Kate2009

Hey, what a great idea!! Kind of like email does! Is there a way to delete a message in the message center once you have read it and/or replied to it? When I log into Geocaching.com the message center icon keeps indicating I have messages but they are old messages. I would like to only see the yellow indicator of a message there is an unread message. I received a message from somebody asking if one of my caches was still there By the time I saw that message they had already posted a 'found it' log, so I am not bothering to reply to their message. The only other message I have received so far was from somebody who asked me for an additional hint on a cache I did not own. When I sent a reply telling them I was not the CO of the cache, they said they had sent the message to several people. I would like to be able to delete such messages so I do not have to scroll through them every time the message center icon indicates I have messages. kate2009

Thanks for the answers to my previous questions. I have another basic question. How do I download a lot of cache information to the Monterra? I have had the Monterra a week and have not been able to figure that out. The manual just says to log into the Opencaching.com web site and follow the directions. Even though I never use that web site, I tried it just now to see what happened. No caches show when I use my zip code. I used another location and it showed 5 caches. Clicking 'download' caches did not seem to work at first. I did not see the caches or the downloaded files on the Monterra. After I unplugged the USB cable from the computer, the caches showed up. I can manually download one cache at a time from the Geocaching.com web site. I do that by pulling up the cache page and using 'send to GPS', when the Monterra is connected to my desktop. I have been using an Etrex Venture CX and a NUVI 1390 for cache hunting. With those it is easy to download a batch of caches. I run a pocket query, download the file to my desk top, open it with GSAK and connect the GPSr to the computer with a USB cable. To download to the Etrex, I simply select 'GPS' tnen 'send waypoints'. For the NUVI I use a MACRO I found on the GSAK forum. The one I still use is garmin-nuvi-exportgpx.gsk. I get a warning that a command is no longer supported but the macro still works. I tried using 'send waypoints' to download a file from GSAK to the Monterra. Because the Monterra is too new to be listed, I selected "garmin" "generic GPX". I got a message that said the device has to be set in 'mass storage mode." I do not know if that can be done with the Monterra. Is there a MACRO I can install in GSAK and use to download a large file of caches to the Monterra? If I am away from home and at 'hot spot', how can I down load more than one cache at a time? (Last week I figured out how to use Chrome to log into geocaching.com using a WiFi connection and was able to download a few caches one at a time.) I installed the c:geo app last week but have not tried to do anything with it (I was visiting family and did not want to take the time to play with c:geo).

Can the Monterra be recharged when it is turned off? My Monterra arrived the day before I went on a 380+ mile road trip. I was using my NUVI for in car navigation and thought the Monterra was turned off. The drive took all day because I spent 3 hours of it going only a few miles. When I got to the hotel, I turned on the Monterra but it would not stay on. I thought the battery pack might have not been fully charged to start with. When I plugged the unit into a wall socket, I soon discovered that it had been on all day. I had left tracking turned on and was impressed that it showed my track even though it had been in a case all day. I turned the Monterra off and left it plugged in over night. When I checked in the morning, the charge was still very low. It did not recharge until I left the unit on for several hours. I had a similar thing happen a couple of days later when I returned home. I thought the Monterra was completely turned off, if I remember correctly I even felt and heard the turn off signal. When I tried to turn it on again, it had traced the long drive home and the battery was too low to keep the unit on. I did not want to leave the unit plugged in and turned on all night last night, so I turned it off before it had a full charge. I have had it plugged in and on for a few hours today but the charge is not full yet. Is it better to let the charge get very low and then do a full recharge? If I run it on the batteries for several hours should I plug it in until it has a full charge again? Can the unit be recharged while it is in sleep mode or off? If I turn off the power switch on my cell phone or my NUVI when they are plugged in and the battery is not full, they each continue to charge.

How do you turn off an APP? I have never owned or used a smart phone, Ipad, tablet or other such device. I had never used WiFi before using it on my new Monterra. I was out of town last week. The hotel had WiFi and the kin I was visiting did too. I figured out how to use the Chrome app on the Monterra to log on to Geocaching.com. I did not figure out how to shut down the Chrome app when I did not want it to be running. I resorted to turning off the WiFi on my device. When I turn WiFi back on, it looked like the Chrome was still active and using the WiFi hot spot. I have not gotten skilled at moving around the Geocaching.com web site when using Chrome to get there via WiFi. I do not have WiFi at home. A scan shows 3-4 WiFi spots near home.They are properly password protected and only one shows the name of the people. The others use nicknames. One of the nicknames does have a non password protected 'guest' link but I am hesitant to use it because of the risks. (I admit I logged into that very briefly last night but the signal was very week and I did not do any thing (lack of activity on my part may still have exposed me to bad code.) -Kate2009

I agree with those who say the rating should take into account the entire path and be based on the hardest part. Awhile ago, I was looking for a cache with a 4 terrain rating. It was close to a well maintained bike path, in a small woods with little underbrush. I was trying to figure out what place near GZ would result in such a rating. While I was standing there, a pair of cache hunters came by. When I said I was trying to figure out where a 4 T cache could be, one of them looked up. He spotted the cache about 20feet up in the tree I was standing near. He quickly climbed up and brought the cache down, then he climbed back and returned it the the hiding spot. I have encountered caches with a 1 rating but the hide is too high up for a 5' 4" person to reach without climbing on the railings of a shelter or bringing a step ladder. I think the ease of an average height adult reaching the cache without climbing should also be considered in the terrain rating. I have a question of my own. I recently adopted a cache. The previous owner had a 1.5 Terrain on the cache. I think this rating may be a bit low, even for dry conditions, because of the amount of underbrush you have to go through after you leave a good trail. This cache is in a flood plain. When I checked on the cache today, I could see it but I did not try to reach it. The cache was high and dry but there was water under it. I did not measure the depth of the water - it looked like a foot or two deep. I do not know how many weeks each year there is such high water directly under the cache. I am thinking of pushing the terrain rating up to a 3.5 with a note saying it is based on the difficulty of getting to it when the water is high. --Kate2009

And when you pop a flat tire 1/2 a mile from home, do you add that to the notes for your DNF log??? I had a grand plan to catch a series of 8 caches one day this last spring. As I was driving towards the area, I spotted a family looking at an EOTR cache that I'd bagged some months before. Stopped to give them a hand, and wound up with a sprained ankle for my efforts. I had them all loaded up and was already navigating towards the first one when this all happened. I suppose I should have DNFd all 8 that I'd planned to visit that day? The family was nice enough to load me up with a couple of Tylenol gel caps and pour me into my car for the ride home. No caching that day (or for the next week, for that matter). I didn't DNF anything. What would be the point? As you can see, your hard and fast rule can't ALWAYS be so hard and fast and still make any sense. "Go", as you say, is a very relative thing based upon the circumstances of the moment. I have never posted to the forum before. I hope I do it correctly. I know I am not doing in promptly. I found this thread when I was searching for another topic. I do not know why it came up in my search. I think that people hit "Go To" in different stages of the search. I use my NUVI for on road navigation. I may hit GO TO 20 or 30 miles away from the cache location. I think of the real "search" phase as starting when I am close enough to GZ to start looking with my eyes for the cache (or feeling for it.)

And when you pop a flat tire 1/2 a mile from home, do you add that to the notes for your DNF log??? I had a grand plan to catch a series of 8 caches one day this last spring. As I was driving towards the area, I spotted a family looking at an EOTR cache that I'd bagged some months before. Stopped to give them a hand, and wound up with a sprained ankle for my efforts. I had them all loaded up and was already navigating towards the first one when this all happened. I suppose I should have DNFd all 8 that I'd planned to visit that day? The family was nice enough to load me up with a couple of Tylenol gel caps and pour me into my car for the ride home. No caching that day (or for the next week, for that matter). I didn't DNF anything. What would be the point? As you can see, your hard and fast rule can't ALWAYS be so hard and fast and still make any sense. "Go", as you say, is a very relative thing based upon the circumstances of the moment.