ZingerHead

Thanks for the tip!

Hello there. My family and I are planning a trip to Nova Scotia next week, and I was hoping to get some recommendations on caches in the Middleton area. We'll be coming up the west coast from Yarmouth. We may have some time during our stay for a trip down to Lunenburg, or points North. We haven't really figured out exactly WHAT we'll be doing, which is half the adventure of it all. So are there any must-see caches in these areas? Can't hit them all , but hope to hit a few . Thanks!

And you can learn about the rest of its features, and maybe troubleshoot the computer problem, at GARMIN's GPS60 manual site.

Christal - can your computer connect to your GPS at all? If yes, maybe you can use EasyGPS to transfer waypoints from geocaching.com to your GPS. I have a 60 CS, which might operate the same way as your 60. To enter a waypoint manually: 1. Press the MARK button. 2. Navigate down to the field marked "location", where the GPS coordinates are shown. The area around the numbers should now be "highlighted". 3. Press ENTER. 4. A little keyboard should show up on the screen. 5. Use the arrows to navigate around the keyboard. The < and > arrows will let you move across numbers you don't want to change. 6. After you punch in the numbers, click on the OK at the bottom of the virtual keyboard. 7. Double check your entry in the GPS against the printed coordinates on the cache page. 8. Triple check your entry in the GPS against the printed coordinates on the cache page . 9. Remember the name of the waypoint from the top line on the screen. It will probably be a number, like "001". To find the cache: 1. Press the FIND button. 2. This where I get you confused - on my 60CS I now have a bunch of choices, like "Waypoint", "Geocache", "Attractions", etc. I select Waypoints. 3. You should see a list of waypoints, and "001" (or whatever it was called) should be on the list. If you see another, bigger keyboard with letters and numbers, click on the OK button on the keyboard to clear it off the screen. 4. Highlight "001" on the list that remains on the screen. 5. Press ENTER. 6. At the bottom of the screen, highlight the GOTO button. 7. Follow the arrow to the cache. 8. Trade up! HTH

I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but if I'm after a 2/2 and the GPS can't decide which county it's in, never mind within 20 feet, and I'm standing on pile of boulders where there's a cache - I will use the hint. And if I've been looking for a reasonable amount of time (varies with patience allotment for the day) I will peek to give myself an edge. My priorities when caching: 1. Enjoy the hike. 2. Enjoy the location. 3. Enjoy the hunt. 4. Find the cache. When the hunt stops being enjoyable, out comes the hint so I can get to #4.

I have a 60CS. I can load all the street maps for the entire state of CT (about the size of Houston? ) and bordering sections of MA, NY, and RI. Then I add topo maps for the same area. And then the 24K topo section of the AT in CT. That pretty much maxes me out at 56mb. I'm planning a trip to Nova Scotia (several hundred miles), and so far I have street maps from here to there and plenty of memory left over. If all you want to load is street maps you should be able to cover all of Houston and its outlying areas with no problems. The maps vary in memory consumption based on the density of streets. The map blocks in rural areas are bigger in area covered, but consume less memory than blocks closer to cities. I thought I read somewhere that the Xplorist series use a rechargeable battery (please confirm this, I'm uncertain). If it is true, I'd think twice about buying one. In the field, when the battery runs low, you'd have no way to repower. With the Garmins you can swap out the AA batteries easily. The other thing I like about AA batteries is I have extras in my flashlight and camera in case I really need a backup. I considered the 76 when I bought my 60. It all came down to "feel". I'd suggest visiting a local retailer, or finding some local cachers who have those units and give them a heft. Weightwise they are comparable, but I liked having the buttons located below the screen rather than above. I can operate the 60 with one hand, although it's not nearly as easy to operate as my eTrex Vista. But then again, the 60 doesn't lose lock as soon as it sees a pine tree, either . Of course, if you do a lot of boating, the 76 will float if it goes overboard, whereas the 60 will sink unless you have lithium batteries installed. HTH

If you want additional range, take a look at getting an Amateur License and going with 2 meter radios. The tests have been greatly simplified in the last few years (no morse code!) and the range is virtually unlimited with links into repeaters and further links to the Internet. Take a look at www.arrl.org for more info. HTH

A coworker showed me an eTrex Legend that he was using for long snowmobile trips in the backcountry. I thought the gadget was kind of cool. Did some web surfing about GPS, found gc.com, and never looked back. Still caching 3+ years later.

I found a cache today that used a mirror, a magnifying glass, and an ultraviolet light on three different stages. So cheer up, it's only going to get worse .

If you plot routes on the PC and they STILL come out in straight lines, check that the routing option is set to "follow roads" instead of "direct" on the mapping software. And the Legend, despite it's small memory, can probably hold enough map info for a day of caching provided you don't have to load too many maps into the thing. Just plot your driving route from cache to cache as separate routes on the PC and then download the routes along with the waypoints. Select a route on the Legend and just follow the arrow as you drive. And, in case you haven't been updating your Legend's firmware, get the latest software for it. Some time back they updated the software so that the GOTO arrow will bend to indicate the direction of upcoming turns. Very helpful when you are driving as the letters are pretty hard to see while driving. And as a software developer in a past life, I agree 100% with briansnat. Just because they can crank out identical copies of their software for pennies does NOT reflect the up front costs that went into developing it, nor the cost to purchase all that mapping data. Never mind correcting all the problems that inevitably surface after it hits the streets. They were smart enough to come up with a product people want, so they should benefit from their ingenuity by having us pay them. When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that you can hold the equivalent of mapquest in your hand. And while google, mapquest, et al are free to use, you are bombarded with advertising, which is how those companies turn a buck on their "free" map software. HTH

Of course, the flipside of getting "better" at caching is that you will then try harder and harder caches to push yourself. I spent two long Saturdays hunting this monster. And in a strange and inexplicable way, it was a lot of fun.

If you schlep this thing over hill and dale to this cache you have the option of leaving it NY, MA, or CT - the borders of all three are within striking distance of the cache. Bring a backpack. A BIG backpack .

I recently upgraded from a 3 year old Vista (patch antenna) to a 60CS. I know better than to get all excited about the fact that the 60 can maintain a lock in my house, while the Vista never could - that is due to the reception pattern of the quad helix antenna, which is better able to capture signals that are low on the horizon - i.e. coming in the window, than the Vista's antenna. But after 100 or so finds with the 60 I can unequivocally say that it consistently outperforms the Vista in terms of reception. Yes, it has gotten confused a couple of times. But I've been pleasantly surprised to find it holding lock in situations that would give the Vista fits. I still miss the easy one handed operation of my Vista, but not enough to go back. As I understand it the Vista C uses essentially the same electronic guts as the 60CS, but it uses the patch antenna instead of the quad helix, which may explain your reception woes. As for Magellan quality vs. Garmin quality - Garmin definitely doesn't suck, if that was implied. Their build quality is top notch - I know, because I've worked in the electronics field for 25 years. I've carried my iPod and my 60CS geocaching for 3 months. The iPod crapped out - couldn't handle travel in a backpack, I guess. The 60 CS has been dropped in water, on rocks, fallen off dashboards, and it still looks and operates like the day I opened the box. They know how to build their stuff to be tough, and it shows.

Steer clear of micro caches for a while. And if you don't find it within 20 feet of "ground zero", expand your search area a bit. Sometimes the reception just isn't that great, and your readings will be a little off. Since you made the effort to get close, might as well look thoroughly .

As a dog owner who takes his dog out caching frequently, let me warn you that when we are in an outdoor situation where deer and other animals are defecating freely, my dog makes his own ecological contributions which are left where they stand. OK, if they are on the trail I will flip them aside, but if we are in the "wilderness" then I do not clean up after him. On the other hand, when I walk said pooch around my neighborhood I ALWAYS clean up after him, and I do the same whenever I am in a park or other people-centric location, or if the trail we are using is heavily traveled. I wish I could say the same about my neighbor, who appears to have trained his dog to unload anywhere BUT his own yard . My point here is that animal feces are as much a feature of the outdoors as the lovely trees, the sky, and the birds. Not as attractive, I'll grant you, but every bit as important, and every bit as natural. As earlier posters mentioned, his droppings actually enhance the environment from a fertilization standpoint, and they will break down quickly. This is most definitely NOT the case for the same package wrapped in a plastic bag and shipped off to a landfill. Methinks you doth protest too much.

Check out this website for detailed info on using a Palm Pilot with Pocket Queries and the advantages of doing so. It has step by step instructions for setting up the required software. You can get a Palm Pilot cheap on eBay - even older units will work fine.

Depending on how far away the cache is, you'll still need Mapquest for driving directions. The eTrex is an excellent GPS, but it is not as sophisticated as some of the (much) more expensive models out there. What the etrex excels at is finding geocaches, once you get yourself to a parking spot. If you want a GPS that calculates driving directions for you you will need to get a model that offers autorouting, like the GPS V, eTrex Legend C, or GPSMAP 60c. But these are considerably more expensive, and you'll need to purchase street mapping software for another $100 for the Legend or 60C models in order to use the autorouting to fullest advantage. The "hot and cold" game is what geocaching is all about. The little "goto" arrow on the eTrex will point the way to the "treasure", but it's up to you to find it once you get close. The GPS will rarely drop you right on top of a cache. On the other hand, there are many successful geocachers out there who never use a GPS, only map and compass. Sounds like you might be on your way to joining that elite club. HTH

Isn't that 60CS an amazing piece? Here'e how to enter a new waypoint manually, using the GPS buttons: 1. Press MARK 2. Use the round "rocker" arrow button to move the "highlight" so that the Location area (with the coordinate numbers) is "lit up". 3. Press ENTR. A little "keyboard" will appear on the screen. 4. Use the < and > buttons to move the highlight from digit to digit, and change the existing numbers to match the numbers from the cache page. 5. When you are finished changing the coordinates, click OK on the little keyboard on the screen. 6. (optional) - change the name of this waypoint from the number the GPS automatically gives it to the cache waypoint name (like GCNZ78), and also change the little icon to a closed treasure chest. If you do this then the new waypoint will show up when you search for geocaches using FIND, and it enables the "geocaching" features of the 60CS. 7. Done. To search for this new cache waypoint you just entered, press the FIND button and select the "Recent Finds" category. Your new waypoint should be right there at the top of the list. Highlight that waypoint, hit the GOTO button, and go find yourself a cache. HTH

A pocket query is a customized list of geocaches that you can have emailed to you. Let's say you only want to find caches rated 1.5/1.5 or lower within 50 miles of your house. You can set up a query which will email you a list of only these caches in a file. Then you can use free EasyGPS software to download the waypoints to your GPS all at once, instead of entering each cache one at a time. I'm a little confused about the Summit download issue though. The basic etrex, which is the same thing without the altimeter, I believe, accepts waypoint downloads from a computer. I looked on the GARMIN website and the specs for the Summit show that it has a serial interface - buy the PC cable accessory and you'll be able to download waypoints from your computer to the GPS. The Pocket Queries contain a whole lot more information than just waypoints, though. If you have a PDA (like a Palm Pilot) you can get free software that will take the information in the Pocket Query and create tiny web pages with the same "look and feel" of the geocaching.com website, right in your hand. You can store hundreds of cache pages in the PDA, you can read the cache descriptions and decode the encrypted hints right there while you are caching. No more printouts (and no more $35 ink cartridges). And you can update the information in the PDA each week when a fresh Pocket Query arrives. HTH

The GPS behavior you describe is perfectly normal. The signals from the satellites can be reflected off nearby surfaces such as cliffs or buildings, or the arrangement of the satellites in the sky (the "constellation") might have the satellites bunched together which can reduce accuracy on the ground. You might be under heavy tree cover, which reduces signal strength. The advice about a compass is good if the problem is poor GPS reception in the immediate area of the cache. But if the problem is that the GPS is leading you straight to the cache location, but once there it starts getting loopy, then my suggestion is to put the GPS away at that point, because it's done its job. Figure a 30 foot diameter circle around "ground zero" is normal, 50' is not that unusual, and at 100' there might be a problem with the coordinates. I will usually follow the GPS until I'm close, wait a bit for it to settle, then plant my pack at the "zero" location and start looking. Your best bet is to pay less attention to the GPS, and more attention to the little clues that might give you an idea as to where the cache is located. Start with "where is there room around here to hide a cache?". Is there anything "out of place", like an unnaturally neat stack of logs, or a hollow tree with a suspiciously fresh pile of leaves inside it? As far as following the arrow, I've become accustomed to caching with the map display. With my location pinpointed on the screen I can orient myself to features on the map and ignore the arrow, which usually doesn't update its position as often as I'd like when I'm closing in on the hide. I'd also be sure to hunt "easy" caches, rated 2/2 or lower, to get practice with different hiding techniques. Steer clear of micro caches for a while. Micros are more challenging simply because the number of possible hiding places for a film canister is much much greater than for an ammo box . Finally, if there is a geocaching event coming up in your area, go! You'll meet a lot of great people and you can cache with a group and see how everyone else does it.

You might want to check out this website for more information. They have a couple of articles that ask exactly the question you asking, and they have reviews of many popular GPS units. 3 years ago when I started geocaching I bought an eTrex Vista. It's small (good for backpacking), has maps (good for driving), and 24mB of memory (good enough to have topographic and street maps for about 100 miles in all directions. I recently upgraded to a GPSMAP60CS. It has everything the Vista has plus more memory (56Mb), faster data transfer (10 minutes to load maps vs 45 minutes), a larger color screen (much, much easier to view while driving), and autorouting (plots driving routes on the fly). Street mapping is a valuable GPS feature as you can use it on vacation or to get driving directions to a cache, but it doubles the cost of the GPS, and you have to purchase additional mapping software to make best use of the features. If you already have an extensive collection of paper maps for hiking and really just want to know "where you are" at the moment, stick with a basic unit like a Geko 201 or basic eTrex for $100 or so. If you like to have all the bells and whistles, expect to pay around $400 - $500 for the GPS and maps. Those are the two extremes - figure out your budget, read the reviews, and check back when you have it narrowed down a bit. HTH

Garmin has the eTrex product manuals online. You'll need to know how to do this when searching for multi-caches, as you will need to enter in waypoints in the field. But for entering waypoints from the website, consider getting the PC cable and the EasyGPS software program. Then you can download waypoints from your computer quickly and easily. HTH

FWIW you might want to update your GPS firmware from the GARMIN site. I was having trouble with my 60CS failing to transfer data over USB occasionally. Firmware update fixed it.

I might take my GPS up a tree in a rainstorm, but I'd have to think twice about doing that with a baby . (or a PDA ) I stand by my comment. PDAs are not waterproof, and if you clip on some add-on GPS gizmo you make it a bit bigger and even more fragile as it is all too likely that the two parts will get levered in different directions at some point, breaking the weakest link (the connector). The most likely time this would happen is when you inevitably sit on the thing in the car. The other thing I dislike about relying solely on a PDA is that the batteries are not field replaceable. On a long day of caching, with the PDA powering a GPS receiver, you'll either need to recharge in the car, or you'll have to bring a compass to find your way home after the batteries die. With a standalone GPS you can swap out a pair of AA's and you're back on the road.

The one thing I'd keep in mind is that a hand-held GPS is built with the outdoors in mind. You can drop it, dunk it, squish it, and generally subject it to the kind of abuse that would destroy an ordinary PDA. I use both a PDA and a GPS for caching, and while the GPS is always out in the open, I only pull the PDA out of my pocket when I want to check the cache description or decrypt a hint. PDA's are fairly rugged, but they can't compare with a dedicated handheld GPS for durability.