piper28

Because they don't generally let you on the bridge of the ship to check their speed gauges . (Seriously, I'll set it to nautical miles when I'm on a cruise ship and use it to keep track of how far to go to destinations. You can often tell when the cruise ship isn't going to make it on time that way.)

Ok, throw my hat in the ring please. I'm not going to win, but it'll give me an excuse to finally get out of the house (at least, if the temperatures improve some).

I was up north earlier this summer, and had the gps route me the fastest way home from where I was. Not too much later, it had me going down this little two track, rutted road through the forest. Probably was passable in a normal car, although it would have been tough to pass someone coming the other way in most spots. Actually was kinda a neat road, just not really something I would have expected to show up on a fastest route. (Oh, and I've used the GPS to look for places quite a few times, it's pretty useful for that. Of course, I've also ended up going to places that didn't exist anymore at times because of that).

While I understand that maybe it's not the most thrilling thing to a hider to get a short, bland log entry, by the same token, I hated essay writing in school, and didn't exactly get into this hobby to do more essay writing. That said, I'll try to say something about the cache, but since I tend to log fairly late, sometimes the caches just kinda blend together.

Wife and I are both north up people. Tried track up, just didn't like it. I have to admit, I was a little surprised that she also felt that way, but it works well, since we don't have to change the setting ever then.

Heh, I had one the other day when I was coming home, using a fastest route calculation that put me on a road that I'm not convinced would have been passable in a normal car (we were in a jeep at the time). Nicely rutted two track road through the trees, no room for opposing traffic. Couldn't believe that gps thought that was the fastest route (But hey, I'm a sucker for that type of road, so no complaints from me).

One thing that I don't think I've seen so far is to mention that the 60c(s) seems to work better when held in a vertical position. So if you're holding it horizontal, that may make a difference too. Personally all I've ever used is the 60cs, and I'd say I was pretty happy with it.

Interesting, on my 60cs, I'm pretty sure I've set it on auto, and I've always found it to be pretty accurate (in reference to known points). I just don't want to deal with having to calibrate it periodically. (And as far as I know, they've never added the ability to show gps altitude on the 60cs, so my guess is the odds are slim they'll add it to the 60csx)

There's one for sale in Death Valley for the lowest point in the US. Course, there's no real marker at that point, since the area isn't stable. (As I recall, the paperwork that comes with it says something to that effect). Both the full size ones and a small one were available, but I didn't buy one because I felt they were kinda pricey.

Clearly you need better pockets. I'll generally carry the pda (in an aluminum case), cell phone, keys, asthma inhaler in my pockets. If I need a spare hand I'll stuff my 60cs in my pocket too. (I tend to wear almost knee length shorts while caching.) Actually, my biggest problem is sometimes having some much crud in my pockets that the weight wants to pull the shorts down.

It's only cool till you look at how expensive the bluewater software is. Little tiny regions at exceedingly expensive prices.

The only real issue I've had is that if it's raining hard, I sometimes get some leaking along the cable. I was skeptical that it would stay in place myself, but it's never budged. (I stick mine on the roof when using it).

Well, I'll argue somewhat in the other direction. I kinda like the GE interface and it's ease of use, but the one critical component that it just plain sucks in is coverage. While the maps in USAPhotomaps might be old at times, most of the country has 1 meter maps available. While GE has worldwide coverage of some sort, it's amazing just how small of an area gets the 1m coverage. In the Lansing, MI area, it's all but useless (ironically, where I live just south of lansing is covered, but most of the city itself is not). The charging for the gpsbabel features is a bit disappointing too.

That clip sucks. I managed to drop mine a couple times before I figured out that it was a good idea to loop the lanyard around something too. Thankfully I never managed to do any damage to it, but man, that clip just is not very good. (Doesn't help that the button can unscrew too).

I haven't run into plastic wrapped caches around here. Of course, around here, that would probably be an offense that should be punished by law. Plastic like that makes perfect pools for mosquitos to breed. Mosquitos are bad enough around here, please don't help them.

I use the bean bag in both my Grand Cherokee and a Passat. Grand Cherokee is great, there's a depression in the dash that it sits perfectly in. Passat has a sloping dash, but even that I've found hasn't really been a problem. I've even done some off-road stuff in the jeep without trouble. Now, that said, on cars that have a smooth dash, a washboarded road will tend to make it rotate around a lot. I'd say in general though, unless you do a lot of dirt road driivng, the bean bag is pretty adequate.

I tried doing the track up for a while, but found that I actually prefered north up, even for driving and navigating. I think part of it comes from the amount of redrawing it seems to have to do if you use track up, and I tend to like to know at a glance which way is north. (The fact that I have the S version might play into this some too, since if you sit too long at a stoplight it likes to start to rotate ).

No, I'd guess it's in the truck that blocking the view, he just claims it's behind the truck .

You think Kentucky is bad, try Michigan. Ugh. We did Medano pass last year on our vacation out west, not too shabby a road. Course, we were somewhat bothered by how it seemed more difficult than the rating in the book we had, then discovered later that although our utah book and the colorado one we were using were published by the same people, they used different scales of difficulty . Turned out a 4 in colorado was a 6 in utah. Seemed much more reasonable then. Personally I'm hoping to find a few caches down 4x4 roads in Nevada next week when I'm there on vacation. That serach technique listed in this thread seems to turn up a few posibilities, I'll have to dig through them.

I think hand size has less to do with the choice than how you hold it (ie, palm or fingers). I wanted the 76 for the extra memory, but went to the store with my wife, and we both agreed that we liked the feel of the 60 and button placement better. I think I have a tendancy to hold it supported on the fingers rather than the palm (but then, I'm not holding it right now, and since it's such a natural thing to do, I honestly can't remember exactly how I hold it). Both are fine units, but I honestly think people should try to look at them and hold them in person before making up their minds. In general, the 60 has "enough" memory, but I sure wouldn't mind it if it had more. And personally, I don't think I'd like the "VI" described earlier either. I do wish they had a compass that didn't have to be held flat. (For the record I'd say I have large hands, yet still prefer the 60 format).

As one of those that came out against it, i should clarify my thoughts. I don't necessarily mean don't do it, I'm just saying that I know that I personally would not be likely to mess with something that looks like a wasp nest to find a cache, and I figure there's at least a reasonable percentage of cachers that feel the same way. And I'm not overly convinced that it'd make people start grabbing wasp nests in the future looking for a cache. Common sense should dictate that you only grab the wasps nest if you really think it might be the cache and you don't see wasps that look like they might be ticked off if you grab it. (I'm also somewhat biased because I'm sick and tired of dealing with paper wasps, which seem to have an out of control population in my area. I'm constantly having to spray nests around the house, under the deck, on the bbq grill, in the mailbox, etc because the bastards keep building htem.)

I've been trying to convince myself that I want to pick up the trailer hitch cover, but haven't quite convinced myself that it's worth $30 (plus, it would only work for one of the two cars). Might have to settle for a couple license plate frames, since I'm categorically opposed to stickers. I think the people at work would laugh at me though.

I know there are others that feel otherwise, but I know I personally would not do a cache disguised as a hornets or wasp nest. I have no particular desire to disturb the nest thinking it was the cache, only to discover that it's real.

Based on what I've picked up by hanging out with people that research bee navigation, if they're flying at your and running into you, I seem to recall that this means that they feel you're too close to their nest, and really want you to go away because their agitated about it. And yes, crushed bees can release a danger scent that irritates other bees. Now, whether this also applies to hornets, frankly, I don't have a clue. (Also note, this was being told to me while I was in a large tented area filled with lots of bees. I'm not exactly hugely fond of bees, so whether I picked up what I was being told completely correctly is open for argument.)

Personally I'll stick with USAPhotomaps. The maps from microsoft's terraserver source might be older in many cases, but at least most of the country is covered by decent resolution pictures. Google got such a small selection of maps that it's really pretty limited in use. Their software interface does have potential though. Can't say I see myself paying for it though.