mdshamilton

I'm an Assistant Scout Leader at 3rd Hampton Hill. Trying to figure out which is the best new GPS to buy which will load detailed OS maps for hiking as well as Geocaching. Any recommendations? Mark

OS = Ordnance Survey: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ I think these are the most detailed maps of the UK with markings of walking trails etc.

Several times over the past few months I've been out in the countrside doing some Geocaching or walking with the kids and wished I had a GPS with OS maps on it that had sufficient detail to show all the paths etc. Can anyone recommend a new GPS with OS maps on it to use for the casual walker/rambler/geocacher? Thanks, Mark

Geocacher RobGraham is visiting with me at the moment. He's from the Boston area and is flying back this Sunday. We're going to try to find the cache in Richmond Park and the KewMeridian cache this Saturday if you can get the TB there.

Works fine - waypoints aren't affected adversely and the upgrade was very quick. Good spot VisionQuest! Mark

Mine too... I think it's easier to change them back using Mapsource. Pretty awful upgrade testing Garmin did on this! I recommend you do a maps and waypoints backup prior to doing the upgrade using Mapsource. When I did that, installed the upgrade and then reinstalled the maps and waypoints the icons all went back to open and closed geocaching symbols as I'd originally had them.

This is the emailed response I had from the EasyGPS people. I haven't tried it yet: ************************************** Hello Mark, Saturday, December 4, 2004, 4:05:21 PM, you wrote: MH> Do you have plans to update EasyGPS to work with a Garmin Quest which has a MH> USB port connection and not a serial port? Use the Garmin GPSMAP 60CS setting for now. http://www.easygps.com/latest.asp -- Dan Foster TopoGrafix - GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps http://www.topografix.com - mailto:support2004@easygps.com Like EasyGPS? Try ExpertGPS! http://www.expertgps.com

Hey VisionQuest220 - This was just posted on the UK forum and will make both our geocaching a bit easier........ link to the topic (which is cut and pasted below) is http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=85653 and link to the Mapsource 6.5 beta upgrade is http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=625 ****************************** For those who use it, but didn't know about it... Garmin have recently (12/11/04) made available a beta-release update to Mapsource. The version number is 6.5b, and is accompanied by the usual disclaimers and caveats. There seem to be a large number of changes but, for Geocaching, the most important ones are: Can import GPX files directly. Previous versions needed a third-party conversion utility. User-definable waypoint icons. Some issues related to routing have been fixed (and about time), but the "find address" facility is still complete rubbish. Looks like a useful step forward, though. Link to the download page is http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=625

Brilliant! Might save me from having to manually type in all those geocaching waypoints, since the Garmin Quest is USB and not serial ported so I can't use EasyGPS. Thanks for the link!

Thanks all for your help!

Well....geocaching.com linked packages such as EasyGPS which is very good (which seems to only work for a serial port GSP, so won't work with the Quest).

Thanks for all the responses, glad I'm not being blind!...I've also emailed Jeremy - no response yet.

My Quest finally arrived, and I'm actually pretty happy with it. It's just a little bit bigger than my old Vista. I've looked through the manual and fiddled with the Quest but I can't figure out how to add a non-street address location for a geo-cache. I can get the Quest to go into off-road mode and I can "see" my long/lat, but is there some way of loading cache locations into the Quest manually or do I have to use one of the geocaching.com software packages? Thanks

Fellow Geocachers, I have 2 travel bugs (Williams F1 Bug and Ferrari F1 Bug) that I am thinking about racing from the UK to Japan in time for the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix. Can you recommend a cache that I could use (perhaps one of yours?) - and if the bugs got to Japan would you be willing to retreive them and post them back to me in the UK for another race? Regards, Mark

Is anyone else amazed at how many caches there are covering the globe? The number and coverage is just incredible.

Thanks - where does that link from on the lefthand border/links?

I want to use 2 travel bugs to "race" to a cache in Japan, the closest to where the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix is held, or somewhere relatively central to Tokyo. A year or so ago, there was the the option to click on a physical map of a country and continue clicking to zoom in on caches in a particular area of a country (I've used it before for the UK and USA). What happened to those country maps, they don't appear to be linked to the "Find a Cache" page?

The point I was trying to make really (and that the moderator was getting at) is that there has to some balance in a forum, otherwise it becomes useless. Scan the threads for the past few days and at least 50% of them are of the "jokey" kind...so one has to really concentrate to spot the real geocaching topics. Light-hearted banter is great, but within reason.

Haggis Hunter, I'm not naming names or getting personal. But there do seem to be a disproportionate number of "off topic" topics/threads posted here. It's getting to the point where I feel I'm not learning anything and I'm just wasting my time reading this forum. If people want to post photos for captions, or start threads to complete the next line etc etc...there is the "Off Topic" forum available. If forum contributors feel it's important to make it more "local" and funny such as the Welsh and Scots giving the English a hard time (God knows whether the Americans would ever understand that) - then perhaps it's time one of the moderators asked Jeremy Irish to set up a separate "Off Topic" forum within the UK forum and one of those regular contributors to volunteer as moderator?

I agree wholeheartedly with SlytherinAlex on this. I was very impressed with the knowledge, time and effort taken by both Ullium and The Forester on the WAAS topic. For me, that thread was a fascinating insight to where the GPS technology is going and some very long posts, including some quite detailed calculations and data was debased by some very juvenile comments made by others. If you don't like the topic, don't contribute to it...or take away from it with childish, attention seeking comments. There are other people who "lurk" here who are looking to learn and really don't want to waste time having to read such comments. I can imagine it can also be quite demoralising to those taking the time to type out posts when silly, and pointless comments are made. Most people wouldn't say such things, or interrupt such a discussion when face-to-face. We're all adults here, so let's have a little more respect for others. Thank you.

Has anyone bought and read any of the 5 Geocaching books available from Amazon (listed below)? I've been geocaching on and off for the past 3 years...am I likely to learn anything new, be better at finding caches - or are they really aimed at "Dummies"? Does anyone have any views/experience? Geocaching for Dummies (For Dummies S.) ~Joel McNamara John Wiley & Sons Inc Paperback - September 20, 2004 The Geocaching Handbook ~Dave Ulmer (Foreword), Layne Cameron Globe Pequot Press Paperback - July 1, 2004 Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching (Complete Idiot's Guides (Lifestyle Paperback)) ~Jack W. Peters Alpha Books Paperback - June 1, 2004 The Essential Guide to Geocaching ~Mike Dyer Fulcrum Publishing Paperback - August 15, 2004 GeoCaching: Hike and Seek with Your GPS ~Erik Sherman APress,US Paperback - April 1, 2004

I want to use 2 travel bugs to "race" to a cache in Japan, the closest to where the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix is held, or somewhere relatively central to Tokyo. A year or so ago, there was the the option to click on a physical map of a country and continue clicking to zoom in on caches in a particular area of a country (I've used it before for the UK and USA). What happened to those country maps, they don't appear to be linked to the "Find a Cache" page?

Anyone know where I can find a cheap ammo box in SW London?

I'm currently waiting for a Garmin Quest to arrive. Seeing all the discussion and pictures of antennas and wires is very timely. I'll keep all that in mind when I trade in my 4 yr old Renault Scenic for a new one next year. Note to self, avoid the heat reflecting windscreen, or at least test the Garmin first before placing car order!

I hate finding caches stuffed full of McToys! There really is no excuse for trying to peddle that crap to people who take the time to find a cache, write in the logbook etc. For less than £10 you can find all sorts of fun stuff at Woolworths from Matchbox cars, to pens, cello tape, stickers...the list is endless. But dumping your McToys in a container because your own kids don't want that rubbish is inexcusable. I recently visited a cache and was very thankful that I always bring several Matchbox cars with me for my own kids (they get a choice, they can have a Matchbox car or swap the car for something from the cache). Well, in this case the entire cache was McToys and BurgerKing toys too!