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I just wish they'd honor the online price in the stores. I wanted immediate gratification, but the 60CSx was a bit more than $200 more in store so I had to buy online. I opted to have it shipped to work because my time is valuable to me and it saves me a trip to a store.

Actually, this makes me feel good. I have a 60CSx on the way to replace my GPS V which I just can't trust anymore. The reception is far too unreliable for me to deal with. I recently, after having some issues and trying to test to see if they'd gone away, completely lost signal in the woods on a clear day with only a moderate canopy. I couldn't get it back until I was clear of the woods. If it weren't for the technical issues, I'd probably wait for an upgrade. Luckily I got a great price on the 60CSx and am hoping it'll arrive in time for the weekend.

The easiest way is to become a premium member, and then use pocket queries. You can create a pocket query to get up to 500 caches in a single GPX file. For example, I have one that gets the 500 closest caches to my home on a regular basis.

I'm definitely leaning that way. I tried ditching the rechargeable batteries that were in there and went with regular alkalines today to see what difference it would make. Under ideal conditions I got satellite lock, a position and found a couple quick and easy ones. Then I went for one that was in deeper woods and at stage 2 I got readings from no signal to 0.1 miles to 10 feet all in pretty much the same spot, so I used the hint to find it. Then I lost signal altogether when I headed towards the final. The good news was no crashing with the alkalines in. All that coupled with the GPS V not being compatible with the up to date maps from Garmin, I really think there'll be a new one in my near future. I'm leaning towards the 60csx at the moment.

A yellow eTrex is a perfectly good place to start. It's not a lot of money so if you decide to upgrade later it's not a big deal. I second the cables, although they're not necessarily going to save you 100% of the time. One time I was hunting a multi, so I had to manually input the coordinates for the next stage. Turns out I entered them wrong somehow and ended up going off in a wrong direction and getting one of my infamous DNF's.

I decided to declare spring is finally here, despite temperatures in the mid 30's, by awakening from my geo-hibernation and finding a cache or two. Problem is, my GPSr, a Garmin GPS V, wouldn't acquire satellites on the way to and at my first stop. It would just get a partial lock on one satellite and lose even that if I lightly bumped the unit or rotated the antenna even slightly. After I popped the battery cover to reset it, it acquired the satellites, but now the screen will intermittently go blank with the exception of a single line that would be horizontal and towards the top of the screen if it were in the landscape orientation. Any ideas if this is an issue with the batteries or the unit itself? I have bonus pay for being on call coming up at the end of next week, and am toying with the idea of just using this as an excuse to to upgrade to a GPSMAP 60cs. I know it's not the newest unit out there, but it's a definite upgrade that won't break the bank. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Another thing to keep in mind is on most units the arrow will not start pointing in the correct direction until you start moving. Then only way it can know which way you're facing, unless it has a built in compass, is by you moving. So if it's pointing in a direction that you don't think is right, just start walking the right way and see if the arrow points differently once you move a hundred feet or so.

You must have started this thread while I was posting my response in the other one. I'm the winner now, a Major Geek with a score of 36.48915%.

Going to events can be intimidating when you're new-ish. Sometimes it may seem like people ignore you, but really they just probably cache in a group more than you, already know some people from previous events, or maybe even knew each other before caching. Some people come with their families too. Being a solo cacher myself and rarely attending events, when I do it's sometimes difficult to mix, but I tend to meet good people at the events I attend and enjoy them. As for making fun of people who log finds when they didn't find a cache, that's not elitist. That's joking around about a practice that most people disagree with, while perhaps adding an aspect of shaming to it, which is a form of correction that societies and groups have used for millenia. Now that being on topic is out of the way, I'm Major Geek with a score of 36.48915%! I'm winning!

I got a cheap Palm IIIxe online so if something happens to it on the trail I won't be too sad and can replace it somewhat easily. It runs Cachemate or Plucker with no problem. It's not the most up to date, but gets the job done and if it takes a dive in a stream I can get another one by laying off stuff from my entertainment budget for a bit instead of having to take out a loan.

I seem to have lost a couple unactivated tags during a move. Granted it was over a year ago, but I still have some stuff packed away in boxes. I found the box with my good but not necessary right away geocaching stuff in it. A couple finder's pins, some stickers for placing on the outside of caches, and the most logical place where they could be. I know the nature of the universe is such that I'll likely find them immediately after putting in an order for more, but if I don't put in an order they won't ever be found again. I guess it's okay. It's not like they have a shelf life or anything.

I'm not planning on taking off any time soon. I only have one cache that generally doesn't need much attention and I'm sure that if it did and I weren't to respond it would end up getting adopted. On a similarly morbid side note, I wonder if anyone who gets cremated would will that a small portion of their ashes be permanently sealed in a Bison Tube and sent off as a TB to continue their caching adventures from beyond. I suppose you could use hair too if you prefer burial to cremation.

This little misadventure takes the cake for me. I'm planning on releasing a TB to commemorate the events, made of an actual piece of the ruined pants, when I go back to actually find the cache.

You've gotta love the human bot fly. I've seen video of some larvae being removed from a victim. It doesn't seem like too much fun. I don't think they spread disease though, so they have that going for them over ticks and mosquitos.

Open the existing file first, then the downloaded one. You will then have two tabs on the bottom of Easy GPS, one for each file. You can then select any waypoints in one file, and then copy and paste them to the other one. Of course if you're looking to do any form of waypoint management it's far easier to get a premium membership and use pocket queries. I also recently changed over from using Easy GPS/Plucker for paperless caching to using GSAK and Cachemate. GSAK is far more robust for managing waypoints.

Excellent news! Glad to hear they recovered your GPSr.

On the cache page under "For Online Maps" click on Google Maps. I find looking at the area in the hybrid view to be helpful if no parking location is listed. Also, many towns will have listings of parks on their web site. Googling "parks <city> <state>" can yield results for that. If a particular park or conservation area is mentioned on the cache page then google "<park name> <city> <state>". Or, if you want to make things easy for your first find you could just find another cache nearby that lists parking coordinates. Good luck on your find!

Wow. This thing's still going? The OP got a workaround for their problem on the second post and now there are 95 of 'em. Well, since the damage is done and I'm up way too early for some reason, let me chime in and give my opinion, which is just that. Family memberships sound like a great idea, but I have no idea how TPTB could implement them in such a manner that people wouldn't take advantage of them. There's no real way I can see for them to verify that everyone lives at the same address, or someone is a minor's parent, etc. so what's to stop a group of people living in different households from buying a family membership? That said, the second poster's workaround is a great way for a family on a budget to log PMOC's. As long as the premium member was there when it was found, I can't see a reason why someone would delete the logs in that case. Now just for a little perspective, here's the cost of a premium membership compared to the per person cost of other things. 2-3 trips to the movies: Assuming $7-10/ticket and getting popcorn, snacks, etc. Since I'd rather go geocaching than watch most movies that come out, this is a no brainer. 1-1.5 prime rib dinners with beer: Yeah, I love prime rib, but I can give up a chance of it for a year's worth of PQ's. 1 trip or perhaps a fraction of one to Six Flags: It really depends on how you do it. I have a season pass and season parking pass, so the cost of admission and parking are spread out over my not inconsiderable trips. I do pay for a Flash Pass each time I go, except every fifth time when I'm comped by my frequent user card, which comes to roughly $30. I love going, and am addicted to Superman: Ride of Steel, but would give up one trip a year for a premium membership if push came to shove. 2-3 CD's: There's not a lot of them I really want to go out and buy anyway, but if you're a family and the kids want a premium membership too for some reason (Perhaps they're older and are allowed to go caching on their own or something,) they can give up getting a few CD's. Of course if they're old enough to go caching on their own, they're probably old enough to have a driver's license and a job. 1.5-3 DVD's: It depends on if you get them full price or from the bargain rack at Wal Mart. Maybe in the latter case you could squeeze even more out of your $30 if you don't mind getting movies like Frogs. I still think you get more bang for your buck if you can go paperless for a full year. I guess the point is, for the amount of money it costs the entertainment value is quite high. A year's worth of geocaching compares quite favorably to the costs of more transient pleasures.

Interesting, and good to know since I'm kind of learning spanish. I've also been wondering what the verb "to geocache" is in spanish if there is one.

That totally sucks. I'm sorry to hear it. The good thing is you got out of it mostly alright. You can save up for another GPSr, and a broken ankle can heal (Speedy recovery to you.) but life isn't so easily replacable. Ditto from me on the pepper spray. I'm not sure what kind of weapons laws they have in NYC except they only let the bad guys and cops have guns, but if it's legal perhaps look into a good 3" folder as well. If you do decide to carry a knife, I'd recommend finding out what the local laws are on the use of deadly force, although 15 to 1 odds would certainly make me fear for my life, the yardstick for use of deadly force in MA and many other places. Again, I hope you make a quick recovery and that you'll be able to get out caching again before too long.

Personally, it doesn't bother me. Even if it did, there's nothing I could really do about it. I want people to find my cache. That's why I hid it. It's challenging, but I gave a decent hint for those who want it. The beauty of the game is you can play it however you want. If you never want to check hints on a cache page you don't have to. If you want to decode and read the hints ahead of time, that's okay too. If you want to bring a friend who has or hasn't found the cache along to help look, why not? What's the difference if someone gives you a hint in person at the cache site or by phone, or by email later? If the cache hider specifically asks people not to give hints I wouldn't participate in it for that cache. I normally don't use hints at all if I can help it, but if I'm short on time and not having any luck, or if I'm just out of ideas after a while I might use one. I don't call for hints from cache sites, but don't have a problem if someone does.

I'd have to say mine would be either a traditional or multi woodland cache at least one mile one way over gently rolling terrain, culminating in an ammo can hidden by a secluded waterfall or a stunning view of a lake. Swag doesn't matter because I do it for the hunt and rarely trade. Caches like that never fail to disappoint me.

I don't know. That sounds kind of like driving in Boston to me. As soon as you take a drive on the 2 mile long driveway to the correct resort, you will quickly disagree with what you just said. Let's just say that going on that road is not recommended for anyone who has just finished a hearty meal. You will go through a world-record digesting time with as many bumps and ruts and holes that you have to drive over in Belize. Well, I primarily meant because of the crazy traffic and lack of street signs. Then again, with the potholes...

That was an interesting adventure. The ones where things don't go as planned can be more fun and memorable than the ones that do. I don't know. That sounds kind of like driving in Boston to me.

I've run into a couple garter snakes over the past week or so. They're harmless little guys, and the last one was really little. It was only about six inches long.