jocatch

It looks more like you want to know how many feet are in 0.001 minute, not 0.001 degree. It's different for latitude and longitude. For latitude (the N coord), it's always 6.074 feet. For longitude (the W coord), it depends on the latitude where you live. (For me, it's about 4.55 feet.) See this section of Markwell's FAQ for a description. Yes, you are right. My mistake. I just remembered those are mins, not degrees. Duh! After work I plan to calibrate the compass and leave on for a while and then try to find that cache again and see what happens. If nothing else it will tell me something about how consistant the unit is because I remember exactly where it placed me last time. Thanks everyone for your help. JC Well, I give up on this one (HomeTown in Hopewell Jct, NY). I went and calibrated and recalibrated the compass, left on for 25 mins before using, etc and I was still getting bad results at the site. I went there again and as I was walking along the path I got to the point where it last time said the cache was but the distance now indicated about 200' feet more to go which I said "Great, because the pictures of the cache posted by others were taken at a park bench" and the bench was about 200' from this position. However, as I got within 100' of the bench, the unit jump around and said it was 100' behind me and it brought me back to the place I was a few days ago. As I walked around it placed me at various spots within a 30' radius of the original spot. I didn't realized how inacurate these things are. It must be the heavy tree cover but I had good signals on at least 4 satellites. But I couldn't get a consistant fix to the cache. With all the trees and all the bushes and hidding places there were, I looked a little and just gave up and went home. Maybe the last person hid it REALLY good or maybe it is gone. Who knows. Oh, well. Maybe the next one will be easier. JC

It looks more like you want to know how many feet are in 0.001 minute, not 0.001 degree. It's different for latitude and longitude. For latitude (the N coord), it's always 6.074 feet. For longitude (the W coord), it depends on the latitude where you live. (For me, it's about 4.55 feet.) See this section of Markwell's FAQ for a description. Yes, you are right. My mistake. I just remembered those are mins, not degrees. Duh! After work I plan to calibrate the compass and leave on for a while and then try to find that cache again and see what happens. If nothing else it will tell me something about how consistant the unit is because I remember exactly where it placed me last time. Thanks everyone for your help. JC

I sat on my living room couch and turned on the unit and watched to see how my position changed with time. When the unit first locked in to the satelites, it showed my position as 42 36.054, 74 50.870. As I watched over the next 10 mins, it went to 42 36.050, 74 50.868 and more or less stayed there. My new question is how many feet is .001 degree? JC If I figure right, it is about 350' JC

I sat on my living room couch and turned on the unit and watched to see how my position changed with time. When the unit first locked in to the satelites, it showed my position as 42 36.054, 74 50.870. As I watched over the next 10 mins, it went to 42 36.050, 74 50.868 and more or less stayed there. My new question is how many feet is .001 degree? JC

But that calibration is only for the built-in compass, right? JC

I am new to this GEO Caching and I am a little fustrated! My first cache, the one at the tower at Bowdin Park in NY was easy to find because my GPS was right on the money. The next cache, The Inn at the Falls, I couldn't find without the help of the hints and when I found it I noticed my GPS was about 30' off. Today I tried to find My Hometown (Hopewell JCT, NY) and couldn't find it. Looking at the reviews of others for that cache, I notice it seems to be near a bench. Where my GPS brought me, there was not a bench in sight. I have the Magellan Sport Track Color with the latest flash memory upgrade, set to WGS84 and set to DEG/MIN.MMM. I noticed that as I circled around where the unit said it should be, one time it put me in one spot and if I walked around a little, it would me about 15' away and if I walked some more, it put me back to the first spot. There are lots of trees around. Any suggestions on how to test and check the accuracy of the unit? How accurate can the GSP be? I heard they should be with 10'. I assume these caches are on the ground covered up with branches, rocks and the like. JC