The Commissar!

...upright like a walkie talkie is best but if the sats are plentiful and strong and you are not in dense cover it won't matter much...and keep that phaser pointed in a safe direction. We don't want any GEO-accidents around here The Commissar!

since you are new to the area...many phone books have city maps that include parks. compare that info to existing caches in the area to make sure you do not violate the saturation rule...Also check county and state web pages. Lots of approaches but my favorite is the have a cache or ten ready to hide and when you find THE spot you may already have a great container ready to drop and mark. My wife wants to know what the deal is with all the junk in my pathfinder...oh nothing dear!

I vote yes for the electronic compass. I have two Plats and invariably friends with compassless GPSr's of all major makes drool over my ability to keep on going when their unit just sits there, waiting, for you to walk, and walk, and walk, so you can get a refreshed pointer pointed in the appropriate direction... but it is a question of how much it is worth to you... The Commissar!

you can get the new Mapsend TOPO-3D at beachaudio.com for ~$71 +$8 shipping... http://www.beachaudio.com/catalog/product_...oducts_id=46668 I expect my copy today, The Commissar!

...all that, but the bottom line is that most folks would agree that taking several reading of the spot you want to mark over some period of time or using the averaging feature available on some GPSr units will yield the most consistently repeatable coordinates presuming you have a decent satellite constellation. Putting on bullet proof vest now... The Commissar!

you can only "see" one detail map at a time. You can change the one you have available in the menus. If you use the serial cable you do over write any previously uploaded map. You have to use a reader to get more than one...for detailed instructions go to the meridian user group on yahoo. there is a wealth of info in the files section including exactly how to do what you are trying to do...

Yep, adopt them out and if there are no takers, archive them and collect the geotrash before you move.

I gotta hear this...I am a looooong way from CA!

I just replaced my Magellan Meridian Platinum with an identical one and paid $240.00. Just inside your budget. BUT...you do not need the latest greatest GPSr to find a cache...Before I invested serious money in a new model I used a Magellan Trailblazer XL for about 75 finds including some of the hardest ones I've done. While waiting for my replacement I did several caches without any GPS and one with my old TXL. Truth is, its more challenging with an older unit...if/when you get a mapper you will be spoiled big-time... Play with that old one a while and take your time and shop, meet other cachers with different units and try em out. As you can see this bunch would do anything to help out a Geofriend. Cheers, The Commissar!

I will try to contact the cache owner for hints if I can't find it after several tries, but will rarely give more than a cryptic answer...

I think I like them...I don't have much difficult terrain down here in South Carolina. I cache with children much of the time I'm not at or on the way to/from work caching, so they require a kitchen pass which raises the difficulty to a six considering the size of my honey-do list I am reasonably close to the now famous Tube Torcher and Sissy's Snarky Walk. Trips to them are in the planning stages. Behind hanging sheetrock in the bonus room I think!?

I have seen micros screwed to trees...would this newly modified guideline also prohibit this type of hide?

I have had several. FWIW, just because you didn't find it before others didn't find it, and the owner confirmed it missing does not mean that it was not there when you were looking for it... We had a case locally where an owner could not find his own cache and archived it. Another cacher who did not know it was "missing" went and found the darn thing when the owner could not!

Funny thing...If we talk, we can work things out, if we b*** and whine...nothing gets done. One of those things that makes you go hummm?

Laser pointers don't hurt people, people hurt people. Now go cache and stop with the banning this and that...the only thing that should not be in a cache is something that is illegal to possess (or buy) by a person of any age...no guns, no porn, no cigs, no booze, etc…Exception, no food or other smelly stuff because the bears will ruin the cache.

Who says its not about the numbers? Who says we shouldn't be competitive? Who says its not about being first? Who says you can’t share in someone else’s passing a milestone? This game is different for everyone...play and enjoy it YOUR way! I like being FIRST! But I could not tell you how many first finds I have…maybe its a prime number?

I have just gone paperless and am enjoying the PQ's and 3rd party off-line solutions for planning my hunts. I would still like to see a micro icon on the search results lists and on the maps too... But... It really won't change the way I cache because I am going to try knock them all off my list sooner or later. And when a new one pops up I will read the cache page and know whats involved, size and otherwise

Every golfball is sacred, every golfball is good, and if a golfball is wasted God gets quite irate!

I like maps too...I usually get a general idea of the location, drive to the area, and just follow the map on my GPSr to the cache once I get close. If I am going to a wilderness area or the like I always carry a compass and area topo map. But for general around civilization caching I will usually stick to the basics...spare batteries for the Meriplat.

I'm going back to the Golf Balls thread...way more fun than this...

I have found several caches hidden in cemeteries and one micro that was inches from a headstone... On the public or private question, I think you will find that many are on "private property", operated commercially/owned by the adjacent or nearby church/old family cemetery on old family property. I think very few are actually "public property". I think most of them generally allow unrestricted access to people visiting the permanent residents, but I'm not sure how the owners would react to our little game being played there... But...I'm in! Edit: That'll teach me to accept a spell check word

I'm with Brian, I think its a Trout!

I plan a days worth of hunting away from home (mainly just the most efficient route) but as new caches pop up in my home range I grab them as the opportunity presents itself or just find some excuse for being home late if its an involved multi...

FWIW, I think it does illustrate a good point though... That experience makes us better able to hide an approvable cache. (Notice that I DID NOT say hide a better cache!) In the listing linked to above, had the hider had more experience, he/she would have known to either check the appropriate box on the submittal or not submit the cache page until the cache was actually hidden.

On one waypoint ~1 hour of actually looking for it - DNF.