talking about pirating the maps I'm talking about transfering maps from something like google maps etc. There doesn't seem any point in paying the extra money for the Etrex 20 if I'm not going to download the maps, it looks like the Etrex 10 will do what I need, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing a trick before I get the Etrex 10. If I think I'm reading the post correctly, are the maps that are talked about in the post entitled "Latest OpenStreeMap UK Garmin Mapsets... " what I need? Sorry if I'm being dim. Cheers in advance.

Hi All, I have a Garmin Venture HC and it's doing a mighty fine job of helping me to find caches. One little question though, when I download caches to it the notes that are transfered are very limited, they don't even have the full name, Is this right or should I be getting more of the notes transfered. It would be nice to have the clue etc downloaded to my garmin so I don't have to print out the cache details for evey cache we visit. In general, does anyone have any great tips for taking cache details on a trip, or is it simply a case of printing them out individually? I know an internet phone is one way to do this but I don't have one of those. Cheers in advance.

Hi, Thanks for the replies and your help/advice. I've decided to go for the Venture HC, geocaching here I come. :-)

Hi All, I'm a complete GeoCache virgin looking to get started and would like some advice on a GPS unit. (I hope I've posted this in the correct area). I think I've narrowed it down to 2 the Garmin GPS60 and the Garming Etrex Venture HC. I'm on a budget and £100 is about my limit, so with both units around that on amazon they seem good. I was sold on the GPS60 but tried my friend's and while in the centre of Canterbury it lost signal (presumably because of the buildings in the high street) this put me off the unit, so I looked again on the garmin site and found the Venture HC, this still has USB (very important for me) but has the high sens receiver. I'm not too fussed on the map feature but could poss use it in the future (once I've saved up! ha ha). I would also like to use the GPS while mountainbiking through woods so a good reception is one of my main features. One last question, before you all fall asleep, what do Garmin mean when they say that a unit is Geocaching Friendly, does that mean it shows the little treasure chests etc? Any advice greatly received, I'm even open to the possibility of buying a second hand one if anyone has exactly what they think I need. Many thanks in advance. Cheers Adrian