aka Monkey

Actually, I guess since it's a cross between those two names, it should be pronounced "Gair-Min". As in Gary.

Why would anyone say Jarmin when it's spelled Garmin? So I guess that you say Geocaching with a hard G then? I thought I read somewhere that the name of the company came from a cross between the names of two people, which thus left the pronunciation undetermined. EDIT: Further Google searching turned it up. The name is a blend between the names of the two founders: Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao. Thus, the hard G. Answered my own question (couldn't find it the first time around).

Do you say Garmin or Jarmin?

I've done a bit of research and think I've found a good unit: The Garrett Ace 250. It's not expensive as metal detectors go (actually near the bottom end on pricing), but packs a lot of high-end features into the unit. All of the reviews I've seen indicate that if you take the time to learn how to use it properly, it can yield excellent results. It's certainly more than enough to find a Geocache.

Message deleted as I posted it in the wrong thread.

I see that a lot of National Parks forbid the use of a metal detector, but since I'm unlikely to be searching for caches in a National Park anyway, I'm not sure I see the concern. I can understand it in places like historical settlements and battlegrounds, where even picking up an artifact is a felony (I went through this once when I found a perfect arrowhead by the side of a trail and tried to turn it in to a park ranger to keep it from getting stolen by Joe Redneck. You know the saying, no good deed goes unpunished, although all he did was yell at me). Someday I'd like to live in England, where metal detector use is encouraged and you're actually likely to find something more interesting than old ammo and horseshoes. I'm surprised by the number of responses to this thread. It sounds like the concensus is that they're useful on the DNFs and well-concealed micros, although a bit of a bother to carry around. There still doesn't seem to be concensus on whether a cheap one is worth the money. I'll have to do more research on that I suppose.

And just think how much your children will enjoy the land you borrowed when you give it back to them with tire tracks running through the meadow.

I am a gadget freak, as I suppose many of you are as well. I've always wanted an excuse to get a metal detector, but could never come up with a use for it. Recently, however, I realized how much easier (and fun) it might be to find a cache using a metal detector rather than just turning over rocks. Has anyone here ever used a metal detector to try and locate caches?

I'm working on creating some new caches, and was curious what great things other people had done. Post your that favorite caches that you've found (not hidden), and explain why they're your favorite. I'm hoping for inspiration!

I've been a member of Geocaching.com since September 15, 2001. I still have fond memories of that first cache, found so soon after September 11th. I'm 33, and do advertising, design and IT for a local marketing firm. I first read about GPS receivers when I was a kid, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Many years later I vowed that if the units ever dropped below $100 I'd buy one. Then I found an eTrex for $150 and thought, "Eh, close enough." Since then I've had a Geko, a Legend, 3 Rinos, and currently a 60C. So much for my frugality. For me, the quality of the caches are far more important than the quantity. I don't have a lot of finds under my belt but I'm picky about the ones I search for, and I have a great time going to places I otherwise would never have been to (that's my favorite part). I'm not married, although I've recently gotten into a relationship with another caching enthusiast, HazyRigby. When a woman likes Geocaching, you know she's gonna be special.

It looks like the NavMate requires mounting in a car (a 12V power supply, a place for a CD changer, etc). If you're hoping to use it for Geocaching, I think you're out of luck. Or is this a different NavMate 2.0 than I'm seeing?

A person who knowingly takes advantage of a mistake is dishonest. It's as simple as that. I'm guessing the people that are defending it are probably just as dishonest. There have been times when I've been undercharged for things (it happened just a few days ago at lunch when my beverage wasn't on the bill). I invariably bring it to their attention, and not only are they always grateful for my having done so, they often don't charge me for it anyway. Of course, it's a purely selfish act. It makes me feel like a better person for having done it. I'd feel pretty miserable about myself if I didn't. But then again, that's me, and I can't expect every to have the same morals or values that I do. The Golden Rule applies pretty well to this situation. How would you feel if it was your store?

It's definitely handy, as you don't have to pace back and forth trying to get a proper direction. I have a regular compass which I use (anyone who is going into the "wilderness" with only a GPS is taking risks), but it's not as convenient. Whether it's worth the cost is a decisionn you'll have to make.

If you haven't looked into Garmin's commercial mapping programs, you're missing out. Your Legend is capable of displaying far more detailed maps than what came with it (down to individual addresses). Check out MetroGuide. It'll make your GPS into a whole new animal.

This is the only serious shortcoming to the Garmin units, in my opinion. I just sent their support department an email about this this morning, and they said they'd pass the word along. No mention of them coming out with a unit, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. As for it not being necessary, that's totally subjective. If you're only using it for geocaching you don't need it. If you're using your GPS as a navigator on a multi-state trip it's a godsend.

I'm a Garmin addict through and through, but recently purchased an eXplorist 600 for my girlfriend. The number of features for the price made it worth a shot, particularly the ability to use SD cards. Overall, I still greatly prefer the interface on the Garmin. Keep in mind that I do design for a living, but I found the interface to be not only non-intuitive, but ...well, ugly. That handwriting font looks very amateurish, and the opening satellite screen looks like it was drawn in MacPaint. Blech. Anyway, A few things of note: She has been unable to get either her home machine running Windows 98 or another computer running Windows XP Home to see the GPS. We've followed all of the directions about hooking the cables up in a specific order, but no luck (Windows XP saw the USB device but didn't know what it was, even though we had installed the drivers). For now we're using an SD card reader, which probably works faster anyway. Why does DirectRoute limit you to making regions that are 64 MB in size? She's now having to save regions onto her 256 MB SD card state by state, which is kind of lame. It took forever for the GPS to make initial lock. After waiting 20 minutes and only getting one satellite we finally reset the GPS and told it exactly where we were. It took about another 30 minutes before it had locked onto enough satellites to give a 3D position. By comparison, my Garmin got its initial lock within about 10 minutes. I hope to God she never has opportunity to take her GPS to another state. (Also, oddly, my Garmin locks onto more satellites and gives a higher reported accuracy than her Magellan). Is this normal, or could there be a problem with her unit? The manual indicated initial lock should only take a few minutes, and said it would start asking questions if it took longer than that. It didn't. That being said, she loves it. It's small, it's fidgety (she loves solving problems), and most importantly, it's hers. For me, I'll stick with Garmin. Although I'll envy that little SD card every time I see it.

At least our GPS interface troubles are coming to an end. Apple will be releasing their new Intel based Macs around June of next year. These Macs will not only run OS X, but will supposedly also be able to run Windows. Then you can just boot up into it when you need to send maps to your GPS, and go back to OS X if you need to get any actual work done.

I'm fascinated by archaeology, travel, antiquities and ethnographic items. I have quite a collection of artifacts from various sources, some of which I inherited from my great-great grandfather (who founded the Archaeological Institute of America it turns out, although I didn't realize this until well after my passion started to develop—guess it's genetic). It led to the creation of my Adventure Cache (which I can't post a URL to because TPTB keep deleting it). As for the Cojones thing... well, I'm from CO, so it's COJones, and yes, I understand the alternative meaning of it: I spent a number of years in New Mexico. Current project: Identifying a piece of prehistoric native american pottery. My initial research indicates that it appears to be Salado (Mogollon 4 period), circa 1000 BP. Give me a mystery I can do some research on, and I'm in heaven.

I'm now a member of one of the other caching websites where this whole idea of closing topics isn't happening—yet. It's a grand social experiment, and I'm curious to see if their site doesn't degrade into some complete lamerhaven within a year.

MetroGuide version 4 supports autorouting. I used it with my 60C for a while, but it had some problems (it would sometimes indicate taking one-way streets the wrong way and the map data is rather old). Your best bet is to buy CitySelect for use with the 60C (it'll work with the Vista too, just without autorouting).

You can try Terraserver. Its primary advantage is that it gives you a satellite photo of the locating where it's giving you coordinates, so you can see if they're correct or not. It maps me at my neighbor's house across the street, but it's close enough to get me here.

I'll tell you why I'm not a Premium Member: * I'm frustrated with watching my local government outlaw it at every opportunity. * I'm tired of finding crappy caches (bad containers, bad locations, little effort, etc). * I hate the fact that I can't download maps into my 60C from my Mac. * Two words: Golf. Balls. Oh, wait a second.. I am a Premium Member. In that case, here's why: * Members Only Caches

I use a Willis & Geiger bush pack. It's really a nice backpack, it's a shame the company is no longer around. I've seen them selling used on eBay for a few hundred dollars now (!!!).

Wow. I must have made this too hard. No one has solved even the FIRST CLUE yet. You guys are slackers.

The above post should be edited to clarify that the woman in the story is NOT SBUX. I'm obviously hoping for the best. It's certainly a heartbreaking thing for a family not to know where their loved ones are. Hopefully you find her soon. I know we're all a tight-knit community and wanty to help each other as much as possible, but this is probably one instance where the best thing you can do is stay home, hope and pray. The police will probably have plenty of people to help them do an organized search. The fact that a typewritten note was found on the windshield indicates that they have at least some information to go on. The new Amber alert system really makes it seem like an uncommon occurence, because we see them so rarely, but 250,000 are reported missing each year, with an estimated 4,000 of those being abductions of children by strangers. Be alert, people.