CacheFreakTim

Why do they have to look so weird? They would make you look like Cyclops from The X-Men.

I have both the Oregon 450 and the iPhone 4. Both are very good, and most of the time within 5 feet of each other. With that said the iPhones one major downside is battery life. I can get 15-20 hrs out of my Oregon, while the iPhone gets maybe 5 (10 with my mophie juice pack add on battery.) The iPhones biggest advantage is to do on the fly caching no matter where you are. You can search for caches without building a PQ before hand and that is a huge advantage. The Oregons biggest advantage is obviously that it is a GPS designed for hiking, biking, Geocaching, etc..... If you are asking because you are going to buy one or the other it depends on your needs beyond Geocaching because both do great for that.

That is a good question. Both the Dakota and Oregon are very very similar except for the Oregons larger screen, and Wherigo support. The 30 is a toss up and it will not be clear how it exactly compares until it comes out. The major difference is that the 30 has buttons and the Dakota/Oregon have touch screens which I am a big fan of.

1st make sure you have the most up to date version. GS has released a new version a couple weeks ago. Follow mpilchfamily's instructions and it should work just fine. The only additional issue I have run into is selecting to download maps in addition to the PQ. When doing this it has failed on me a couple times. If this is the case try it without the maps.

The whole new eTrex line looks like a winner. My only problem with the 30 is the price. At $300 you are in Dakota/Oregon territory. I am excited to check them out when they ship though.

There are a few bugs multiple people have mentioned on here with the 4.20 firmware. You may need to roll back to an earlier version that does not have bugs. If you do not have an older version saved PM me and I will send you a link.

There are a few ways. Easiest way is to download the vantage point software from Magellan. You can login with your account and it will download the caches automatically. The other way is to navigate to the Magellan folder on the GPS. You can just drop the .gpx files into the folder from Geocaching.com.

Lol....that many bugs huh?

The $10 app is amazing. Once you try the free app and realize you want to continue get the pay for app. It has a ton of features you will want.

My favorite two pieces of advice is start with regular/large size caches, and also bring a friend or two! You would be surprised how much an extra set of eyeballs can help out.

At that price I would look at the Dakota 10/20. You can usually find the 10 around that price, but the 20 goes on sale once in a while. Either one is a good bet.

The best part about tracking bugs is you can attach them to just about anything. My favorite was a can opener, but some people on here have crazy stories of things they have found attached to bugs. I recommend not making it a toy, otherwise someone might want to take it. Just walk around your house and look for things that would fit in a cache that you do not need. Think outside the box and be unique.

Your online collection is just the list of Geocoins you have found. Once you log it you will want to move it to another person or cache.

Wow sounds fun. Welcome!

Depending on your area the amount of micros can be annoying. Personally what I do is mix them in when I put together my caching run in GSAK. This way you can just do a few micros along with the larger sizes. This way it is just an endless series of micros.

In urban areas with a clear view of the sky you can expect to be within 10ft. of the cache almost every time. Under tree cover it gets worse....just how worse depends on the amount of tree cover. Under really heavy tree cover you might see upwards of 30-50ft. Honestly it really depends.

With that budget you can get just about any unit. The Garmin Montana is the new "do it all" GPS that has just about every feature (except Wherigo.) Amazon has the entry level unit for $337 right now with the high end at $576. Also check out the 62 series if you like units that have buttons and not touch screens.

Just about any modern Garmin unit has this. What is your price range?

Im a big 3 axis compass fan but $100 is a lot of money. Personally if I were going to spend $300 I would just look at the Dakota 20 or the Oregon 450.

Also check out the Geomate Jr. If doesn't have as many GPS functions as the etrex H but is only $50 and comes preloaded with 250,000 Geocaches. I find it to be more user friendly than the etrex h and only costs $50.

I'm not sure the technical reason but I know this is common within a few feet. I have cached with others using the same GPS and you will usually be within 5 feet of each other. If you both have a big difference (10 ft.+) then maybe there is a problem with one of your units.

This happens from time to time and a reboot of the phone usually fixes the problem in my experience. Also check out Geosphere. It is rock solid and I have never had any speed issues with it.

Looks cool, I will check it out.

Check out this site. There is a also a link to the tutorial which has a ton of screen shots and will tell you everything you need to know.

Where do you see this price at? Keep your eyes pealed. I have seen them as low as $200 in the last month. Just check every so often and Im sure you will see it on sale somewhere.