fishgeek

Using GSAK, I can put the Owner, D, T, Size, and Hint into my Nuvi 50LM just using export to POI. I understand that there is a macro that is better, but I don't use it. I use an Oregon 450 to find the cache and record field notes. It has the full cache page and as many logs as I feel like loading. Other than the sheet of paper where I write the list of caches that I plan on finding, it's completely paperless. On the 450, switching the Profile will make it a completely different GPS. I mainly use Geocaching, but it has an Automotive profile that functions as Mineral2 described above. That is my backup if the Nuvi bites the dust.

Try just typing in the date into the box.

One way to do that is to find a cache in the center of the area you want. Copy the GC code number and paste it in the appropriate box in the "From Origin" section of the PQ page. It's a few more steps than just clicking in the map, but it's easier than recording the coords and entering them. And the PQ can be saved and re-run whenever you want.

Glad you got it working. When I first read the OP, I was thinking it was the same problem that I often have when I accidentally contact the map screen. If you touch the screen and slide it, even just a little bit, the screen will freeze where you moved it. You will have a "go-back" arrow in the corner of the map instead of the red X. Hit the arrow and the map will function normally and the map will start moving again.

Interesting, my order when traveling is virtuals, traditionals, earth caches, puzzles (if they are at the posted coordinates, ie: challenges, multis (if a simple offset), and I have never done a letterbox or Wherigo while traveling.That's pretty much my order as well, but I will usually check the area I'm going to visit for puzzles that I can solve before I've left home, and once I have, they've effectively become traditionals.I tend to start by checking out puzzles before the trip. If I can solve them, or if they're on-site puzzles, then I try to target them during the trip. One of my Favorites is an on-site puzzle that I did during a business trip. I have a long list of puzzles I solved for trips but did not get a chance to find. I have a crazy dream that I will get back to find them before they get archived. So do I. I use the correct coordinates feature and add a personal not to all of the puzzle caches I have solved. I have this crazy dream that someday GS will get around to adding the feature that would allow me to search for caches of which I've corrected the coordinates or added a personal note. I just put all of the solved caches into a Bookmark List.

I have a similar list of about 200 caches, though mine is mostly in the Lower 48 States. If I could get 50 of them, I would be very happy. I would also like to complete the Virginia Counties and Delorme challenges. Last (and least likely) on my list are the JASMER and Fizzy challenges.

Interesting, my order when traveling is virtuals, traditionals, earth caches, puzzles (if they are at the posted coordinates, ie: challenges, multis (if a simple offset), and I have never done a letterbox or Wherigo while traveling.That's pretty much my order as well, but I will usually check the area I'm going to visit for puzzles that I can solve before I've left home, and once I have, they've effectively become traditionals.I tend to start by checking out puzzles before the trip. If I can solve them, or if they're on-site puzzles, then I try to target them during the trip. One of my Favorites is an on-site puzzle that I did during a business trip. I have a long list of puzzles I solved for trips but did not get a chance to find. I have a crazy dream that I will get back to find them before they get archived.

That piece does most of the work in the mechanism. You could just go with a steel rod for the large shaft, and for the other two smaller shafts as well, and make the body bigger to beef it up. I would also make several copies of the part while you have everything set up. It looks like an awesome project, you MUST show pictures as you go and when completed. I really liked the safe that was made using this mechanism.

I entered all of my finds into the unit by hand before I had a bunch of finds. I was able to stay more or less synchronized with my actual finds until I did a firmware upgrade. The found caches will only show up on the screen or in the cache list if you have them loaded from your PQ into the geocaches directory. They will be displayed with a smiley instead of the regular icon. If you exclude found caches from your PQ,there is no clutter. I often found it handy to load found caches if I was caching in a group, and it was nice to be able to tell which ones I'd already found.

I think that cryptex and other types of puzzle containers like the ones shown above are probably the best use of 3D printing. I looked at making a cryptex out of PVC and it appears to be a complete PITA to do without some fancy power tools. The black "maze" containers in the first picture also look very interesting.

A few more tricks for PQs: If you are trying to maximize the area your PQ covers, do not select Mystery Cache. Use a Bookmark List to keep track of solved puzzles, challenges you qualify for, and other "?" caches that you want to get. You can make a PQ of the list so that you are just adding the relevant ones. You can use States / Provinces to divide up PQs cleanly. I often cache around Martinsburg, WV. I have a PQ for PA, one for WV and MD, and another for VA. You can exclude events and types of caches that you are not interested in. Before I got my 450, I excluded Wherigos (by type) and Chirps (by attribute). You can add events you're interested in to the Bookmark List. A lot of events do not get archived for weeks or months after they occur. This will not eliminate that many caches, but it will reduce the ones that are not available to you. Use Route PQs to fill in gaps and for narrow areas. They can be 12 miles wide. I use one for the Outer Banks of NC. It does not give me the caches on the mainland.

That's the best thing I've ever read about Magellan. Oddly enough, the "Magellan service" thread also appeared today. Make sure you check it out before you make a decision. My eXplorist GC was an awesome PDA (before I broke it), it just wasn't that great of a GPS. I might get another one just to serve as a backup to my 450. I would like to try some of the higher end x10s, but I do not have much faith in Magellan to stay committed to their outdoor units. Plus, all of you friends will have Garmins.

Magellan's customer service/support is better than horrible (like it was not too many years ago), but it is still lacking. The only other place I've found that fixes Magellans is Jungle Ghost Enterprises, out of NJ. The site says that they can fix a broken display, but they can't do anything for one that does not power up. http://www.jungleghost.com/repair_service_for_display.shtml I just cracked the display on my GC. It's about $78 to fix it. I can get a new one for $110 on Amazon. The GC does not have any expensive maps tied to its serial number, which is one of the few good reasons to get a GPS fixed out of warranty.

Nope. It's the point on the surface of the Earth directly above the centroid of all your finds, which will always be under the surface of the Earth. You calculate it by taking the average Cartesian coordinates of your finds (X, Y, and Z coordinates) and then finding the point on the Earth's surface directly above that point. So if you live on the West Coast of the US and do a bunch of caches in Europe, it will move your centroid north even if the caches in Europe are at lower latitudes. You have to visualize it on the sphere. Likewise, caches in the US will tend to move the centroid northwest for someone in London. Calculating a Mean Cache Location and comparing it to the Centroid might be an interesting exercise. Also, determining the Standard Deviation would meaningful. My centroid isn't that far from my home location, but a lot more than half of my finds are farther away than my centroid.

I have never visited that forum, and do not plan on starting. The new limit will make life much easier. I think I had 23 PQs for my trip to Florida. I really did not like having five-day-old data. Luckily, I didn't have any problems with it.

How about some rules for logging etiquette? I came up with a new rule last night. I was searching for a cache in between periods of rain. I had five logs loaded in the GPS, the most recent three complained about how bad the coords were, the fourth said they found it using coords from a previous log, and the fifth was a DNF. The new rule: If your log says you used someone else's coords to find the cache, put those coords in YOUR log. Even if it's just (123/456). I feel much better now. That is all.

There are usually several days between the time I write the cache page and the time it gets published. I'll recheck the grammar and spelling and tweak the wording once or twice during that time. Mistakes on MY cache page really bother me. That being said, I'll take a good cache with a crummy cache page over a crummy cache with a perfect cache page any day.

The video was taken off YouTube supposedly because of a copyright claim by NBC. I think they took it down to protect us from seeing it.

The first step is to go to Profile Change in the main menu and make sure it's set to Geocaching. There are more tweaks you can do later, but that will make it usable for caching.

I edit the coords on the cache page to show the stage I'm currently looking for. I like having the original as an additional waypoint so I'll have it in my GPS if I need to go back for some reason.

Thanks for sharing. That will cost me some brain cells that I will never get back.

Those sound like Orienteering markers. The "tongs" are used to punch a scorecard to verify that you found the marker.

I just did Richmond to Orlando and put a lot of time into cache selection. Unfortunately, I could not get all of them. I also travel to WV, MD and PA a lot. I would also recommend GC1H9T3/A house on a hill top in Harpers Ferry and GC333J2/Gadget Cache in Martinsburg in WV. Actually, I would recommend spending the night in Martinsburg and getting as many WVTim gadget caches as you can. He's the CO of Gadget Cache.

GC1YGYM/The Smallest Church in America, GC3C8E/Burt is Evil, GC2D54/Sheldon Ruins, GCD7ED/Area 51 - SC, GC72F6/Living Art, GC52E4/Salty Dog Café WebCam, GC70/Octopus Garden, GCK31A/Merlin at Work?. That should get you started. Some are farther off you path than others. There are too many to list around Gettysburg.

I almost always read the hint before I start looking because of a cache I DNFed a few years ago. The hint was something to the effect of "Go to the cache (this way). (That way) is trespassing." Of course, I had gone in "that way".