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BloodyBucket

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Everything posted by BloodyBucket

  1. I hope the Garmin site does well. If they don't iron out the bugs and offer more content, it won't, IMHO, but time will tell. I think a little competition keeps everyone sharp, so have at it.
  2. Sounds like that Etrex deal will do nicely. It's rugged and fairly simple, and the color screen is a nice upgrade over the monochrome Etrex units and the high sensitivity chip does make it a better reciever than the non "H" units. If you really get the bug, you could get the latest whizzbang paperless setup, but for my kids one of the attractions to the whole game is plotting out the day's adventure and it doesn't break my heart that they take turns making notes with pen and ink...even if it's whizzbang Rite in the Rain notepad.
  3. My father was a BAR man in the 28th Infantry Division during WWII. The unit insignia was a red keystone, since they were a Pennsylvania National Guard outfit. The Germans started calling them the "bloody bucket" division since they took, and inflicted, many losses. It's a tribute to him.
  4. I had my blue Etrex Legend for years before the band came loose. A stay in a hot car finally did it. I Googled, and found the Loctite RTV solution posted earlier in the thread. Worked perfectly, and I'm happy to report that the jerk who smashed my car window to grab that out-of-date, low monetary but high sentimental value unit now has a permanently fixed Etrex. I hope it leads him off a cliff. When the band comes loose on the Etrex Legend HCX I got as a replacement, I'll fix it myself, rather than have Garmin do a temporary fix. Might try to hit them up for a new band, though. I think the reason they use the stuff they do is that it makes it easy to open the units up to do repairs, but that's just a guess.
  5. I've never like the term "muggles" but I know it's accepted use here. People who destroy stuff for grins are vandals, not muggles. There are other appropriate terms that probably don't belong on this forum. However, the concept of calling folks who are actively caching and don't put stuff back properly "Geomuggles" somehow appeals to me.
  6. This has been really true for me. OSM maps and the Topos from GPS File Depot have given me all the mapping I need. I also have an older version of City Navigator, Mapsource, that isn't locked or tied to one unit that has become routable on my Etrex HCX with the addition of the MetroGold software that was very reasonably priced. A Smartphone will certainly do the job, but I like the idea of having a rugged, weatherproof unit that isn't tied to a contract or monthly fee. You certainly don't need to spend top dollar on the latest units to get the features you mentioned, although they are awfully nice, especially if you want an all in one paperless geocaching system. I'm enough of a tightwad to appreciate the beauty of making do with yesterday's latest and greatest.
  7. www.childinfo.org/files/OPT_GPS_etrex.ppt This links to a powerpoint presentation done at a basic level. Not a bad intro to the Etrex.
  8. This continues to be interesting. I can see how some folks get enjoyment out of having the latest and greatest electronics, and Lord knows if money was no object I'd be sorely tempted by the feature rich offerings of the latest GPSr devices, as well as the amazing things that are possible with a Smartphone. I think that I have an emotional tether to GPSrs, because they are what I'm used to, I've used them in some pretty extreme circumstances and I am comfortable with them. I can understand the emotional tether that somebody would have to a device that does the all these great things and they have invested some coin in. I get the idea of paperless caching, but honestly one of the pleasures I get from planning a day with the boys is sitting down with them, planning it out, and even though this sounds quaint, writing down some of the information. One kid might get the notepad and camera, another the map and compass and I use the GPS, or we switch it around. The planning and interacting are part of the fun. If I had a paperless device, I can see it becoming "Hey kids, a new cache just got placed, my device has the map, let's go find it!" They'd rightly feel like they were being dragged along for the ride by dad and his gizmo, and to be honest I'm not about to hand a several hundred dollar drop-n-smash to a seven or ten year old boy. As much as I'm intrigued by the capabilities of the latest devices, I'm also mindful less effort does not always mean more fun. To my kids, the hand held GPS means that we are taking a trip or going on an adventure. It is what it's for. I wonder if they will feel the same about a device that is always present, and gets used for the grocery list, family photos and that dad surfs the web with when they'd rather I was interacting with them. I'm pretty sure the days of the dedicated GPSr in urban environments are numbered. As the technology spreads, they will make less sense for most people. I was thinking about this when the officer taking my theft report told me that the guys who smashed my window were probably in the woods, watching the parking lot and just picked me because my car was close and they saw me set something on the floor. I bet the smash and grabbers were mighty disappointed with my lame Etrex GPSr and ho-hum cell phone. Pretty soon a lot of folks with highly desirable and easy to move Smartphones are going to be going to remote urban locations that could be known to a more folks than just a dedicated community of hobbyist. In some ways, I hope this game stays relatively unknown and a little quirky. I haven't decided what to replace my stolen stuff with yet.
  9. An interesting discussion. I find myself without my old Etrex Legend that had served me well for years, thanks to some knucklehead who smashed my car window and snagged a bag that had it and my cell phone in it. Of course, we will probably never see phone or GPS again, and the homeowners insurance deductible is just high enough to make filing a claim pointless. Now I'm looking to replace a phone and a GPS. Of course, the wife immediately said, "why not an I-something or one of those new Androids?" We are on a limited budget (who isn't these days). I have been perfectly happy Geocaching with that black and white, serial cabled museum piece, 'cause it got the job done reliably. If I replace the GPS with another like it, I'm in it for about 120 bucks. If I replace the modest cell phone, I'm likely to have to spend about half that and renew my contract for two years. A Garminphone might be an option, but I'd miss the ruggedness of the Etrex. I also hate to commit to the monthly charges that will be needed to use the Garminphone. I've yet to make up my mind, and frankly don't have the information needed to do so. I'm not anti-technology at all, but delicate doesn't appeal to me when it comes to backwoods navigation or even casual geocaching. Neither does being tethered to a special battery, or having to pay the monthly fees for the data usage. I'll be watching this conversation with interest.
  10. More memory. Mapsource maps of Asia. Routing on the fly. (route me here from my current position)
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