dakboy

then your problem isn't with geocaching. The problem was with this individual. This particular person was, to be blunt, a dumbass. He could just as easily have been orienteering, or birdwatching, or a rockhound. The result is the same.

Telling geocaching.com has absolutely no bearing on the performance of the device. Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Groundspeak does not control any GPS signal or device. Whoever you hear that from should be ignored in all technical matters in perpetuity. Phone GPSs can be flaky. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're whacked. Sometimes a reboot will fix it. What phone is it, and what OS version is it running? My Droid X GPS was terrible until I put CyanogenMod9 on it.

Get a real bank (or credit union) account and get your paycheck direct deposited. Don't let your employer dictate how your paycheck is used. The practice is despicable on the part of the company, but you're letting them do it.

Using Google to check and see if it is in another county is fine.... but to expect accuracy is asking for troubles. Google may be good in one spot and bad 50-100 ft away. It's like rolling the dice to balance your checkbook. It took far too long for this point to be made here. I know in my town, Google Maps is off by at least 30-40 feet in many places, and that's just for the street positions. The imagery is another 10-20 feet off, in the same direction.

Bill Buckner sure does.

Most of the C2D systems run ML fine. See http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/ for the final word. I'm typing this on a five year old Core 2 Duo system running Mountain Lion. Admittedly, it's about the oldest system that'll run ML. My mistake, I was told that my 5 year old MacBook (C2D, Santa Rosa) couldn't run ML (and per that link, that is true), so I jumped to the conclusion that all systems of that vintage weren't capable. Apparently the MacBook released immediately after mine can run it.

Except for the Retina & Air models, never buy your RAM from Apple. It's a ripoff. A Core 2 Duo 17" Macbook Pro? That's at least 2 years old and will not run the current OS X (Mountain Lion). If you're looking to buy a new machine, shop new or the refurb section of Apple's online store. It may be possible upgrade that 17" to 8GB, but it depends on other factors. It might be an "unofficial" support, so Apple won't tell you; Crucial's RAM finder may. You can upgrade the Core i5/i7 models to 8GB for under $40 via Newegg, 16GB for under $100.

Both Parallels & VMWare offer free 30-day trials so you can compare them to VirtualBox before you make a final decision. Personally, I found VBox lacking in performance and polish, but it's been a few years since I looked at it.

The value of averaging is exaggerated around here. Place the GPS in the spot where the cache is hidden and walk away for 2-3 minutes. Come back and mark the waypoint. "Averaging" is at least as much about keeping the device stationary in one location as it is about math.

Then you either don't have enough available memory in the host computer, or you didn't allocate enough to the VM. I never power my VM off, and only reboot it when updates require such. If I'm not using the VM, I just pause it. Parallels must have this feature. And they didn't want to put hundreds (probably over a thousand) of hours of spec work into a product that will go into a very small niche market that already has a very dominant player? I'm shocked!

Well, how much were you going to pay them for it? No one is going to write software with such a limited market and a complex featureset out of the goodness of their heart. In what way did you not like using Windows on your MBP? I've used XP on my MacBook with VMWare Fusion for several years now just for GSAK and it's worked quite well. Maybe not as fast as running it "native" due to the I/O speed (as much the fault of the 5 year old hard drive as anything else), but it's acceptable.

In theory (assuming Groundspeak has structured their database well), it should be very simple for someone (a lackey) with access to a copy of the log database to run those kinds of numbers. They probably have done it, for marketing/sales/advertising data. I don't expect Groundspeak will ever divulge that information, though.

Logging an event isn't inflating your numbers. Logging an "attended" for each event cache you found at a single event (so you have a dozen logs for a single event) is, IMHO. +1. I'm at ground zero for this abuse. You ain't kiddin'

Logging an event isn't inflating your numbers. Logging an "attended" for each event cache you found at a single event (so you have a dozen logs for a single event) is, IMHO.

Someone wanted a Vermont souvenir, so they picked a random cache in Vermont, logged it as found to get the souvenir, then deleted their log. It's too bad that deletion doesn't also remove the souvenir to help prevent this kind of misuse. Deleting the log doesn't really delete it - it just removes it from view. It's still counted elsewhere. For example, I get Favorite points not on find numbers ending in 0, but 1 (so at 1341 instead of 1340), because I deleted a Found It log on a BS virtual a number of years ago and then thought better of it.

You don't need to install any software on the etrex for paperless caching. It's built in. As for cachemate, what you do with it is up to you & the license for the software. Personally, I wipe all devices of all software & data before selling or disposing.

My opinion is that you're being a bit on the judgmental side, with heavy bias against that which doesn't match your own experience/preferences and a lack of knowledge of the rest of the world. In the US, it's pretty much impossible to geocache extensively without a car - everything is far too spread out, there aren't a lot of bike paths (relatively speaking) and most roads are still not designed for bicycle safety. "Serious accidents" are not as common as you might think. Within 5 miles (8km) of my house, there are only 50 caches, and getting to some of these involves travel along a very busy road. A 10 mile radius nets about 230 caches, again with busy roads and country roads with no shoulder, large hills and blind corners - a bicyclist can easily be hit. But that doesn't mean that every cache can be grabbed without getting out of the car. You drive to a nice, large park & spend the afternoon hiking & picking up a dozen caches.

Although I tend to do that with any caches I find needing TLC, the kicker is you don't get notified of the NM logs and if the original CO has moved on, they may not forward that info to you. Adopting I think is a bit better as you get the find log emails without needing to setup anything special. Just add the cache to your watchlist. That's not too "special."

The first rule of Puzzle Cache Club is you do not talk about Puzzle Cache Club. Seriously. Asking publicly for help with a puzzle is considered poor etiquette. You should always speak with the CO first, as he will give out the hints that he wants given out.

The local news media has portrayed cachers in a pretty decent light in the wake of this. It was originally "hikers seeking shelter" in the cave, and this morning it came out that they were cachers (the local community was pretty sure it was cachers from the beginning). One TV station put out a call looking for cachers to show them what it's all about, and the piece that was produced was pretty good. Another station got a fire department lieutenant who is also a cacher on camera saying pretty much the same things. Never saw or heard anything negative said about them or why they were in that location, no stern words (that I saw/heard) from law enforcement or rescue team members, just a "you gotta be aware of your surroundings and not go into an already wet cave when a storm kicks up" reminder

Must be a US thing. I've found countless caches hidden on mailboxes here in Canada, including several series. Mailboxes in the US are federal property. Geocaching & federal property generally don't mix.

Looks like it'd cost me more than cab fare just to join the service. Interesting idea, but cost-wise I don't see it working. Plus, no cars anywhere near the airport.

I'll try to avoid the buses where possible. I'm fine with taking the train in from the airport, and maybe around to other areas if I decide to go to a far-off park. There's a good amount of sightseeing and caching to be had within 1.5 miles of where I'll be staying, that's a comfortable walking range.

After a few emails back & forth w/ HQ, it looks like I won't be making the pilgrimage on this trip. The only way I even have a shot at it would be to drop $60 on a cab, and I just can't get my head wrapped around doing that.

Any degradation in accuracy (which there is none) would be overshadowed by the error inherent in the system itself. IOW, it would get lost in the noise. Get over the "accuracy" thing (perhaps you need to speak with a medical professional about this obsession or compulsion you claim to have). In the real world of geocaching, there is no such thing. Only "pretty close." However accurate you think your readings may be, everyone else playing the game is getting ever so slightly different (or sometimes, wildly different) numbers.