Nezgar & Vana

Might be out of your area, but one province to the east of Alberta this summer on July 19th is the Living Skies 2014 MEGA event in Rosthern, Saskatchewan. There will be many satellite events on surrounding days as well. Registration and geocoin/swag order cutoff is May 23rd: http://coord.info/GC4DG0T http://www.livingskies2014.ca/

The chinese government requires unlicensed map providers to mangle their map data slightly, usually with offsets of 100-300 metres... Its not geocaching,com, its google... China has had a little bit of a war with google since 2010. Even Garmin maps of china for your GPS have this issue. If you buy a GPS unit in china, they supposedly have some code on them to 'correct' the offset maps. Many cel phones have additional software installed to 'correct' the maps, and lots of people complain about the messed up maps when they remove said software from their phones. I was in china a few years ago and also noticed this not just for geocaching, but for other online research looking at various map providers in the course of our travels. Thankfully, the satellite imagery is OK. OpenStreetMaps are also OK, as the data is user-created. I used OSM on the Garmin GPS too, which was accurate and free, although with the amount of development going on in the country, a lot of non-urban areas are incomplete. Check out the long running threads on some google forums about this too: http://productforums...aps/zVmRao1Im3w So just trust the coordinates and you should be good on the ground!

I log them separately. if you log just a NM, you don't get your find count. If the owner doesn't read all of the details from the found log, they may miss that it needs attention. The owner will see much more quickly that it needs attention with the additional log. Additionally, it will add the 'Needs maintenance' attribute to the cache listing, so people can choose to filter out caches that have that attribute in their PQ's. I do this often when traveling so I don't want to waste limited time looking for caches that have issues.

Yes it is some extra effort involved to log that trackables are missing, but clearly there are many dedicated geocachers out there that would be happy to do this extra legwork to clean up the system. Just look at all the responses to this forum thread. This would allow those who do care about accurate inventories to log items as appropriate to make it better for everyone. 'Ghosted' TB's could appear similar to disabled caches, where they have the strikethrough text style, until they are marked missing, similar to an archived cache... Although as many have pointed out, a TB can be easily grabbed and continue moving if they are later found. I do agree that it would be nice to still have the option to retrieve from the last known cache if it has been marked missing / moved to an 'unknown location' for less confusion when logging a lost TB. I love this idea, hope to see something soon. Happy Caching!

I know this isn't directly answering your question about repairing it yourself, but from my experience Garmin will repair/replace any unit out of warranty for a flat fee of $100. If your unit is recently out of warranty you may be able to get around that if you talk nicely to them.

I just sent this over to Garmin support by e-mail but was curious to see if anyone else here has noticed this problem with the new firmwares 3.50 and 3.60 with the "Advanced Geocaching" features. This was bugging me enough that I finally sat down to go through every option one by one when I discovered the stock profiles worked correctly: I have discovered a bug the 3.60 software, which I believe was also present in 3.50 with the new Geocaching support (including OpenCaching.com) In some instances, when viewing the description of a geocache, the cache type icon in the top left corner will show only a generic icon, not the expected icon. i.e. a green lidded container for a geocaching.com traditional. If one goes to the geocaching setup and changes the Geocaches 'Appearance' setting from Traditional to Auto, or vice versa, the correct icons will show until the unit is power cycled. I discovered that the unit behaved correctly when I went back to the original factory 'Recreational' Profile and began to change one setting at a time to my preference, rebooting the device as I went to see when the problem came up... Here's what I found. It seems that if anything other than 'Map' is the first item in the Page Sequence, this issue occurs, and it can be reproduced every time when looking at a geocache description after a power cycle. If I have the map first in the list, it does not occur. Here are some screenshots of what the 'mystery' icons look like: The first screen is the 'mystery' icon. After going through the Geocache Appearance menus in 2, the third and fourth screens show what I would expect to see. However after a reboot, it goes back to the first screen - UNLESS the map is the first option in the page list.

Can an example be provided for the correct syntax of this URL format? I have tried coord.info/t/tbxxxx and also using the actual trackable code after the /t/, not the TB#, and I just get a Server Error - 404 - File or directory not found. This sounds like a great feature if it eliminates the need to double-enter the tracking #'s, once to search, once to log.

I think that sums it up perfectly! I must admit being a BC boy I missed a lot of that show except near the end, but that segment is iconic. :-) However, now that we live in SK, we are proud that we have a cache only a few metres from where that scene was filmed! http://coord.info/GC28HGW

If you like grey more than red, go for the ST. If you want the whole TOPO US on the unit at once, get the ST. If you want the 4GB of internal memory rather than 2, go for the ST (although a 16GB MicroSD card solves that quickly) The DVD version of TOPO US 100K can't all be installed on the device at once. TOPO US 100K DVD has 6000 map segments, the 62 can only load about 4000 map segmants, and the preloaded version if it's the same as the preloaded memory card, is about 450 map segments. Someone who has an ST should verify that though. I bought the 62s and the Topo US 100K preloaded memory card, which in the end was about the same price as an ST, and I could have got 4GB of internal memory. Really those are the only differences.

If your maps are installed on an SD card, I would first simply just remove the SD card so it only has the ROM Basemap available, and see if it still occurs. If it goes away, then it's something with your installed maps. Try installing only one set at a time on the SD card. Sometimes disabling a map doesn't completely 'disable it' - for instance the device will still search POI's from disabled maps.

GeoCache Navigator is the best app for going caching without any pre-planning. Anywhere you are, do a quick search for the 10 closest caches to you at that time, and away you go. No pocket queries to setup before hand, GPX files to copy, etc. When you mark a cache as found, it send's it immediately over the air to geocaching.com's field notes page. The interface seems a little primitive at times, but it's what I started with, and I still use it even when I have the 62s as a backup. Since it is all over the air, you're always looking at the most recent data (has anyone found this cache since my pocket query) and you can look at all the logs, not just the last 5. I also use it for quick proximity checks to other caches in the field when I'm looking to hide one, since I don't always keep found caches on my garmin. Downside is if you have no wireless signal, you can't use the app at all. CacheSense is great for GPX based usage, and requires no data service, just GPS... I forced myself to use it when my garmin was in for service, but I think this app has almost too many features the menus are very long with choices, but you can see all the cache information in the pocket query GPX's, including attributes (if your profile is set for gpx 1.0.1), which most GPS's don't show.

Yep, WAAS is dead for me too, in Regina Canada. Used to be able to receive 46 and 51 loud and clear, and of course 48 before it went offline last week... now its like it ignores the WAAS/EGNOS setting, as it doesn't reserve the far-rightmost bar in the satellite view for WAAS.... e-mail sent to garmin's beta email address....

Good point. And what's the difference with the new UV Light Required attribute ? UV Lights are available from a number of different companies. Chirp currently only available from Garmin, at least for now unless compatible devices are eventually released.

Of course it's pretty hard to think that far ahead at this point, but it sounds great to me! We finally found it on Sep 6 during our last visit to Saskatoon, and this event could be a fun after-christmas pcik-me-up. -Oh, and Sat would probably be best for us as we're in Regina.

Hah, cool idea, but I wonder if that could get annoying for yourself everytime you go to your own car and your GPS keeps detecting your own car's Chirp Future garmin firmware requests could include an 'ignore this chirp' option

In the release notes for the latest 62/78 firmware 1.5, Garmin changed the way map selections work- it is now per map file instead of per map.... so if you have multiple maps in a single IMG file, i think its all or nothing now... Of course i agree it's much easier to manage individual IMG files, but this will lead to some confusion for people used to it the old way! http://garmin.blogs.com/.m/softwareupdates...provements.html

Yes, as long as you select the segments you want from all of the different map products installed on your PC at once, it sends it all to the GPS at once (overwriting the existing maps on the GPS). You can only look at one map at a time on the Garmin, but you go to the Map Setup secreen, and enable or disable each map depending what you want to see at the time.

This sqeaker issue really didn't bother me until I started reading this thread, THEN I couldn't stop noticing it... so yesterday evening's activities included opening up my 62s, and greasing the plastic edges of the unit, closing it back up, still squeaked. Then I greased the top of the rubber gasket - still squeaked. Then I pulled out the rubber gasket, greased it, and greased the 'trough' that the rubber seal sat in, and put it back in.. NO MORE SQUEAK! It's the rubber that's squeaking, shifting around in it's 'trough'. Much easier than sending back to garmin, and being without my beloved new toy for weeks! Somehow it just feels more solid now

60csx with latest firmware can technically use up to a 32GB MicroSD card.... BUT - and a big BUT.... This unit will only read ONE file called GMAPSUPP.IMG for the maps... and since fat32 has a maximum single file size of 4GB, you have to use mapsource to combine all of your maps into that single file, no more than 4GB. The other thing to consider, is that the 60csx (and etrex X series) can load a maximum of 2025 map 'segments' - you will see these in mapsource when selecting areas to load to the GPS. The US TOPO 100K DVD divides the country into over 6000 segments, so it is impossible to use it all on one card. Garmin's pre-loaded 4GB card with US topo 100K maps is a special version with just over 400 segments so they could get it to work. I hope that answers your question.

Garmin replaced my unit once under warranty because of this problem, and again a month or so after warranty expired... I don't think these units were built for being in warm environments like the inside of a car on a hot day, as the glue leaking out is really gross..

I was just hoping that if I wanted to send a note to the owner of a TB "Jail" that there was something 'official' online I could reference, otherwise I don't really have any ground telling them that they are doing something wrong...

Is there actually anything in the guidelines that cache owners can be pointed to specifically in reference to unenforceability of TB trading, or is it basically covered by additional logging requirements rules?

Yep, for the Preloaded MicroSD map it's actually locked to the card, but there are ways around that... Basecamp will actually load in maps installed on a connected device, without the need to install on the computer, including the preloaded MicroSD's. Maybe a future Mapsource update will include that feature?

You are correct, as the DVD Version of TOPO US is over 6000 tiles, and even if you generate an IMG with more than 2025 segments, only 2025 of them show on the 60CSx, Vista HCx. SO... I called garmin on this about their preloaded MicroSD, which has ALL of TOPO US... they confirmed that it has all the same information, but it is 'optimized' into less segments. I bought it, and I can confirm that that version has full coverage in just over 430 segments, in about 3.4 GB! (Versus 5-6GB if you actually built the DVD version completely)

Now we just need that on the trackables detail page! And a link to show all logs on one page, like a cache description page. i.e. "There are 60 additional logs. View them all"