rob.marsh

firstly, you git! I am saving for the GPSr! I want I want I want!! Right, kiddy tantrum over (lol!) I started not so long ago, with an etrex legend. I think you'll find yurself wanting more than just a basemap on your GPS unit, as that contains very little data. I was put off by the cost of the Garmin Topo maps, and discoveres (thanks to TalkyToaster) open street map (OSM). OSM is a free mapping project that has some pretty good maps. You'll find a raging debate over the accuarcy on these forums but the general opinion (and mine) is that they are pretty good. With them on your GPS and paper OS maps, you won't go far wrong. TalkyToasters maps can be found here, and with your unit you should be able to fit all the UK with contours on a card no bother.

Hi Martin. Thanks for all the time you put into complining these maps. As a noob who wanted to get some kind of map onto his GPSr without paying sky high prices I really apppreciate all you have done. As far as the raging accuracy debate goes, there seems to be agreement among everyone but just in different ways! Any how, thanks again, they provide a great accompaniment to my OS explorer series 1:25000 map, that was last updated in 2007 :-p

Reviewers are those peeps who check caches before they are publish and monitor those laid for issue. Moderators moderate the forums. I say hi 5 to them all for giving up their time to do so!

I have 9 under my belt and class myself as a noob. For me its an experience thing, and I wouldn't class myself in the league of the big finders yet.

I tend to be boring for my username. Mainly as my imagination is rubbush! I'd probably wait to see what nicknames I pick up in the geocaching world and change it to that if I could. Not really the fun answer you were after I guess, DOH!

I have not been a member for long, and only have 9 finds under my belt. I have only really started using the forum in the last month or so but have already noticed a lot of sniping and moaning on here. Its not the most encouraging atmosphere for noobs! That said, each time I have asked a Q, I have always had plenty of friendly helpful advice. For every moaner, there is thousands of friendly members, so thankyou to all those friendly people who have helped my jounrey into the world of Geocaching!

Thankyou all for your comments. Most re-assuring. Now all I need to do is save up a bit!!

Hi all, I am looking at upgrading my GPS unit, as the one I am using, whilst it does the job is dated now. I really like the look of the Garmin 60CSx, it gets great reviews and ticks all the boxes. I'm not too worried about maps, as I plan to continue using Open streetmap. The thing is, brand new it is very expensive (its good kit!). I have seen some good prices for Garmin NOH versions Basically Garmin return/refurb jobs. What are peoples opinions on these? Are they a baragain or steer clear job? Thanks in Advance! Rob PS thanks for eveyone's help and patience so far, I have asked a fair few noob Q's!

I'm a newbie to Geocaching (a mere 9/11 finds so far), so forgive me if I sound Nieve. I have so far enjoed Micro Caches, as well as "standard" Caches. Being new to the sport, they present somewhat of a larger challenge and it is extremely satisfying when you find one. There are two in the town centre I live in that are film cannisters. I have seen TB's and Geocoins in them, and see no reason why small items can't be left for swapping. I have also bought from ukgeocachers, a small ally micro keyring cache that I will be laying. Why? Because I want the challenge of laying a clever, difficult, interesting and fun cache to lay. For me, laying a micro will take a lot of thinking and imagination, and I am looking forward to the challenge.

http://www.ukgeocachers.co.uk/component/co...e-midlands.html They also say they are looking into hiring out Garmins, may be worth a call.

Hi all, What I have ended up doing is using Open streetmap as the map provider, and extracting the area that I want on the GPS. Then, with the help of this link (http://freegeographytools.com/2007/converting-openstreetmap-data-into-gpx-or-garmin-img-format) I converted the osm file to a garmin IMG file using Mkgmap and uploaded it to garmin legen. It worked a treat once I got my head round the command line prompts of mkgmap! Cheers for all your help and sorry for the late reply! Rob

Here is my take on it. I am an explorer scout leader in the UK & tonight I will be preparing and laying a cache with my unit. I have already been through what geocaching is, and we are going out in a few weeks. We are using the cache to tell people about us and the swagg will be scouting related items to start with. The cache will be very close to our weekly meet point, and I will be starting a rota to ensure that each time we meet at the HQ, an explorer (with me) takes a look at the cache to ensure it is properly maintained. I also accept that as a geocacher, and the leader, ultimate responsibility will lie with me to keep it maintained. I think it will be a huge shame to not allow Scout sections to lay caches. Especially as in the UK Garmin are currently sponsoring and promoting it within the movement. My unit are really fired up about geocaching. They want to do a lot locally, but also make a few trips out in the area when we are on camps. We will be releasing a travel bug into the world to track too. Its taken off really well with them. Bottom line is, its down to the leader (or teacher in a school group) to accept overall responsibility for the cache, and to ensure that the participants understand the rules, etiquette and best practices.

I don't understand the problem with the ISS or the deep see one mentioned in the search jaunt blog., it was a bit of fun. Maybe its because I am a noob to geocaching with a mere 6 finds under my belt, but, I took the two caches with the tongue in cheek approach which i think the owner intended people to take when creating them. Where is the sense of humor peeps? remember, we are doing this to have fun after all!

haha! Cheers Chris. That could serve me right for posting the query without having the unit to hand to look at!

Hi all, I am a noob to geocaching, and I am looking at getting my Explorer Scouts going with Geocaching too. Through a program run with Garmin an the scout association our unit have got two Garmin etrex Legends. They are the black and white version. How can I tell iff it is the etrex Legend or the H version from the device itself? I am currently waiting on a cable to connect to my PC so can't check that way. The reason I ask, is because that severly affects what maps I can store on there as the Legend has only *MB storage and the H version 24MB. I intend to load openstreetmap's maps onto the devices but if its the 8MB version I'm not sure that will be possible as even the split south east map is 19MB or there abouts. Anyone know how I can split that down further? Sorry for all the noob questions peeps, I'm still trying to get my head round these! Thanks Rob