jopasm

The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men Gang aft agley I am not a high numbers cacher, at all. What has helped a lot lately is going paperless. Last fall I carried my 60cx and a laptop on roadtrips, that way I could load up nearby caches from GSAK and have the hints handy. I recently upgraded to a GPS that's capable of paperless geocaching and it's made a huge difference. If I have my GPS with me I have all the information I need. No need to worry about the laptop or reams of paper. You don't have to go out and buy a new GPS though. For a while I emailed descriptions to myself (my cell phone can check my email account). I've also tried geocaching w/ my phone. Both worked but were cumbersome. Might work fine for you though! There are also some macros that allow you to load some of the cache description as a POI on non-paperless GPS units. Lots of options.

For a point and shoot I'll vote for the Canon Powershot line. I have an SD1100 that lives in a small pouch on my belt and is pretty much always with me. It's been dropped a couple of times and been through some minor rain and still performs well. A friend of mine recently bought the SD1200 - it has improved video and also seems to be a nice little camera. Prior to that I owned an A series and it was great - some water snuck in and corroded the battery compartment beyond repair. One thing to look for - make sure whatever camera you get can use SD cards. They've become the industry standard. Sony pushes their (proprietary) memory stick cards and a couple of others use the xD cards. Lithium-ion battery packs work well in small P&S cameras, mine goes for days b/t charges.

I owned a Triton 500 for a short while. It was the worst GPS I've ever owned. To be fair, the GPS functions worked fine, but the geocaching support, 3rd party support options, proprietary (EXPENSIVE) power/USB cable, pitiful battery life, lack of Mac support, and cumbersome interface killed it. I paid little enough that it wasn't worth the gas to return it, it's currently serving as a hunting GPS (just has to record a waypoint and return to it) and glorified speedometer for my brother. I used it to record a few tracks and the NatGeo map support was a nice feature, but it fell short in so many other ways! Quality wise the hardware wasn't bad, in every other way Magellan has taken a seriously wrong turn somewhere. Unless the 1500 has *substiantially* improved things take a look at Garmin, DeLorne, or Lowrance instead. The Lowrance Out & Back is getting a lot of good buzz on the forums here, wish I'd known about it before I bought my Dakota. But I do like my Dakota so I might not have been swayed.

If it's a USGS topo from the 1930's the datum is probably NAD27 (North American Datum 1927). You should be able to set your GPS unit to use this and then follow some of the other suggestions to get you close to where the site is.

If you're using pocket queries do like The Yinnie's suggested and just drop the .gpx files from the zip file you are emailed into the garmin/gpx directory on your GPS. When you hook the GPS up Windows should just mount it as removeable storage. I have a microSD card with maps on it installed in my GPS (a Dakota 20), when I hook it up to the computer the GPS's internal memory is E:\ and the microSD card is F:\, but it may be different on your computer. If you are clicking on the "send to GPS" button make sure you have Garm Commmunicator installed. http://www8.garmin.com/products/communicator/ If you're using GSAK make sure you're running the most recent release and you have it configured for your GPS (the Dakota 20 is listed in the GPS selection list).

You might want to look for information on "paperless geocaching", there are several posts on the board about different GPS units with this feature. Basically, with a Groundspeak premium membership, you can download GPX files that contain the location of the cache, the description, the hint, and part of the log. All of these will be available on a paperless unit. I have a Dakota 20 and I'm loving it. It's nice to have all that information on the GPSr unit instead of having to keep up with papers printouts or a seperate PDA. The Oregon and Colorado from Garmin also have paperless capability. In addition there are lots of free maps available for Garmin units and they're very well supported on both Windows and OS X. I've heard good things about the Lowrance Endura series and the Delorm PN-30/40 series. The Endura is a good bit cheaper than the Garmin offerings but uses a different style interface (buttons + touch screen). That'd only be a drawback if you were use to something else. I'm not familiar with either of these beyond what I've read on these forums. Whatever you look at, here's a few things to look for: paperless geocaching add-on topo maps (free sources are a bonus) expandable memory (maps are large) If there's a store nearby where you can play with a few that's the best option.

I've got both a 60cx and a Dakota (the Oregon's little brother). While the 60cx/60csx series are *great* units the only reason I'd recommend one is if you need a serial port to connect to legacy hardware. I've owned my 60cx for years and found a few caches with it. It was a pain due t the way I cache though - geocaching tends to be a secondary activity done when I have time. I never seemed to have the cache description with me when I needed it. A paperless unit like the Dakota/Oregon solves that - I have all the information I need right in the unit. The Oregon/Dakota series also supports more waypoints, more tiles (basically larger map areas), multiple custom-named maps, and custom maps. Look at a an Oregon 300, Oregon 450/550, or a Dakota 20 instead of the 400T. Excellent topo maps are freely available from sites like gpsfiledepot.com. The Dakota 20 does not have Wherigo support, but does have a slightly brighter (but lower resolution) screen than the Oregon 300/400T series. The 450/550 have improved screens as well as some additional features.

Check the Groundspeak guidelines too - cemeteries may come under closer scrutiny b/c they can be very sensitive spots. Be careful of where you place the cache. I've done some cemetery restoration and preservation work and old grave markers (and old graves) can be more fragile than you might think. Keep your local conditions in mind too - there's been a rash of thefts from old cemeteries here - people stealing the crosses (cast metal) from civil war veterans graves and stealing the wrought-iron railing around older cemeteries, so increased activity around older cemeteries will be noticed more. On the other hand, there's some interesting cemetery caches near me - one is a CITO cache to clean up the area around the cemetery.

Man. I just bought a Dakota *and* I no longer live near an REI store. Oh well, good deal for those folks who can get to an REI store!

Oregon 200 - no "unit-to-unit" wireless transfer Dakota 10 - no microSD card slot, no unit-to-unit I wouldn't buy a Dakota 10, the lack of a microSD card slot is absolutely crippling and you can pick up an Oregon 200 for around the same price. The Oregon 300 and Dakota 20 are very similar with the exception of screen resolution and screen size. The other big difference is the older Oregon units (X00 series: 200, 300, 400) screens aren't as bright as the Dakota and newer (X50 series: 450, 550) Oregon units. I haven't compared them side-by-side to be able to describe if it's really a big difference or not. The unit-to-unit feature seems a bit gimmicky to me, but I'm rarely out with a group. Unit-to-unit apparently doesn't support transferring all the information contained in a GPX file for paperless caching, it only transfers the waypoint (location data only). I went with the Dakota 20 b/c I found a good price on it and I don't care about Wherigo support. The Oregon series all support Wherigo, the Dakota does not. I wanted the smaller size as well. The Dakota does not support spanner/NMEA so you can't use it with programs like MS Streets & Trips. That's not a problem for me, I have 2 other GPS receivers. For what it's worth, the Oregon 300 seems to be at a price/feature sweet spot right now. If you want something a little smaller then the Dakota is the best bet. Either one will set you back around $325 from the big box stores, some of the smaller companies are pricing far more aggressively so it pays to shop around. If you're familiar with it, resellerratings.com is a great resource to check out online retaillers you may not be familiar with.

I've used the Rayovac hybrid batteries in my SLR and GPS, they're low-discharge NiMH. I've had good results out of them and they're relatively inexpensive. Don't forget a good charger. I'm currently using a very basic charger, but I've got my eye on one of the "smart" chargers that monitors each individual battery instead of just slamming current through 2 at a time.

I'd like to know too. I wonder if they meant the Oregon 300, the Dakota 20 seems like a smaller Oregon 300 with a lower resolution, but brighter, screen.

I just ordered a Dakota 20 as an upgrade from a 60cx. I wanted a smaller unit with paperless caching and a touch screen. An oregon was just too pricey - it does have a larger screen and higher resolution screen, but I played with a Dakota in a local store the other day and I didn't have a problem with it. The Dakota will have a brighter screen than any X00 (200, 300, 400) Oregon model, although the X50 Oregon units may be comparable (450 & 550). The free maps available for the garmin units and the ability to load my own custom maps really convinced me to go with the Garmin.

That should be within the capabilities of any GPS, I've got a Garmin 60cx I've used for recording positions in NAD27. It's probably a bit more than you want to spend, but just about any Garmin will do the job. A Garmin Venture HC should do what you want, or a Vista HCx if you want to be able to expand the memory for adding maps. The Venture is around $120 on amazon and the Vista is around $200.

I have a Samsung Blackjack II w/ GPS and it's, frankly, awful for Geocaching. The iPhone supposedly has a better GPS implementation but still has the same problems. With a GPS built into a phone you're going to have: 1) slow lock on when you first switch on the GPS (my samsung takes 5+ minutes to get a satellite lock) 2) poor tracking at least on some phones (the GPS seems to update every few seconds rather than continously - fine for car travel, awful for walking) 3) very poor battery life - when you switch on the GPS your battery will start draining fast on your phone - this seems to be true for every cellphone w/ a real GPS unit in it, the battery is quickly drained running multiple receivers and at least one transmitter if not 2). If you're really into geocaching you're probably going to want a decent dedicated handheld. The nice thing about some of the newer units like the Garmin Dakota is they can pass for phones/MP3 players, so if you're caching in an urban environment you don't stand out quite as much as if you're holding a big olive drab, yellow, or safety orange beeping box.

If it's geostationary/geosynchronous (can't remember which term is more correct) then it wouldn't be! It'd always be over the same spot....just really really high up.

You might want to consider two GPS units - a dedicated car unit (they're cheap these days) along with a handheld for caching. I have a Garmin 60cx and was never comfortable using it for navigation, I'd have to spend too much time looking at the GPS instead of the road. I picked up a TomTom for the car and I'm much happier with voice directions. I'm seriously considering picking up a Dakota 20 from Garmin for my next handheld for the touch screen and improved paperless functions. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=30926

Make sure it's legal to use one - they're commonly banned in city parks and the like.

XMap *might*, I actually haven't used it, I just spec'd a system out for a project. It still wasn't accurate enough for my needs (oh how I long for a less than $500 centimeter level accurate unit...). I needed sub-foot accuracy so ended up doing the job with a total station, a friendly volunteer to hold the stadia rod/reflector, and lots of swearing when a backhoe operator graded over the datum.

DeLorme has some applications available for less than $1000 - their Blue Logger GPS can be post-processed with accuracy down to the sub-meter level (if I remember correctly) and they offer a GIS type mapping application as well. Of course, post-processing might help when you're placing a cache (your coordinates would be more accurate) but won't really help you find it. RTK GPS systems are still very expensive and very bulky what with the requirement for a fixed station to provide correction information to the roaming stations.

It looks like it's been converted to the standard Garmin map format, so you can add or delete the maps on your device through Mapsource.

What features do you want? It seems that, generally, a GPS that will be good outdoors is at best a compromise in the car and a GPS that's made for car use may not be useable for geocaching. If you just want occasional use in the car and don't mind a lack of voice prompts and a somewhat small screen size, any of the Garmin GPSs (GPSMap, eTrex, Colorado) capable of auto-routing will do what you need. If you want a larger screen and voice prompts, you may want to look at getting two units. I've got a Tom Tom I use for road trips (it was on sale, the Nuvi is probably equally as good) and a Garmin GPSMap 60cx I use for outdoor work. So: What's your primary use of the GPS, do you need voice prompts/larger screen, and how much do you want to spend? Finally, keep in mind that with the Garmin handhelds you'll need to buy City Navigator maps to use it as an automobile GPS, which costs $100-$120 new. If you keep an eye out for sales you can pick up a basic car GPS such as the Tom Tom Go or Garmin Nuvi 200 for around $140 or a bit less.

For a good, inexpensive backup light check out: http://www.photonlight.com/X-Light-Micro-K...-flashlight.htm You can get them for less than $10 at REI, or find them online. Multiple modes, dimmable, uses a standard coin cell, and fits nicely on a keychain. This has replaced my trusty mini-mag solitaire on my keychain, and I have a second one in my pack for hiking/camping. They make a couple of other models, and you can buy a clip that will clamp onto a hat brim and hold one of the lights. It comes with a neck lanyard.

You didn't mention a budget. I have a Garmin 60cx, and it does have basic car navigation. You'll need to buy Garmin City Navigator software to get the most out of the car navigation features. Instead of buying City Navigator, I ended up picking up a TomTom Go to use in the car and kept the Garmin for everything else. The TomTom didn't cost much more than City Navigator and has a larger screen. You can find TomTom Go units on sale for less than $200 (USD). A Garmin equivalent to the TomTom is the Nuvi series. You might consider getting an eTrex Legend HCx for geocaching and a TomTom or Garmin Nuvi for the car. For example, buying from Amazon: a Garmin Legend HCx + Garmin Nuvi 200 will run around $400, a GPSmap 60cx + City Navigator is about the same. You'd end up with a good GPS for the car and a good GPS for geocaching and outdoor activities.

I have the One LE, which as I understand it is bascially a One 2nd edition with updated softare (NavCore 7). I haven't tried it for geocaching yet (I have a Garmin 60cx), but something that might help, especially with the lock on road issue, is to go to: Preferences->Planning Preferences Change to "Always Plan Walking Routes" and see if that helps you get to the cache. I *think* that turns off the lock-to-road function but I haven't tested it yet.