LifeOnEdge!

I have to agree. While I am not against the right thing being done, WE are not the Cache Cops for all geocachers. If **ONE** cacher wants to go where he isn't supposed to. If another cacher parks where she is not supposed to. If I fail to register my truck and go out and geocache, it * is * not * your job to "protect" me or these other people. Those are individual choices. This reminds me of other choices people have, where others insist they have no right. E-mail me if you want a direct example, but be prepared to disagree. Respectfully, LifeOnEdge Waco, Texas

eeyoremd, I just read your post and reviewed your first-ever cache. How fun! Not only did you discover geocaching and, using your wits, "find" your first cache, but you also uncovered the secret behind sucessful geocaching: For the most part, the GPS is to get you in the vacinity of the cache. Depending on the model you use, it may even give you directions on how to arrive at the site. Once you are reasonably close to your goal, you can put away the GPS and pull out your imagination, asking yourself where you might place a cache if you had one there to hide. Its best to know the size of the container you are searching for. Beyond that, the general location will usually give you enough of a fun challenge to let you find the prize & have a great time doing it. Enjoy and welcome to the sport.

Dale, When you clicked "no" on the form you mentioned above, you were not responding to a question about you being the cache owner. There is a note to the cache owners reminding them that they have the direct ability to archive their own caches. You clicked "no" to the form asking you if you were sure you wanted to do this. Go back and review and reread this. If you are worried that you'll mess up someone's cache, click on my name to the left, then go to one of my caches and practice on that. (Hopefully not suggesting that my caches be archived!) About the issue of "bad form." If someone is in direct and blatent violation of the law, is form an issue? Are you afraid of being seen as a bully here? Create a non-premium member account and log on with that. Become the Black Knight in your area and fight for truth, justice, and the American way. If, like me, you do have a large number of (shall we say) "sensitive" cachers around you ... maybe you should anonymously suggest a good 12 Step Program. I'm kidding ... I'm kidding ... I'M KIDDING ALREADY!!! I actually start out a lot of my love notes with "just a friendly note to remind you..." Express your concerns and ask what they think. Boycott the cache. Remove the cache, rehide it in a safe location, and post a friendly note on the cache page (from the BlackKnight of course) as to the whereabouts of the container. You could do absolutely nothing and hope that your area cachers have enough sense to avoid something like that. Honestly, the best move would be to approach the cache, note the signs (even writing down exactly where they are and what they say) and post a non-threatening note on the cache page that you felt uneasy about approaching the cache, including any information about having to cross fences, gates, or entering paths, etc. past these signs. That takes the monkey off your back, places it squarely on the shoulders of the cache owner and any future cachers (who should back you up on your observations.) Remember that cache owners view their caches from the 4 year old's "Mine! Mine!! Mine!!!" perspective when confronted with "issues." Not everyone will react that way, but not everyone in this world is reasonably mature either.

There are some interesting caches listed and found when you do a keyword search for "pocket cache." Check it out.

I was actually just being nasty. But thanks for the information. I will pass that on and suggest an event.

Alan, go to your geocaching.com profile and specify your location. You will need to open the "edit your profile" form, type in your password, scroll down to the second place that it asks you your location (near the Forum Title area) and type in your location. I believe that is where the forums get the information from. Try it and see. I just edited mine, changing TX to Texas, but I don't think these servers get that information for a day or so. I'll be watching. I hope this helps. Pat

Let me see if I can reword this, so ALL can understand. Maybe I just haven't expressed myself well. Here is an example: Lets say that I tell the world that I live in Waco Texas, but the one guy (who was asleep at the time) comes and asks me what State I live in. Not wanting trouble, I won't tell him. Let say that I go to Mexico with 9 of my buddies from work. We all have on "Nebraska State Police" t-shirts. An interested person at the hotel we are about to check in to asks us if we are from the United States. Being paranoid, we don't tell them. Does anyone need a THIRD example??? Okay. Easy enough... Let say 200,000 geocachers all post hide logs as well as find longs on geocaching.com. Each cache that we visit tells the world not only the EXACT COORDINATE of that cache, but includes a map that clearly shows the nearest City, County, and State, or similar information of other areas, BUT 20 percent of the people are paranoid because this is "On The Net" and refuse to indicate in their profile where they live... Does this make ANY sense??? (No wonder George W Bush was president for two terms) _______________________________________________ Gordon, I am with the FBI, the DOD, the USDA, The AFLCIO, the PTA, and I support and the ASPCA. We have been looking for you for the last 3 years. Please STAY PUT. I have agents coming to pick you up as we speak.

Good God. Maxima makes the point that he(or she) likes to read the forums and dig out regional information. They point out that quite often persons neglect to state, either there or in their gc.com profiles, where they are from. It is not terribly time consuming to read through a few topics in the forums. It would be laborious to research everyones hides and find logs to get a hint as to where they are from. The point being: If people would open up and state their location, we could learn more than we do AND not take up boatloads of time! Renegade, your comments drive my points home! You should contact gc.com and see if your final location could be used as a virtual cache (since you would most certainly not be there once we figured it out.) Besides, being in Idaho it matters Not where you are from! LMAO Pat

numbers ho? pocket cache? event? Boy do I have a fun idea of where I'm going to hide a geocoin or two or three for the next event cache I go to!

Foothills, yes, however that is an obvious bit of information, and with the ability to see where everyone caches and draw a conclusion about not only where one resides, but where one spends a lot of their time, the inclusion of a city,state on their profile is not only redundant, but less general information. As Maxima points out, people are leaving out a very useful bit of information about themselves, all for a useless cause. If you don't want us to know where you live, work, camp, or drink, don't give us the coordinates, name, street location. The statement of the city and state one resides gives anyone the most obtuse information about where that person is. How many of those not wanting to even give the state they reside will easily give someone they don't know their home phone number and thus giving them Exactly where they live and a way of verifying that someone is there. Pat Waco, Texas

Maxima, The deeper you look, the more things like this you will see in geocachers. Lazyness, arrogance, lack of thought, privacy. As you can see in the above posts, even with your question, the response is a non-response. I would take the ideas of Kai Team and reask the question: With it being so easy to deduce the general location of a cacher, WHY DON'T they tell us where they live? This is a very legitimate question. One has to wonder, now that you've posed this, why these people are hesitant. There are a lot of aspects of caching, and life in general, that would best be appreciated with a general openness. I try to ask cachers about themselves, their caches, and their actions, only to get negative responses from most as well as F.Y. Very Much Mail from local cachers demanding that I stop! I think that if we were all open and open to suggestion, this world would be a better place. I wish more of the world would share this attitude. LifeOnEdge! Waco, Texas

Kevin, You're getting a lot of great ideas. One thing to consider is this: A lot of these ideas come from hours and hours of caching. I like the list that Miragee gave you, but the important thing is this: Just get out and enjoy caching. If you have a GPS with maps (navigation system), use that to tell you how to get to the general area. This will save you money on gas, time, and frustration. Try caching by printing out the cache page, including as many previous logs as you care to kill trees for. The notebook idea is good for important information you may miss on the page. Eventually, your learning curve will get you out there using less and less information. Once you are addicted and have an extra $200 or so, get you a PDA that you download the caches pages into via CacheMate Don't forget to use GSAK to organize your caches and to give you an idea of what order to cache in, minimizing your mileage. Also, read the forums regarding pocket queries, to find out how they can help get files for larger number of caches you may with to find on a cache trip.

If you are going to cache at all, $3 a month (with two months free if you pay for 10 months) is a minimal expense to have a better mapping system AND to be able to look for member-only caches. If you enjoy caching on a standard account, you'll LOVE caching with premium membership. Besides, don't you want to support the sport? Suggestion: Try it for one month, then let your membership lapse. THEN you'll understand why you need it.

I would like to mention something probably not even thought of much, if at all ... Your post on any cache is your own record of your attempt. Write in there what you think is important as you would a journal. Whether you eventually find 5000 caches and use logs as a stroll down memory lane OR you only ever log 50 finds, your posts are your personal record of your efforts, emotions, and the time and cost you put into finding that cache. Some people rarely post finds, as a story told me of a man who only logs 5/5 cache finds. Some people spend as much time logging a cache as they did hunting for the thing. What you do is your thing. You paid the money. Lets have Fun out there!!! - Pat

Again, he and others miss the point. I won't restate it. Is the world so BORING now that people have to take a simple reply and turn it into a life and death struggle? For god's sake, get a grip. Its simple: if you want screen protection, BUY IT. It may not be a waste of money for *you*. It would be a big waste of time, effort and money for *me*. :: Expecting some worthless response from BubbleBoy :: Beffiness, enjoy your new GPS and have fun buying things for it. LifeOnEdge

You missed the point *completely.*

You don't disagree with me. 1) You agree totally, 2) you confuse "transparent" with "transmits light 100%," and 3) you misunderstand "design change." Part 1: You are (self-admitedly) rough on your unit(s). Re-read my comment. "Unless you are rough on your unit ..." Part 2: These screen covers absorb a certain percentage of light from the display. Imagine it this way. Ask yourself "How many of these covers can I add, one on top of the other, before the light from my unit is reduced to half? Now, guess. Lets say they are well made and fairly transparent. Lets then say that it takes 25 layers to reduce the outgoing light to 50%. That is a little more than 2.5% (2.734) reduction in light. When you choose the lighted setting, with 2.5% reduction easily within human perception, you would (at some rate) choose to view the screen at a higher brightness. Brighter screen = more power comsumption = shorter battery life. Realize this: the screen itself may be very transparent (99%). How transparent is the glue used to attach the Invisible Shield to your screen? I think we just found out! Part 3: I said that you are changing the design of the unit, by adding a part (the InvisibleShield) that the unit was designed without. As to your comment that "they" don't change the design of their (Garmin) products: I own an eTrex Vista C, "C" being the operative part of the statement. Before the eTrex Vista C was the eTrex Vista. How do you spell "D-E-S-I-G-N C-H-A-N-G-E???" Now. Are you rough on your stuff? Are you so rough that you need a neoprene case and "transparent" view screen? Do you *want* to pay high prices for how many lifetime guaranteed screens? Buy them. *Stick* them on your beautiful 60 CS. Fog your screen with the alcohol you use to take the old glue off when you replace the Invisible Shield. While you are doing all that, I'll be enjoying by GPSs, not damaging my screen with the Exacto-Knife when trimming the protector, taking care of my stuff (I wash mine daily), and spending the saved money on a new GPS when I want one. Different strokes for different folks. I believe this is *enough* said on this topic. LifeOnEdge Radiation Physicist (I know these things. That's why I make the big bucks!)

Skip/forget about the case. Get a screen protector of some sort in the form of a PDA screen protector and cut it down, or - even better - get an InvisibleShield. Can't go wrong with either, though I highly recommend the latter. I disagree. Unless you are rough on your unit, the screen is tough enough to take regular use and some abuse. Adding anything on top of the screen will change the design of the unit (which is designed to withstand a lot of potential scratching). I have yet to scratch mine the tiniest bit. It reduces visability which promotes you using a brighter screen setting and then eating batteries. These Screen Shields are expensive. This company preys on the fears of people scratching their units. You generally won't own this unit long enough to scratching it badly unless you abuse it greatly. Don't waste the money.

I own both the eTrex Vista C (I love it) & the GPSmap 60CS (which I love even more). Both of these units are much more than just similar. There is a forum thread for this that I invite you to visit when you have a chance. For you, it will give you more information that is usable for you and not just the 60CS user. The 12V cord for your car is a must. It will save you many batteries, and also makes the unit sit awkwardly on your dash. I would reconsider spending money on a neoprene case. The Vista C already has a partial neoprene case. The areas not covered by this are not areas that you need to protect additionally. Covering the antenna in any way *will* reduce your unit's ability to detect and hold a signal. Covering the screen will similarly reduce visability and add little protective ability. I have owned my Vista C for 4 months now, and being careful, have yet to scratch the screen. Spend the money, instead, on a Sony Cyber-shot camera pouch at Best Buy ($15) that fits on your belt and will hold 6 AA batteries, a PDA, your eTrex Vista, your Sony Cyber-shot T5 camera, an extra memory stick (and adapter), and extra battery for the T5, a magnetic compass, and a mini-flashlight. You may also consider a battery charging system AA batteries.

What cable is it that you need? What unit is it for? Is it USB or serial? Why not buy from garmin.com, get the right part, the correct software, and be up and running the next day? Sometimes being cheap is just that, "cheap." I have three USB cables and I am driving up to Mesquite this weekend. E-mail me and let me know please. Pat

I guess that is part of my question... Are the "S" functions worth sacrificing 10 hours of battery life? David Yesterday, this string was 3 deep. Today, what ... 30? I think you guys are basically missing the point. Although, you're getting there, slowly. Comparing the devices with and without the electronic compass and altimeter. Since the compass has a setting for on/off based on your speed (to save batteries when the compass really isn't needed) you fall into the trap of how well the units work while standing still OR crawling. The idea isn't "How fast do I need to go to get this working?" Its "At what speed do I really not need the electronic compass?" If you are traveling by car or truck, 10 mph is a good guess. If you are hiking in the backcountry or Yellowstone, as shown above, its a mute point ... turn your GPS and use your compass. Since 99.9% (or more) of the geocachers probably aren't looking for an illegal geocache in Yellowstone, there is a bigger picture here. When spending $400, is it worth $40 to have additional functionality? While you are (finally) considering battery life, realize that the bigger unit has settings to help you with battery life. To really save batteries, have your unit hooked to your USB port (Legend C and Vista C) as well as utilizing the cigar lighter adapter for your vehicle. GPSmap 60CS owners need to know that their units do not get power from those connections, but need a different cord. With these in use, your only battery drain comes during the actual use of the GPS itself, i.e., while caching. Can anyone say "rechargeable batteries?" Here is my suggestion: Buy both GPS units and a boatload of batteries and see which one you use the most. You can't afford both? Can you afford a boatload of batteries? Can you afford the cables? No? Buy the cheaper unit and spend the $40 on the in-car adapter. Yes? Buy the more expensive unit and get all the goodies. Yes, but don't see the point? Get you a $95 GPS and book a flight to Jackson Hole. LifeOnEdge Garmin eTrex Vista C Garmin GPSmap 60CS Garmin iQue 3600

You are on this forum because you geocache. You own Garmin products, seem happy, have apparently upgraded, and will probably upgrade in the future. Why not spend the $3000 for other things? $375 gets you a Garmin GPSmap 60CS. $125 gets you mapping software for that unit. For well under $1K you can get a Garmin GPS/PDA with the mapping software included (and can load that same software onto a 60 CS) and have your cache database in that PDA. $1000 buys it all. Whatcha gonna do with the other $2000? Might I suggest a nice humidor and some NICE cigars???

If I were you, I would use True North. This will align your compass reference to the same grid lines you are playing the game on (latitude and longitude.) This way, if you have trouble getting good coordinates, you can move away from your reference position at a 90 degree angle and determine one coordinate, then move two an adjacent 90 degree bearing from your reference point and determine the other coordinate. OR, as said above ... if you cache with a magnetic compass and get a bearing to the cache from your GPS, set the reference to magnetic north so when you approach with that stated bearing, you can follow your magnetic compass. As always, be aware of man-made sources of large magnetic fields. If ALL you are doing is following the electronic compass needle, any setting will work. Your main concern will be to make sure that you calibrate your electronic compass EVERY TIME you change batteries. You should then be sure that you are away from any large metallic objects (your car, truck, a bridge, etc.) and that you are out out any large magnetic fields (power lines, transformers, bridges, and any moving large metallic objects such as large trucks and trains) when you calibrate your electronic compass. You can test your calibration using your magnetic compass and verify the settings (reset the reference to magnetic north if not previously set), etc., by going to a large parking lot (theaters during the mornings work well) and setting way points for two light poles, then maneuvering between the two.

I own both the eTrex Vista C and the GPSmap 60CS. The Vista does draw power through the USB connection. The 60CS does not draw power through its USB connection, but through another, dedicated port. This is the only drawback that I can see with the 60CS, besides having to pay an additional 50% for the unit. Do you get an additional 50 % performance from the device? I don't think so. Do you *want* to own the 60CS and look cool in the field? Probably so. Especially if $125 matters not to you. You will probably gobble more than $125 in batteries in your first year alone. _____________________________ Adding this for the previous poster: I performed a side-by-side comparison of both the Vista C and the 60CS. The apparent reception of the Vista C was about double the apparent reception of the 60CS, based on the lenth of the bars for each satellite. I'm not sure what the says, except that it may have better reception, assuming that the full height of the bar represents the same signal strength. I don't believe I would fall into that trap. I was caching last Sunday with Eagletrek, at one cache site here in Waco. He did lose reception at one point. I never did, but I was not monitoring my signal strength and was not standing directly next to him at the moment he complained of lost signal. We were in cover, but not thick cover at the time. I do like that you don't lose signal when the 60CS is turned with the display facing the ground. You will generally get a better overall signal set with the antenna pointing towards the sky, but then the compass is ineffective. However, if we had a GPS with an external antenna that pointed straight up, while the device was level (for the compass), with a tilted display, it would look like a biomedical instrument and not the cool trail tool that it is.