Pasha

A bit WTG Gordy&Sassy for hitting #700 on Saturday at my adopted child Cache Quips - Spoiler. They all had a great day as well - while we were in Seattle scorching the earth for 70 caches, Sassy et al logged 56 back in Kitsap County. Ain't cache-dense areas a gas? Congrats also to Gordo and -Hawk- on #700 apiece. It was great to be along when both hit it at the same cache by coincidence (they started the day separated by about 6 caches but things worked out with previously-found caches making them equal up at the same one). Last but not least, belated WTGs to grossi, tolmaus, and hydnsek. Stratospheric!

I got rid of Mapopolis shortly after posting my last comment above. It wouldn't stay running for more than 10 minutes, under any conditions, including a complete wipe of my Treo back to factory defaults and a fresh install of the software and maps. Crash crash crash. I ended up getting Delorme Street Atlas USA for $24 at my local Staples, which works great and is very stable. Kinda hinky, but I also had it running for nearly four hours straight yesterday without any errors or problems or crashes.

WTG Quadmommy and kids!

Actually it appears that maplet support has been completely removed from the latest PalmOS version. Finding that information required poring over about 1000 forum posts in various places. It's amazing how little information is available on their site.

Well, I really found that a Garmin is a Garmin. There's a few new functions to learn, and of course the buttons are in different places, but the software on the 60C grew out of the software on the GPS12 et al. Learning to use my Legend as competently as the 12 took all of 30 minutes, and learning the 60C about 5 minutes. That shouldn't really be a concern, I don't think.

I had previously looked at Mapopolis last year and thought it was nice, but since I didn't have a GPS that would work with my Palm (a Treo 650) I ended up removing it. Well, now I do have that GPS and have been using the latest version of Mapopolis with some demo maps downloaded from their site. I recall (and have tracked down and downloaded) that Mapopolis provided a tool to convert GPX to their proprietary maplet format for display on the Palm, but their webpage appears to have removed all mention of this capability, and I can't seem to get the maplet I just created with gpxtomaplet to display in Mapopolis... it's been transferred to the Palm, I can see it in the file list in the local RAM (have tried on the SD card as well, alongside the regular maps), but no dice. Have they removed this capability, or am I just doing something wrong? Appreciate any input - thanks!

I found my first couple hundred caches with a GPS12; I still keep it in my pack as a backup to the backup. I know a couple locals who still use their 12 preferentially over more modern units, but they're also curmudgeonly types. The biggest difference I noticed when upgrading to an eTrex Legend and then a GPS60C (and then a Globalsat BT338) is the ability of the unit to keep a solid lock on satellites in conditions that are not conducive to same - in the woods or the canyons of a big city... my 12 will lose its lock and any semblance of knowing where it's at with very little prompting, and each newer generation that I've purchased does this better. The BT338 has a lock on 9 satellites and a positional error of ~14' right now in the basement of my house, which is about 9 more satellites than any of the others will lock up down here. If the majority of your caching is in more open areas, and you don't need the routing and reception abilities of a newer gadget, (and you aren't subject to the sort of techno-lust that prompts most of my purchases), then I see no reason to upgrade from what will allow you to find 98% of the caches out there.

By saying so, I will certainly be jinxed, but it could be me. I got this BT338 today and am sitting here in my basement (where my 60C cannot lock a single satellite) with the little gadget locked onto 9 sats with a ~13ft horizontal EPE. I'm viewing my position on my Treo with Mapopolis and experimenting with navigation via Cachemate and a couple other things. It's almost shocking how well it sees those birds and hangs onto them. Not that it'll help when the time comes.

In conversation last night with my lovely bride, she shocked me by saying that the Fling sounds like a gas and she'd love to come with me. This is the first time she's ever mentioned caching in the same breath with "fun". I'm not sure what's going on, but am not going to look this gift in the mouth. I guess add two more to the Pasha party, as our youngest will be coming along as well. I'm still sorta woozy from the surprise. Hopefully a malt beverage will help me recover.

Congrats Gordy&Sassy, grossi, Wienerdogs, Funnynose, Lady-Hawk-, and a welcome back to Ajetpilot after a bit of a break. Looking forward to the Fling!

Also, belated congrats to Ruck, who slipped under the radar for #1800 nearly a week ago.

The day this game becomes serious enough to me to complain about how other people play is the day I quit doing it... though I must say that a certain local cache hider tends to drive me bonkers sometimes and I've been known to mutter impolite things under my breath about him. Huh? What does your joined date have to do with anything? I suppose there's some merit in it as you may've seen lots of changes or something, but if I'm going to "judge" you or your advice, that'll be the last thing I judge on. No big deal; I just thought it was weird that you even mentioned it. Perhaps that's just me. On the OP... Because the "rules" of the game say that I can't log a find unless I've signed the log, that's what I do. I won't log a false find, and conversely, I don't go around finding caches but NOT signing them and NOT logging them. I do log all of my DNFs, and I'm willing to bet my definition of a DNF is as stringent as anyone's. That said, however, my personal feeling is that I'm looking for a cache, not a logbook. Whether I sign the log or not is immaterial to my personal gratification. As a result, my definition of "signing the log" is probably a bit more lax than some of you here. If I find a cache and the log is too wet to sign, or I've forgotten a pen, or my dog ate the log, or whatever, I'm not going to waste a single second in contemplation of whether it's OK for me to log it online. I found it. I log it. That's not to say there aren't several local cache owners with dirty thumbprints or torn corners on their cache logs because of my inability to keep track of writing utensils. Seriously. They jump out of my pockets, all on their own. I believe they congregate at a secret tree ring totem in the deeps of Kitsap County, quietly building a giant monkey robot out of their caps and pocket-clips, plotting my demise.

This is really shaping up... I can't wait to best my 6th place finish last year. Y'all need any more help with anything, feel free to put me to work.

Jeez, take a week or two away from the forums and every single person you've ever corresponded with has a milestone. Belated congrats to -Hawk-, W7WT, Pandora, Funnynose, grossi, Jester, and also myself, #600 a couple days ago. WTG all.

I feel like he placed that one just for me. That's where I got #500.

Here's the search results for "BT338" in this forum over the last 90 days. Lots of people have used them. I'm thinking of getting one myself.

Thanks y'all. It's fun how the whole 500 thing worked out with -Hawk-, who I've still never actually met, and his Pet Stotina. The Spring Fling this year is going to be like Old Home Week.

I doubt I'll get an X-series Garmin, but I do plan on purchasing a BlueTooth unit with the SiRFIII chipset, such as the GlobalSat BT-338. Accuracy is apparently on a par with the new Garmins. I should have that setup prior to the Fling. Wheee!

I don't know for sure, I don't own one, but from reading reviews I don't believe the GlobalSat has any user interface. You have to pair it with a PDA or other BT device that is capable of reading the data stream from the unit via installed software (such as TomTom or CacheNav or whatever). I could be completely wrong.

Probably too late, but why not put the "Lookup Code" into the <cmt> field? It sounded from your earlier comment like that's what it's eventually meant for anyway.

I believe this is dependent on the setting "Set hunt end time" under Record View Options (when viewing a record, go to Options\View Options). If this is checked, it will set the log end time to the current time when you exit the record. Unchecked, and you have to actually tap Mark Time to get a time\date into the log.

'Nother question... is the PQ implementation of this complete as well? Edit: don't mind me, I'll just repeat beejay's questions for a while over here.

Actually, on further thought I agree with Nate... I just added a parking waypoint to one of my caches and realized that the trailhead is at least 200 yards away... designating a parking spot is helpful, but to keep people from thrashing the area I'll probably add a trailhead waypoint as well. Adding a parking waypoint, in this case, increases the need for a trailhead waypoint, if you follow me.

Hmmm. While at first glance I like it, I wonder if that's going to end up being used as just a synonym for Parking. Still, it's basically free in terms of resources and it can't hurt, can it?

It appears that when you hide it from view, it's only visible from the Add/Edit Waypoints page, not from the cache page itself, even to the owner.