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The 60Csx has a barometric altimeter. There is a way to calibrate it, but I'm not familiar with how to do that. Check your manual. Also, with the barometric altimeter turned off, altitude is the least precise measurement a GPS makes. It can be off by up to 100 feet either way. Usually it isn't, but you have to watch for it. I was just in Hawaii last week and with the ocean lapping at my feet, my Oregon said that I was at -52 feet (and +30 feet in roughly the same spot a day later).

Here's one of mine regarding a local river: Wild Rice Here's another local one that involves a river: Tack Dr. Hjulstom Hopefully those give you some ideas. Good luck.

What you have will not work. USB and serial communications are two entirely different protocols, and are not interchangeable. You still need to have a USB-serial converter to change the USB coming out of your computer to the serial that the Legend needs. A simple USB to four pin Garmin plug will not do that, and the blue Legend only talks in serial. I've never tried, but I bet Google Earth only outputs to USB. All the instructions on this that I'm finding online require a USB-serial converter. Finally, it's been my experience (I had a blue Legend for years and still use it occasionally) that you can only write waypoints to it with the Garmin interface setting, but again only in serial.

Wow, thanks for the personal interest! I just sent you a private email.

Could the email have ended up in your spam folder? Mrs. terratin No I checked my spam folder. That was the first thing I thought of. It's been two and half months since I submitted the form, which I did about 5 minutes after receiving the notice that my third EC had been published. I copied the html code for the Platinum badge from someone's webpage, so at least I have that. I also never received an email for Silver, but like I mentioned the Gold email came about 30 seconds after I hit send on the form.

So this might be a stupid question, but what does it mean when you submit the form for Platinum, and never get a reply via email? I've definitely fulfilled the requirements, and got the Gold email immediately. I'm not really worried about it, just wondering. Thanks.

Whether they are dead in the water or not, is sounds like they aren't going quietly: LightQuared claims GPS industry rigged tests. So now that it's been proven that they interfere with GPS signals, they claim the deck was stacked against them. Most of what I've heard about this company makes me wonder if Falcone is playing with a full deck.

Try here for free maps: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ Lots of free maps, although being from ND, I've never looked to see what's available for GA. I have some really nice topo maps on my GPS for ND, SD, MN, MT, and HI. Here's a site with free worldwide routable maps: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ I've never used them (I already had routable maps for my 450), so maybe someone can chime in with a report. As far as profiles, you can set up a driving profile which routes along streets, then when you get to your destination, you can switch to the geocaching profile which navigates in a straight line. Each profile can have a different set of maps active, and they will switch as you change profiles. Basically, each profile remembers the settings for that particular profile, so you can arrange each however you want. Heck, you can set up 4 or 5 profiles with any combination of maps and routing and then choose between them as conditions warrant. Good luck!

Never mind. Called the GSA store and found out that there will be no more platinum pins, but I did get one of the last three. I must have missed that in the forum. Oh well.

I'm seriously considering getting a Toshiba Thrive tablet soon (really, I'm just waiting to see if there will be any Xmas sales on it). It has a full size USB port built in, and after testing a friend's Thrive, it connects to my Oregon 450 just like a laptop. It will be easy to save and download PQs to it. The Thrive is a little fatter and heavier than the newest generation of tablets, but the full size ports (USB, HDMI, and SD cardreader) and replaceable battery put it over the top for me.

Resurrecting an old topic here, but I finally earned my EarthCache Platinum. Are the platinum pins going to be available in the store any time soon? They seem to be out of stock, and have been for a while.

Hello again. Also again, if it's like the Oregon, this is not a problem if you stay under the gpx file limit and geocache limit (not sure what those are for the new eTrex line). All the caches in those files will be displayed at the same time, and if there is overlap between caches/files, only one instance of the cache will be displayed. You do not need to choose between files. I can't imagine that the eTrex will treat gpx files differently than the Oregon.

If it works like the Oregon, you should be able to. When you have the GPS in mass storage mode when it's connected to the computer, create a directory [microSD drive]:\Garmin\GPX and put the GPX files there, just as if you were doing it in the internal memory. The Garmin directory should already be there and will contain any maps you put on the card. You can also do this with a standard card reader. Maybe someone who actually owns an eTrex 20 will chime in here.

There are a number of geocaches in rest areas along I-94. I'm not sure they would be considered "super cool" but they are there. Same with Montana. Many of the caches that stand out in my head that I've done on 94 are close to the interstate but not a block or two. One that fits the bill is GCWVN6. It's at a big metal sculpture advertising the Enchanted Highway. Some that don't quite fit the bill and involve driving a mile or so off the interstate are GC551 (the oldest cache in ND) and GCG2B6 (at a former Native American village site). This one GC25JX4 was placed by a friend of mine, but is a little over a mile south of the highway, although it's on an F-4 Phantom. Finally, in Fargo, we have a TB hotel just off the interstate that is an interesting hide (IMHO), GCKH87. A PQ along the interstate will turn up more hits along exits, and clusters in Dickinson, Bismarck, Jamestown, Valley City, and Fargo. Have a great trip!

I have the Canon PowerShot D10. I chose it after much homework because it was one of the few rugged cameras that has a decent lens system, or at least it was when I bought it almost 2 years ago. The picture quality is at least as good as a standard P&S. 12.1 MP does the job. There is a little distortion at the widest angles, but most P&S cameras have that. It also doesn't go as wide as some cameras, but I've taken it on many hikes in Glacier and gotten great pictures. I bought it for outside use, but it's not so great in darker places indoors, but still as good as many cameras its size. Here's a pic taken with it on a hike in Glacier. Of course it's scaled down a lot to fit on the GC website. http://img.geocaching.com/track/log/60c9898c-f9b8-4d39-9b03-10be46cabbc4.jpg Video is the one downfall. It only does standard def video. I bought it at a time when HD was just making it's way into smaller cameras, and I didn't feel like waiting for a newer model. The video works well though. I have several taken while snorkeling, and you can see everything clearly and even hear the crackeling of the parrotfish as they chew on the coral. Build quality is excellent. It's built like tank, and it's completely waterproof to 33 feet (unlike many of the others). It is a little bulky due to the way they enclosed the lens, and it has no lens cover (I still can't figure out why they didn't give it something). It's easy to take off the wrist strap and put it on any of the other three corners. It also has good battery life. I've taken it on several days hikes where I took 100+ pictures and never had a problem. Spare batteries are easily purchased cheaply on eBay. Speed is good. Almost instant startup, and time between pictures in comparable to my DSLR. It also has lots of bells and whistles and settings for all kinds of different scenarios (panorama, underwater, nighttime, etc.). Pros: nearly bulletproof, nice pictures with a decent lens, waterproof to 33 feet, fast, lots of options, good battery life, uses standard SD and SDHC cards, image stabilization. Cons: a little bulky, no HD video, a little distortion at wide angle, no lens cover.

Works for me too on my Oregon 200. I found 24 caches yesterday with the new update, and didn't even notice that the "Arriving at Destination" banner was missing. I guess I'd already tuned out that annoyance.

To my knowledge, the Oregon doesn't support custom waypoint icons, so you can't make your own. I know my 200 doesn't anyway. I'd love to find out that I'm wrong, though.

My contribution: From GC1B9QK, above Ogden, UT, showing the Great Salt Lake Basin an the mountains on the other side.

When I went from the original blue (black and white) Legend to the Legend Cx, the difference was amazing. It still got a little confused under trees, but far less than my original. It also regained its position faster. Then I upgraded to the Legend HCx, and again there was a big leap in sensitivity. The positions under trees were much better, not just consistently faulty. The 60 CSx is just as good (some would say better) than the H series models. I've never used or seen the Rino 530, but after the reading I've done on it, it looks to have the same sensitivity as the 60 CSx. I'm sure someone will chime in about it soon. Keep in mind, nothing will be perfect under really heavy tree cover, but some models are better than others.

If you are looking for items with the Geocaching logo and official coins and such, no, we have nothing like that in Fargo. If you are looking for swag items, I like Mac's Hardware on the corner of Main Avenue and 45th St. in Fargo. They have tables of cheap tools and such that are perfect. If you happen to be hungry around 6pm, stop by our 10 Year event: GC26W9M. Actually, you don't even have to be hungry. Just stop and say hi!

No, the Legend doesn't support GPX files fully. You can only put the waypoint with its name and very limited information (hider and date if I remember correctly). I know someone had figured out how to put more cache info on using GSAK and a macro, but I always carried a PDA around with me.

Since almost nobody drives through North Dakota, I'd have to agree that there is absolutely no good reason! As a ND geocacher, you are right about nobody driving through the state. And we used to have a number of geocaches at our rest areas (I think there are only 3 or 4 actual rest areas in the entire state), but the state found out about them and banned them. I think you can get a "permit" for them, but that may have been canceled also. There is still one TB hotel at a rest area though... Montana seems to embrace them, with at least one at every rest area on I-94 to from the ND state line to Billings in both directions. The Highline (US Highway 2) that runs along the north edge of the state has a string of historical markers along it, and I think every one of those has a cache at it also. I don't know if they have a formal policy or not, though. So call up the 15 or 20 voters in North Dakota and ask them to help you change the policy with a referendum. Dude... that's insulting!! There are at LEAST ten times that many voters in North Dakota!! We just formed the ND Geocaching Association to address problems like this. Stay tuned... And sure, there may be ten times as many voters, but only half of them vote anyway.

Since almost nobody drives through North Dakota, I'd have to agree that there is absolutely no good reason! As a ND geocacher, you are right about nobody driving through the state. And we used to have a number of geocaches at our rest areas (I think there are only 3 or 4 actual rest areas in the entire state), but the state found out about them and banned them. I think you can get a "permit" for them, but that may have been canceled also. There is still one TB hotel at a rest area though... Montana seems to embrace them, with at least one at every rest area on I-94 to from the ND state line to Billings in both directions. The Highline (US Highway 2) that runs along the north edge of the state has a string of historical markers along it, and I think every one of those has a cache at it also. I don't know if they have a formal policy or not, though.

I've looked through that four times now. It's not in there. I can only conclude that one can't change the icon size. Can anyone confirm that?

I just got an Oregon 200, and I'm having trouble figuring out how to get the waypoint symbols to appear bigger on the map. They look really small, and are hard for me to see while driving. I found the place to change the text size, but not the symbol size (this was an option on all three eTrex models I've owned).