nojoplusplus

Nice... I actually told my wife that it looked a lot like geocaching. The clue the other girl got sounded like a lot of geocache hints too. This season is quite entertaining I will add. We have watched a few past seasons (on and off). We got back into it because two people from our church are on it this year. Well one that is currently going to our church (she is the one who made the funny comment sarcastically about the great news of fish being in the ocean). The other one is the younger skinny guy named Brett. He grew up at our church but now live in LA

Yeah it is true that anything with a palm based OS won't sync with a 64 bit system (no drivers). I just ran into this problem last night trying to set up my clie to do paperless. I bought it in college and haven't used it since so I figured this would be a good use. I had to work around the 64 bit thing. I used my work computer to get cachemate on the PDA and I will be using the memory stick slot to actually load databases.

Yeah the guy probably just does it as a side project. I am sure keeping the windows version up to date is a time consuming project all on its own. And if he isn't familiar programming for the mac I can see how that could become a burden that he wouldn't be willing to bear. It is on the frequently asked questions though. He just outright says that Windows is what he is familiar with and that is the way it is going to stay.

With GSAK it depends on what unit you are sending it to as far as what information it sends. To my Nuvi 270 it sends everything including the last 5 logs. To my magellan explorist 210 it sends the name, difficulty stats, date it was last found, and the first 50 characters of the hint. It is quite a great program that someone should create an equivalent for mac for. The guy who made GSAK though said he wouldn't make it for anything but PC. Does it send the hint or any of the rest of the data to the 60CSx directly from the PQ?

What? Download the Mac software from the Garmin site. Use Road Trip to import your GPX files, then send them to the GPS. I have a Mac, and (used to have) a 60 CSx, and I've never had a single issue. You can use Communicator to send individual caches to your GPS. No problem. There is software for loading maps to your GPS on the Garmin Mac page. You can even get GCStatistic 2 for Mac and make one of those stats graphics for your profile. There is absolutely no reason you can't use your Mac with your Garmin. SD Marc, can you send pocket queries to the Garmin using there software? Does it send any of the details too or just the location of the cache?

Yeah I knew of that option too. But wasn't sure if the original poster had cost limitations. That does seem like the best setup and is quite useful for more than just caching.

looks like the wine people have tested it. it tested in the Bronze range which means it probably works but may have hiccups http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?...n&iId=13150

This isn't on topic completely but since you mentioned it.... Windows 7 is actually a very good operating system. Microsoft is right on this one. They did a smart thing and let people download it and use it before they buy it (offer is over now). I have been using it for a few months and I love it. Have you used Wine before? I am curious if Wine will run GSAK. That would solve your problems if it did.

Has anyone tried running GSAK on wine out there?

From what I understand from my brother in law (mac and garmin user) is that only certain garmin gps units can receive a pocket query directly. He was stuck entering his coordinates by hand. I pointed him to a program that is recommended by the people that make GSAK. http://www.maccaching.com/ He said it doesn't allow him to do true paperless caching without a secondary device. He now uses his Ipod for the paperless stuff. The program does however allow for you to upload pocket queries.

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ this may have been the site. looking around it may not have much for out of the country.

I may have it bookmarked on my home computer. I won't have access to that for another 3 hours though. I will try to see if I can post something tonight. Have you already checked out this site? http://pilotsnipes.googlepages.com/index.html It is someone who has put in the work to make paperless stuff awesome on the nuvi's. I am a fan of how much the nuvi can do but unfortunately you will find quickly the annoyance of a nuvi for geocaching which is the update speed while walking. I passed quite a few caches because it didn't update fast enough while walking. I ended up just buying a cheap handheld off of craiglist that has made my experience way better. It isn't anything fancy but it gets me from the car to the cache.

I'll take a stab at question 2. With my nuvi (270) you can actually disable the map all together. To me that means that no matter where you are even if you don't have a map it should still be able to find your position. You also may be able to actually load some maps of the islands on there for free. I recently ran across a forum topic in here that linked to a download site that had all sorts of maps for the nuvi. They particularly pointed out trail maps. While I was on the site though I noticed that you could grab street maps and topo maps as well. The only limitation from what I saw was that it was user generated content. So you are limited to what people decide to upload. So you may or may not be able to find maps you can use. I will see if I can find the forum topic again. or maybe someone else on here knows what I am talking about.

does it have to be new? also what area are you in? Craigslist is awesome here in oregon for finding cheaper gps units. yesterday I saw a magellan eXplorist 500 for 75 bucks. That would be a way better choice for a starter unit. Just my two cents.

I wonder if you could teach your dog to sniff out plastic... that could help with like 90% of all caches

So what kind of threading is on the tips??? could you buy a threaded bolt without any kind of nut or head and thread two of them together to make a portable 8-10 ft long pole?

I've hiked close to 20 miles with the cheap "Swiss Gear" poles from Walmart. I got tired of the heavy feel. I finally ditched them after one bent. I went to a REI used gear sale, and bought a $130.00 set of Carbon fiber poles for $68.00. The weight savings alone was worth the price. They are far more sturdy, and i'm happy to say they have served me well with about 40 miles worth of hiking on them. You might look for a used pair, or even a single. I personally prefer two because they improve my stabilty with a heavy pack, and they act like 4wd when hiking up steep hills. I agree that you get what you pay for. If I knew I needed/wanted trekking poles, and found a $130 pair for $68 I would......really,really,really be happy! If I spent $68 on a pair, and decided I really didn't like/need them......I would not be happy! If you get the Walmart ones, and decide to upgrade, then you have backups to keep in the trunk. (backups good!) "If you get the Walmart ones, and decide to upgrade, then you have backups to keep in the trunk. (backups good!)" Good call. I like this idea better just because of how new I am to all this stuff.

I have been using the 210 for a few days now. I like it and it does the basics of what I need. There are obviously way better units out there but this definitely meets my needs. I may end up buying a nicer unit later on but I am new to this and want to make sure it is a hobby that I will keep doing before I drop a bunch of money on it. I got the updated firmware and the topo software that came with it is the old software. but I don't really want to drop a whole lot of money into it and it is accurate enough for me. This plus my garmin nuvi for paperless is turning out to be a sweet combination.

Do people tend to use them more for stabilization or for a tool... or both? I am glad Chrysalides mentioned the compass. that was something I was looking at. Good to know that it is worthless. so the cam locks aren't sturdy enough in you opinions? here are two that I am looking at. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?...uct_id=10928566 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?...uct_id=10928567 I have found the swiss ones on various hunting websites but stock is limited. I think they have been discontinued.

I noticed in gear discussions that a lot of geocachers carry extendable hiking poles. I was curious if there were any recommendations. I've found one made by the swiss army people and then walmart carries a couple. I am not looking at expensive ones. anybody have any suggestions/comments?

hmm.. this would be a guess because I haven't tried it personally. Have you tried putting it in 'off road' mode when you get close? From what I have heard this leaves the distance and direction line on the screen all the way up to the cache.

I have a Garmin nuvi 275 and it works decently for caching. granted I am pretty new to caching but I do have one complaint. The refresh rate seems slow when walking around. It has caused me to walk by a cache a few times just to realize I passed it. I still use it though. I just bought a cheap handheld to make up for this problem. but with the stuff you can do with custom POI's and paperless caching I don't think I would ever give up on the nuvi.

well I think after lots of research I am going to end up going with the explorist. The computer connectivity is important to me. This guy is also including the Topo software in the price. It was a tough decision though. the meridian looks like one that could take a beating. I just don't think I want to go through the hassle of trying to figure out if I can get it to work with my laptop. Thank you for the input. I appreciate it all.

I am looking to buy a cheap gps that is good for geocaching. I am not worried about street nav because i have a nuvi that can do that. I have the opportunity to buy either an explorist 210 or a meridian platinum and was wondering if anyone could give feedback of which one is more worthwhile.