Big-AlH

Hi all, I'm down in Irvine (from NorCal) for a week and am looking for some cool caches. Specifically, I'm only 7 away from my 200th and would like to do a nice 200th cache if possible. I leave Friday night and am tied up during the day in a class but wouldn't mind meeting up with some SoCal folks for some caching in the evening. I was thinking possibly one of the nearby Earth Caches for the 200th - but if there's something especially cool please let me know. Please drop me an email if you have a cool cache or want to meet up and do some caching. Thanks! -al

Still happening at 8:25am PST...

Thanks to all for the suggestions. While I'm not a numbers guy, getting other states would be cool. I basically have 2 free full days to myself. What I'll most likely do is plan one day to head up to KY and get caches along the way. The other day I'll head down to AL, picking up some good caches along the way as well. I'll try to convince the wife to go into AR and MS while down near Memphis to pick up those states as well. If there are some "must do" caches between Nashville (will be near Opyrland) and KY/AL let me know. -al

Hi all, My wife will be attending a convention in Nashville the second week of August. I'll have 2.5 days to myself, so what better way to spend them then geocaching! I'm not a big numbers guy, but I also don't want to spend the entire day on 1 cache. I'd rather find several interesting caches over 100 boring or 1 super-awesome (if that makes sense). I'd like to find some nice hiking areas where several caches are located, or some cool (historic etc.) ones are located relatively close to each other. When I traveled to Virginia I found a lake (Burke Lake Park) that had a 5 mile loop with about 13 caches around it. That was much more memoriable to me than 30 parking lot caches. I plan on popping up to KY to snag a cache or two as well (nice to get another state). On Wednesday afternoon we'll be driving to Memphis to spend a night and go to Graceland on Thursday - so I'll also pick up a couple down there (and possibly some other states ). Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks! -al

I'll toss in my vote for BeeLineGPS as well. I've tried just about all and the only two that have navigation as well as paperless info is BeeLineGPS and Cachemate (with Cachenav plug-in). The navigation part of BeeLineGPS is much more of a feature of that product than the simple add-in for Cachemate. -al

Whatever the point might be... if you want to use a bug to log cool caches then at least remove (i.e. disable) the log after you post it. I don't like seeing pages and pages of notes for this kind of stuff. -al

I don't consider that an "official" FTF. For those that like the rush of going after an FTF, it stinks to have someone post FTF before it was officially published (though I agree what Brian says). Normally the pre-published FTF wasn't posted until later, so while hunting for this cache you think you still have a shot at FTF. What typically happens in this neck of the woods is those finding it prior to it being published (i.e. testers or friends) won't officially log it as FTF. They also typically sign the physical log below the #1 spot. I think it's good caching ettiquete to not claim FTF (or take any FTF prize) until after it's published. Just my thoughts... -al

Slightly OT but... I would suggest using a backup tool like Sprite Backup. I did this on my older iPAQ 2975 when I upgraded to WM2003. It restored everything just fine. -al

I bought the Garmin case and am very happy with it. The advantage of the case over the shields is it also protects the buttons. I have a friend who used his 60cs so much he wore the color off the buttons! The only drawback of the case is if you want to plug anything into it you'll have to remove it from the case. Here is the URL for the case: http://shop.garmin.com/accessory.jsp?sku=010%2D10578%2D00 -al

The iPAQ 2400 series runs Windows Mobile 2003. GPX Sonar will work fine on that device. I would highly recommend you keep the size of your GPX files small. Nice thing with GSAK is that you can setup a filter to limit the caches and export those. What I do is keep several smaller (<3mb) GPX files rather than one large one (which is >15mb). -al

One thing I did was change the fields on my navigation (arrow) screen to included accuracy. The reason for that is if it says I'm 30 feet from the cache but my accuracy is 40 feet, there's a good chance the 30 feet from cache may not be correct. I also have WAAS enabled. To verify you have WAAS enabled, keep the unit out in the open for a while on the satellite page until you see "D"s on the signal bars. It might take a while the first time you do this. Out in the open with WAAS you might see 8' accuracy or better... -al

Since this thread popped back up I thought I'd add to it. At a recent event I had the pleasure of meeting CenturyOldCacher. I believe she's 101. Jeremy - you can update your "oldest cacher" stat. She's related to Oldhippy and Granny. -al

I've heard this from many sources. I've never tried Select but purchased Navigator 7 for my 60cs. I don't know what the difference for me would be, but for my local area (Northern California) I have to load 2 segments - which ends up covering all of Nor Cal. I believe they take up 31 out of 56 megs of memory for maps. Since I don't travel outside of this area much the larger segments aren't a problem for me. For those people that travel a lot and don't want to have to bother with transfering maps I can see how this would be an issue. For some people the larger segments may not be an issue at all. -al

Looks like it to me. Typically with this type of thing you want to contact the people who found the cache around the time the TB went missing. From the looks of wolfshowl they are new and may not completely understand or have forgotten. I agree about the comment of people becoming too attached. I've talked to some people that have lost interest in TBs because of they had several stolen. On the other side, it's easy to forget about a TB you might have, especially if you haven't gone caching in a while. Back to the OP - contact wolfshowl and ask about it. It seems hopeful... -al

What worries me is the kids. I'd hate to be taking the kids out for some fun caching and have one of them get bitten by a rattler. They go to school in the foothills (~1500 feet elevation) and they find rattlers on their campus several times a year. A cache I placed near there first got covered in poison oak and after moving it now seems to be in a good rattler sleeping spot. Can't win there. I will definately get treking poles for the kids and make sure they are well trained - but I probably won't take them to many rock caches in the hills... -al

I use Mapopolis on my PPC. I have a GSAK export which I send through "GPXToMaplet" so I can see all the caches on a map. If you want to setup a list of caches I'd highly recommend giving the GSAK "Cache Raid" macro a look. It's pretty amazing. You set your center point and define search criteria (in a search scope called "Cache Raid") and the macro will create a logical order of caches from your center point (i.e. going in the same relative direction). When I do that I typically print or save off the list of caches then mark them in Mapopolis as I go along. Back to the OP's question about GSAK - like most tools the time you spend will definately be worth it. Read more about it, try some different things. Once you get the hang of it you'll be very pleased. First and foremost is to learn how to setup the filters. Once you play around with that you can save the filter and re-use it. Good luck! -al

I add my vote to BeeLineGPS as well. Great product. If you want autorouting/navigation I'd highly suggest Mapopolis. You can load waypoints via the "GPXToMaplet" program. It's great to see where all the caches are located (and navigate to them). -al

Yes. I'd recommend Mapopolis for the autorouting (with voice commands). Program is free - you just need to buy the maps. You can buy individual maps or the entire US for $99. You can use Mapopolis to navigate to a cache after you drive, but I use BeeLineGPS for that. As far as how "tough" the PDA is, without something extra it isn't going to be as robust as a "normal" outdoors GPS receiver. You can get a rugged case (Otterbox sells them) though. Mapopolis is a great program and using the GPXToMaplet program you can convert all your geocache waypoints into a maplet file Mapopolis will load. If you have other questions about this let me know. -al

I took your advice in another thread and did this... and now I'm looking at my brand new 60cs sitting here in front of me! Thanks for the tip. -al

You could also use GSAK if you don't have MapSource. -al

Compared to other navigation software it's cheap. Most run over $150, but you can get all North American maps with Mapopolis for $99. From the different navigation programs I've tried Mapopolis is by far the best. Nice thing with geocaching is that you can import all your caches (using GPXToMaplet) or when heading out quick you can just enter lat/long. Works great to see where a cache is located. I also have to give props to BeeLineGPS. It's definately my preferred software... -al

Depends on what you want to use your iPAQ for. Just paperless? Any plans to get a Bluetooth GPS receiver and use it for caching / navigating? If you just want paperless I'd recommend Cachemate. It's a nice program, but will cost $8. GPXSonar works as well, but it can be a bit slow on large GPX files. I have a Teletype Bluetooth GPSr that I use with iPAQ (hx2755) and I use BeeLineGPS which works great for geocaching. I also use Mapopolis for navigation (including getting to the cache site). Another option is to use GPX Spinner or GSAK to generate HTML files and use Pocket IE to read the info. Bit more time consuming (to create) then other programs, but I like the format/look+feel of those pages. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have. -al

Mine isn't overly exciting - my name is Al (last name starts with H) and I'm 6'5" tall. But, the reason for the last name character and the hyphen is pretty funny. In college I was logging in as "bigal" and a guy looking over my shoulder said, "Bi Gal? Why on earth are you called Bi Gal??". I decided I should modify it a bit... -al

I'd recommend NOT getting GPS Tuner. I did and regret it. It's a very nice program - polished and lets you create custom maps... the problem is you can not view the cache information with that tool. Having to switch between GPX Viewer and this program while on the hunt is a pain and caused my Pocket PC to lock up. I've tried just about all of them and can honestly say BeeLine GPS is much better for this. I spent the $30 or so on GPS Tuner and now I never use it. Go with the trial versions and get some caches under your belt with them before buying. Your mileage may vary, but for me when I'm out looking for a cache I want to quickly load the cache details if I need some help. BeeLine GPS does this best IMO. -al

You will want to keep your GPX file sizes down when using GPX View or GPX Sonar. With a large number of caches they will take a long time to load and use up a lot of program memory. Some options: * Use a program that maintains it's own (more optimized database) like CacheMate or BeeLine GPS * Use MobiPocket and select the eBook option with your Pocket Queries * Use GPX Spinner or GSAK to generate HTML files which you can copy to your PPC. I like the HTML format GSAK generates. I do that on occasion to have some quick viewing of cache information. While I've used MobiPocket for years with eBooks I don't like the format/setup of the cache information. -al