Zzyzx Road

Typically no, they are "Hitch-hikers", just a long for the ride, and not considered a trade item.

I have an eXplorist 600. I have used the thing in some heavy groves of Eucalyptus trees without missing a beat, but have not used it yet in really heavy Pine. Will do that this weekend. Fog hasn't affected it at all, rainclouds either, maybe because I wasn't really out in the rain! I LOVE the fact that I can upload regions of my MapSend (which you will find on here somewhere how to keep your 3rd CD of the TOPO from getting all scratched with repeated in/out of the drive) map to the GPS SD card, and I call those regions the same as whatever the group of caches I choose to find that particular day. GSAK enables easy groupings of caches based on where I want to go that day. Or by terrain, which is decided on whether or not I take kids with me. I also have created a set of my own personal POI's, which I have loaded into a file called Home Coords. The altitude and barometer have been quite accurate, both with the weather equipment I have access to and also the changin weather conditions. The only gripe I have about it is that the Geocaching feature still doesn't allow much info, only 30 characters. Other than that I have been really enjoying going out and treasure-hunting with it.

I love my little unit. I have already given it a small scratch, which happened the day it got here. (That was better than what I did to my phone - I dropped it on the file cabinet in my closet. Off all the carpet there, it landed on the corner of the metal cabinet, and of course the screen hit that corner square-on!) We have found 63 caches with it, marked many personal POI's, been able to impress my unimpressionable father-in-law with it's accuracy of elevation and also been able to help my 6th grader with homework! My cousin is a new-er cacher and has looked-long-time for a GPS of her own and found a 600 for about $250 (ouch! I paid more...). She ended up with that one for her own camping/hunting trips with her boys AND she is familiar with mine.

Have you read Embra's websites? They are the little ones about eXplorist at the bottom of his posts. Quite overwhelming to me, you know, that push this button while holding down on the out key and spinning 3 times to the right... kinda' stuff? His site is somewhat oddly written, here, but there is a translation too. Hope you find something there...

See, we ended up with a 600, because hubby wanted the weather/altimeter/compass for his backwoods hunting trips (and I am sure the "backtrack" feature will help too! ) I wanted the SD card and USB for the Geocaching. We ended up getting the 600, a 3-d Topo and an SD card for the same $$ as a 500. Then my cousin found one on eBay for less than a 400 - with a case. So they are priced all over the place... YES! Hopefully an update...the screen looks like it could hold at least 6-8 lines of text for a hint/description etc, and yet it holds 30 characters (including spaces)...what's up with that, Magellan? Welcome RabidJack! (have you had your shots yet?)

I am certainly no expert or even a voracious user of the GPSr yet...But... I like the Geocache features. It is complicated but not impossible to upload the maps and cachelists. It is easy for me to handle, I like the joystick on it. Makes it easy for me to use one hand to maneuver through the menu. I get a solid 8-10 hours of use out of mine, I am looking to get an extra battery. Altitude and temp have been pretty darn accurate so far. Some caches I have found have been almost dead on...others are really off. Since I have checked my 600 at different times of different days for a same set of cords and not had much of a variable, those off caches I think are NOT my unit's issue. My cousin and I have been caching since mid-December and she is now buying her own 600. I like the USB ease of loading cords, and the extended memoey of SD cards... PLUS!!! Embra is here to help in that expert Explorist way, without making you feel like an ignoranus or anything... <thank you Embra!>

Pahrump We are heading there in the next month or two, and I was researching the caches in the area...

On Top of Ole' Smokey...

I too have had people laugh at me and point fingers, "Why do you spend all that time with that stuff?" Palm is also helping me with daily life - between the dance classes for the girls and doctor/dentist appointments, between Girl Scout meetings and Band concerts, not to mention the ever-elusive "grocery list" that I write and leave at home - keeping me organized. Software is teaching me a tiny fraction of Compu-Geek-Speak. I have used several "go-around" methods, incorporated mini-programs (macros to others) and figured out some pretty tricky settings. GPS unit is another one of those gadgets that I like to "collect", but it is what puts the FUN in Functional!

Don't know if this will help - my 600 is like your 500 - Cord must run down the back of the GPS, akweird way of attaching it, but that's how it goes. I personally use GSAK for my data organization, so I am not familiar with EasyGPS, but... When you save a group of coordinates (caches) to the GPS, it is as a group and that needs a name (I use several groups in the GPS at a time, so I name them something like 15 miles from my house or Steph's20 which are 20 by my cousin's place. Now with GSAK, I am given a default SD card location to store these. I am not aware of how EasyGPS does it, so I am lost there.

I download the GPX from my pocket queries to a specific folder just for those. That way I don't forget where they are! That may sound funny but I have a real problem remembering where I put things. Then I open GSAK, which Embra gave you the link - trust me it is worth the registration! Using the FILE in the upper left corner you will LOAD GPX/LOC. This will bring up a dialog box where you find the GPX file (from your PQ, see why you need to remember where you put it?) and then you let GSAK open it up. From there you can filter by one aspect or another until you have a set of cachepoints you want to load. Then again to FILE, then EXPORT. There you will find the option of Magellan eXplorist SD card. Select that one, and when the dialog box comes up, choose eXplorist Geocaches. At that time, make sure your GPS is USB'd and turned on. Then you will "send" the info to the GPS. You can also send these points to the MapSend as a file at the EXPORT. At that window you would choose Mapsend WPT file. Make sure you remember where you put it and what you named it! At Mapsend (I have the topo, so if it is different from what you have, sorry) I go to WAYPOINTS then load from file - using the file and location from before. They should load just fine. What I do from there is cut a region of detail map that just fits the area of caches I am wanting to do and save/load that into the GPS. Then I make the cache selection and the map region active and I am good to go. Yes it is complicated, but once you get it, it doesn't seem too bad. And like was mentioned before, if that is what you are used to or have, that's what you work with. Whether or not it has extreme suction!

How about these? I ordered a few extras when I needed some of these cuties for Girl Scouts... <of course it won't work!...You have to to search for GEOCACHING at this point...> edited for stupid pages....%*#&@$!

I too am sorry about your loss. Losing one's father is an awful thing. Mine was a MAJOR influence in my life and a great source of advice that is suddenly gone. If I were to make a memorial cache that celebrated my dad's life it would get banned right away. He LOVED fireworks and anything that would blow up! Seriuosly, Ice cream scoopers, fancy spoons, 50's style diner bowls, sprinkles (triple zipped for "freshness"), a can of Hershey syrup to pour on top...

I have only used one route at a time so I don't know if my answer would help. I just pulled it off the SD card and converted it back over into MapSend (I think). Embra would have this one for you...

I used the Magellan Geocache Manager for a short while...then I needed to see what the topographic was for a specific cache that I was after, and I couldn't see the point on the Mapsend Topo 3-D. Everyone here said to try GSAK. I like it much better. I download the GPX, open it to GSAK, sort what I want out of the list and Export it to a eXplorist-compatable file and load it to the GPSr on the SD card. I convert the list to a set of Waypoints to MapSend, so I can load it into a map of the particular area, and then I can see cut a region to convert to the eXplorist also. THAT requires the Magellan Conversion manager. I ALSO export that group of Caches to the Palm for ease of logging and detailing the Cache experience. You can save several batches of caches on the SD card and load them into "active" status as you want. Same with the map regions. I personally have not used much of the Magellan software that came with the unit, but I do use that MapSend Topo a lot...and GSAK!

Our local "K" store had a laminator that would do up to 9" for only $30...I debated getting it at the time, just for Travel Bug missions and Cache info. The pouches weren't too expensive either...

I defend Carp...I also defend guppies and swordtails. Seriously...is all this debate about the value of the trade? I frequently do the TNLNSL trip because there is nothing of interest to me in the cache. I would rate however, the value of the junk in the cache as far less than a McToy most of the time. I buy a couple of bags of polished rocks and marbles from the Gem and Minerals society booth at our local fair each year - for 1$. That could be my contribution to a cache. Somebody would come along and say, "What a dumb rock!" when it is really a quite nicely polished chunk of rose quartz. But then again, I collect rocks and gemstones. To each his own, if it isn't what you want to trade, don't trade it! If your kid is with you and wants a junky toy, take it. If it is in your cache and you don't want it there, make it into a travel bug or something. I donate a bunch of those kinds of toys to our local Community Assistance program each time I "spring clean" the kids rooms. We already have anough trash added to our landfills each day, adding several tons of non-biodegradable plastic McToys isn't a very good idea either!

My 5 year old likes to find these "toys". Neopets are something we all do too, unfortunately. But when I went to get 8 meals for a gaggle of kids over that day - during the last week of neopets - we got 8 "Woody" toys that were leftovers. Supposedly they had run out of Neopets. About a month later we went in and they had Neopets as leftovers and were out of whatever was the current promo. So I still have Woody in the packages. Now, as far as taking them out of the packages...I did that once just to make it fit in the cache. It fit fine, as long as it was out of the plastic tray it came in. Not all of them are in nice little baggies. We have traded McBeanies for a small Hello Kitty figurine (plastic), a plastic gingerbreadman ornament, a marble...so value wise, we are trading junk for junk...AND I have seen 2 caches where the junk in there isn't worth a McToy! Now, if we could find a polished gemstone, a quarter or some kind of horse figurine each and every time we go, then the kids would be really happy with the finds. They are finally getting a little more choosy about their trades at least.

I sent mine in the week between Christmas and New year's, and until 3 weeks ago, the rebate status was not entered. I checked just now when I found this thread, and they have received my info - it is being processed - but I never got an email stating that. Just another "rebate" experience... I purchased a large appliance at a local home improvement warehouse, (the blue/green one, not the orange one) and I received "Free Shipping" via mail-in rebate. 6 months, three emails, two phone calls later, I got my "free shipping rebate". If it was really "free", how come I paid for it? One was evidently lost in the mail, one reissue lost in their system, and after the gal on the phone told me, "I'm sorry, but that offer has expired - there's nothing I can do!" which made me swear in her ear, and also got an answer that made more sense. They had a check to me in 5 days. So don't forget about it! Call them frequently!

Was what the OP really trying to say: "When are we, as the Geocaching community, going to take seriously the rampant lack of adherence to the rules, which in the end may negatively affect the very sport we enjoy?"

"I am serious...and don't call me Shirley!"

I have two girls, 5 and 11, and go with my cousin, who has 3 boys, 11 (twins) and 14. Were are from Porterville,CA, so as a team we are the Porter Villans. She goes by her name and I mine when it is time to sign the logs. She lives about 50 miles from me and we cache in her town more (hers is larger and has more caches than mine) so she and I often grab one here and there aside from our "Clown-car" attempts. I have a 4-door Ford pickup, and when we stop to search for a cache, it is really funny to see all those kids swarm out of the truck! Our team efforts are mentioned in the logs we leave, not as a handle...

"Take a load off, Manny!"

Based on the other topics/threads that I read about in AR, how would you all go about this one? GCT7K5 I read the posted DNF, and decided I wouldn't even bother. If it is so hard to find that you stay long enough to cause suspicion, it is either too hard for me to find in the first place or someone isn't aware of the potential geocaching "traffic" in that area. I seriously wonder about some of the caches I have found/plan to find/have read up on to find...there are some that clearly state the cacheowner knows the landowner (cattle ranges in the hills) and has permission. Others state that it s a public road and it's OK, but some of the previous dealings with the people that live/ranch in that particular area have been less than friendly. They don't want strangers messing with their livestock and will come out with loaded weapons to ask about your business. Too bad we live in a scary world!

Hubby doesn't go. in fact the other day he asked if he would ever get to play with the GPSr himself. I pointed out that he has been invited MANY times to go play with us and Geocache with it... He said, "I want to use it for it's REAL purpose!" Now, would he really like me to take him, blindfolded and without supplies, out into the middle of BFEgypt and turn him loose with just the GPSr (no maps!) for the real purpose of "finding his way back"? The almost-6 year old enjoys it when I don't go with my cousin and her three boys. The almost 12-year old likes it when I let her use the GPSr (which she is really terrible about reading correctly! I try not to let her use it in the car, only after we have stopped and gotten out. Otherwise we drive WAY off course!) My cousin's boys seem to enjoy it, again, as long as they can hold the GPSr. They are 11, 11 and 14.