MysteryLady

Thanks everyone, I ordered a new battery and charging cable. Hopefully that will resolve it.

Hi, I have th eExplorist 500 and have enjoyed it for some time. However lately when I charge it (and it says full charge) it will only show 1/2 to 3/4 charged when I go out geocaching. Up to now no problem as I usually don't go for more than about 6 hours at a time. Today the unit kept freezing up - I would do a got to and it would say the cache is .54 away, then as I drove closer it didn't increment at all - didin't show the speed or anything. then it would "lose" the geocache and I would have to choose it again - this time 300 feet but again not more incrementing as I approached. I think it's the battery but dont want to buy one if it's the unit itself. any advice?

Hi everyone, I've been away from here for a while so I'm not sure if this is an issue that has been discussed or if it is just me! When I print out the cache page (ok, I don't do paperless yet!), the informaiton prints fine but where the little map should be is an empty box. I can print a mapquest or google map, etc, but then have to keep it with the correct cache page. I'm usually familiar enough with the area that a general idea (the one on the page) would be enough if I could get it to print. I have XP with IE 7.0.5730.11 Any help would be appreciated. thanks. - carol ( MysteryLady)

Okay, I'm new at this Google Earth stuff. How do I get the geocaches to appear on the google earth maps? (I know it's probably really easy - but I need some instructions!) Thanks. -- Carol

Hi all, I'm traveling to Karlsruhe Germany on sunday with my husband. while he is working I intend to do some easy geocaches. However, I don't speak German and can't find where to start looking for the geocaches on the Germany page. Any ideas or help? Thanks. - Carol

Thanks, Madog. Now I have a starting point to search from.

Hi all, This may not be the right forum but couldn't figure out where to post. I'm going on a cruise that stops in Cozamel, Mexico, Grand Cayman Island and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Can anyone recommend easy caches that I can talk my cohorts into doing with me while we are there? I read about one that was $70 to $140 in taxi fares so that's not for me!! Also I have an explorist with MapSend Direct Route maps but they are US only - where can I get maps for the areas I will be visiting? Thanks. -- Carol

Hi all, This may not be the right forum but couldn't figure out where to post. I'm going on a cruise that stops in Cozamel, Mexico, Grand Cayman Island and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Can anyone recommend easy caches that I can talk my cohorts into doing with me while we are there? I read about one that was $70 to $140 in taxi fares so that's not for me!! Also I have an explorist with MapSend Direct Route maps but they are US only - where can I get maps for the areas I will be visiting? Thanks. -- Carol

Hi, this may not be your problem, but I have an explorist 500 and when I use the Geocache manager to download waypoints (works great by the way) - it will automatically put them on an SD card if one is in the unit. However, when you choose GO TO on the unit it defaults to the internal memory so after you go to all the trouble of selecting, geocaching points, etc. you then have to hit enter at "go up one level" until you get to the choice of the SD card or Internal Memory and choose the SD card and then go all the way down again to get to the waypoints. A pain, but after a while you get used to it. Hope this helps. -- carol

Sad news - for me anyway. Our trip to San Diego is cancelled. I won't be geocaching there next week!! I'm going to try to close this topic since I was the one who started it.

Sorry you're not going to be there. There's even going to be someone at the conference signing a book called "fun with GPS" - they better mention geocaching in it! I know there are geocachers lurking at the conference. The last time I cached there, a lot of the logs were from people attending the conference. I dragged my husband with me last time but since he's supposed to be "working" not caching, I thought this time I could find another addict!

Hi, I'm going to accompany my husband to the ESRI convention the last week in July. I'd like to find some fellow geocachers who want to go find some nearby. Anyone else going to be there?

What are geocaching rocks and why don't they have them in the UK?

Okay, I don't have time to read all 308 responses -- so... did you average them all out for us? What IS the average age of geocachers!! -- carol

I read a lot of Mystery novels and had originally intended to leave paperback mysteries as a trading item in the caches. I quickly discovered that most caches are not big enough for that but by then I had already been using the name for some time so I didn't want to change.

kennethpruett I think this is the link. If this doesn't work (I'm not too good at these forums!) go to page 2 of the GPS Units and Software - at the bottom is a thread named "Explorist 500" http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=94627

Hi, I'm in Maryland and the first thing I took was a CC Cooper Agency keyring. They were their signature item and they were putting them in all the caches at that time. Now that they are past 8000 finds, I don't think they leave them anymore -- making mine all the more valuable. The other thing I have saved over the years is a "handmade" wooden keyring made by "spitwinkle." He has moved out of our area and no more caches around with his signature item.

Hi all, this may not apply to everyone, but I had a Palm V and when we upgraded our computer to windows XP the Intelisync software no longer communicates. I went to the Palm website and they said there are no new software upgrades for the Palm V -- so before you buy one to use for Geocaching you might want to check into this.

Escout. You are absolutely right. I feel like an idiot! I put the connection in so the little "tab" was over the "slot" of the back cover. I thought it was a safety feature to keep you from removing the back while it was connected. I feel stupid, but we did spend 2 days on the phone with tech support and they didn't mention this. My new one came today. It's charging now. -- I have to return one of them!! Thanks for the info. I hope it saves someone else from problems. (my husband is stomping around in the background - said tech support never mentioned this and we wasted all this time!) Oh well, it's raining too hard today to cache anyway.

SnaptheFrog, I posted some pictures on the other thread. (thought we were switching) It is "Explorist 500" - shows several views of the unit. Mine arrived broken (won't communicate so I have not downloaded any maps, etc. Just took pictures so far. Several other geocachers have firsthand knowledge of the unit in field testing - sounds promising. Most of the map software allow you to load whatever area you wish - in other words you don't have to load the whole eastern part of the US if you are only interested in the midwest. Obviously the larger the SD card the more maps you can load.

Embra, what is the "swival gps mount"?

The backlight was on for both units. The explorist is really bright. The graphics are also larger and fill more of the screen. The info boxes are customizable the same as the sportrak. -- Carol

Hi all, I posted (with a little help) some pictures of the explorist 500 on the other thread. (explorist 500) One of the pictures has it next to a ruler so you can see the size. Another is pictured with a SportTrak Pro to give you some idea of size. Unfortunately it has to be replaced by Magellan since it won't communicate with my pc. Expecting a new one this weekend. -- carol

Milbank, I sent them. -- Carol

Okay, now if I can figure out how to load pictures, I'll put them up. I took one next to my Magellan SportTrak Pro (don't have a Meridian nearby but you know it's considerably larger). Also I tried to show how the SD lies flat "under" the battery. Weird but I guess it's efficient. -- Carol guess I don't know how to upload pictures - help, please.