Miragee

Welcome to the Forums! After installing the City Navigator maps to a Garmin like the Legend HCx, Vista HCx, or GPS Map60CSx, you will get directions, but not "verbal." There are beeps to let you know a turn is coming up and directions on the screen. I have both City Navigator and Topo maps on my Vista HCx. The auto-routing works very well.

A good handheld unit would be any of the Garmin 'H' units that connect to your computer with USB. On Garmin's website, they have a comparison page where you can compare the features. The Legend HCx is an excellent choice. I have the Vista HCx and like it.

Welcome to the Forums! What browser are you using? What resolution is your monitor set at? You profile photo looks fine for me using the Opera browser at 1280 x 768.

If would be even nicer if the page didn't refresh when you click "decrypt," which is the way it was before this recent "site improvement."

I log all my DNFs . . . it isn't a sign of failure, it is a record of my experience at that location.

You should be able to get a Palm m500, that connects to your computer with USB, for $30.00, including the shipping. I have had mine for almost seven years now and the battery is still going strong. I got a hard case for it, and also a data card so I can hold lots of cache information. The older monochrome Palms are easier to see in bright sunlight than the newer models like some Zires and the TX.

I would look on eBay for "Completed Auctions" to see what that unit sells for now. It does not have the High Sensitivity receiver the newer 'H' units have. If you are caching in Oregon, you probably want to get the Legend HCx.

GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) is a very useful program for keeping track of caches, particularly if you are a Premium Member and get Pocket Queries. It also has a Macro for generating statistics.

Welcome to the Forums! When you become a Premium Member, this thread will be very helpful.

I leave them on my GPSr until after I get home and download the Tracks and Waypoints to my Mapsource maps. Having that reference helps me log the caches in order on the days when I get a chance to find more than a few caches. Before I load fresh data into the GPSr, I Delete all the Found and Unfound caches. I have a Vista HCx, so I have all the caches I have Found on my GPSr as POIs. You never know when you might need that reference . . .

When I first started, I did just what you are doing now. I had printed cache pages all over my car and had a hard time matching up the closest one on my GPSr unit to the cache page when I needed to decrypt the hint. Then, I learned about "paperless" caching. I already had a Palm m500, so it was easy to just become a Premium Member, get Pocket Queries, load those into Google Earth, or my Mapsource maps to see where they are, and make a plan. I use Cachemate on my Palm and to keep all the cache data organized on my PC, I use GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife). Perhaps someone who is still caching with "paper" will come along and tell you how they keep things organized.

I've never seen this, ie, the PQ returning inactive caches and NEVER EVER EVER archived caches. This strongly suggests to me that you are putting the new PQ data on top of the old PQ data into your GSAK database. This means that caches that were active last time you PQ'ed, but have since become disabled or archived are still in your database. If you want to retain the old PQ data (retains logs) you can filter out any caches that were not returned in the current PQ by using a filter: Search:Filter:Date: Last Update GPX. Set that date to the day before your current PQ. All the caches caught in this filter are either archived or disabled. Delete all waypoints in the filter. I hope this helps. I'll give it a try. BUT let me state what I do. I like to keep all old data in GSAK DB if possible. When the PQ data comes in, I unzip it and click on GPX file. I then use the "Data Update Options" set to "Always" in the GSAK menu. I made the assumption that this would update all old data if the new data from the PQ differed from my GSAK old data. Am I wrong? Again I assumed that if a cache was active but the new data from the PQ indicated a inactive status, the active would be over written by the new PQ data status. Again, appreciate your comments always. Bob I keep all the data in my GSAK database as well. After I get all the "Date Placed" PQs for this cache-rich area, I do three filters. Last 2 DNFs -- I Delete most of those, depending on what I see on the cache page One particular cacher -- I delete all of those caches Last .gpx Update -- Any cache returned in this filter is either Disabled or Archived, so I Delete those After that, I can load my Palm and GPSr with new, fresh, up-to-date data.

You still wouldn't know for sure, since the puzzle could have additional stages that go beyond that range. The same is true for multis. Also, requiring the fake coords to be within .1 of the actual coords would make many puzzles way too easy to solve. Yup . . . a friend of mine knew a Puzzle final was on a hill where there were several other caches. By walking around in the area .1 away from the other caches, he found the container. It took awhile, but he did it.

We used to be able to see Archived caches on the GC.com maps when that option was chosen. That was taken away. However, a "promise" to return the ability to find Archived caches was made . . . quite a long time ago. So far, we are still waiting.

The PQ of my "Owned" caches is still not returning the correct number of caches although my stat bar shows the correct number. EDIT . . . Sorry for the trouble . . . I figured out the discrepancy in the number.

Check out Markwell's excellent tutorial about Pocket Queries. More than likely, you are choosing two items that cancel each other out. This is how I set up one section of the PQ form. If you live in a "cache-rich" area, you might consider creating several PQs based on "Date Placed" to get a wider search area without overlapping circles.

When my ISP started blocking the Groundspeak domains, I got nothing . . . the messages were just lost in Cyberspace. They didn't even have the courtesy of putting them in the Quarantine (Spam) folder . . .

My ISP started blocking all mail from all the Groundspeak domains. After I changed my GC.com email address to my Gmail account, I started getting everything again.

Although I never use that search, I just tried it using my browser, Opera 9.51, and nothing happens . . . These are the errors in the code on that page.

The 'x' is for "Expandable Memory." In the 60 Series, the 'x' models, which came out a couple of years ago, also had a more high sensitivity chip, as well as the "Expandable Memory."

What sort of help do you need? I have a Palm m500 with Cachemate installed that I use for "paperless" caching.

I agree. I've never used that button. If a new cache comes out, I download the .gpx file from the cache page, load it into GSAK, and use the "Send to GPS Now" right-click option in that program. Easy Peasey, and it always works.

The only time I had to remove a cache I placed was when I forgot about one of my own caches while placing one at a trailhead . . . When I wanted to place a cache outside my normal territory, I checked the area in Google Earth and then emailed those potential locations to my Reviewer. He was glad to help and let me know there were no Puzzle Final locations or Multi Waypoints or Finals nearby. Whenever I go out to place a cache, I load all the caches I have not yet found, and the caches I have found, in my GPSr so I can make sure I have enough distance from any existing caches. Now I have to remember to load my own caches in the GPSr as well . . .

You can get your GC ID number (1758745) by putting your mouse over your user name in your Forum post. Have you setup your GPSr in GSAK under the GPS Menu item?

Twelve new caches of mine were Published last night and they still do not come through the Pocket Query for caches I own . . . Why is there a delay like that?