cltinseattle

I just purchased mine yesterday too. Man the User's Manual is AWFUL. Luckily this is my 3rd eTrex so the learning curve won't be so bad. I don't like the screen savers, I prefer to get the leather case and either clip it to my backpack or hang it around my neck. I'm still trying to figure out how to get free maps onto mine so I would also appreciate those tips. If buying a mini-SD card for it, does anyone know if there is a maximum GB that the unit can handle?

I started 12 in 2009. Of those only 2 are still traveling. If I have learned anything it is to not send out geocoins, they will get taken quickly, and don't attach travel bugs to anything cute. If I send out any more travel bugs they will just be attached to a short length of wooden dowel with the origin written on it. If you attach it to anything cute it will get taken.

sussamb you are my hero!

Ok, I bought the Garmin 20!!! Unfortunately it has to sit under the tree for another 25 days before I can unwrap it. Well, perhaps I can just wrap the box and no one will notice that I have a new toy to play with in the meantime. Thanks everyone!!!

Wow. See now that is a lot of the things I was wondering about. I did not know about free Topo's from GPS File Depot. I only know that Garmin charges a heck of a lot for their maps. The GSAK - don't know what that is either so I will have to check it out. In the past I have just kept things really basic, printed out paper descriptions to take with me, just kept a basic membership, pretty much just did things manually. A Garmin 20 or 30 is not cheap in anyone's budget and add on to that the cost of Garmin maps and you can spend a lot of money before you know it. So - if I can diverge a little bit from the original topic, I am still wondering about purchasing the Garmin 20 or 30. I have seen some reviews saying they did not track well for hiking but even the most basic Garmin that I have now tracks pretty well so I wonder if these comments are some of those "fake" reviews that are getting to be more prevalent online. You know, I just want to know that if I'm going to lay out 2 or 3 Ben Franklin's I want to know that it's going to be good for geocaching and hiking and possibly for highway use as well. Hearing from you guys/gals who already have a Garmin 20 or 30 really helps. Thank you!

Ok everyone, I need help with this. I have been thinking of upgrading my GPS to a Garmin eTrex 20 and it has "Paperless Geocaching". The advertising propoganda shows the screen of the GPS with the cache description and all of the log comments, etc. So how does this work and is it worth it? Some have said you need to have a Premium membership in order to use it. Is that true? I normally don't download a bunch of geocaches at one time. Normally I download maybe 2 to 12 geocaches in an area that I am going to be in for that day or that week end, when I find them and mark them as found and then log the find into the web site I delete them from the GPS and move on to another area. It seems like it would be useful though to be able to have the cache description and hints and other cachers comments available while you are searching, so it sounds like a nice feature. Can someone please explain to me how this works and if you can explain how it works on a Garmin eTrex 20 that would be even better. Thanks everyone!!!

Well gang, I just moved into a new house in a new neighborhood and couldn't help but look up nearby geocaches. Dang, there are some practically at my back door. I got disinterested a few years ago when I had to mark most of my trackables as missing and the last of my hides was completely stolen. Now I'm getting that bug again (no pun intended). When I find my geocaching backpack amongst the current mess of moving boxes, here we go again. I have a great place for another cache hide. Lessons I have learned - make my travel bugs as ugly as possible. Any "cute" travelers I have sent out in the past don't last long. Also, no more geocoins. Pretty, shiney, enameled geocoins don't keep moving either. My swag will more than likely be items that come from the "goodwill" box that we are filling up as we are unpacking. Wish me luck!

I just ordered one of these refurbs today. Had been looking at them new for $170 so $70 for an "as new" refurb sounds pretty good. I hope all who have ordered these will continue to post on them after we receive them and begin using them.