Geo-Kate

Kate, yes the address facility works on my Topo / s/w2.60 The paths I've found have been coloured green although the paths displayed are a very small % of the total shown on my Explorer maps. I also concur with Pharisee/Hi-Tek's comments about the increased accuracy and detail of Topo - very good. Not perfect, but very good. OK, have installed the latest beta software for my map60c and I can now see footpaths! Some are black, some are green. Some seem to start and stop randomly, and some, like some cycle lanes I know, appear in the midddle of nowhere and only last a few feet! Address search function still not working, it only says, 'No match found' in the city input feild, almost as though it has no database to reference to. I am very impressed with the detail on the maps, the flipside of this is that the maps take MUCH longer to render on screen now

I think I may know the answer to this one... Some GPSRs suffer from what I have heard been called 'slingshot'. Basically, the readings you are getting are delayed by the receiver, and when you march towards a waypoint at a great rate, it says you are still not there when you are. If you wait a couple of mins, the location fix settles down and you should find it sorts itself out. I believe it is called 'slingshot' because you will walk right past the waypoint, and then find yourself walking back the way you came some distance when the fix sots itself out. I have heard of some people stopping 100 or 150' short of a cache location, turning the reveiver on and off and walking slowly forward to counteract the effect, although I think this is a little extreme. Anybody who knows more than this, please feel free to add your comments.

There has been absoltely NO snow here at all this winter, and i'm gettign quite upset reading about all your snowy adventures! The closest thing we have has here is home made snow from scraping the frost from my windscreen and trying to make a little tiny snowball from the powdery spoils piled against the wiper blades. Mrs GK wasn't impressed when I attemted to throw said snowball at her

I saw that update on the Garmin site. There is a beta software version for the 60c I am running now. It shows maybe half of the footpaths in black, but the other half in white. Quite randomly by the looks of it. A white path on a pale yellow background is virtually impossible to see! Garmin are aware and the proper update was supposed to be out by this weekend. It isn't. Oh, on a related matter, since installing Topo GB (or the update) my address search does not work anymore. Is yours still working, Wombles? GK

Just been to an 80s cartoon website (possible the same one linked in the other (hijaced ) thread. I got the link on Yahoo's Office Attachments. I thought at 23 I was too young to feel nostalgic, but evidently not What a trip down memory lane, especially watching the into videos With regard to best songs or tunes, for some reason the Mysterous Cities Of Gold wins it for me...

I have written a nice little note in German you might want to send to him via his profile. Maybe it will encourage him to do something about it. Have you tried contact a member of UK admin (lactodorum or Eckington) and asking them to contact this guy? I dont know if an eamil from them will prompt him. Here is a nice little note you might want to send him, written in German; Hallo, Er scheint, daß Sie eine gespenstische Spielraum-Wanze ' und Herrn Jones während einiger Zeit jetzt gehabt haben und Sie sie nicht an verschoben haben. Spielraumwanzen werden bedeutet, herum verschoben zu werden und an jedem Schritt geloggt zu werden. Sie haben auch eine andere Wanze in Ihrem Warenbestand, den Sie nicht verschoben haben. Verschieben Sie bitte die Wanze an und loggen Sie sie in einen anderen Pufferspeicher so bald wie möglich. Good luck getting your bug moving again

Thanks both of you, I have now sent an e-mail to them, this should hopefully get it sorted GK

We got a new TB, opened the bag a few days ago, and went to activate it today. HOWEVER Between now and then, the bag with the activation code on seems it may have been 'tidied' away somewhere! Do any of you know if there is a way of finding out what the code was, or is the bug now useless? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks GK

As a (soon to be) driving instructor, I guess it depends where I pull up for lunch! That's quite a good idea actually.... And Geoff-Kate doesn't have the same ring, and of courece releveance to GEOcaching! EDIT: just occured, regarding the earlier post about the skiing and your avator, I can't belive I didn't mention 'jet-skiing'!

Oh thats just fantastic! Is that why you were so keen to welcome me to the forum? You thought I was a she Maybe I should think of a way to make it clearer that there is a Geoff and a Kate in Geo-Kate.... Oh, sorry for hi-jacking the thread!

LOL, I thought I'd check your your profile page (to hear your music) and was curious as to why you go skiing in a jet?! PS, if you worried I'm losing it, see hobby list... Doh, thanks Kate. I have corrected the error, so anyone looking now will think you have lost it oh thats just great. Now I'm having an identity crisis, and people will think I've lost it. I'm the 'Geo' part of Geo-Kate; Geoff

LOL, I thought I'd check your your profile page (to hear your music) and was curious as to why you go skiing in a jet?! PS, if you worried I'm losing it, see hobby list...

With regard to placing a cahe in a 'TAKEN' area, I think the correct thing to do would be to cantact the owner of the caxhe that was already there, and ask them if they were ok with you placing a cache in the same woodland/park/whatever. As long as they met the proximity guildlines, what is the problem? IMO, I think it is quite rude to say that you think that some caches are pointless or no good. Somebody has taken the time and effort to place the cache, even if it doesn't meet your standards. I only have 3 caches (a fourth on the horizon), all of which I think are pleasant, and get some very nice feedback. I would be devistated if somebody was to tell me that one would be better off not existing!

I'm sorry that I missunderstood the specs of the handheld, I was under the impression none of the Etrex models had autorouting capabilities. The supplier I use for my equimpment is www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk Duty free Dixons may do them, depends if they carry the stock though. It might be woth while getting their number and checking or ordering one if the price is right. Best of luck to you

I too have had a look at this old thread. It is quite facinating to look back at the sport when it was in it's infancy. The link in the thread to an old BBC article still works, and makes good reading too! Thanks for all your replies so far, it has been interesting to hear all your stories

I think you will need to regester the handheld with garmin, and i think it will let you use the software on the divice. Well, only as far as you will see the map on the screen. But I want you to be aware that the unit will not be able to calculte on road routes. Its worth giving them a call on 0870 8501242 and getting the pre sales advice. The closest you can get to OS style mapping on the garmin handhelds is Topo GB. It says it is made with OS and has their logo on it, but it doesn't compare! Unfortunately, you cannot buy 3rd party maps to install. Topo GB costs £150 (!!!!!) and is very similar to other mapsource products. The big difference is the maps show contour lines and have a greater 'resolution' of geographical reatures such as wood and rivers and lakes. Footpaths also show, but are no where near as good as those shown on real OS maps! You can dowload a file that allows you to see contour lines on a mapping device. It works like a transparent layer with the lines laid over the installed maps. They can be installed and removed seperately from your unit. Follow the link from the sticky thread at the top of the page entitled 'Which GPS'. If you really want to see OS maps, I believe a windows powered PDA can run maps like Memory Map and the PDA can be linked to a GPSr. Some even come with GPS built in! I hope i haven't confused you further still!

It depends on what mapping you actually have. Is it metro guide or city select? if its metro guide I think it can run on multiple devices ok. If it city select I believe you may need unlocking codes. From memory, you are allowed to use the software on 1 additional unit. An unlock code can be obtained from mapsource unlock. I am not sure if you already need to have a customer code and the original 8 digit voucher from your software. Be warned: the Vista range of GPSs do not have routing capabilites. The unit cannot calculate point to point routes on roads. The maps from streetpilots will also not work on Garmin devices that have routing other than other streetpilots. I know this as I have a street pilot c320 which came with city select v7. I bought a gpsmpa60c as a secondry device, as it shoould work with the software. It does not, the route calculation data is different. The maps will be visible, but other units will not be able to calculate routes. Hope this helped, and not confused you further!

Wow, lucky 7 year old!

I can't really see the need for it. As long as you say 'at your own risk' to newbies, i can't see how it might go wrong.... Then again for peace of mind if it isn't too expensive?

Just curious as to how people get into the sport... Did you have a GPSr anyway and find out about the game, or did you get your GPSr to enable you to play? I'm just wondering, we got our first e-trex yellow as an aid for our walking. Mostly just to have an accurate mileage and like the idea of the track logs and knowing one's exact location if lost. Please share your thoughts GK EDIT: just saw that i can't spell the word 'egg'. Sorry

You'd have to be seriously drunk if you need a radio station to tell you which pub you were drinking in

Sounds intruiging... I'd like to know a little more about it first. I live in the SE and am interested.

That's cool. I do think that if the bug actually visited the cache even though it wasn't dropped the travel record would be accurate. It's not that common to have someone log a bug through a LOT of caches, it would probably be too much work. If I am dragging someone's bug through a cache, dipping as it's called, I make sure to say something interesting, some sort of story relating either to the bug or something that happened along the way. If I'm just adding distance and nothing else to help it towards it's goal, and I don't say anything worth reading then I'm just wasting everybody's time. (Well, at least I hope I log something worth reading!) I understand you're point completely. What I think I have a problem with is that; unless a pic is taken or, as you say, a story told, the bug could be sitting in a house while a cacher goes out and 'dips' the bug in and out of caches, without the bug ever being there! maybe it doesn't happen and I'm just being a peasimist

But isn't this just logging the current bug holder's jouney and not the bug's, if the bug is not being deposited. The situation mentioned skiiing in austria and not being dropped as the caches are too sparce, or if the cahes are too small, i can understand. If it were my bug i would only want to know where the bug stopped as part of it's journey, not particulary somebody having it in their inventory and just 'logging' all the caches they find until they decide to or find a suitable place to drop it. It seems to me it would get a false picture of the travelling and stops it made... In my opinion!

What to you mean to 'see sats'? You're not seeing them on screen in the advanced sky view, or the machine is not recieving any satelites? If it is not getting any signals, often a hard reset will get it working again. I can't seem to find in the manual how to do that. Garmin will be able to help you, though. After a hard reset it will start all over again and get a new almanac (sp) for the satelites. I have had my map60c for a while now, the only problem I have is the power button is not working very well any more. It needs quite a hard push to get it to turn on/off sometimes!