Team Sidewinder

Garmin most likely would have sent a factory refurbished unit back to you. New case, plus new display, you would never just get the bad part replaced in the old case and have it sent back to you. Garmin is winning people over through high quality customer support.

Yep that would be the one alright and it just sits outside thw wilderness boundry. That is why there are no geocaches any closer than that. We have been to that area before we were geocachers and were on our way to climb Granite Peak. The trail to Granite Peak goes right by this area before starting a 5000 elevation gain to Froze To Death plateau. It is a really nice area alright but sometimes the road into the trailhead can be the road to Hell with washboard most of the way.

I would never order something from this place either just to get into the contest. But since I found some stuff I would like to have and did place an order I asked for the clues.WOW!!!! These coordinates are way too far out of my area ( Montana ) to compete in this Quest/treasure hunt. I am not sure how many clues they give but some of the first ones are in this area N 33 57.247 / W 116 05.4115 I am sure some of you crackerjack geocachers would this thing is a cake walk. I would like to hear a geocacher took this prize rather than a survivalist wanabe getting it.

8mmag, sorry to upset you. I guess you and I just see things differently. From my point of view, Garmin markets products without proper pre-market testing and software quality control. That forces customers to deal with glitches and bugs in products that they paid hard-earned money to enjoy free of glitches and bugs. Garmin excuses its rush-to-market-to-maximize-profits by saying: 'What do you expect? We're on the leading edge of technology.' Microsoft has been beta-testing its new Windows Vista operating system for many months. It's delayed its scheduled market date several times to ensure that all bugs and glitches are removed BEFORE Vista is marketed. IMHO, Garmin should follow this much more ethical approach to marketing. Garmin rushed to wed the hypersensitive SiRF chipset with an obsolete algorithm that it's been using in pre-SiRF units. The algorithm contains about 100,000 sentences/processes that are interconnected. Many of the interconnected processes are thrown off by the SiRF chipset's sensitivity. Little Band-Aid fixes aren't going to solve the many major and interconnected problems in the algorithm. The algorithm needs to be totally revamped. Garmin didn't anticipate the problems that the SiRF chipset's high sensitivity would cause. My guess is that it will take many thousand man-hours for Garmin engineers to design a proper algorithm for the 60CSx. You may believe that Garmin will take the time and spend the money to fix the 60CSx. I don't share your faith in Garmin. I'd have much more faith in Garmin if it didn't dump untested products on unsuspecting customers. I agree that Garmin tries to provide excellent customer service. I'd rather not have to send my 60CSx back to Garmin, which I've done. I'd rather be out on a trail, being able to trust that my GPSr will give reasonably accurate readings, not false readings due to bugs and glitches. I'd rather not have to spend time reviewing forum posts to see if others have had the same problems that I've experienced. Respectfully, I would agree with just about everything in your statements but Microsoft is not much of a comparison to the Garmin bugs and glitches. Microsoft's new OS will have so many glitches and bugs that by the time they them all ironed out they will be coming out with a new OS. It happens everytime that the Microsoft new OS has more problems than it solves in the old OS with all the updates, fixes and patches IMHO TracknQ

Ya that is the catch alright. Although I checked the website after the first winner I don't think they had another contest until this year. I would really like to know the details of how long and how hard it was to find. I know it wouldn't be for everyone and probably not me either but the prize is what I thought was something out of the ordinary cache prize. team sidewinder

The web site where this TAD GEAR QUEST is found has everything you could ever hope to need/want BUT I have just placed an small order and will report back on how the transaction goes. So far they seem to be a little slow on responding to my order and any emails I have sent concerning my order. I thought I would see how they do on a small order before I order anything else. Time will tell. team sidewinder

I love my cell phone 76CS and 76S. The button placement works better for me and I don't care what it looks like.

I had found a few geocaches before I can say I was HOOKED on geocaching. BUT a trip to find the "TOURIST" cache and the lure of a coin which I had only seen mentioned once or twice made this more of a special hunt. Upon finding the Tourist cache and a Moun10bike version 1 geocoin did I become HOOKED on geocaching. The coin gave my newfound hobby some kind of validation when I would show it to friends who wondered what kind of treasure I was finding in these geocache things. It was no fun showing friends some of the Mctoys and some of the other junk I had found in caches so far but the Moun10bike coin was something my friends found interesting and quite a cool item and maybe worth my time and effort. team sidewinder

Well let me put it this way. I am the kind of person who would not need any excuse to purchase the new CSX garmin units and since like you I have a 76CS I would get the 76CSX. The extra feature of the new razoo chip might be nice. I also doubt I would need the added memory just to see if I could fill it up with maps I would never use and just say I had them in the unit. BUT with all the glitches in the new soft/firm ware, plus the high cost of the new technology I am going to stick with my old reliable 76CS. On the antenna issue I have a external antenna ( gilson ) and although it does improve reception it might not be as great as the new X gps. I have not found any situations where I can't live with the reception given by my gps unit as it is even without the external antenna. I very seldom use the external antenna but always have it along and as mentioned it can make it nice to put the gps in your pack/coat and still get reception. Just IMHO

For those who want a real geocache challenge try this site. www.tadgear.com. The challange is called Tad Gear Quest and from what I read last time it was held it was no drive by but with a prize worth more than $400 I knew it would be a challenge. Guess I underestimated the value of this prize as the website values it at over $670 and thereby the reason for the edit. Looks to be something for someone who has lots of time/money and lives in an area close to the area where this event take place. Another catch seems to be you need to buy something to enter the Quest. Keep us posted if any geocachers on this forum takes on the challenge.

You should contact rockhopjohn as he is in the Dillon area on a geology field camp from the UM. Rockhopjohn is also a geocacher. I think he mentioned he was going to be there for a month but not sure about the time line. I thought he was going to attend the SW Montana Meet and Greet but never saw him there. team sidewinder

It looks to have as much in common and maybe more so with geocaching as LOTS of other geocoins out there. What in his profile did you find that made you think this coin is a get rich quick scheme ? Maybe I had better double check my own profile. IMHO

I agree with very poor customer tech support for NG topo. Complaints go unanswered or ignored. They did send me duplicate CDs to try to correct a problem I had been having but did nothing to solve the problem. I have since found a workaround to keep the program working. Other than than I like the NG topo map detail. team sidewinder

I owe, I owe, I owe a Montana geocoin I owe. to. Moun10bike Lori Darlin Georaptor 2bugs cornerstone4 and others I am sure. I can hardly wait for a Montana coin to be made so I can pay back some of the debt I owe to those who were so generous to me. team sidwinder

I know I am in the minority but I love lithiums. They do last longer and they don't discharge like rechargeables while sitting in the gps. I may not use my gps for a couple of weeks or I may use it every couple of days. The charger, taking the gps in and out of the case, constant state of discharge, opening and closing of the battery compartment make the rechargable battery something I don't use. Give me lithiums.

I only wish the update to the 4.10 did the miracle sat. reception improvement that you experienced. I didn't seem to see a change in that area but I am glad to update the 4.05 beta software version I had been using. team sidewinder

I am guilty. BUT, I like pdxmarathonman have only kept one coin ( my first found in a cache ) in all my years of geocaching also with the owners permission. Please put my ashes in a old ammo box for doing such a thing. All other coins were gifts or paid for. The one coin I have taken is still the property of the owner. team sidewinder

I do think Garmin " gets it " . They have listened to our moaning and groaning about expandable memory and have come up with products with expandable memory. They try to bend over backward to please the consumers who own Garmin products with their customer support and service. It doesn't matter what product is made by human hands and comes from the human mind there are going to be problems. They have been making cars forever and they still have more than their share of problems and when those problems are fixed there will be more problems with the product. Garmin is trying to address all the problems but not as fast as some would like. That is life. team sidewinder

Thank You Dave for all your hard work on this project and the wonderful gift to this family. May God bless you for your good deeds. team sidewinder

Having purchased a new laptop myself I think it is the way to go but it does have a size/portablity disavantage. My eyes love the larger screen and all the extras a laptop can perform. Ram makes lots of laptop configurations for mounting your laptop in just about any vechicle. Just my opinion. team sidewinder

I personally feel that TOPO would be what you would want. I have used it for floating and flyfishing many rivers. TOPO shows more small dirt or paved roads. I have just purchased CS NA and while it is great for navagation in a city I could have done with out it and been happy with what TOPO does. I just mark fishing hotspots while floating along and then the next time I fish the same river I have an idea where to concentrate my fishing efforts. TOPO seems to work better out in the country/rural areas and like the name implies CS workes better navagating city streets and highways. team sidewinder

I would like one if I am not too late. Team sidewinder

Most of my geocoins are gifts from generous geocachers who have given me their personal geocoins. Since I don't have a personal geocoin to trade these are just that, GIFTS to me. I would no more think of selling one of these geocoins than I would think of taking a gift given me by my wife, sons or family and taking it and selling it for money. The prices some coins are bringing are tempting when you are hard up for money but it is just the idea of selling a gift given by a friend for a profit which goes against my personality. But that is just me. team sidewinder

I agree with AG. Not all that great for the price and I have seen better for less money. Just my 2 cents worth. team sidewinder

WOW !!!!!!!. Cool coins alright. Too bad it is for such a sad circumstance. I can hardly wait to get mine. It should also be a reminder how precious life is and we should be kind to all those we know because they can be gone tomorrow or for that matter so could you or I. Funny thing, I got my coin about 2 hours after posting to this thread. Thanks Dave