wildlifewriter

It is a little complicated. That's why I've written a guide to installing and using the contour mapping. It can be found HERE -Wlw

You need this... Cachemate Make sure to install the "iQue mapping" plugin as well (it's included in the Zip) and you have a complete caching system, in one device. -Wlw

In a sense, yes. Once the GPSr has loaded the almanac for WAAS-type satellites, it then "knows" which ones cover the service area it's in, and which can be ignored. On subsequent start-ups, it won't waste time looking for those signals again. Because of the way Garmin GPS units work, this is a real benefit. -Wlw.

The article from which Moote got his information uses the word "accuracy" in the context of various examples given therein. (I know this, because I wrote it.) By any reasonable standard of judgement, the registration of GE's hi-res imagery is extraordinarily good, and we're very fortunate to have such a tool available, free gratis. My tests (rather scattered and random) showed a range of position variation from around 15m, down to better than 3. One later test - on the reference marker at OSGB headquarters in Southampton - gave a variance of 156cm (+/- 15cm) The article concluded that using Google Earth to locate a cache, is about as reliable as using a consumer GPSr to do it. Which is just as it should be. -Wlw

'Bye, mate... -Wlw

On most Garmin handhelds, (other than some iQue's) the basemap is held either in EPROM or flash-ROM. Neither of these can be altered readily by an "ordinary" user. (And any attempt to do so would almost certainly invalidate the warranty.) I accept that Stonefisk is not ordinary. -Wlw

That depends. You may find some dealers who will the offer the unit, car mounting kit and detailed maps as a bundle. As a standalone item, City Select V7 is scarce in the shops just now. This is because a new version is due to be released shortly - this will be called City Navigator Europe, rather than City Select. Garmin told me the other day that it would shipping within three weeks. (Mind you, they told me exactly the same thing just before Christmas.) -Wlw

It will work anywhere in the world, regardless of where you buy it. However, a unit purchased from a US vendor will almost certainly have the N. America basemap installed, rather than a European version. Since these basemaps cannot be changed (except at the factory) you'd have to buy some additional mapping for it. More detailed maps are needed for useful car nav anyway, since the basemaps do not contain much detail. -Wlw

Lactodorum or Eckington will explain the process to you, if you ask one of them. It's their role to review caches which have been disabled for an unusual length of time, not the Forum's. If there's a valid reason for the cache being disabled, you can tell them what it is. Unless that procedure has been exhausted, there's no point in raising the matter here. -Wlw

We didn't know the position of the cache... ... but we knew the position of the TBs that were in it. -Wlw

Last year I teamed up with some others here, to find a cache that hadn't been listed (and probably never will be.) The aim was to recover a number of travel bugs which had been purloined from a nearby TB hotel, and placed in the cache. The expedition was a success. -Wlw

Why do you assume that such people are obsessed, or even hysterical? I've been on FTF-missions in the early morning, and no hysteria was evident. (There was a lot of yawning in the passengers' seats, though.) On the telly at this very moment, there are people sliding down a concrete chute on tea-trays, at 75 m.p.h. Now THAT'S obsessional... -Wlw

It's the correct answer. If Garmin had known how the PRN assignments would work out *today*, they'd probably have chosen -59 instead of -87. This isn't likely to be a real problem any time soon, and firmware updates all round would probably solve it anyway. -Wlw

The way this works is a bit weird. If you click on "Add/Edit" from the cache page, it opens a form for creating a NEW waypoint. But scroll right down to bottom of this, and you'll find your existing one listed there. Click on "Edit" (again) at the right hand side, and you can change the co-ordinates. -Wlw

The four-character suffix - which associates an added waypoint with the correct cache - is added automatically. A cache owner has no way of changing it, as far as I can tell. Can you give an example of a cache (with waypoints) where this didn't work? If there's a fault in the software, then TPTB would need to be made aware of it. -Wlw

There's an unwritten tradition in geocaching that bringing up a landmark find (100,200, etc) at a particular cache, is a compliment to the cache owner. If there's someone in your area who placed caches that you really enjoyed doing - or who has (say) made some special contribution to the hobby - why not seek out one of their caches, and make a point of logging it as your 100th? Just an idea... -Wlw

That is a heartrendingly sad story, Moote - but just because you encountered one single idiot in geocaching, it doesn't follow that all geocachers are idiots. -Wlw

You are mistaken. I said there was "no evidence" - and there isn't. If such a (hypothetical) log had been deleted for the reasons complained of, there would be an anomalous movement somewhere in the TB history for that cache. No such anomaly exists. This I agree with, as any sensible person would. However, the way for the OP to deal with it in the first instance, was by a polite e-mail to the cache owner - not by an ill-informed rant on this forum. -Wlw

Where does it say on the cache page that non-compliant logs will deleted? It doesn't. Was the OPs log for the cache deleted? Did they even find the cache to log it? Doesn't seem so. Is there any evidence that logs for this cache have ever been deleted? No there isn't. This is just the usual gc forums storm-in-a-teacup, and you've all fallen for it. Again. -Wlw

If you go about it the right way, having permission can bring all sorts of other benefits with it. For example: one of my caches is more than 70 miles from home. It was placed with permission, and the landowner (a farmer) was genuinely interested in the concept of caching. Now, I don't have to worry about the cache, or check regularly to see if it's still there and properly hidden... ... the farmer does that, every morning. -Wlw

Your rumour is probably a misleading technomyth. There WAS an early issue with WAAS functions on the "old" SirfstarII chipset - but this was sorted out by a firmware mod, ages ago. Garmin's own website and literature state clearly that the new models are "WAAS-capable" - a claim they'd hardly dare to make public if it wasn't true. -Wlw

There are a number of different Fugawi software products. Which one does your question relate to? -Wlw

That's not how it works. Each WAAS-type (SBAS) station transmits the same information for the same service area. The improved performance comes from the fact that your GPSr now has additional or enhanced information with which to calculate a solution. The advantage of having more than one SV covering a service area is availablity: in some local terrain, your GPS might not see one WAAS satellite, but could still receive the same signal from another. -Wlw

Absolutely correct. And an extension to this policy would replace all the guidelines on cache placement as well. Instead of having exceptions about dry stone walls, SSIs, nature reserves, active railway lines, electrical transformers, etc etc... ...one single rule would cover all these:- "Stupid people are not allowed to hide caches." -Wlw

There is no downloadable basemap for you to find. The basemaps are installed at the factory, in EPROM. That is why it's (almost) impossible to delete them. -Wlw