CJB_Crew

Here's our geocaching blog. I've had some positive feedback on it so far. Hope everyone enjoys it!

CITO kits are a great trade item to drop off in the caches that you find, whether the area is trash ridden or not. Geocacher University has some really nice labels that you can print out and put onto your own kits here: http://geocacher-u.com/content/blogcategory/31/56/ One added bonus of using these as trade items is that you'll never forget a trash bag when you're out caching My daughter is three and she is a hardcore CITOer. The best part is that it isn't limited to caching, she picks up trash on our walks as well as at the park. I've also found that CITO sooths the sting of a DNF

Saw this little fella during a couple multi-caches in Alburgh, VT. He was nice enough to stop long enough for me to get this shot. Wasn't very long, maybe two feet.

If you open up the device like a drive (by double clicking on it from my computer) and then open the Geocaches folder you will see the GPX files where the caches currently on the GC reside. The largest file is the 999 popular caches that are included. You can outright delete them or move them off the GC and save them for later. As for getting many caches loaded onto it at a time, the easiest way to do that is Pocket Queries which requires a Premium Membership. Hope that helps!

Congrats! It's definitely a very nice handheld. I'm sure you're using PQs, and to get attributes you need to go to view/edit account and then change preferences and change the GPX version to 1.0.1. As far as I can tell the only way to get the pictures to show up on the handheld is use the VantagePoint software from Magellan to load your pocket queries onto the GC. As for previous finds I haven't found an easy way to get them to show as found other than doing it by hand or just having the PQ filter them out

Magellan's VantagePoint software will do the job as well. Once you've run the PQ you can log into geocaching.com from the program and it will download the information. Then you can sync the gps and the program. Also, once you've marked some caches as found the next time you plug the GC in it will ask if you want to upload your field notes. I haven't tried to do this any other way yet so maybe someone else can answer if all the pictures and attributes are included in the drag and drop method?

In regards to problems with field notes, I've only done it once but I was successful in uploading field notes using VantagePoint. I've currently got Magellan Communicator and VantagePoint installed, not sure if that matters. This is also my first Magellan GPS, so all drivers were fresh installs. So far my only con is that there is not a full manual in the box. For those interested it can be found here: http://www.magellangps.com/assets/manuals/...serHandbook.pdf

When you highlight a cache on the geocaches screen or actually open the cache information if you press the stick left it shows it on the map and if you press right it makes it your destination and starts tracking.

*If any of this info has been posted elsewhere I apologize Just thought I'd drop some of the stuff I've noticed as well as some impressions. After picking up a GC at Target last night I downloaded the Magellan Communicator and VantagePoint software and started poking around. I had ran my PQ during their installations so I could do the aforementioned "drag n drop" PQ method. Once I got the GC connected VantagePoint let me log into geocaching.com from the program and load my PQ off the site, rather than using the files on my hard drive. This included all information, hints, attributes, pictures, etc, for all 500 caches. After getting home from caching this morning I connected the GC to my computer and it automatically asked if I wanted to upload my field notes to geocaching.com. Another thing that I thought was cool is that I got badges for milestones. I got a badge for my first geocache (with the GC of course) as well as a badge for finding a cache in under 2 minutes.

Just a heads up, Not sure about other Targets, but our local Target is in the process of moving around their electronics section and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a small geocaching section that was home to the Magellan Explorist GC as well as the GeoMate Jr. As a result the Explorist GC now lives at our house Happy caching!