greenbriel

Sorry to hear - what a GREAT cache that was! I agree with the consensus - nice thought, not necessary.

Well, yes, obviously I understand that each contour line represents a specific altitude, what I meant is that there is no electronic altitude data in the map. i.e. the GPSr has no way of using the fact that you are at a contour line to calibrate the altimeter automagically.

Good point. I live in Chicago, which is basically a cornfield. So my reaction would be "What contours?" And it's more than half the geeky fun of owning a GPS, at least for me. I posted a question yesterday on how to change the measurement units on my GPS when projecting a waypoint, to eliminate the 26.4-foot maximum error involved in rounding to the nearest hundredth of a mile! Any normal person would think I was nuts! But not here, which is one of the reasons I like it. I know, I posted in that thread too - looks like we are the same subgroup of geek

That's sweet! Thanks PDOP's!

Sure, but it wouldn't have good accuracy when between contours, right? I realize we are talking about more detail than you'd probably ever need, but isn't that half the geeky fun of owning a GPS?

I'm not sure which of two things you mean here, so here's two answers 1) The maps don't contain altitude information. Topo maps have contour lines, but AFAIK, they are merely graphics, no altitude data is actually stored in the map. 2) GPS calculated altitude isn't very accurate (I believe generally +/- 50ft, can anyone correct me?), while the 60csx altimeter, when calibrated, is accurate to a couple of feet.

Thanks folks! I hadn't thought of using a nearby airports weather report, that's a great idea. I am a bit less than 10 miles from the closest airport, I guess that's close enough?

The 60csx seems to only offer metres or yards. I imagine yards would work pretty well in this case... Edit - doh - I was thinking of the units setup page. Mach 2003 is right, this works exactly as described. Thanks, I was wondering this myself a week ago! -G

If I go to a local benchmark, calibrate my altimeter, then immediately proceed home and record the indicated altitude, will the recorded altitude be accurate enough to calibrate from next time without having to go to the benchmark again? I imagine it would be best to do this when the barometer trend is pretty flat. Cheers, -G

Thanks Mick, That's exactly where I'm headed! It's a beautiful house in a field on Seal Cove Pond. We've been going to the same house for maybe 10 years, but I haven't been for a few years. My Ma and Pa are coming in from the UK too, should be another great trip. I did a pocket query for up there and noticed the abundance of earth caches. Looking forward to trying one or more. Cheers, -G

Thank VMM

Hi all, Apologies for being absent for a while, I'm just not really interested in the debates that were going on, and being accused of not being 'situationally aware', twice, was grating a little. Here's a final post to thank everyone once again for the kind words, generosity, and support. It really means a lot. The ankle is still splinted, but doing much better, and slogging up and down hills in Wales and Manchester for a week doesn't seem to have done any lasting damage Urban caching is fun, but wow, no comparison. Off to Maine in a few weeks to hopefully track down a few more ammo cans and tupperware. The recovered 60csx performed admirably, I'm really glad to have had it returned. Take care everyone, see you on the trails. -G

Currently own: 60csx (just returned after being stolen in a mugging) Garmin 38 (old school) Old Delorme Earthmate + Street Atlas Used to own: Navman 3450 Sleeve for iPaq + TomTom

Just got the GPSr back - works perfectly, and just a small dent in one corner of the case, no doubt from when it fell from my beltclip onto the concrete (hardy device, thanks Garmin!). Unfortunately the last track I have ends exactly where the mugging happened. That, combined with the fact that the fresh batteries that were in it are still fully charged, leads me to believe that the unit switched off the second it hit the ground. One weird thing is that the trip computer is showing only three fields, whereas I had it set to show eight. Maybe that's just a weird glitch from the impact. Regarding the article that pcunningham linked, I am someone who is usually a condition yellow, and I certainly went to condition orange when they were approaching me, but again, against a large group, unless you are armed and prepared to start shooting all of them very quickly, I'm not sure the system would have worked in this case. Good info for another time maybe, though for us mostly unarmed New Yorkers we will have to substitute 'running like the wind' for 'employing lethal force'. Getting the GPSr back feels like a nice bit of closure. I'll be glad when I can stop running 'what if I had a can of pepper spray/uzi/katana/black belt...' scenarios... -G

Hi eagletrek, I hadn't really thought about that. I credit my 22 incident-free years in NYC to my 'acute situational awareness' (nice phrase). The attack happened a few minutes after I had replaced the cache, so I wasn't focussed on that task, and when I heard them behind me, it wasn't immediately obvious that an attack was imminent. If I started running every time I saw a bunch of kids making a ruckus I'd be in much better shape It is certainly possible that my 'spider-sense' was somewhat dulled by the cache-find-afterglow though. I will certainly keep that in mind in future. Thanks for the post. Spoke to my girlfriend who has the GPS in hand - she says it looks totally fine and powers up. Yahoo! What is the best way to visualize the track log? Just view it on the GPSr, or are there desktop solutions? I guess mapsource will do it, right? I'll poke around in there... Thanks again folks.

Quick update: I spoke to one of the Detectives involved, and unfortunately they didn't get my GPS from one of the bad guys or from any info that could tie it to them. The family of the poor guy with the broken jaw went back to look for his iPod, couldn't find it, but did find my GPS. I'm betting one of them said "they can track that thing" as soon as they left me and immediately ditched it. Sadly that means that the track log isn't going to be real useful, but I'll have a look (if it still works - please cross your fingers) when I get it back. The broken jaw guy had his jaw shattered - it's wired shut and held together with pins. The severity of his injuries has turned this into a Robbery 1 case. MaryofCrestline: BFE - never heard that before - made me laugh

Geez, Danny, and just as my cold sweats in the night were getting better ;->

Ursamajr: OH NO!! I'm so, so sorry to hear that. Man, must be a full moon. I think it's time to get some renter's insurance. I sure hope you had some. Hang in there. A guy who a good friend of mine plays squash with was recently beaten unconscious with brass-knuckles by two guys, and when he got back from the hospital he discovered the scumbags had robbed his apartment while he was in there. That's just sick. ThirstyMick: as someone who saw The Ramones and The Clash in Manchester in 1980, I'm with you 007BigD: Thanks, I'm looking forward to getting it back and (hopefully) seeing it functioning. I love the idea of talking to the cops about the track log, but I am concerned that will mean I never see the GPSr again. I'm going to feel out how strong their case is and if the log would even help.

Hey Fluttershy - you own 50% of all the caches we've found Nethermead Arches is a great one. My gf found it first and was ecstatic. Very fun. I go the park quite a lot with my dog, and have been looking for good spots to leave another cache, and you're right, it's a lot tougher than it would seem. Once I am back up and around better, we plan to do a bunch of NY caches. If you want, drop me a pm with your email and we can coordinate. I am battle tested, though I think I received about a C- Cheers.

Thanks again vtmtnman, will do. beerbrewer737, whoa, that's a really scary story. Glad you handled it well and came out unscathed. mama upe - I already discussed doing that with my gf. I am really relieved to have the GPSr in the cops' hands, with about 99% certainty that the bad guys won't have figured that out. I had also planned to put a sticker on it when I got it back saying: "THIS GPS UNIT IS SATELLITE TRACKABLE", but it sounds like the cops retreived it from one of the perps, so that would have worked against me here.

GeoWorms: we are due a trip out West, I'll drop a note if we make it, thanks! Capt. Blackbeard: I certainly will Your handle keeps reminding of my giant schnauzer mix, who's nickname is Cap'n Wetbeard after he drinks from his water bowl ar kayaker: I'm not that guy. I don't react meekly when accosted - I think my incensed "what the ^%&*?!?" when first hit, and fighting for my backpack may have given them enough pause to put them a bit off their game. That said, I can't see myself ever getting away with your Bronson-esque scenario. You should write for Hollywood! geomann: I agree, I had completely given up on it. I can't wait to find out how it happened. old soldier: thanks. It does sound like they got at least some of them. see message above regarding latest info I got. vtmtnman: I appreciate it - my lady is looking at brochures for Fiji <gulp>, but sure let me see if I can persuade her to go caching in chilly VT instead ;-) Seriously though, thank you, I do love VT, maybe we can make it up there one day. My interest is piqued by the mysterious TeamWerlin reference... Speaking of whom: as a feeble attempt to give a little back to the community that's been so nice to me the last few days, I want to offer my old GPS 38 to anyone who might know a kid or not-super-rich adult who they think might be interested in getting into caching. TeamWerlin has first crack at it, and I'm waiting to hear from him, but after that it's fair game to a good home, shipping on me. But if I see it on eBay, remember, I have cop friends now :-> pcunningham FTW! smartest post yet on the subject. Thanks again to everyone!

STOP THE PRESSES!!! I just this second got off the phone with one of the officers involved in my case, and they RECOVERED MY GPS!! I can't believe it. I asked how they got it back and was told that it's a long story that I would hear when one of the other detectives called me. I'm curious as hell, and I will let you know as soon as I find out. They need to keep it until Tuesday for photographs and fingerprinting/DNA (apparently they started running DNA on robbery 6 months ago). He said it was turned off (been more than 18 hours, so that's expected), but otherwise seemed in good condition. I have to say I am very impressed with th NYPD right now. Everyone there has been really great through this whole thing. My fiancée and I are baking them a cake before we go to pick up the GPS. Between them, and you guys, it was almost worth it. Well, almost Obviously anyone who sent a donation to TeamWerlin's GPS replacement fund (thank you again) will get a refund, and if anyone gets hit with PayPal fees, I will gladly reimburse. As soon as my ankle heals, you can be sure I'll out seeking again. I'm hoping the crutches might get me an upgrade on my upcoming flight Thank you SO, SO, SO MUCH for the support. I'm really indebted, and I can't tell you how much this has meant to me. I'm kind of stunned right now. Warmest wishes to you and yours, -G

I agree re: safety of NY. that's all I'll say on the topic for fear of reigniting a political debate. Quick update - the poor guy who had his jaw broken needs surgery, but he was able to identify 3 of the 5 punks that the cops picked up. The Detective called me today to confirm the part of my story about them trying to pull my backpack off, because apparently they admitted having an interaction with me, but denied trying to pull the backpack. Their version of events is that they accidentally bumped into me (not punched me in the back of the head!), I fell down, and they were gathering round to see if I was OK. Incredible! I feel better knowing that they seem to have the right guys. Here's my ankle, apparently they must've REALLY not been looking where they were going when they bumped into me. They gave me cankles! Apologies to anyone who may be eating Thanks again to everyone for the well wishes and thoughtful notes. I really appreciate it.

Can't tell if you are poking a little fun at my British spelling, or just offering some advice, but either way, Thanks Cap'n! You seem to have a good sene of humor too ;->

But what you CAN do (quite legally, in fact!) is MOVE OUT of that liberal-run pesthole of a state! I used to live in neighboring liberal-run Massachusetts. Did some fine geocaching there, in fact. But that state had many of the same problems that plague New Yorkers - high property taxes, annoying traffic jams on the highways, winters that were long, cold, and dreary - although muggings in Boston were probably a bit less frequent than in New York City. Here in rural Arkansas (an area that self-righteous liberals often refer to as "red-neck country") we have parks, just like they do in New York City. Only OUR parks don't have muggers. Instead, they have things like "trees" and "quiet" and "peacefulness" and "safety". Plus our property taxes are much, MUCH lower. And winter pretty much is over by late February, rather than late April. Traffic jams are merely a (un)fond memory at this point. And the scenary, at least here in the northwest corner of the state, is absolutely gorgeous, with mountains that rival those of southern New Hampshire. And I never hear any of the people here refer to New York or Massachusetts as "mugger country" or "pompous effete snob country". In short, the folks I have met in Arkansas seem to be a lot more polite than are the self-righteous liberals who mock them as "red-necks". I am sorry to read that one of my fellow geocachers got mugged. But from what I hear, muggings are pretty common in big city parks. And, sadly, FAR too many city folks don't even TRY to hide their disdain for people they have never met, people who are in fact very decent people, but people who those city folks INSULT by calling them "red-necks" and who actually seem to think are "ignorant", even though they are not. If you think this is a personal commentary aimed at SOME of the inhabitants of our major (and usually liberal-run) cities, you are absolutely correct! As the OP, I have to say that I think this post is entirely inappropriate. Please don't turn my unfortunate experience into a political 'debate'. If you want to have such a discussion, please start it in the off-topic forum. Thanks.