GermanSailor

Hello, I have the 301. It's a good unit. I use it as a bacliü for flying and sailing. It is very handy that you can customiz the data field on one of the pages. On the other hand the 301 has a lot of features that you don't really need for geocaching, like the barometric altimeter. I personally still think that the best unit for a beginner is the Etrex yellow. It's easy to use, you can connect it to a computer and the new version is almost like the Geko (except the Etrex doesn't have an altimeter) The etrex yellow is very robust and if you upgrade to a better unit it has a pretty good resale value. I'm always surprised when I see people with $500 GPSr's who don't know anything about navigation except how to download coordinates from GC.com. We have dozenz of topic here, where people mix a true and magnetic north, WGS84 with other datum formats or don't get the a minute has 60 seconds, not 100 and so on... Really, just to find geocaches a basic unit is just fine, you don't need a color display, a map mode and all that stuff to start with. Start with a basic unit and understand what it tells you. I use only rechargeable batteries in my Geko and they last about as long at the normal ones. I think pretty much everybody in Europe uses rechargeable in their GPSrs since normal batteries are far to expensive and just plain wrong from a environmental point of view. To put it in a nutshell: The 301 is a good unit to start with, but the 201 or a Etrex yellow is as good. You probably get 2 Etrex for the price of a 301, so both your daughter and her husband could have their onw units.... GermanSailor

In which countries are GPSr illegal? It takes a lot of "tempering" to make a missile out of a GPSr, you probably mean that one could use it in a missile. But that wouldn't require you to go to the "target" first, cause you get the coordinates of every map, google earth or other sources. I never heard that you can't bring a GPSr in a "major government landmark"! Let's not start rumours about GPS receivers and Geocaching. All what a GPSr can do is tell you where you are, give me a topo map and I can do the same, especially in a urban area. GermanSailor

A. actually they are right, they are stupid, because they don't help the cache owner and other cachers. C. Absolutely correct D. Some caches require some effort to get to them, thats why there are not so often found compared to the parking lot keyholders. 4. doesn't help other geocachers, because there might be some time untill the cache owner responds GermanSailor

Hi firefighter, can you be a bit more specific about what you thing is wrong with your GPS! Some people confuse the terms, heading, bearing, course and track. If you GPS doesn't have an inbuilt compass, it can't tell you where North is, since there is now way the unit can figure out how it is orientated. GPS angular measurements work by the movent of the unit. The GPS can tell you where a waypoint in relation to your current position is. Like 045° - 10 nm away, but it takes a compass to figure out where 045° is unless you move. Actually I do believe that it is possible to navigate with a GPS. (As well as without one ) As easy as it seems, it requires some training or at least time to get used to. GermanSailor

Well, not quite so. In my opinion, a DNF is an indication that some attempt has been made to find the cache, but for one reason or another it has not been found. Well, seems we have two different approaches to the logs. For me the DNF are a "service" to the cache owner saying: "Hey dude I looked for your cache for a while, but couldn't find it. Is everything okay with it?" As mentioned before, the cache owner can check it, wait for some more DNF to happen or give a little hint. If I have to abort the search for a cache because of muggles, weather, wife, spontaneous combustion, high taxes or an alien invasion, simply try again later and (if at all) post a note. But a DNF in that case is of no real use for the owner. More a help for your own stats, so you no what you have to do. But who cares, as long as you make clear in your log entry what exactly happened, it doesn't really matter. GermanSailor

Sorry, but you shouldn't log a DNF if you didn't look for the cache! Do you want me to go and check the cache as an owner, just because your wife called you home? That makes no sense. DNF should be a notification to the cache owner that the caches is probably no longer there. If someone log a DNF on one of my caches, and I check and see that it is still there, I would write this person a mail an tell him/her to try again, probably giving a little hint. At least that was done for me when I started and had a couple of DNF due to not yet developed GC-eyesight. GermanSailor

Does it need to be WGS84 in the UK too? Yes, it always has to be the same as the one the coords you try to find are. GC.com coordinates are always stated in WGS84 datum. GermanSailor

Hi Jusl89, usually people are able to decide on their own if they want to go to a location or not. GC doesn't need someone who plays nanny for other cachers. I personally don't go to caches like this, because I don't think that is what GC is about - FOR ME. Others just do the drive up geocaches. Jusl89, there are caches underwater, in forest, islands, valleys. Every caches has a slight risk that something happens to you. A snake could bite you, you could drown, get lost, or get robbed. I don't know, life is dangerous. Do you want to remove all urban caches, because it might be dangerous to run around with $500 worth of electronic in your hands at certain times / places? Your post really bugs me, because it shows me a trend in our western societies. Some people realize that they have no common sense, skills or are otherwise cerebrally challenged. Some of those people assume that everybody else is a moron as well and try to protect them by limiting their freedom to do things they deem dangerous or not appropriate. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT - DON'T DO IT! BUT DON'T TELL OTHERS WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT DO!

Hi, both postitions are in DM.M Format, but they are most probaly in a different datum. I'm sure either Mapsource (if possible, I don't use the program) or your GPS is not set to WGS84. I don't have a GPS60, but I'm pretty sure you find the datum unter Setup - Units - Datum. The difference you have in your postitions seem like the GPSr ist set to your British Ordn. Survey which is a very common datum as well. GermanSailor

Hi, some people here seem to have a let's say, interesting opinion how GPS works. 1. Cross check your GPS with itself. Without moving make 10 Waypoints and repeat the same process the next day. (With a different Satellite constellation.) Calculate the average, or use a program like Easy GPS to look at the Waypoints. If everything is normal, both points should be pretty close. (30 to 50 feet) 2. Check the readings of your GPS with another GPS, again, both units should be pretty close. 3. Check your GPS with a place where you know the coordinates. (Google Earth is not always accurate!) Use a benchmark or a Topo / Trigonometric Point. 4. Do those check preferably where you have no buildings or foliage, so you get a non-interfered signal and more important as many sats as possible. Some guys wrote about letting it warm up and so. Fact is, that some units reacquire the almanac after a reset, which takes some time since it take about 12 minutes to transfer the almanac. All GPS units have a internal clock which will be synchronized by the satellites, since without an absolutely precise time GPS can't work. (It measures the time a signal travels from the sat to your receiver and calculates the distance) That's actually one of the reasons 4 sat are required to get a position and not just three. If you want to know how complicated getting the "proper" time really is, google "time-dilation" and prepare to dig really into physics. Anyways: It's probably not a bad idea to reset you GPS and let it sit in clear view of the sky for half an hour or so to make sure it gets the new almanac. I haven't seen a unit with a hard coded almanac, so I would say it is worth a try. I absolutely doubt that bad batteries negatively affect the performance and accuracy of your GPS. It either works or not! Actually if the GPS is constantly 100' off, I would be a fair amount of good Bavarian beer that it is just a mix of Datums. Like you have WGS 84 coords, but the GPS is set to NAD 27 (which is aprox. 100' off). If you don't know how to change the datum, the reset should have set the GPS to back to WGS84, since that is the standard setting for almost all GPS receivers. Some units allow you to manually enter a Position correction factor in order to match your GPS to a specific map or chart. If you have such a factor entered in your GPS, it will of course be off by that factor. Hope I could help a little! GermanSailor

Hi, look here. Basically you have to buy the dog-tag, which has a tracking number. Once activated, the TB can be placed and logged on Geocaching.com. As you sure have seen already, most people attach the dog-tags to some item and give it a mission and a story. GermanSailor

The Place is a "Schanze", probably dating from the late 18 century. "Schanze" is a German word for a sconce or a fort which is part of a fortress. This is the reason why it is shape d like a Star of David. If someone tries to attack one wall the attacker can be counterattacked from that and at least on other wall. There are lots of forts like this in the US. (Fort Morgan, south of Mobile, AL) GermanSailor

Work on your attitude towards caching, dude! Just kidding of course. You are right, but what I meant to say that one shouldn't automatically scrap things because they are getting old. Otherwise we never leave any historic places of our age. But I guess thats a cultural difference here. Europeans seem to appreciate old things more. (And love all the cool new working up to date things which come from the US! ) I think the best comment so far was: by briansnat Ideally the location is what makes the cache great, and that rarely changes. GermanSailor

Not a bad idea. We could also tear down Stonehenge, The Pyramides, the Great Wall of Chinan, Neuschwanstein and the Eremitage just to replace them with a nice new Mall or an Theme Park. Imagine what great micros could be placed in their parking lots! Sorry for being sarcastic, but if something is working fine, there is no reason to throw it away just to have something new. Newer is not always better! GermanSailor

I wonder if they banned picnics due to butter & steak knives? The exact same thing came to my mind. A steak knife is far more dangerous than one of the Mini Swiss Army Knifes. GermanSailor

Hi, the rules seem to be: - Forget to bring a pen: The pen in the cache is missing - Forget to bring spare batteries: GPS dies 100 feet from the cache - Forget to bring rainproof clothing: It will start to rain. (Even works in the desert, I'm sure!) Is there a Murphy's Law of Geocaching? GermanSailor

Acutally it means: I was driving extra fast, so (in order to) HE arrives first! Gingerbread Best thing to find out what "Lebkuchen" means is, to buy some. I thought you get Lebkuchen at Tesco. GermanSailor

Hi, paint the box on the outside or better use some varnish. Seal the corners and edges with silicone on the inside. I would still put all the contents in a high quality ZipLoc Bag, probably two of them. You can check how watertight you cache is in your bathtub. Place it there unter the shower for half an hour and see what happens. Use some common sense where to place it. If you are not 100 percent sure that it is absolutely watertight, don't place it under a waterfall. ;-) There are locations out, where it is better protected from the elements, like in a bush or under thick foilage. By the way: There is no such thing as a waterproof wooden boat. They all leak a bit. GermanSailor

Hi, I have a really old Lowrance Global Nav 12 and it finds Satellites everywhere and is really spot on with the coords all the time. (It has no WAAS functionality but still works fine!) I think the good old Etrex Yellow should do the job, I never had problems with mine. I gave it away after I upgraded to a Geko, but the Etrex got a better reception under foiliage. The best thing about it, it doesn't seem to loose its value if you sell it used. People pay somtimes more for old units with the old non upgradable software than I new one is at WalMart? I guess when it come to signal reception, SIZE DOES MATTER. The bigger the antenna, the more elektromagnetic engergy can be received by the GPSr. And sometimes a unit can be too small, especially with my "Wurstfinger" (find a German to explain what that means)! GermanSailor

Thanks for the link. Just ordered other stuff as well! I like the LED Flashlights. GermanSailor

I would give a USB Stick a try. Maybe I'm not smart, but maybe I'm smart enough to have Anti Virus Software installed and up to date. GermanSailor

Hi Henrik, I know that you asked your something else, but why don't you just get the basic Etrex. You get one of those for under hundred bucks and it will lead you to the coords you entered. What more do you want for a Newbie. You won't find a cache easier just because you have a color display. I understand that it is always good to have more extras and a better unit, but sometimes that means you pay for a lot of stuff, you don't really need. Just my 2 cents! GermanSailor

Hi, the same came to my mind. Who wouldn't? But I like the outcome: - Nice article about geocaching in the news - Bomb Squad got some practice - Another lame urban micro out of the way Just kidding! GermanSailor

Hi, good to know that some people just do it for fun and not for stats! GermanSailor

Hi MadBison, it's called TRAVELbug, so it wants to travel. If you can help the TB to move or with its mission - DO IT! If it sits in a cache for a while, or you can't help the TB, because you don't travel soon, or can't just help it with its mission, log: "discovered it". One of mine was in a cache for quite a while, so it is nice to know that it is still there. Since you are, as you say, new to Geocaching, go there, check what it's mission is, and just log it as discovered. That doesn't do any harm and you get some practice with the whole TB logging thing, which confuses some people in the beginning. Everybody was excited about the first TB! It's "just" a hobby some people call it sport, so no need to make more rules than the one stated by Groundspeak. Nowhere does it say in the guidelines that you can't go back to your own cache to log a TB! (Correct me if I'm wrong!) GermanSailor