Eagle93

I'd like to be able to load a .loc file with nearby benchmarks for some caches that I hunt, however I've not had much luck loading them into my Garmin Oregon 400t. I've tried placing them in \GPX\ folder and also the root \Garmin\ folder, but the waypoints don't appear for me to select from either of those locations. Any have pointers for me?

My local walmart carries the camo duct tape only during hunting season. I've had luck finding camo cloth tape at hunting/sporting goods stores though. It's a bit expensive at $4 for 10 feet though. I've also used the camo (super low reflectivity) Krylon paint. Walmart carries it and it comes in tan, brown, black and olive. Any three colors can be used with a template of paper or actual leaves to create a good camo paint job quickly.

About 25% of my finds are solo, another 30-40% are me with one or both of my kids and the rest are with other family members and/or friends. I have a couple of friends who have kids the same ages as my kids so we'll often get together on an evening and go out and find a handful of caches. Unless time is getting short for us we'll often move away from the cache and then announce that we've found it. That way the others still have the opportunity to find the cache as well. Even when posting logs for caches that I've found with the group I do my best to leave an interesting log. Typing meaningful field notes on my Oregon certainly helps me recall enough details to help with that.

I'll echo StarBrand's suggestion. A buddy of mine got a Nuvi 500 last week and it came preloaded with City Navigator and Topo maps. You can load up GPX files and it has great geocaching capabilities. He has found it to be a very good hybrid for both auto and geocaching use so far.

I'll add my recommendation for the Oregon 400t. I've owned one for about 3 months now and have found 90 caches and hidden 4 so far. I've found the accuracy of the 400t to be very good, even in heavily wooded environments. Of the 90 caches I've founded on 2 or 3 were off by more than 20 feet of where the 400t said GZ should be. Granted that when I got mine I immediately updated to the latest beta (2.92 at the time) and am currently running 3.01 beta and love it. The touchscreen interface is extremely easy to learn and use and you can completely customize the menu order for each profile. Speaking of profiles that is another awesome feature. I set mine to automotive and use City Navigator to get close to the cache, than switch to geocaching mode which automatically switches to the TOPO maps and leads me to the cache. If I'm familiar with an area I sometimes leave it in recreational profile the whole time which works well also.

Did you by chance also load the sample DB that comes with GSAK? That would explain the caches you've never been to and they would show up white since they are a cache you neither found, nor hid yourself.

unzip it if applicable, then copy the .gpx files to {drive letter}:\Garmin\GPX

I recently started actively caching (early May) and am having a blast with it. The other day I pulled up a list of caches for New Orleans where I had visited back in March out of curiosity. I noticed that there a a couple of virtuals that are significant landmarks which I stopped at and have the photos and info to prove I was there... My question - as I mentioned I was not caching at the time, so I didn't stop at these landmarks for that reason. However, I may not visit New Orleans again (at least not in the forseeable future) and would like to log these as I was there. I've read on these forums about armchair cachers, etc. and don't want to be viewed as such. If I log these (again I have the photos and details necessary) would I be breaking any unspoken rules? Next question, if I do log them, should I log the dates back in March when I was there or log them with a current date? To reasons I ask this - I recently found my 50th cache, and realize that if I backdate I'll throw that off, but also don't want to appear like I am trying to bury my log to avoid notice...

I've been using a 400t for about two months now and have found 40 caches or so with it. Most times it puts me right at GZ, but there have been a couple that have been off a ways. Tough to tell if problem was hiders accuracy or just a bad constellation. All in all, I'm very happy with and the paperless feature is awesome. I haven't had any problems viewing the screen but I second the suggestion to get a couple sets of good rechargable batteries - I personally recommend and use the Sanyo Eneloops, and always carry a spare set or two with me.

I bought an Oregon 400t in early May and while I've ocassionally been off by 50 feet on a couple of caches, the vast majority have pointed me directly to GZ or within 5 feet of the cache. One particular cache was a micro hanging in some brush and when I got in and the OR indicated 2' to the NE, I looked and there was the tube hanging exactly 2 feet away to the NE... I've updated to each beta as it becomes available and have had no major complaints.

The touchscreen is pretty senstive, however you can lock/unlock the screen by tapping the power button.

I'm a Cubmaster for my son's Pack. We just did a geo-scouting event for the local Pack and Troop last Monday. We had four 3-stage multis and four single caches hidden around a local park. We had a good turnout and a great time. I'm pretty sure we gained a few more geocachers in the process.

I also use the Sanyo Eneloops and so far am very impressed. A higher mA rating would be nice, but the 2100 mA Eneloops work for me.

I also have an Oregon and have been looking at car mounts. I read somewhere that the cables for the CO and OR are very similar but that the CO cord doesn't work in the OR due to the length of the "L" end. Apparently the OR version is slightly longer so that it seats properly.

I got my Oregon 400t about a month and had minimal GPSr exposure prior to that. Like the previous poster I also wear Polarized sunglasses. I also have a Zagg Invisible Shield on it although that shouldn't affect the display at all. I find the display to be most readable in bright, direct sunlight, and less readable in cloudy conditions or indoors. It is in those situations that I turn the backlight up to 100%, normally I have it at 50%. If I'm in the woods and having trouble reading the screen I'll move so that I can hold the GPSr in a shaft of sunlight coming through the canopy.

only 4

I'm new as well, but my understanding is that the hints and logs only get sent to the device if you are a premium member.

Hello, I'm a newbie and my Oregon 400t was delivered yesterday. I've udpated to 2.97 beta and so far everything seems good. My question - I want to get street maps so I can do auto routing but am confused on what appears to be two version so City Navigator. Looking on Amazon.com they have City Navigator NT and Update 2009 listed. I'm a little confused as to which is needed or if both are? Are there any free updates for new purchasers? In other words, can I purchase the CN NT and get the current update from Garmin's site? If there are no free updates available when does Garmin typically release the updates? I'd hate to spend the $$ on the 2009 update and then have the 2010 update come out shortly thereafter... Thanks for your help!

Thanks for the info everyone. I think I'll stop by a store and play with the CO and OR a bit more, but am leaning towards my initial preference for the CO mainly because I can get the CO for $75-100 cheaper which will cover the cost of the city/street maps. Thanks again!

I'm also a Scout leader from MN and if you attend Cub Resident camp (or Polar Cubs) at Phillipo Scout Reservation the Webelos do some GPS/Geocaching type activities.

ok, based on a couple of other software guys saying the DeLorme software still takes a lot of learning and time I think I'm going to rule out the PN-40 which brings down to a choice between the CO and OR. As I said earlier I've had both in hand and tried the interface and to me the rock-n-roller seemed faster to navigate than the OR's touchscreen. Are there any other significant features that differ between the CO and OR? Is the CO line really dead or is Garmin likely to update it with any new features of the OR?

Briansnat - could you elaborate on the features that are missing from the Colorado, and are some or all of those features available on the Oregon? Thanks everyone for your replied!

Ok, so I've been looking at getting a GPSr for a while now and have pretty much narrowed it down to three, and maybe even to two of those. I plan to get into Geocaching, and also want it potentially for some auto-routing in the car. I've seen both the Colorado and Oregon at Gander Mountain and of the two I'm leaning towards the Colorado. To me the dial seemed faster for navigation then the Oregon's touchscreen. Also the CO seems a bit brighter than the OR, although I've not seen it outside. I like that both have profiles to easily switch between Driving/Geocaching. However, I am a little concerned that I've read a number of posts that seem to indicate the CO isn't getting the updates that the OR is. I'd hate to buy the CO and find out that it's a dead generation of the Garmin line... Another thing that concerns me with the Garmins is I believe I read that the Topo maps have lines in 180' intervals. Being from the midwest, that would mean I'd be looking at a blank screen much of the time... Then just recently I started seeing references to the PN-40. So I've done some reading on that and the map subscription and 7.5' topo quads seems like it would be awesome. I also like the tri-axis compass. I've heard the software can be a bit tough to learn, but as a Software Engineer that doesn't really concern me. However, the small screen and mention of lack of resolution on some of the sat. photos, etc. gives me pause there. As does the notes about difficulty and slow speeds of map downloads, etc. I've also read that the Topo maps and charts are scanned images which aren't always the best - can anyone confirm or deny that? Price wise I'm looking to stay in the $300-$400 range which maybe puts the OR a little out of my range (I'd be looking at the 400t model for either CO or OR) but the CO and PN-40 seem to be going in that range on Amazon. So, I'm now looking for you to point me in a direction based on someone who has experience geocaching and hopefully using one or more of the devices. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.