aka Monkey

Frankly, I think I'll just wait until Garmin comes out with their Mac version of the MapSource software later this year. They claim they'll be transitioning everything over to run on OS X by the end of 2006.

It sounds to me like you have the incorrect map datum selected on your GPS. Make sure it's set to WGS84. Check your user manual.

I hurt to trod on your world view, but high crime areas are called so because... wait for it... they have HIGH CRIME RATES. This means that there are more crimes committed in those areas. I personally prefer not to travel through those areas. God forbid I should actually use logic to determine the choices I make because it might offend someone. By all means, feel free to go hang out in your neighborhood crackhouse if it makes you feel more at touch with your fellow earthdweller. And I realize of course that it the Magellan really isn't doing any such thing, but it has done it often enough that we joke about it. I just thought it was amusing.

I think what you mean to say is that you taught a Creative Expression class, not an English class. If you were supposed to be teaching English and told students that spelling and grammar didn't count, I'm truly appalled. I pray to God I never go to a doctor whose teacher didn't grade him on whether he used the right course of treatment, but simply on whether he had a good bedside manner.

I figure Garmin reads these forums occasionally, and I know if I send the suggestion directly I'll get the "we can't accept suggestions" spiel, so I'll post it here. I was thinking it would be nice if the Garmin had a gridlock feature. This would function in some manner similar to as follows: If you're navigating a route and the GPS notices you're travelling at a low speed or have lots of starts and stops, it could pop up with a dialog that says "You appear to be in heavy traffic. Should an alternate route be calculated?" Selecting yes would have it plan an alternate route using back streets. This would be very handy. Heck, it could even read the clock when planning a route and avoid taking major roads during rush hour.

I'm a die-hard Garmin fan, but my SO has a Magellan. After playing with both, we've determined that the Magellan works better for Geocaching (more accurate and better satellite lock), but my Garmin is better for driving directions. One of the reasons for this is because her Magellan seems to constantly want to route us through slums. It doesn't seem to matter where we're going, there's always some detour through the shady areas of town. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I wonder how much of this has to do with Apple's switch to Intel? Either way, color me ecstatic!

I THINK THE MEGALEN 200 ISS THE BESTSEST GPS EVER OMG IT MAKES ALL OF THE OTHERS LOOK LIKE POP ALTHOUGH IVE NEVER USED THEM I ONLY HAVE GARMIN NOT MAGELAN 200 Y DO U ASK R U THINKING OF GETING 1????????

I found some nice shareware programs that allow me to download and upload waypoints to my GPS, but is there one that will allow me to delete waypoints? I have a lot of junk I'd like to get rid of, but a few I want to save as well.

Contact Garmin. They'll probably have you send the unit in, and then do a full reconditioning of the unit.

Comments about the intelligence of other cultures aside, yes, the site's been hacked. They probably did it because it was easy. Hopefully the webmaster has all the data backed up.

Thank you for spelling Pepsi correctly.

I had one of these until a friend of mine (the friend who gave it to me, incidentally) put his under a Geiger counter and watched it go ballistic. As he said, putting something throwing out that much radiation in your trouser pockets might not be doing any favours to the next generation. Mine now sits in a drawer and hardly ever sees the light of day. As a travel bug I'd say they were harmless enough but I wouldn't use one as a keychain any more. Remember that it's producing weak beta radiation, which is extremely safe. As has been pointed out in this thread, the radiation isn't even strong enough to penetrate your skin (although it'll make a Geiger counter freak). Unless you have a Geiger counter in your pants, I wouldn't be too worried. Remember that the sun produces huge amounts of radiation. Radiation itself isn't bad, it's the type that matters.

Last time someone left gewgaw in my cache, I had to replace the logbook.

Actually, not so much. If you notice in my initial post I stated that they weren't (ahem) "readily" available in the US. I ordered one for around $14, including shipping. One word: eBay.

This isn't accurate. You can buy tritium watches almost anywhere, and also tritium sights for firearms. I wonder what the difference is? Tritium Gun Sights Tritium Watch

Then I hope these same ignorant nay-sayers throw out the smoke alarms in their homes, because most smoke alarms contain Americium-241, a much more radioactive substance.

I found these really neat keychains. They glow in the dark, but they're powered using a (very safe) radioactive gas. They glow for 10 years, and need no power source (such as light). Sounds like a very cool travel bug waiting to be made. Only problem is, they're not readily available for sale in the US. Nite Glowrings I suppose they'd be pretty popular travel bugs to steal, though. For those of you concerned about putting a radioactive item in a cache, here's the scoop: The keychain uses gaseous tritium, which is slightly radioactive. It releases beta radiation (most of which can't even penetrate skin), which interacts with a phosphor inside the keychain to glow. Even if you were to somehow break it—difficult, because it's a very strong borosilicate glass encased in hard plastic—simply letting the gas disperse would be fine as tritium is a naturally occuring element in small quantities anyway.

Feh. I own a Garmin, and if it gets signal lock in the Amazon jungle I'll eat my external antenna.

I guess if they really wanted to make an accurate movie about Geocaching, the star would be a balding, overweight guy in his late 30s. He'd have a bit of facial hair (not bold enough for a full beard), and he'd drag his dog around with him to caches in his Jeep®. The movie would be about a girl whose life hung in the balance and the clues to save her were in the cache, but sadly the cache got muggled, so the girl's as good as dead. Luckily they are able to make her gravesite into a Waymark, so it's not a total loss. Not nearly as much of a loss as the time spent making (and watching) the movie.

I guess these aren't really necessary for Geocaching, but they wouldn't hurt. Geoschwag

I don't know, the one I sent the link to is pretty cool. Has built-in GPS, and nifty glasses that you wear that overlay what the radar sees, so you actually see it on the ground in front of you.

I used Shrinky Dinks for one of my signature items. I got special sheets at Hobby Lobby that can be run through an inkjet printer. They worked well, I thought.

As much as I appreciate everyone's response on this, I don't think we need anymore people explaining what was covered in the sixth post. Closing the topic.

You mean like this? It's only $20,000. Save your pennies.