Croesgadwr

yep, i'll go along with that. I'm an Etrex 20 owner... I recently returned from a holiday in Turkey. Prior to leaving the UK I downloaded a handfull of caches in the Turkish resort of Side. My intention was to spend a couple of hours hunting them down during a break from the pool / beach. With no additional maps installed I went out one morning, Etrex 20 in hand, and walked into (and through) town, to the local ruins where the caches were placed. In the circumstances I reckon the E20 performed pretty much as the Etrex 10 would - i.e. No map, just an arrow showing my progress towards each GZ in turn. It wasn't a problem to be honest, so I back-up sussamb's comments 100%. Croesgadwr, a North Wales geo-cacher.

yeah... my type of humour, short and to the point. Appreciated

I guess it takes all sorts... But in my opinion Garmin are excellent as regards customer service. They replaced my old unit for a reconditioned unit even though mine was no longer covered by warranty. I appreciated that, and won't miss an opportunity to tell people so... Nice one Garmin.

Randomness...yeah, I like randomness!! I like to say what I mean - in words, not ticks in boxes. But I acknowledge others have differing opinions - as is their right - Rock on Randomness!!

Lol on the... "I have chosen a hobby that requires little attention to detail!"... I think that you will find that as the weeks & months go by that you will subconsciously develop a 'sixth sense' as regards to potential geo-hides - i.e. "that little mound of twiggs, sticks, or rocks (or whatever) does not look quite right". Welcome to the world of geocaching. Croesgadwr North Wales, UK.

A description of the container would be useful... size, shape, colour etc. Congrats on your find, and welcome to the world of geocaching. Typically, you'll either jack it in after half a dozen finds, OR you'll be hooked (probably) for life. Croesgadwr, a North Wales geocacher.

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I use 7-zip as the unzipping tool, its free so why not give it a try. I've never had a problem using it with TT's maps. Good luck, I hope you get it sorted.

Purchased mine in January of this year, and had no probs what-so-ever.... BUT, occasionally... and usually after reading some of these threads, I must admit that I do consider 'bin-ing it'. Only joking, rock-on the Etrex range (and the '20 in particular!)!! Croesgadwr

Ditto...sussamb and I seem to have very similar experiences with our E20's....i.e. our devices have never given cause for concern. Go for it! get yourself an Etrex 20, you'll be glad you did. Croesgadwr North Wales.

I wonder if he had the gall to award himself any favourite points.... :blink:

I accept that the points you raise are valid...to you. To me, as a UK cacher, much of the discussion is irrelevent as ALL of the caches here are (naturally) in English. Traditional caches are predominant in my area, with multi's etc being very much in the minority - hence the abundance of them on my profile. My prefered type of geocache would be placed in either a wood or forest, and would be part of a series. Sad to say that there are not too many of these left for me to do within reasonable travelling time from my home. Please note (as previously stated) that geocaching is just one of my hobbies, and in fact is not my primary hobby. Therefore time available to cache is at a premium. Once again, just my opinions. Good luck with your geocaching... Croesgadwr North Wales, UK.

No, it certainly can't and it not only concerns holiday caches, but in many regions also everyday geocaching. My favourite cache types are multi caches and I also enjoy mystery caches (my split up is very, very different than yours so you might not understand why my opinion differs from yours) and traditionals where the description is important. My interest is not mainly in the hint and in finding a hidden container, but in everything around. A phrase book and even a good dictionary are by far not sufficient. Typically also a basic knowledge of the local language is not sufficient for my purposes. I do not think that it makes much sense if many people invest many hours into translating lengthy complex texts into their own language if the hider of the cache is easily able to provide an English version. Using English as a common language makes understanding each other so much easier in many contexts. Cezanne I only quote my own personal opinions. I make no suggestions as how to address problems, issues or concerns raised by others - I just state my opinion! I'm fully aware that my opinions are not those of the majority of people who use this forum...just my own opinions, to which I'm entitled. Next month I travel to Turkey for a two week holiday with my wife. During these two weeks I intend to try and find two or three caches (there are not many geo-caches in the area I'm visiting). I will be 'armed' with the cache name, co-ord's, D & T ratings and cache size (I think this information can be classified as 'International'). Any other info that I can find from the cache description or log entries will be a bonus. I will be on holiday, I will be geo-caching...but firstly I will be enjoying myself!! Finally, I am a lone geo-cacher. Over 600 finds to my name, every one of them was found without assistance from anyone - no 'caching buddy' or phoning for info from caching friends. All totally my own efforts. I have other hobbies such as hillwalking, shooting and metal detecting. Each of these I do as part of group activities....BUT, geo-caching (by choice) is an individual thing with me. I love the challenge of lone caching, I don't want it to be too easy... in this instance this includes the possible challenge of a language other than my own. But, as I said - Just personal opinion, and therefore I can't be wrong because it affects no-one other than ME - and I'm happy with that. Good Geo-caching, enjoy your hobby...don't get bogged down with insignificant details. (Stands back...and waits for someone to kick-off because they don't like what I say!!) Croesgadwr North Wales.

Within the world of Geocaching I'm dead against 'anything' which is mandatory... When I took up the hobby (July 2010) I knew what I was joining, I knew the 'rules', and I accepted them without question or hessitation. Recently I've noticed a number of (for the want of a better word) complaints, about various things within geocaching. For instance - having to have found 'a specific number' of caches before being allowed to hide one, or hide one for every ten found.... Come on this supposed to be a hobby, its supposed to be fun!! In my opinion, the answer to the language problem can be addressed by the purchase of a foreign language phrase book (i.e. of the country you are visiting). Breaking down a three or four word hint from the host country tongue to English, could be considered as part of the challenge of the search for holiday caches. As I said... just my opinion!! Croesgadwr a North Wales geocacher (all my cache hides are written in English rather than my native language of Welsh!)

The highest rated cache I've done was a 4.5/4, and to be honest I didn't think it justified that high a rating. The cache in question was one of a series of twelve which varied in size & difficulty. Finding it really wasn't what I could have expected, as it was quite a straightforward find. I do find that a fairly common 'contributing factor' to highly rated caches is quite simply that the co-ord's are poor - deliberately so. This added to a clue / hint which is so ambiguous as to be of little use. In fact there are several series of caches not too far from my home that fall into this category, set by the same person. Needless to say I tend not to play the CO's game... and leave these caches alone. I have only placed 16 caches, but they were all set with the intention of them being able to be found... and not to end as DNF's! Just personal opinions you understand, just personal opinions.

As I said... Just my "personal opinions", expressed in my initial reply to the original thread raised by 'wildlifeseeker'... I see no justification for masochistic references to 'a type of cache' that falls someway short of being my favorite. I stated that I 'hated' drive-by caches, I also quoted my prefered type of terrain / cache. Again, personal opinion... MY personal opinion.

Are you a masochist? I also search for caches because they are there, but only when it's convenient to do so. I know what I'm probably in for if I decide to find a cache in a parking lot and if I'm not up for that (which is most of the time) I don't go outta my way to do it. Ditto... I don't go out of my way to find caches which are not of my prefered type. But I don't ignore them just because I don't like them!! Similar to some medications, I might not like the taste, but I know I've just got to take it!!

Hi, I have been geocaching for almost 2 years now, have found over 650 caches & placed only 16. I hate drive-by caches - but I 'do' them! That is because "they are there", therefore I'll go and search for them. I much prefer a decent trek into a forest or woods to search for a mixed sized series of caches, but I can't always have that! I also like caches in dis-used quarry's. I have actually placed caches in woodland and quarry areas, and the number of people that actually bother to go search for them is quite small. So in some respects placing caches as drive-by's, or in structures closer to available car parking makes more people get out there and search them out...hence some of my hides ARE drive-by's! I tend to agree totally with the points you make, there are too many 'poor caches' out there that require nothing more than a quick look behind a pole or roadsign to find...no challenge whatsoever! It is my opinion that 'saturation cache placement' does nothing to enhance the hobby or enjoyment that should be gained from searching for varied & challenging caches whilst going about your walk. Your main point of limiting cache placements by non-premium members is another matter, and I neither support or reject the principle of such limitations. My stance is driven by personal experience of searching for poor 'high concentration' (or saturation) cache placements by premium members who really should know better... for example, a series of caches placed at regular intervals along a public footpath route (which is fine). These caches are given D&T ratings above what they really are...and the reason for these high ratings is that the co-ordinates are so badly recorded (purposely!) to ensure that the caches are difficult to find. These are premium member caches that I'm talking about, placed by fellow cachers with much more experienced than me. Please remember that my comments are just personal opinions, and are not necessarilly shared by others. Croesgadwr, a North Wales geo-cacher

Ahh, so my premonition, whilst not right, was a sign of things to come....I'm happy with that!!

Hi, don't quote me on this but I'm sure that I've seen somewhere on this forum that theres an issue as regards Garmin communicator and Mac's...with a result similar to what you describe. I can't offer any help personally, but I'm certain that others will be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck. Croesgadwr

I'm confident that I already know the answer to the question that I'm about to ask, but......... what firmware are you running on the new unit? I had a premonition that the answer may contain the number 3... Was I right? As a fellow E20 owner I hope you can continue to "fight for the (Etrex 20) cause". Good luck with it... Croesgadwr

Hi, I think if it were mine and I had this 'issue' (was going to say problem, but at the mo we don't know if it is a problem!) I would send a quick email to Garmin uk. In my opinion they are pretty good as regards actioning queries... and in any case as you say "the device works great". So 'if it ain't broke don't try and fix it!!', at least until Garmin have given an opinion.

The username "Crusader" is taken, although seemingly not used for logging of caches. Go into your profile, scroll down to "find another player", then type in "Crusader". A number of usernames using "crusader" can be found. http://www.geocaching.com/find/default.aspx B. That makes sense... I recall (at that time) entering the name "Crusader" into the caches found by / hidden by boxes, and getting a 'negative' as a result. So at least I now know that there was a cacher out there between 2001 & 2004 called Crusader, who was never active in the true meaning of a geocacher. It was more than six years later that I tried to claim the title of "Crusader".

I seem to recall that when I was picking my name there was a problem with my selection... I wanted to call myself "Crusader", but I got an 'ur-urrr, yer can't have that!' My second choice was 'Croesgadwr', which means Crusader in the Welsh language. Its only a problem when people try and say it!! Phonetically its "Croy-es-gad-ooow". By chance I checked to see if Crusader was actually taken....it wasn't, so I don't know what the problem was. Croesgadwr a North Wales geocacher.

Hi, I'm sure that 'tr s' will be along shortly with his own thoughts on the questions that you've raised. I think you will find that he is quite an authority on the devices in question... A countryman of yours I think??