ZachNLiam

It is at 6PM tongiht! I'm going to update the cache page and make sure it says it too!!! I must have deleted it when I changed something on it! See y'all there!

Well, the Modesto Bee anyway. There's a little 'blurb' on today's Bee about the story tomorrow. It's Zach holding his Garmin Legend on the way to find the cache! I can't wait to see how the story will look tomorrow! See everybody (well, most anyway) tomorrow! Randy

I think it's really cool the BBQ will be on the same day as the story comes out. They took a lot of pictures of my kids holding their gpsrs - I'm hoping that's the focus - get more families involved. Can't wait to meet some of the newer cachers and see George, Mary, Pat, Jamie (hopefully!), etc. See you guys Sunday!

LOL

For those who've had troulbe finding the link, here it is: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=33542 ALSO PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COORDINATES ARE DIFFERENT! We've decided to hold it at my parents' house (still in the same town - Turlock) for various reasons - mostly because their yard is way bigger (lots more room for any kids), it's better lit (as it gets dark), and they have a better BBQ (obvious reason there). The new coordinates are N37 29.604 W120 48.862 I'll try to email everyone who's emailed me about this change, and I'll put up a poster at the original location with the new coordinates for anyone who goes there by mistake!!! Looking forward to it! This is a better place anyway - we should have done this from the beginning! Randy

For those who've had troulbe finding the link, here it is: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=33542 ALSO PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COORDINATES ARE DIFFERENT! We've decided to hold it at my parents' house (still in the same town - Turlock) for various reasons - mostly because their yard is way bigger (lots more room for any kids), it's better lit (as it gets dark), and they have a better BBQ (obvious reason there). The new coordinates are N37 29.604 W120 48.862 I'll try to email everyone who's emailed me about this change, and I'll put up a poster at the original location with the new coordinates for anyone who goes there by mistake!!! Looking forward to it! This is a better place anyway - we should have done this from the beginning! Randy

When I had my V I never turned WAAS on. Now, with my SPIII it doesn't even have WAAS capability, so Garmin obviously thinks it's not important for street use. The MAP76 does not seem to be affected at ALL with its map redraws with WAAS on or off, so I always leave it on. With road lock and maps having a potential error of 20 feet or more, I'm sure it would make no difference on the road.

Here's my son at the trailhead with his Legend and new "girlfriend." LOL http://www.randyjensenphoto.com/Zachgirlfriend.jpg Always more fun with pictures, don't you think? lol

The only time recently I've had any trouble with sat lock was a couple weekends go in Yosemite Valley. For those who haven't been there, the valley floor is surrounded by huge granite mountains about 3000' up on all sides. The geometry of the satellites played a BIG part in how quickly both my SPIII and GPSMAP76 locked on. We drove up to Glacier Point, and the SPIII lost lock maybe 3 or 4 times, never for more than a minute. I would look at the sat page, and sure enough, none overhead. As soon as the road would turn, or a sat would orbit overhead, LOCK. We hiked down from Glacier Point and I left the MAP76 on the whole time, most of the time in a little pocket on my backpack near my head. With my fat head on one side and a 3000' mountain on the other it only lost lock for a few seconds maybe a total of 10 times. I thought this was pretty amazing. It had good signal long enough at most times to give us an EXTREMELY accurate track all the way back to camp, and the elevation profile was very smooth (meaning it was a 3D lock practically the whole time). I know about how many times it lost lock (usually for only a couple seconds) because I have it set to beep when it loses lock. Also, my son had his Legend on the whole way down, and he never complained once about it not receiving. So every time he looked at it, it was going strong. My point is, I didn't expect too much, and the gps did better than I thought it would. This is a VERY steep mountainside with switchbacks down, so half the sky is gone right away, and there's a 3000' mountain facing it, so that horizon is gone, and my head kept getting in its way, not to mention the sections of trees, etc. Now I'm not sure what my point is. lol. UMC, compare it to another one. See if it works better - my gps almost ALWAYS surprises me with how well it works.

Hi Everyone! I'm really excited about the BBQ and sorry we had to change it again! Anyway, we will be supplying the burgers and dogs, buns, veggies, paper products and condiments. I would really appreciate if everyone coming could bring a salad and drinks. And if anyone wants to volunteer.......a dessert would be great! Thanks so much and we will see you at 6 p.m. on Sunday! Tammi

Hi Everyone! I'm really excited about the BBQ and sorry we had to change it again! Anyway, we will be supplying the burgers and dogs, buns, veggies, paper products and condiments. I would really appreciate if everyone coming could bring a salad and drinks. And if anyone wants to volunteer.......a dessert would be great! Thanks so much and we will see you at 6 p.m. on Sunday! Tammi

I'll email everyone today! Thanks!

I'll email everyone today! Thanks!

Excellent, georgeandmary, I hope it's not a problem for everyone! See you there!!!

Excellent, georgeandmary, I hope it's not a problem for everyone! See you there!!!

I'm still surprised at your experiences. I loved my V and never thought it did poorly, even in heavy cover, etc. I now have the SPIII and MAP76 and they both do really well also. A quick search on these forums will confirm that most other V users are VERY pleased with the performance of their units as well. BTW, I frequently compare my 76 with both my sons' GPSrs, (etrex yellow and Legend) and my 76 always locks on faster and holds the lock better (with quad helix antenna). Just confused....

I am VERY sorry to do this, but we need to change the BBQ from Sat the 12th to SUNDAY THE 13TH. We got a phone call last minute, and we need to shoot a wedding on Saturday, so there's no way we could do it then. I hope EVERYONE who could make it Sat will still be able to go, since it's the same weekend. I really hate to do this, but it's the only way we can do it. Thanks everyone for being understanding and I hope to see everyone there!!!! Please email me if there's any problems!!! Randy

I am VERY sorry to do this, but we need to change the BBQ from Sat the 12th to SUNDAY THE 13TH. We got a phone call last minute, and we need to shoot a wedding on Saturday, so there's no way we could do it then. I hope EVERYONE who could make it Sat will still be able to go, since it's the same weekend. I really hate to do this, but it's the only way we can do it. Thanks everyone for being understanding and I hope to see everyone there!!!! Please email me if there's any problems!!! Randy

It WILL work, but it is kind of big and the battery life isn't very good. I have a SPIII that I totally LOVE, but when I get out of the car I switch to my GPSMAP76. By the way, no one really doesn't like your 176c! They just took your comments about the 5 the wrong way! The reason I wouldn't want to take my SPIII out caching is that I'd be afraid of scratching that great screen! You can't easily drop it in your pocket when the terrain gets a little rough, etc. Just my $0.02.

It WILL work, but it is kind of big and the battery life isn't very good. I have a SPIII that I totally LOVE, but when I get out of the car I switch to my GPSMAP76. By the way, no one really doesn't like your 176c! They just took your comments about the 5 the wrong way! The reason I wouldn't want to take my SPIII out caching is that I'd be afraid of scratching that great screen! You can't easily drop it in your pocket when the terrain gets a little rough, etc. Just my $0.02.

Umc, this may be elementary, but do you have the antenna pointing straight up? I've owned a 5, the Street Pilot III and a GPSMAP76 (all which have a quad helix antenna) and all of them have worked extremely well. BUT, if the antenna isn't pointing up the reception is DEFINITELY affected. If you ARE pointing it up, I think you must have a defective unit. Try another one, definitely. In fact, if REI will let you, take yours and a new one outside (once the new one figures out where it is for the first time of course) and then compare the two units side-by-side (but not too close so they don't interfere with each other). I'd be curious if they're noticeably different. That would definitely answer your question. Just my thoughts. All my Garmins have performed well, including my sons' eTrexes.

When you enter a cache on your shiny new GPSV, route to the cache using either Faster Time or Shorter Distance. When you run out of road (the closest the V will get you to the cache ON the road), simply select RECALCULATE, and choose OFF ROAD. Then it will work like a standard GPS with the compass screen. Also, hold the PAGE button for a couple seconds to make the screen vertical (assuming you were using it horizontal in the car). Have fun! And I can't read enough reviews.

If you have a Garmin mapping gps (Legend, 76MAP, etc) you can transfer all the addresses along with maps from Metroguide. it works really well, and you don't even have to "convert" them, although you can. Just type in the address, and if you have that section of map loaded it'll point you right there. You can also create a route in the software and then transfer it to your gps for "turn by turn" directions. I use this all the time. it works great.

Also, you may need to 'reset' your Legend. My son's started acting really odd, so I just started pushing buttons along with the power button (sorry I don't know which one actually did it! - I'm sure you can find someone who knows), and it fixed all the weirdness.

They're great to look around at cool toys, but in my experience their prices are considerably higher than other places. Wal-Mart had the GPSV for $399.97 when the price first "dropped" and Fry's NEVER came around to that and kept selling the GPSV basic for $100 more. And the idiot salespeople didn't get the fact that EVERYONE was $100 cheaper than them. When the SPIII Deluxe hit the shelves you could preorder them pretty much ANYWHERE for $799. I called Fry's and was quoted $1200. That's freaking RETAIL on it. I think they wound up selling it for $999, $200 more than anyone else. At least on gps units they're prices aren't good. I did buy MapSource TOPO there because EVERYONE is retail on that, and they were too and they had it in stock (impulse buy - lol).