Sue and Bernie
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Posts posted by Sue and Bernie
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I dont think I paid that much...
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May just be me but I always feel "uncomfortable" lurking/searching around churchyards.
We concur - as we do not frequent these places normally, we would be very embarrassed to be greeted by some-one who was a keen church-goer and thought we were too. It just doesn't feel right to us so we simply don't visit these.
If the cache is outside the grounds, this should be stated - we'd be happy to seek them.
Caches in church grounds - we avoid 'em. Perhaps we'd be happier if it was clearly that the setter had specifically obtained approval and that all visitors were welcome to rummage around...
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I'll check out the GreaseMonkey scripts I wrote when I get back from the Oxford camping event!
Good Man! May I humbly particularly request the "Ignore Threads" button as a priority... I really miss that power button that I could use to relegate the threads that I hate to view...
...Thanks in advance
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Ray Mears says there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing.
Seconded!
Days with a nice drizzle are just the job for geo-geeking - if you cannot lay in the garden hammock near the beer fridge, one may as well get out for a walk with the countryside to oneself.
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I found that Vista did not like to have GSAK located in "Program Files" therefore installed it to "C:\" and had to modify the macros accordingly.
I left a GSAK folder under Program Files to store the icons and other standard stuff.
I have got the custom export working to Memory-Map now...
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IMPORTANT! I was horrified to discover last night that Vistaprint have been taking £9.95 from my account (as a card payment) every month since I ordered some "free" goods via their website. Apparently this is commonplace....
Sorry to see you got caught by this very dubious business practice - you didn't get to read my warning at Post #5.
I've used Vistaprint loads of times - when I've changed jobs for new cards and a stamp, return label, magnetic calendars blah, blah, blah... I've even uploaded graphics for free.
...and I've only ever paid their inflated P&P for the stuff. Once you are aware of their con trick, you can get good stuff consistently at minimum cost.
...and to deal with their constant stream of offers, I have set up a special folder to which their emails are sent and automatically marked as read. I block delete every so often. They're held here in case I need something else from them.
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We actually find that it's the journey AND the pleasure that affects the length and breath of our logs!
Sue and I like to do only a couple of caches at a time - preferably by bicycle when the weather is good. We then tend to do a bit of a diary entry regardless of the "quality" of the cache because it was simply more of an event for us by taking more time and effort.
By contrast, when we walked a local trail of micros not far from our home, we had little to say about each one of the string (other than commenting on the high frequency of dog-walkers that plagued us).
If the cache has something special (like the Cove Bay Earthcache GCP80R recently found by Bernie), then that gets pictures and comments - mainly for ourselves.
....but generally, we feel that a reasonable composed comment should, as the norm, be left for the setter. A terse (or even worse - an acronym only log) is really damning with the faintest praise and really says it all!
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Brilliant!
...and a really worthwhile thread.
Thank you.
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System double posted!!! how did that happen?
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BEWARE!
Garmin did once provide two "unlocks" up until Topo 2 UK and City Navigator 2008! They don't now.
I've owned Garmin hardware since the earliest eTrex units. We now have two Streetpilots (one for each car) and a Vista Cx with Topo - Topo autoroutes so I thought - Hmm! one CN Europe going spare.
We got to this situation simply because of the two unlocks thing - when Topo came out with a single unlock, I used that with the Vista and picked up another Streetpilot on eBay for Sue to make use of the second unlock of CN.
Everything was great until CN Europe NT 2008 Update was issued and I was really pee-d off to find that the update came with a single unlock as pioneered by Garmin with the new Topo software. Garmin is now exploiting their position by no longer providing two unlocks.
I've managed to wangle a second update (sold off the second Streetpilot, bought yet another that was being flogged off by Halfords - registered it and got a free update). When the time for software updates comes round, the second Streetpilot won't get updated cos we're not paying Garmin for 3 updates!!!
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We plan to be there - took a while for the event to come through on the notification email, we heard through the jungle telegraph only a couple of weeks ago...
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Thanks Sue and Bernie for a simple and yet effective idea of just cycling to a cache area , lock up the bikes, go search and then return!
Our pleasure! I would add that it is handy to carry a pair of "Ron Hills" for when off-bike, cycling shorts provide scant protection against nettles etc. Also makes us pair rather more presentable when we want to have a pit-stop at any handy hostelry.
We've gone full circle, we first bought a Garmin hand-held to support our casual, long-distant bike rides. We then discovered geo-caching and now caches form the focus of our cycle rides - but only when the sun is shining. We don't suffer for our sport!
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When the weather's good, we tend to do most of our caching by bike - we just cycle there!
There are many where we've had to park up the bikes, lock 'em to a fence or something, and then go on by foot...
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A long ramble on how to squeeze the most out of expensive Garmin software updates and hardware packages...
I've been a long-time user of Garmin kit. Currently, we have 3x Streetpilot C510 (one to be sold off soon, no traffic capability) and a Vista Cx.
The last software issued was City Navigator NT Europe V9, it came with two "unlocks" available which I originally used to place mapping data into our first C510T and the Vista.
When Topo 2 came along (with a single unit unlock), I used that with the Vista and planned, at the next CN update, to use that to load data into two C510, so picked up the second C510 unit via eBay. End result was planned to be two cars with full Europe auto-routing and and ditto for the Vista with CN9 (it will do) and Topo UK for cache driving and off-road.
All going well at this point, I obtained a free CN Europe 2008 update when I registered the second-hand C510. When I installed this, I was dead pleased to find that it would provide me with the whole of Europe instead of just UK & Ireland. I was dead unimpressed when I found that the disc would only upgrade one unit! I used that update with my primary unit.
...so when I spotted some C510T (UK & Ireland) units being flogged off on eBuyer for £130, I decided to have a punt that these would get a free update too. A straight purchase of the upgrade was £60 from Garmin. Additionally, this unit, with the "T" suffix, includes the Traffic receiver/charger module that costs £50 as a separate purchase. For the £130 outlay, I could get £110 worth of upgrades and be left with a C510 (UK and Ireland - non-traffic enabled) surplus to requirements.
When I registered the new C510T, I was indeed entitled to a free update which is now on its way.
...so, if you have the need, knowledge and the patience, you can get the most out of Garmin's convoluted software upgrade/hardware package policies.
Hopefully, CN Europe 10 (or 2009) will go back to two "unlocks" - if not, we'll be going back to a single car unit.
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A long ramble on how to squeeze the most out of expensive Garmin software updates...
I've been a long-time user of Garmin kit. Currently, we have 3x Streetpilot C510 (one to be sold off soon, no traffic capability) and a Vista Cx.
The last software issued was City Navigator NT Europe V9, it came with two "unlocks" available which I originally used to place mapping data into our first C510T and the Vista.
When Topo 2 came along (with a single unit unlock), I used that with the Vista and planned, at the next CN update, to use that to load data into two C510, so picked up the second C510 unit via eBay. End result was planned to be two cars with full Europe auto-routing and and ditto for the Vista with CN9 (it will do) and Topo UK for cache driving and off-road.
All going well at this point, I obtained a free CN Europe 2008 update when I registered the second-hand C510. When I installed this, I was dead pleased to find that it would provide me with the whole of Europe instead of just UK & Ireland. I was dead unimpressed when I found that the disc would only upgrade one unit! I used that update with my primary unit.
...so when I spotted some C510T (UK & Ireland) units being flogged off on eBuyer for £130, I decided to have a punt that these would get a free update too. A straight purchase of the upgrade was £60 from Garmin. Additionally, this unit, with the "T" suffix, includes the Traffic receiver/charger module that costs £50 as a separate purchase. For the £130 outlay, I could get £110 worth of upgrades and be left with a C510 (UK and Ireland - non-traffic enabled) surplus to requirements.
When I registered the new C510T, I was indeed entitled to a free update which is now on its way.
...so, if you have the need, knowledge and the patience, you can get the most out of Garmin's convoluted software upgrade/hardware package policies.
Hope this is useful to someone out there... I will be posting this info as a separate thread.
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Some good news and some bad news!
I have bought and sold a number of Garmin units and have regularly used the two "unlocks" provided with City Navigator software, currently with my Streetpilot and Vista Cx.
I have traded up each unit, buying a newer car unit or newer handheld each time the software was upgraded and had a new pair of unlocks issued with the software. I would sell off the older unit COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL software discs (retaining a copy - with Garmin's approval). I then formally transferred ownership and the codes of the old unit by informing Garmin after the deal was done. That's the good news - you can sell off and transfer ownership of the software unlocked to the subject GPS unit via its internal serial number.
The bad news is that once you've used the two unlocks, that's it! The codes will only ever allow the software to be used with the unit it was used with. This is why Garmin were happy to advise me to retain a copy of the software discs (they're not protected) because the codes can only be used the once with a unit.
I have now gone through this process several times - four actually.
I do note that with the latest release of City Navigator 2008, the disc says the software disc can only be used with a single unit - this scotched my plan to use CN with another second-hand Streetpilot I bought for Sue to use!!! It looks like the unlock process is now part of the installation routine locking the software to the first GPS unit the software "sees"...
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You could consider placing multi-caches.
We have only placed two caches, each with a series of mini-caches that involve a good 3-5 mile stroll. The prospect of a relatively short walk in the countryside seems to be effective in detering able-bodied cachers so we're not at all concerned that vandals might decide to visit!
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You might like to contact Rich and Kathrine who are local to you:
...I'm sure they would be delighted to assist you in getting started
.We live at Dereham, not far from you and would be happy to help you get going - unfortunately though, we are both wage slaves and our diaries are pretty full for the next few weekends for obvious reasons.
If you're still struggling in the New Year, we'd be happy to lead you astray.
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We've "lost" 3 out of 4 coins and one of two TBs released, most have simply just vanished with subsequent cache visitors reporting the item is not located in the cache as stated on the webpage.One of our missing coins is shown in the possession of "Eerie Glow", a German team who appear to have abruptly ceased caching.
We have several more coins still and a couple of TBs too but have lost enthusiasm for this aspect of geo-caching. We'll see how our last active TB and coin get on...
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My scripts all seem to be working normally.
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Just ordered one of these and thought you guys might be interested.
...and beware of the "Special Offer" at the end of the purchase. If you accept, you will be enrolled at a cost of £9.95/month with the first month free.
Many people have unwittingly done this and not realised until a couple of the charges have banged in making the "free" stamp a very expensive freebie.
If you exploit the offers (and avoid the "Special Offer") you can obtain quite a lot of good kit from this company. I have several stamps, business and personal cards, return stickers, fridge magnets all for reasonable costs.
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HN, local knowledge and hindsight are great bedfellows!
...it was still a good cache of the best sort, really made the day for us.
Nice to have the opportunity to say "thank you" err... screen-to-screen!
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Actually, some of the best locations are up there in Scotland. I was up the Cairngorms in Aug 05 and managed to bag a few caches round there.
My personal favourite cache was Mollie Walk (GCC24E), the easiest of finds at the end of stiff climb with a glorious view that has now been shared by a total of 33 others. Not one that attracts the numbers crowd but certainly a rewarding caching experience.
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We have been long time Garmin users - our current solution is to have two units - a Garmin 510 for the car and a Vista Cx for caching.
Garmin sell "De Luxe" versions of their car units, these are supplied with a DVD of City Navigator NT software that can be installed and used on your PC. Garmin indicate this by appending a "D" to the title (Garmin C510D).
This software can be "unlocked" to work with two separate Garmin units. Naturally, we use the software with the C510 and in the Vista.
The end result of this is that we use the 510 when driving (just completed a trip to Germany and Holland) and the Vista Cx for caching, including the driving direction part. The Vista, with CN software installed, will do the car routing thing to get you to the location, then can be set to direct-line, off-road direction when doing the walking bit.
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We've "lost" 3 out of 4 coins and one of two TBs released, most have simply just vanished with subsequent cache visitors reporting the item is not located in the cache as stated on the webpage.
Mapsource TopoGB vs CN + transp. topo
in United Kingdom and Ireland
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For caching, the wife and I use a Vista Cx loaded with Topo 2 GB. This steers us to near the caches by road then, as we transfer to shank's pony, we switch over to "off-road".
While the unit is nowhere near as detailed as an Ordnance Survey map, we have experienced no difficulty in using this methodology. It saves us having to set up the Streetpilot in the car then taking it down every time we park the car. Usually the footpaths and water features are detailed on the small screen. It's fine.
As an aside, we have recently signed up to a safety camera database service:
SCBD European Speed Cam Database
...this site lets you download for any device for a modest annual fee. I was delighted to find I was able to upload the waypoints (5201 for the UK) into the eTrex - and it worked just like the Streetpilot.