Smaug1

The people who cite low internal resistance as the reason for not having LiIon rechargeables are right. I can't speak about the voltages, as I don't really know. I work for UL, and I test battery chargers and sometimes, batteries. There are certain batteries (usually LiIon) that have to have a fuse built into them to pass our tests. Otherwise a short circuit is very hazardous. It seems to me that they could make them in about any voltage configuration they wanted to, as long as it was a multiple of the base amount. I can't believe (without proof) that the base amount for LiIons is 3.6V. That seems kind of high.

Maybe I'm the only one, but half of the fun is in the gadgetry. I can understand your curiosity though, as it is fun to do things the old-fashioned way. I just got a slide rule, and I can't even figure it out. (it is marked in Latin I think...)

Do you want to know what I've discovered since I graduated high school in 1994? It is not fun to NOT be a geek. I laughed my butt off when I learned that 'non-cachers' are referred to as 'muggles'. It is great; it suggests we have some sort of magic. Every hobby has its lingo, and it is usually geeky to people who don't understand. Life is much more fun if you don't worry whether you're geeky or not. BTW, I ride too. My Concours is a bit more geeky than a 'Gixxer', (geeky lingo) but I still ride. Some people probably consider me a geek for that. I guess motorcycling and snowboarding are not as geeky as geocaching, since you go fast and lean a lot. Now that I've read this thread for a while, I realize what a skillful troll I've just fallen for. Hats off to Gixxer, as he has baited us but good! I wonder if I should start a thread now entitled: "Magellen Sucks" and watch the mayhem?

I just got my first GPS a week or so ago, a Garmin Legend. I love it. I have no problem reading it, and the display is plenty sharp for me. It seems like a good all-around GPS. I haven't tried putting any maps into it yet. I think 8MB will be enough, as I don't do that much traveling. When I do, I think that if I'm selective about what I upload into it, I can get what I need. Some time down the road, if I decide I like geocaching, I might spring for a top-end model like a 76c or something. (We're under a foot of snow up here in northern IL. Went geocaching yesterday and all we got was wet. Oh, and we stumbled across a letterbox instead of a cache in the same area. www.letterboxing.org) So for now, I'm using it to measure distances and speeds and such from the dash of my car. I can't wait until spring, when I will mount it on my motorcycle and do some combined riding and geocaching!

I think I'd return it and ask for a new one. If you can't scare up the receipt, you might try to find a PHONE number. It is much harder to ignore a phone call or hardcopy letter than an email.

You just forgot to change the battery setting to Ni-MH battery type. A full-capacity alkaline reads a bit over 1.5 V. A fully-charged Ni-MH will read between 1.2 - 1.3 V. For an alkaline battery this is discharged or getting there at least. Alkalines have a long steady discharge curve. The voltage steadily goes down under load. Ni-MH and Ni-Cads start at a lower voltage level, but they maintain it better. It will pretty much stay at a steady level until right before they die. Then, they avalanche right off, so carry an extra set. This is why Ni-MH are so good for digital cameras; they maintain that voltage level, even under load. So change the battery type setting in your Legend's menu and stay cool.

It looks like you did it just in time too! I just checked it out, and the website is for sale. Now there are a ton of pop-ups and nothing to do with GPS. (that I could see at a quick glance, at least) Save yourself the annoyance of bringing up that site...

A fellow of mine at work just sold his Legend and bought a Vista C. He says the reception is much better. On his Legend, he complained that he lost satellite reception while riding dirtbikes in the desert. (with the GPS in his chest pocket on his jacket) I told him that I didn't think the Vista C would help any, as I believe it has the same antenna. He said that it gives him much better reception, as he can pick up satellites while in the bathroom. For whatever its worth!

My avatar reflects one of my long-standing hobbies. It is amazing how deeply that game makes one think... My name... I just chose it to honor the witty dragon from The Hobbit Smaug really got a raw deal... He was a very cool character. I think most of you have read the book. If not, do yourself a favor and read it. You will fly through it in 2 days. It is truly one of the great literary classics. (Smaug was already taken; had to add the '1')

Good stuff for us noobs. Thanks!

You see? I've learned something else today. A good hide in a good container can go a long way. Every time I ask what I'm afraid may be a dumb question, I get quality responses, proving it wasn't necessarily a dumb question. (well, not for everyone at least)

Great story. Geocaching is hard work.

Thanks Captain. To the other poster (forgot your name, I'm locked in the reply screen now...) I'm asking because I can't really afford the $$ to plant one that will impress everyone right off the bat.

Excellent! Thanks a ton carleenp!

People bitch from time to time about lame caches. It got me thinking, if someone placed their lame cache with plastic lizards in it or something and described it as a lame cache, is it still frowned-upon? I figure the people whose standards are too high will avoid them after reading the description, right? Noobs will still like to find them, just to get the hang of geocaching without having to miss super-camoflaged logs and such...

I'm not having any luck getting my avatar up and running here. I clicked on the option to edit my controls and avatar settings. It took me back to geocaching.com. I followed the instructions, uploaded a legal-size avatar. I changed my signature. I entered my password to make sure the changes would save. I still don't see an avatar. Am I missing something or is there just a waiting period? Do I have to do something at Groundspeak once I've made the change at geocaching.com? Thanks.

You know, I couldn't figure out what the 'r' stood for. 'Receiver' is the first thing that popped to mind, so I assumed it was an incorrect assumption because it is so obvious and redundant. I chalked it up to being a noob. I'm glad that I was right. What I got even less was that it is frequently spelled 'GPSr', as if the 'r' has some lesser meaning. Whatever. I guess I just think too much. All I can do to place my vote is to try not to propagate it... Some day, when I'm a known and respected geocacher here, maybe it will have some effect on others, hehehe. Jeremy Z.

Wow, what a great thread for a newbie to read! I saw a few signature cards in one of the caches I found, and thought to myself: "Nice touch, but kind of lame." Now that someone has pointed out the idea of collecting them, it doesn't seem so lame. Does anyone have any internet links for who can make business cards for cheap? Thanks again guys. Jeremy Z.

Even though you are a local, you are not the cache police. It is not YOUR area or YOUR place to decide if a cache is too lame. All you can do is not support it, and log that you found that cache and it is the lamest you've ever seen. Others will see that post when they're looking for coordinates and get an idea for what lame is. I can see you point of view though, that someone is polluting our sport and lowering the standards. Without the support of the owner of Geocaching.com, you can't do anything. Maybe you could at least talk him (the owner of geocaching.com) to put up some guidelines for lameness? I don't think it will fly though. Being a newby myself, I've only found two caches, both kind of lame by your standards. Just trinkets. One of them was totally abandoned. There was a disposable camera with which to take our picture which has been used up for a long time. The cache-placer didn't bother to follow up. Still, it was exciting just finding them. When I get to your experience level, I may be more disappointed. When I do eventually place a cache, I don't want the seasoned cachers to call it lame, so I'm going to wait a bit. It is probably inevitable. Maybe a new rule could be placed that you have to have logged and verified 20 caches before you place your own? I don't know.... Jeremy Z.

I'm still hot/cold about the 'Clik Stik' myself. I generally do not like things that have fancy, intentionally misspelled titles. When compared with other eTrex models, it seems to make navigation through menus more efficient, but it also seems to ruin the smooth, snag-free profile of the original eTrex design. Jeremy Z.

I'm just curious. The responses to an earlier 'Which Garmin?' post showed the 60c to be the honey of Geocachers. It is obviously a high-end handheld model. I've read the stats on Garmin's website. But I want to know why the end-user likes his/hers so much vs. lesser Garmins. I'm curious because I just bought an eTrex Legend, and I wonder: Does the quad-helix antenna offer noticeably better reception or stronger satellite lock? Does the color screen make it easier to distinguish one item from another? Was it worth the hefty price in your opinion? What features/traits does it have that make you like it so much? I am thinking of starting to save up for one. I know this is horrible since I have just bought my Legend and haven't even done any geocaching with it yet. (too busy with work, school work, snowboarding, domestic stuff lately) I just had to ask this since so many of you love yours so much. Thanks!

I think you are making a mistake by ruling out computer connectivity. I have an eTrex Legend, which I bought for $135 (free shipping) from Amazon. It is not enough of a price difference from the $85 eTrex to rule out on price. In addition, it has a basemap, which is good for getting you close to your destination by major roads. I know you said you just want to use it for hiking and whatnot, but why rule out car use? (the basic Gecko and eTrex don't have basemaps) It has enough memory to leave your options open, (8 MB) but not enough to make it prohibitively expensive. (like the Vista) I can't answer your reception question, since this eTrex is the first GPS I've had. On the train ride in this morning, it lost reception on the train, with its stainless steel roof. I was right near the window, and it could only get 3-4 satellites. Oh, it's snowing pretty seriously here now in Northern IL too... Based on what I've seen so far is that if you are outdoors, you won't have any problems. Maybe in a jungle where you cannot even see the sun... I'm sure there are people here who know and who will chime in. Let us know what you decide. (after this thread dies ) Jeremy Z. Edit - Oh, one other thing. The Geckos use AAA batteries. This means less than 1/2 the run-time and that rechargeables will be harder to find. I'm not biased, I just thought you might not have realized this. On the flipside, they are a lot smaller too!

I too just bought a Legend. I ordered one of the vent/dash mounts from ebay. There is pretty much only one major seller of the things, so it shouldn't be hard to find. Mine is so new, it is still in the mail. If you can, hold out until I try mine out and I may be able to save you a few $$. I should have it within the next couple of days. Since I'm also a motorcyclist, I'm going to use the dash mount side of it, but instead of velcro on that side, I'm going to use 3M DuoLock. It is MUCH better than velcro, and doesn't wear out. I can remove it from the dash of the car and mount it to the dash of the motorcycle. I hope it works out well. Jeremy Z.

I'm not sure, but I think the original author already knew that. I think he was thinking more of absorbing any of the moisture in the air trapped in the container. My second cache had a soggy log, even though it was in a film canister. I'm sure it didn't leak, it was just the moist air. If it had leaked, it would have wreaked (sp?) all sorts of havoc, especially on the ink in the logs if it had actually leaked. By the way, all film canisters are not created equal. The Fuji ones are a bit "more equal" than the Kodak ones.

I will second Lemon Fresh Dog's ideas. He/she had some VERY good ones, esp. the one about being able to rate the cache and only see the rating if you're a premium member. Jeremy Z.