CoverOfDarkness

Most interesting. The only trouble I've had with my Venture HC is when it starts up it seems only every other row of the display is working making it appear washed out. I just turn it off and back on and it's fine. So your screen was just blank blank?

Mark another one down for keeping an eye out for this one! (The gold turned out better than I thought it might, but it makes sense, I suppose, lol)

I had a similar experience where I dropped two brand spankin new TBs at an event. One got logged out and into another cache (of all things a Ski-O-Cache with just a couple finds). The other sat around in the Event listing for some time, then finally turned up by another cacher logging it. Lesson is if they're picked up, they'll be moved. Most likely. Might not be logged, but truth is logging it isn't the goal of TRAVELers. The goal is point A to point B,C,D,E,etc. The logging is just a nice way we can check in on it. I wonder why logging them in/out would stop them from being picked up. I mean, so many people are standing around writing tracking numbers, why not have a few sheets that have a place to quickly write Cache name and tracking numbers? Really.

This is a great suggestion! During the day I just set my pack down and use that as a marker. At night, a light stick. I've found caches 75 ft away from the posted coords. Also, if you let the GPSr sit, it might get a better location lock, so check back every few minutes to nudge it over 5 feet or so. Another cache I found, the GPSr was bouncing all over the place, but when I let it sit a minute, it ended up pointing me right to the cache! As said, it's more about knowing how to look for it. Micros are little trouble for me because I have some sort of devious mind to know where to look. Oddly, it's the smalls and regulars that get me. I did a multi-cache and when came to the final GZ, I KNEW where it would be, positively KNEW it! And it wasn't there. Contacted the owner and guess what, the cache was still in its proper place. Went back three times and kept looking in the same spot.... wanna know where it was? .... 6 inches to the left... dead serious...

First off, welcome to Geocaching! Second, and don't think I'm trying to discourage you, but all GPSr's are essentially the same, from the basic Garmin eTrex to the Garmin Colorado 400T. All of them point you in the direction you need to go. The differences are simply based on what you would like to have in your hand. Accessibility and grey-scale/color screen options, number of buttons, and furthermore the price. I personally own the bottom of the line Garmin eTrex, so old it needs a serial port to connect to PC to download waypoints, lol. But it has a resistant exterior (which is good because I drop things a lot), and is as accurate as most any other GPSr. But the best thing for me was it was dirt cheap =) As with all technology, if you go for the top-of-the-line every time you buy, you'll soon have outdated tech in a few months to a year. Best to research what features you want and what you don't need, then get a model based on that. If that's the Colorado 400T, awesome! I just hope you don't break the bank on a Swiss-Army-knife equivalent where you only use 10% of the full functionality. =)

My uncle got my dad interested in the game in 2003 and in 2004 my dad joined officially. Back then we went on a few mass-family expeditions (uncle, aunt, 3 cousins, dad, mom, brother, and self). Everyone enjoyed it... except me who couldn't find anything worth... um, anything. Now 5 years later I've gotten into it myself and am much better at finding them. I say this to make an example that even if your son doesn't take to it, it might just be a good investment in future relationship between you two. Now that I'm in a different state from my dad, the fact that we're now doing something of shared interest has brought us a bit closer. So either he likes it now and there's bonding now, or he likes it later and comes asking for your advice on where to look and hide

Found it! I've forgotten how annoying the host's voice is. Also, there's this one! Note, I have not tried these projects so cannot claim they work. But that second might be worth a try =)

I got my (yellow) eTrex on craigslist for $35 used, but it didn't come with a cable, so all of my coordinates are input by hand, which I guess is alright as it prevents me from overloading the memory too easily. It's a durable little bugger and I have no desire to upgrade at this point. As stated above, it's too pricey, especially without at the very least the serial connection. You can find these cables on ebay, as well as the serial-usb adapter, but it will just add to the price, so again, it's too much at that pawn shop.

Bingo. She's my immediate supervisor but not necessarily my boss.

Got my coin today! It's beautiful!

bite your tongue! she is right outside and a sadder sight you have not seen. i can't ditch walter. she is family! thanks for the bidding my friends! rsg Walter's a she?! ...caught me off guard! And again, if I had something in my paypal at the mo, I'd help out =)

My sous chef and I went caching one day and found one that was definitely an interesting container. It was one of those water-squirting toys shaped like an odd fish, bug-eyes and everything. A hole was cut in the bottom and filled in with the top of a water bottle so it could have a screw top. Cruddy cell-phone picture taken on the site with said cache.

Aye, but this vid shows how to add more infrared lights for better visibility but also removes most the rest of the camera so it's really just the lights, lens, and view-finder.

If I had funding myself, I'd help. That Tranquility coin is beautiful! In the meantime... Get well soon, Walter!

That's the risk we take releasing TBs and coins into the wild. I've only released 2 Bugs. One of which was lost after the first drop and the second only to be placed in a very difficult cache (need to see if anyone's visited it since.) Sadly, these two bugs were in a race. Guess this one ends rather quickly =(

Been searching for it since the topic was created. There's a video somewhere in the Internet's vast ether expanse that shows you how to take said video camera, add infrared LEDs and use it as an eye piece which can also record using simple AV jacks... just can't... find... it...

I came across this event (GC1KKZA) down in AZ coming up that has a Poker Run going for it. Might explain the rules of that one a bit for those unfamiliar with it.

Responsible also meaning putting the proper attributes on the cache page such as not 24/7 and not recommended at night? I've been a bit annoyed about arriving to a park after work (1am or so) only to find posted hours right there when there was nothing at all posted in the cache page about it. Granted, the CO probably doesn't expect someone coming out at 1am to find their cache, but this can apply to those out at 10 or 11pm as well.

There's a difference between discouraging an action and putting down a person. Plain and simple, using this 'night vision' unit is a bad idea and is being down-trodden with good reason. Other alternatives have been suggested, each better than the original thought. Which leads me to this, and I must thank you for reminding me of this: Different color lights help with night vision and can be found in even the WalMart outdoors section, limited though it usually is. I recently bought an LED flashlight from Coleman which has two lenses you can add or remove at will, allowing the light to be three colours. Different colours of light help in different aspects. White - The brightest, all-purpose light. Red - Aids in night vision, allows your eyes to adjust to the darkness much easier. Akin to infrared but visible to the naked eye. Less visible from afar. Blue - Aids in night vision, makes it easier to spot blood. Useful while hunting or if you decide to pursue a career in the Crime Scene Investigations units. Green - Aids in night vision for map reading, limited light reflected from map (I suspect) so the glare does not hinder driver's vision of the road at night. Safer. I bought this new flashlight at WalMart for less than $20 and have used it with no lens and the red lens several times. Works great. So I ask again, is it really necessary to have a night vision head-piece?

Going to agree on the eTrex. It works great and is inexpensive to boot. I have one myself and think the only reason I may upgrade in the future is to go paperless some. Point of interest, my dad's been using the same GPSr since he started back in 2004, a Magellan of some sort.

I personally don't trespass whether in night or day, though often go in open area places which might be deemed suspicious. However there are no legal boundaries being crossed. Still, anyone who's not done a night hunt should =)

The only one I refuse to find is one I'm not going to go after. My dad grabbed this while he was visiting before I started caching. However, once it's at the very top of my list near my home coords, then I'll go grab it, sign it, and log it. Why? Because even though I know where it is, I'll still have signed it, laid hands on it. Who knows, by the time that happens it might be muggled or archived.

I've only come across a few in-appropriate swag items, tobacco related items and lighters (not in the same caches), and thought it best to remove it. I logged the removal but felt no compelling need to leave anything in its stead. However... this may have also been due to the fact that I forgot my GeoFodder in the car

GSAK? What's that? I also have an eTrex H, my first GPSr, and haven't had much trouble with it. I say 'much' because there's the standard bounce of the signal and a bit of inaccuracy. So I try to keep my battery charge above half-life.

This was my first GeoCoin, and a lovely Colorado state coin. It's the official Geocaching Colorado 2007 coin sold at events. I bought it shortly after I started caching which was a week after my 1 year anniversary here in Colorado (moved from Arizona). While hard to see in this picture, it's got a beautiful depiction of the Rockies and weighty and durable. Just having a hard time getting it to track mileage accurately. Importance to me? 1) First coin. 2) State representation. 3) It's shiny!