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OK, mini - I found the advanced search. I had to turn off filtering to make it appear. I have enough to move forward and play around. Thanks for your help!

OK - I'm feeling a little better. It would still be nice to combine people, places, and things into one group, since any of them could contain interesting items. I'm not seeing the "advanced search" function, but will keep looking for it.

Thanks, mini. I did miss the ability to add coordinates. It would be nice to have something a bit more on-the-fly for one-time searches, but this will get the job done. Now if somebody can address my other concern I'll be fat, dumb, and happy (instead of just fat and dumb).

As a rule, I like it when things change. I enjoy learning, and am annoyed when people complain about evolving processes. That being said, I’m trying to embrace Waymarking. But I can’t seem to make it “work” for my style of searching. I suspect I’m missing something, so with that in mind, I’m proposing a scenario for which somebody can hopefully supply a working example using the new site. I’ll start off by saying that I currently rely on Pocket Queries, which don’t appear to be currently implemented in Waymarking.com. I’ll assume that something akin to PQs will be implemented at some point, and that GSAK and/or other tools will accommodate them. So for the sake of my example I’ll leave things in terms of manual searching and hard-copy listings. In today’s world (i.e.: using geocaching.com), I find myself heading to a new area, wanting to find all the “interesting” caches in that area. So I can enter coordinates and a radius and get all caches that fall therein. From there I can ignore anything that immediately looks uninteresting and start exploring those things that do look interesting. I can then print them out and go caching. In the world of Waymarking.com, it appears that I need to start with a ZIP code, rather than coordinates. That’s fine if I’m in an urban area, but doesn’t help if I’m in a remote area. A ZIP code could be awfully imprecise in sparsely populated areas, and makes it difficult to zero in on natural or man-made features that I’d like to target. But let’s say that I can adequately center on my area of interest. I’d like to see everything “interesting” starting at my center point and working outwards. I’m not looking for anything in particular, such as bars, landlocked lighthouses, swamps, rendering plants, or anything else. I just want to see what’s closest so I can figure out what I want to explore without driving all over creation. It appears to me that, once I’ve selected my area of interest, Waymarking.com will present me with a list of categories, and from there I have to browse each of those to see proximity. I have explored the site but am quite willing to believe that I’ve missed something. If somebody can offer some steps to give me what I want – start with a point and show me what’s interesting based on distance, regardless of category – I’ll feel more warm and fuzzy about this whole new world. TIA!!! Edited to change "densely" to "sparsely"

I'm in the "too late" category, but also in the "still in time" category. I have three sons, ages 19, 13, and 7 (I know...). While the older two have gone caching a few times, it hasn't been very frequently. The seven-year-old, however, loves it. There have been times that I wake up on a Saturday morning and he says, "Dad - you finally woke up! Let's go Geocaching." It does my heart good to have something that we both enjoy. I posted this thought once before, but I think it bears repeating: As a parent, you find that there are some things that you enjoy, but the kids endure. There are many more things that the kids enjoy and you endure (Chuckie Cheese comes immediately to mind). Then there are a few things that you both enjoy, and love doing together. For us, Geocaching is one of those rare things. These are the things that will be good memories years down the road. My parents gave me plenty of those memories, and I'm pleased and proud to pay it forward.

I vote for not making cache pages too cute. We're all bombarded by whiz-bang web pages many times a day. When I'm researching caches, I never say, "wow that guy really put together a great-looking cache page." I'm looking for information - steak, not sizzle. And some of the "cool" things that people do degenerate into nonsense when exported to CacheMate or something else. Also, although I have broadband access at home, I sometimes log on with very slow dial-up access in hotel rooms. Your cool graphic is likely to get a reaction from me, but it won't be positive. And let's not even open up the floor for discussion on music on cache pages...

I like that idea. I travel on business and sometimes the only chance I get to cache is at lunchtime. There have been times that I've spent the afternoon looking a bit nasty.

Because everybody would have to download the extra software, and not everybody would use it. People that use desktop computers would have no use for nroute. People with desktop computers and dial-up Internet access would be quite peeved.

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to do this. I've been meaning to play with this capability of GSAK for months, but haven't gotten around to it. When I saw your writeup I had to try it. Worked like a charm, but you did deprive me of some of the fun of experimenting. Anyway, I'm all set now for the next time I want to search along a route. Many thanks!

The notifications are sorted by distance (at least mine are). Just stop reading when you get to one that's outside of your desired search radius.

Then buy them one at a time and save a penny.

For the record, I'm opposed to the change and I'm not a numbers chaser. If it were about numbers, I wouldn't be filtering out micros, which would quickly increase my cache count. (Please be aware that this isn't an indictment of micros or their worthiness - they're just something I choose not to chase.) I'll try to remain optimistic that the new site will have something similar to Pocket Queries, and that I'll be able to use GSAK or something similar to filter out what I don't want to find. However, it seems like the number of categories will be immense and constantly changing. I'm not sure how I'll be able to know what not to download. I'll need to know what all the categories are so I know what does and does not interest me. When the new site really catches on, there will likely be thousands of "interesting" things in many areas. If a PQ is limited to 500 entries, the radius will be quite small unless we can effectively filter things. Or are we saying that the only way to navigate Waymarking will be to go online and "explore"? I often download PQs and explore their output on the plane travelling to the city I'm visiting. Clearly I'm not online at that time. When I'm in hotel rooms, I am often in a mode where online time is costly, so there isn't much opportunity to explore there either.

I will be very disappointed if the virtuals disappear from GC.com. I travel a lot on business, and I like to have my pocket queries - by virtue of GSAK - dump to my PDA and GPSr. Then I can explore a new area, finding all the cool things the locals wanted to show me. I like finding the virtuals in a new area. If they move elsewhere, I lose the ability to find virtuals without having to sift through all the bars and Wendy's in the area. Very sad!

I put a pack of Life Savers in my pocket once. When I opened the pack later, each one of them had a hole in it!

That would be the third log seen on the trail that day.

There were no rich ones around.

My 46-year-old eyes are getting a bit far-sighted, but I don't have problems reading my Legend in most conditions. I've never used a different unit, so I can't compare the Legend to anything else, but I have no complaints. The deal sounds pretty good to me, since I spend that much a year ago for just the Legend.

I think most people are answering a question that wasn't asked. I believe the OP was just asking for how to enter waypoint information directly on the Legend. If I have that right, then the answer is to just hold down the selector button for a few seconds. That will bring up a screen that has, among other things, the coordinates for the current location. You can move down to the coordinate information and edit it to reflect the coordinates given on the cache page. If you want, you can optionally change other information, such as the waypoint name, the symbol, etc. Click on OK to record the cache. Repeat this for as many waypoints (caches, parking locations, etc.) as you want to enter. When you're done, you can use the search methods outlined above. This is all documented in the manual. Is this more to the point of the original question?

I haven't a square to spare.

Ah, the Embassy Suites happy hour! Free booze - how much happier can you get? The problem is that you fill up on chips, pretzels, and popcorn, so you aren't hungry for dinner for hours. Of course, that's just as well because you're too drunk to drive anywhere because of all the free drinks. On the other side of the day, you've got their free breakfast. Truly great made-to-order omelettes and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Too bad they're not on my company's "approved" list for most cities...

So that's what I am. I travel on business, and try to squeeze in caching as I can. It had me out in the North Carolina heat and humidity last week when sanity dictated that I stay in the air-conditioned hotel room. I also act as a GeoCaching goodwill ambassador, turning on the people that I work with, since that's how I discovered caching. I also cache with my family when I get the chance (although sanity generally keeps us in the air conditioning until autumn arrives). For this, as well as the opportunistic uses, I find GSAK to be a great tool.

I agree with this. Often, much of the challenge of a micro hide is that the hider and the seeker generally enjoy something that's misleading, such as camouflaging the cache container as part of a tree or something else that looks like the surrounding environment. This may be a level of difficulty that's currently beyond your level of experience. Another aspect of micros is that they are often (although by no means always) hidden in more public places, which require stealth tactics. If this isn't your idea of fun, you may be distracted from concentrating on the search by worrying about whether somebody is watching you, suspicious of your activity.

My advice is to stick it out with GSAK. It's a great piece of software, and it makes caching much easier. If you can use a spreadsheet program, such as Lotus 123 or Microsoft Excel, you should get the hang of GSAK pretty quickly. That being said, the way to really tap into the benefits of GSAK is to start loading pocket queries into it. That would require becoming a premium member. I suggest you sign up for premium membership for one month ($3.00 US). Then generate some pocket queries for your caching area and load them into GSAK. I think you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly when you see references to local caches. If I'm wrong, you're out three bucks for the one-month membership and you can delete GSAK from your hard drive and look for something else. But, unless you're really strapped for cash, I think you'll quickly slap down the registration fee for GSAK and sign up for a year of premium membership.

I use a Legend. The software on my laptop is GSAK, CachMate (because I have a Palm for paperless caching), and MapSource MetroGuide. I'm very happy with the combination. As stated, you'll cover more area with MapSource Topo than MetroGuide. But I've always been able to squeeze a reasonable caching radius into the Legend. As I move from one area to the next, I just load new maps. I don't cache in urban areas, though. For instance, when I had a business trip in San Francisco, I did my caching in the north bay area. Because it's much less populous than the city, I could get a much larger area in memory. Of course, you may be happy without any maps on your Legend, and just use the base maps included with the units. You may need to carry around some paper maps, and routing your trip will require more manual work. I did it this way for the first six or seven months that I cached, and it wasn't all that bad.

So you're "planning" on getting around to upgrading some day (sooner than you were previously), but complaining about nag screens? Why not change your plans so that you actually pay for something you've clearly been using for some time? If it's not useful, stop using it. If it is useful, pay up already. Either way, stop complaining. Note that I'm in no way affiliated with Clyde or GSAK, other than being a paying and very satisfied customer. I just get annoyed by people that expect something for nothing, then complain about it. There - I feel better...