Night Stalker

I am going to assume that the procedure is the same on the 60CX as on your GPS. Might be wrong, but change the screen to the Trip computer page, and press menu/reset. Take the checkmarkl off everything but the trip odometer and pressw apply. Click Ok and the trip odomenter will be reset.

I am not sure that you have the same issue that I have, but even though you can see that I am a premium member, when i access my profile it says that I am not. This is because I eliminated the credit card which I had been using to pay for my membership. Once the new credit card was set up to pay for the membership their was no problem, but for some reason the renewal to get passed to my profile. Not a big deal for me since there are very few members only caches in my area, and my membership will be up for renewal in a few more months anyway.

I carry my GPS in a padded Cell Phone case. This is pretty old since cell phones aren't that large anymore, but it work quite well. I don't use my external antenna much. I bought it for using in cars such as Pontiacs and Buicks that have something in the windshields that blocks the signal. I remember several cachers in an earlier thread discussing how they have attached their antennas to ball caps for best reception

As Renegade Knight mentioned we use a fun meter. When it is no longer fun we move on. Works for us even if we do have a few more DNF's.

Now I can quote briansnat whenever my wife wants me to do yard work.

You said the magic word when you said treking through the woods. The older receivers have issues with heavily wooded areas. They lose their satellites and lead you in circles. From the previous posts I would suggest looking at the HC instead.

There is no difference.

I use the Garmin bean bag mount. I have used it with my 60CS and with my 60CX. I used to work all over the western US, and the first thing that came out of my computer bag was my GPS and mount so that I could find my way around. I have never had any issues with the mount. Guess I have been lucky.

I wonder how much more overwhelming the 60CSX numbers would be if the owners of 60CX units were included in this number. There are more than a few of us, me included, that couldn't quite justify the additional price for the 60CSX and purchased the 60CX instead.

I never realized how much I would use the auto routing for geocaching. In the past I would circle around until I found the right road and the best parking place. This wasted time and gas. Now about 95% of the time auto routing will take me right to the bast parking spot. The rest of the time it gets me close enough that I can figure out what I need to do from there. With gas being so expensive that allows me to do more caching.

I also understand that if you use your home coordinates as a reference point that the pocket query fails.

As far as how close you actually get to a cache with the Gps, that depends a lot on how accurate the original coordinates are. I have been on top of a cache and still not found it. Over the years cache owners have become more devious, at least in my area. When you get to ground zero look around you and try to think like the cache hider. A lot of times a little thinking and looking around can save a lot of time searching fruitlessly.

Sounds like pajaholic needs to upgrade to a newer GPS when he can afford it. Newer GPS's will display all 6 digits and most have averaging capabilities. The newer Garmins will also hold a signal pretty well under heavy tree cover. That being said I always use the coordinates that I come up with to return to the cache and see how close I am. If you end up within 20' of the actual hide I would call it good. If like some I have hunted you are 40' to 120' feet off I would try to get better coordinates.

From past experience I can tell you that you souldn't depend entirely on a 1 terrain rating. Some cachers do not understand what that rating implies. I would email the hider of a cache I wanted to search for in advance and find out if it truly is appropriate for someone in a wheel chair.

I suspect that a note to the approver on the cemetary cache would take care of that one.

It seems to me that these so called soft coordinates are just a lazy substitute for placing good caches. I have had plenty of experience trying to find truly devious caches, and once I have found them enjoy them and appreciate the work that went into hiding them.

It also means that no creativity is going to be used to sign a log. As a cache owner I appreciate tales from the cacher about his find, or not finding the cache. I try to make the story of my caching experience interesting. This seems to be a lost art with all the abreviations being used.

Unfortunately that is not always true. We have had an active cache maggot in our area for the last several years. The only consolation is that the volume of caches in the area has increased so much that he has had a difficult time keeping up.

2 Stories. Some may remember a number of years ago about the cacher that set off in some swamp land looking for a cache. He did not mark his starting point. He did not know how to use his gps properly, and he got really and truly lost. He finally called for help and they sent an emergency rescue team to find him. To add injury to insult he had to pay for the rescue. 2nd story. I consider myself an accomplished cacher. I had marked my car and figured I have everything covered. The problem was that while opening the cache and signing the log I bumped my GPS which was hanging on my belt. I came loose and started bouncing down this hill and finally landed in a river. This was in the Chicago area where I was working at the time. I s*** a brick. Not only did I not know my way back to my car, but I had no idea where my motel was even if I found the car. I was lucky. I hiked down the hill and found my Garmin GPS in about 2 feet of water. The screen was nice and bright and easy to see under the water. I retrieved the GPS dried it off and went back to my motel to change my underwear. So you see some of us old timers can screw up also.

I have also found smaller cans in an archery shop. A lot of the older bows are not camo'd so this allows them to camo their own design.

I have only found 1 cache where the altimeter was helpful. This was a cache in a parking garage and the hider gave the altitude as well as the coordinates so we could figure out which floor the cache was on. I haven't seen anything like it since. Might be an interesting idea for a new cache.

I have a little over 1500 finds, and only needed to use the electronic compass for one of those finds; That being said I do agree that it is nice to have the compass feature. My newer GPS does not, and when starting from a stop for a new cache it does not immediately know what direction I am traveling. This can cause me to have to make a U turn once it finds itself.

Depending on what GPS you are using, I would think the easiest way would to become a premium member. If you create a pocket query you can load as many as 500 caches on you gps at a time. I also have an older pocket PC and load the same GPX file on it. This allows me to read the cache page, the last 5 logs and the clue. If you have some of the newer (Expensive) Gps's you can load this information right on the GPS and only have to carry one unit. For the longest time I cached the hard way like you are. Once I became a premium member I realized how much of my time was wasted.

The Garmin 60 is way out of date. It was okay when it came out, but the newer garmins are a lot easier to read and a lot more accurate. I am surprised that this was in the catalog since it is an older model. I started with a non color screen and the difference between that and the newer color screens was unbelievable.

I own a 60CX and have cacher all over the western United States. I have never had issues with satellite lock under tree cover. I have had some issues with a bit of wandering while looking for a cache. I believe the technical term is the drunken bumble bee. As far as I know this is normal with all GPS's. The technology inside is the same as the 60CSX except no electronic compass and no barometer.