look4box

agree - DNF's are annoying but be honest with yourself - I get plenty of strange looks, especially when out by myself I'm trying to distance myself from sounding too nerdy when telling family & friends about GC Great that it's inexpensive, good exercise (walking or on bike) - its an easy "fill some time" during weekends/holidays, weather depending. You can do as much or as little and you get out of it whatever you want. Something you can do alone or with the family The best part for me - is seeing some lovely places (even on my doorstep) which I never knew existed or that I would have just drove past

I joined last month - and that price sounds about right. What other club or interest can you get so much for so little. I've never looked into how profitable Groundspeak are, but we're all investing in supporting GC globally and hopefully Groundspeak assist all the national networks including GAGB, who I assume are volunteers ? I see part of the money supports the website, which enables me to do what I need. But hopefully there is a bigger picture that we are all paying towards

I always suspect that caches at the base of trees - are prime target for dogs cocking their leg Dirty little muggle - hopefully they will grow up

I've never seen a snake in the wild.....until today - when geocaching in Virginia Water, Berkshire Green grass snake - thankfully making it's own escape.

Good to hear that you find the bike mount useful I've been painfully cycling one handed recently - so will definately look at getting the mount. My only issue, is that sometimes i drop the bike to do the last bit if cache is in the woods, so wondered how easy it is to unclip the extrex whilst out and about and then reattach after finding/logging the cache?

Today I did a series of caches by bike - and definately wished I had a bike mount for the Etrex. Without one - I'm either riding one handed or find myself doing u turns - as I haven't been watching the distance countdown. Occasionally the bike can be a pain - if the caches are hidden in woods. So then I normally drop the bike on the path, rather than drag it thru any undergrowth (which I suspect isn't good geocaching etiquette). So I think selecting the right caches (bike friendly) is key. By the way not all blackberries have GPS. Mine doesn't but the Cachesense app is still very useful and worth the small outlay (around £6.50). My dad gave me his old bluetooth GPS which works great with my BB & Cachesense - the only downside then is batterylife of the BB, so only good for a couple of hours. You may be lucky and have a BB with an in-built GPS ?

The CoPilot is good for over 10 hours. It's the phone that lets it down, maybe 2 or 3 hours depending on whether or not you turn the screen off whenever possible. Thanks for the info - at least my Etrex is reasonable on the batteries, so will keep to using BB/Etrex together Cheers

Thanks for that look4box That is very useful. I downloaded a demo of GSAK and found it not too user friendly - I guess, as someone has said, I could get into it with time, but I prefer stuff to be friendly. I uninstalled it after wrestling for few hours. OK it did some fancy things but I get more than I need with ProGPS, so I'll hang with that for while and buy it after a trial.. I have also set EasyGPS to send GC name to the Etrex instead of the GC ID which I find helpful. Menu "edit" - preferences - my GPS receivers - select Etrex - waypoint set "Geocaching Name" I use a GC app (Cachesense) on the Blackberry which covers all the hints/logs etc - so no need to take any paper - other than say a print of your EasyGPS route. Routes are OK on the Etrex - but as you get near a waypoint the Etrex will automatically switch to the next waypoint on the route - so I keep finding myself switching from route mode to "goto" waypoint (using find "nearest") to help me zero in on the cache location. This I find I do more often when caching on my bike - as yet I don't have the Etrex Bike mount, and find I have to a small U turn.

Thank you again, mpilchfamily - I got just what I needed thanks to your lead re EasyGPS. The same folk offer a paid for programme called ExpertGPS. I downloaded a trial version and found it gave me map overlays and terrain options on the PC. OK, I can do nothing about using maps on the etrex, but that would, as far as I am concerned, take away some of the fun of the game! I'll have a look at some others - because the only downsider is that, being US, it doesn't have British Ordnance Survey Maps which are fantastic for GC activity because they allow you to invent more variations on clues. But I can get round that by using British overlays on some of the maps available. I'm sorry folks if I have come over a bit geeky about the tech stuff in GC but, frankly, I am ........ Sad case. I have recently started GC with a Extrex and here's what I do Create Pocket Query From PQ email - save PQ file onto desktop Open EasyGPS and the open the PQ zip file Create Routes The send Geochaches, Waypoints, Routes to Etrex I also note its fairly easy to upload "recieve" your tracks from Etrex back into EasyGPS. Then save these out as a GPX file - to upload say on GoogleEarth Note: if your PQ contains several hundred waypoints and you only want to have a limited few with the route on your Etrex. Then I create the route in EasyGPS, right-click & copy, then open a new EasyGPS page, right-click & paste. Then I send this smaller file to the Etrex. I can't comment on GSAK as EasyGPS seems to do what I need.

I have a Curve 8520 too which works well with a bluetooth GPS. Cachesense is a great app - but I tend to mainly use my Garmin Etrex to cover the GPS side of things, and BB/Cachesense for logging finds and for checking previous logs the hint. I'm not too sure what battery life I would get from the BB & GPS unit ? one to test when both are fully charged

Turned up to one cache with a bull right on the footpath - and we had to pass him again on way back. Day before - we had walked through a field of horses and we possibly had more an issue with them. Do what you feel OK with, find another route or forget the cache. I guess as livestock is moved between fields, it's difficult for cache owners to know of any perils enroute.

That's sounds like some day & achievement too ! I'm a newbie - been caching for less than four weeks. Generally go caching on foot, although we have taken the bikes a couple of times too: but nothing as extreme as your adventure....not yet anyhow. Has anyone else noticed any weight loss from caching ? I now have an excuse to have one more beer now as I'll walk/bike it off tomorrow : )

Having just started geocaching myself.....my crackberry works well with Cachesense But I also have a Etrex H - thankfully my PC still has a serial port. Both the smartphone and GPSr compliment each other well, with the blackberry making up for some functionality missing of the Etrex & allows paperless geocaching.

If you don't have one yet, it's this one from Amozon Garmin PC interface cable (RS232 serial port connector) Which will need one of these to connect to a computer via USB Amazon or USB to Serial 9-Pin Male Adaptor from Maplins Or someone else may suggest somewhere else, or even somewhere that supplies as one lead... Got that lead from amazon - thankfully my PC (which I couldn't believe until I poked my head around the back) actually has a serial connection. I found it really easy to upload the pocket queries using easyGPS into my Garmin Etrex. I must say that Cachesense for the blackberry worked a treat too. I tended to use both GPS units - but the battery life is going to be better with the etrex My own silly mistake - I uploaded geocache locations ONLY on the etrez and forgot to upload the waypoints. Thankfully all were on the blckberry.

I too am a newbie with an Etrex H and keen to get out caching soon But someone on GAGB Forum, mentioned a 30-day trial of Premium membership @ Geocaching.com when you register your Garmin GPS I'm just waiting for the Garmin PC cable to arrive: couldn't believe my vista PC has a serial outlet ! only found out after I ordered a USB-Serial connector Have so far loaded EasyGPS but not yet signed-up for the Premium membership trial - so as yet, don't know how straight forward running PQ's and uploading to Etrex will be. Also looking a trialing Cachesense on my BB

First of all : "Hello, and welcome". Second : I've used Cachesense for a few years and I find it great. Originally I too had a non GPS BB, and just used Cachesense (or Cacheberry as it was then called) for paperless, keeping the cache details etc. Since I got a GPS enabled BB I still use an Etrex for the navigation most of the time, but I occasionally use the Cachesense compas function. I think Cachesense is well worth the modest registration fee, but I can't comment on an of the other BB apps as I've never felt the need to look for anything else. M: Cheers M I'll give it a go next week !

Blackberry - but unfortunately a non-GPS version. Although I may still try the 30 day-trial with cachesense on the Blackberry. Not the neatest solution but I may download gpx files (once I upgrade to premium membership)into easygps and then send waypoints to Garmin Etrex H and upload the gpx file onto the blackberry. I'm trying to keep costs down and save paper, especially when out and about. Like to hear anyones views on cachesense or other geocaching apps for BB ! ps Thanks for all the posts of encouragement and to hear that there's some great benefits to the addiction. I'm learning a new language already - looking forward to getting started.

In the past year, things that I thought we would never do.... got a touring caravan and now we're playing hide & seek with a GPS we'll keep it quiet for now

Hello Awaiting my first GPS to start geocaching this week, so hello to everyone ! Should we be concerned that this is addictive ? Please reassure me that we won't end up as train-spotters next