Team Sidewinder

I may wonder why some people placed their caches where they did or how they did them but something can be gained even from the no-finds. Excerise, patience, time outdoors, experience with your gpsr, there is always something positive you just have to LOOK for it. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

Thanks for your help guys. I had always thought I had this gpsr and all the features figured out by now but there are some things you can still learn from someone else. It should have been obvious but then I overlooked the obvious. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out and hope I wasn't a bother. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

How to get rid of the scan arrow on the map page of the map 76S. When on the map page and I use the toggle button to scan areas on the map page I can never seem to get rid of it unless I turn the gpsr off. It is rather annoying as when the scan arrow is on the map page the map will stay in that area even though your movement or travel goes off that screen. It isn't that big of a deal but I thought maybe someone knows the procedure to do this without shutting the unit off. Thanks for any help or maybe there isn't any help for me. Team sidewinde LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

In Montana there is the Mann Gulch Memorial Cache GCC 16. It was placed by Bruce and Jon Straughn. We have visited the site and it is a somber reminder of those who gave the supreme sacrifice fighting wildland fires. 13 smokejumpers perished on that horrible day. 11 on the hillside and 2 more died in the hospital the next day. This happened on August 5 1949 and just because it happened that long ago it is still such a tragedy. Hopefully mistakes made in these situations will prevent other deaths from happening. I can provide more info if needed. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT [This message was edited by SIDEWINDER on July 25, 2003 at 04:37 PM.]

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I use the Might Mouse II with my 76S with great success. It works best for me during hunting season when my hands are full with other gear and I need a gpsr in my pocket and the external antenna out where it can get a view of the sky. Usually held on to my clothing or pack by a safety pin. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

It was worth it to me but then when I upgraded from a garmin 12XL I wanted to go as high the scale as I could afford so It would be a long time before I was tempted again. I really like my 76S but really haven't seen that much use for the electronic compass and that is one reason I got it. A lot of the time I am in such thick brush that my movement is so little that I wanted to be able to tell what direction I was heading while standing still without digging out the old reliable magnetic compass. Maybe it is just me or my gpsr but even with the electronic compass turned on I will still need to move some to get it to work and then if I turn around while standing and then turn back to the original direction as before the compass will be off some. I know this because I have checked it with a real compass. When moving and the electronic compass turned off the other compass works just like my 12XL. I have mapsource TOPO loaded and like that feature. I would say go for it cause it worked for me. team sidewinde LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

Yes nobody said their prices were the lowest in town. If you are a member you get a percentage refund at the end of the year on all your REI purchases. And yes even with the refund their prices are still not the best but customer service is worth the price to me. To each their own. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

I agree about how REI treats their customers. I bought a Garmin 12XL and it went on sale a month later and after asking them they refunded me the difference in price. Never had a complaint about the way REI has treated me as a customer. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

None,Zip,Zero,Nada vacation caches.We really don't need you planting caches in our area if you are only passing through on vacation. If the caches we have aren't cool enough for you pleasedon't help us out with a cache that won't be maintained on a REGULAR basis. Why impose on the locals in a area to maintain your cache until you can make it back to do it your self if you ever come back. Maybe some people who are local don't maintain their caches but why add more lovely vacations caches to the mess. Good rule leave it as is. team sidewinde LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

And please don't take this as a insult or in any way a derogatory comment about your state. But if you don't have much elevation differences in country as flat as a pancake TOPO isn't going to be of much benefit to you. You probably would be better off purchasing one of the other mapsource products. team sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

I too have the INOVA X5 and love it in fact I bought another one for work. They were through the Snap-Tool man and so therefore are like everything else he sells they were $15 dollars higher than anywhere else but he doesn't bat a eye if you have a problem. While I have more Mag lights than I can count and they are good lights I am in the LED mode right now and like the battery life, bulb life and brightness that I get from the LEDs. Glad to see what others are getting for battery life out of their X5s. Team Sidewinde LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

Well if you make it to Montana I would recommend you see Glacier National Park. If you have come that far it would be a shame to miss the natural beauty of this park. It would be off your route a little but well worth the time and you won't regret it. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

I would stick with Garmin. I love my 76S from garmin and I don't have any need for the addition of a 2way radio anyway. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

I agree that Strong Engineering screen protectors are the best. Ordered some for my Garmin 76S and they didn't fit quite like I thought they should so I contacted them and they sent me some that were just right. I used the others for my cell phone and a radio scanner. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

The basemape on my Garmin 76S aren't all that bad. I never had a mapping gpsr before so I was pretty impressed with just the basemaps for awhile. I am suprised they even supply a basemap so they could charge money for even that if they could. But after the purchase of Mapsource TOPO I saw how much I was missing with just the basemaps and for my part of the country TOPO suits me better. Team Sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

I thought I had to have the compass so I purchased the Garmin 76S. I am not all that hot the way the electronic compass works. It states that you don't need to be moving but there are times mine will just freeze in one position until I move a couple of steps. That said it is not all that accurate as I can see. It always is telling me to hold it level and no matter how level I hold it the hold level message is still on. I don't know how long you need to hold it level before this message goes out but sometimes it bever goes out and is really a pain. Another thing I have noticed that while all this is going on your compass reading may not show a direction change or will be off by quite a bit when you turn back to your original position. How do I know this by checking it with a REAL compass. I really could have done without the electronic compass but do like other features of the 76S. team sidewinde LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

We are a Garmin family. I own a 76S, the wife owns a basic yellow etrex, and my son has my old reliable 12XL. team sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

As for a review of NG topo I think it is far and above superior to Garmins TOPO Mapsource that I have for my Garmin 76S. I use the NG product 90% of the time. The NG Topo produces clearer more deatiled maps at the USGS 1:24 scale and with a shade feature which makes the maps look more elevation friendly. NG has more usuable features but the only drawback is you can't download NG maps into your gpsr. You can download waypoints between NG topo and your gpsr. sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

My vote is for the Garmin 76S and while it has all the bells and whistles it doesn't have auto routing which I don't need for geocaching anyway. It will still make you the gadget man on the block trying work all the bells and whistles. I love mine and really don't use all the features to find caches but it is nice to have them. You would need to buy Mapsource software if you wanted something other than the base maps of the USA that come standard with the 76S. sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

Most caches in our area are a long way apart and the time it takes to get there can be considerable. As far as a hint to a cache I am looking for I like a really good accurate hint. After driving 100+ miles and gaining 2000 feet on foot in elevation I don't want to go home empty handed. I will look long and hard for it but if all else fails I want the hint to be a good one. Other drive bye caches I don't care how vague the hint is because it is no big deal if I can't find it after a good search. I try to make the hints to my caches a dead giveaway for the same reason. If you want to use the hint it is there. sidewinde LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

Too bad there aren't more honest people like you out there. I believe this my department. sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

Well bear spray is not for the uneducated backpacker but for living backpacker. I have backpacked for 35 years and never had to use my bearspray either BUT. We have more grizzly bears where we hike and geocache than other parts of the country. Points are well documented about not spraying bear spray around your camp or on your clothes to keep bears away as it will attract them. If it comes to the choice of carrying a gun or a less lethal form of deterent I will carry the bear spray everytime. Most police pepper spray that I have seen comes in a smaller containers that the ones used for counter assult bear spray. sidewinde LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

I don't suppose that I have accumulated all that many miles but I use my car like a 4 wheel drive anymore. My 4 wheel drive truck gets horrible mileage and to say the least rides like a truck. So I almost always use my car where only a fool would take his car to find geocaches. It rides better, has A/C and gets great mileage. Don't buy my car when I am done with it. sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.

Thanks for the post and the good article. I agree that it is wise to carry bear pepper spray in the backcountry. We have carried it for years backpacking while in Glacier Park and on every other trip too. Now we carry it geocaching as you don't want to wish you had it with you if you ever really need it. We carry Counter Assault and through our feelings it is one of the best. Better safe that sorry. sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT.