Seasoned Warrior

Thank you for pointing out my relative inexperience in the sport, although I'm not sure what your motives were I'm passing along the advice so what happened to the hide in the OP doesn't get repeated. I may not have as many finds as you do, but I believe the advice is still valid. Interesting, I've mentioned in other posts that it seems the only credibility conferred on people on this site is by the number of caches found or placed. I suspect that in some cases that is a false assumption. I regularly go out and find 300 year old points that were placed by an individual using only a compass/transit and pacing off the distance (also know as metes and bounds) or using a chain. I place those points within fractions of an inch of the original location. I understandthat I am considered a newbie on his site but that is a numbers thing. Funny thing about numbers is that they can mean different thigs to different people. I'd bet I can get around the outdoors as well as anyone here. I don't cache much, I like the scenery and interesting locations to be discovered using the cache page descriptions, the caches themselves I usually find boring. But as has been discussed extensively before I play the game according to my own rules. I certainly don't have a need to accumulate numbers that are meaningless to me. I don't disturb anyone and I don't disturb anyone elses way of having fun. However judging ones credibilty strictly on the numbers seems to me to be missing the point completely. A person's merits should be judged on their contributions (post in this case) since without a comparable quality of cache the numbers are meaningless to judge one's merits. So in anticipation of the angsty comments to follow I'll go crawl back into my cave.

As someone who likes outdoor activities a GPS unit can do a lot more than appears on the surface. Both J-Way and StarBrand are correct to an extent. Some of the activities I participate in are canoeing, Mountain Biking, hiking, fishing and hunting wild edibles of all kinds. I find my GPS to be much more valuable than a mere "gadget" I use my GPS to track my meanderings and to mark waypoints I find interesting and wish to return to. I mark wild mushroom patches with waypoints. I like to be able to have the track so that I may return along the same track if I wish. I like to track my canoe tracks and I mark locations of underwater structures and hot fishing spots so that I can return to them. I also do some writing and I like to illustrate my articles with the gps track. There are websites wher3e one can share favorite trails and some magazines that have a regular feature where they have GPS tracks so that one may follow the writers path. While I am an "old-timer" and an engineer with extensive surveying background I know how to use a sextant (of course the ephemeris, the star sight tables and a chronograph mean more stuff to haul around not to mention the sextant and case). Every child in my opinion should know how to use a compass. It is amazing how many people I run across who have no basic idea of navigation. I also think that each child should learn the basics of dead reckoning navigation and have a good handle on locating them selves on a map by triangulation. I believe that an outdoors person would find a GPS to actually enhance their outdoor experience regardless of the activity.

Thanks. I'll check it out. BTW I've been using GSAK on my Palm Tungsten T3 for several years,works great, I use it as an app resident on my computer but I load the info on my T# for use in the field and it works great.

I wanted to carry around only one piece of business equipment so I changed my PDA and cellphone for a Blackberry. My blackberry is doing everything my PDA did (with a few exceotions like I cant find a business calculator with RPN) Does GSAK run on the Blackberry, has anyone tried it yet or are there other recommendations?

Mao, yes it is. Love you sense of humor. ROTFLMO

its been a while, how does one delete a post????

And this one too! But I suspect the order is going to be reversed! Back to my cave.

But, how would nature plug the hole?

FYI if you are in Lake County, Ca, 50 plants is absolutely legal per person, in Mendocino County, CA 25 plants is absolutely legalper person. In both areas one can grow for others so there is a possibility, depending on how many prescriptions you have (yours and others), you could grow substantial amounts of pot perfectly legally! Just the facts!

If that was all there was to it why bother? Its a game, its supposed to be challenging.

Use what you like or want. Who really cares what others think? If it works for you that is what's important!

I certainly have no desire to see cache numbers stats. One of the problems I've seen on this site is the assumption of relative worth of a cacher's opinion based solely on the number of finds.

Heck, I've known people who cheat at Solitaire. I've never been able to figure out why but they do. It doesn't matter in any way but it really makes me wonder about thier mind-set and what else they may cheat at.

Not utter nonsense, Please be more careful with your words. There IS a condition where the mere handling or thought of handling lethal weaponry causes tremendous fear in people. So what do you cut your meat with, do you touch a cricket bat? How about a walking stick, they make great cudgels. Anything can be pretty much used lethally when the intent is there. How about vehicles? Cars kill more humans than any other item, I suspect that you don't use a car. Your comments are only red herrings used to disguise an elitist mentality. I see that Great Britain is considering a ban on kitchen knives: now there is a knee-jerk reaction!

I've cruised the "Off Topic" forum and for the most part I just don't get it, I really don't. I guess you have to be a member of "in" crowd and I rarely am. I don;t see the need for taking controversial or conflictive issues to a separate forum. As long as people are willing to be civil it shows that not everyone is walking in lockstep and may even increase awareness of issues or broaden the understanding of other's thoughts and considerations. Communication usually leads to understanding, tolerance and resolution.

I've had a Tungsten T3 for several years (since they came out) and while a lot of people complain about them mine has been great. I use GSAK and its without a doubt the application to use for caching. I also save some destinations in Adobe PDF format to keep the sheet like the original, complete with map and hints and everything else. I am considering finally going to a pocket pc but its only becasue of other applications I'd like to run and nothign to do with the T3. Caching on the T3 has been great!

I like my 8X40 Zeiss, but I will not take them on my Kayak, I know the day I do I will lose them over the side. I was able to afford the Zeiss because I was the binocular buyer to a small chain of outdoor equipment stores. When you work in a shop like that the manufactures offer you all kinds of big discount to by their products. I was also the GPS, Knife, Software and Sunglass buyer. Ok, so now I'm green with envy.

As far as coatings, if the company places a coating on a compact binocular, they are going to put the same coating on the full size binoculars. So the binocular with the large lens is always going to be brighter that the binocular with the small lens. You also need to factor in Roof Prism vs Poro Prism binocular, it they use the same quality glass ect. the Poro prism if going to allow more light to pass than a roof prism. The exception would be in some of the Zeiss that use an AbeConig prism (not sure of the spelling) this looks alike roof prism binocular but it performs like a porp prism. The roof prism is more compact (the tubes are in a straight line) with the Porp Prism style the front and back lensed are offset, so they are bulkier. As far as Nikon glass, nikon has high end binoculars the are price about the same as Zeiss but they are hard to find, most dealers stock the low to mid range Nikon products. Steiner is a good brand, they have updated their style over the past ten years. One thing about binoculars, you really get what you pay for. edit to add, I looked at that Steiner at a trade show a few years ago. That is a nice binocular. All good and valid comments, I agree completely, especially about getting what you pay for. My quandy is that I like nice things and I don't mind paying for them but out in the field stuffgets banged up so I try temper my proclivity for nice things with finding something I won't have a heart attack if I scratch or drop it. Ah the trials and tribulations of the working poor: if only I was born rich instead of merely good looking(ROTLMAO, yeah, I've got a mirror)

<<As far a Field of view, this is determined by the power of the binoclular. A lower power results in a wider field of view, a higher power results in a smaller field of view, an 8X will have a wider field than a 10X.>> True only if the objective lens diameter stays the same. Another way to increase brightness is with optical coatings. I'm looking for a small binocular that I can slip into my pocket and Nikon makes some nice ones but at a price; like these. My personal preferences in glass is Nikon and Zeiss although the Minolta people have started their own glass factory. Briansnat suggested these and I like the combination of compactness and price. Usually the difference in price is as a result of the quality of the lenses so I'm trying to find some specs on the Safari. Astigmatism and spherical aberration are two of the items I usually consider in optics and both are annoying in inexpensive lenses.

Nikon 10x I forget the field, but obviously it's not going to be a lot with compact binoculars. Thanks Briansnat, I appreciate the reply. Those Safaris look great and at the price I wouldn't mind if they got a little "field" use

Thanks to Geocaching.com, I've learned things about my own town that I never knew before. I absolutely love the history. It may be a surveyor thing but a good description brings things to life. That being said perhaps for those who don't care about the history and only want to increase their numbers it would be simple to write up the cache description so have the first paragraph synopsize the cache and all its vital info and then elaborate in the next paragraph. That way if you want to grab and go you can and if you want the history you have it. Of course I don't understand why someone who is into the numbers would take the time to go to a location that may not be cache rich.

Here's Pickles in a rare moment of repose: She doesn't cache much but she amuses herself ino ther ways. She brought five of these little guys one day and dropped them in my daughter's lap, one by one. Pickles is 1/2 Chow and 1/2 Akita and her parents were bred that way on purpose. She weighs about 50# and often acts more like a cat than a dog. I thought it odd but the white spots on her fur are old tick bites and while I've had a lot of Black Labs I never saw a dog get marked like it. She is the best driveway alarm a ranch could have and is our official greeter.

Nah, I carry a .40 cal H&K powder actuated hammer for opening really stuck gates!

Apres cache, yeah. A nice libation and great friends exchanging wr stories, just doesn't get any better than that. Wandering around in the woods and drinking leads to being menetioned in the Darwin Awards

What power and what make are you binoculars" I am in the market for a set and most I see either ahve too small a field or are too low power and anything with either a large field or power is large physically. Those look quite compact in your kit.