elmuyloco5
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Posts posted by elmuyloco5
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Testing our new avatar.......
N35 52'51.62" W106 18'09.82"
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I would venture a guess that in any large city like LA or New York City, you will probably find that there are several murders, accidents, and other crimes near caches.
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Apparently those of us that enjoy finding a cache on a guardrail of a Kmart parking lot, for whatever reason, just aren't doing it right and don't know that we're not really having fun.
While we are usually a hiking family and prefer for our caches to be in a beautiful or educational spot, one of our favorite caches was on a guardrail (not at Kmart...but none-the-less). It was not at a scenic area, but was cleverly contained in a nut and bolt that matched the others on the guardrail perfectly. I'm sure plenty of you have found similar ones, but it was the first we had seen like that......and it was cool to see the creativity. And for the record, our three young kids also really enjoyed this one....despite the lack of swag.
Your enjoyment level while caching is what you make of it. If your sure you're going to be unhappy, you will be. We don't like every cache we go to, but we don't let it ruin our experience overall. And maybe the majority aren't that great, but the one's that are make up for all the ones that aren't.
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Have you thought about making one out of acrylic? It's used to make aquariums and can be purchased at a reasonable cost at Lowes and Home Depot. You can easily seal almost the whole thing with aquarium grade silicone. The upper portion of the container you could use a large rubber o-ring, and the hinges will last through the saltwater if you buy stainless steel (also available at the same stores). It would be pricier than an ammo, but cheaper than having to keep replacing the ammo can. Acrylic paints really easily too.
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This year, for us, it's more the types of caches that have been limited. Normally, we would be out snowshoeing to some great caches out in the mountains. But this year has been dryer than most. We've gotten some snow, but not enough to snowshoe and the little bit we're getting has made the ground a muddy mess. But, we're out doing some urban caching instead.
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have you inquired about this at the TomTom forums? They have several geocachers on there and lots of tips and tricks on how to work around the limitations of each unit.
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I don't need a primer on Celiac though your info may be useful for others.
Sorry if it came across as if I was trying to educate you. I wasn't. I was merely putting the info out for others out there who may not understand the condition. People with Celiac certainly have to eliminate that of which affects their health, however, it's not as severe/urgent of a situation as those with a nut allergy. I don't know that I would classify Playdoh as a "food item", but it is edible, and it does smell, especially to animals with a keener sense of smell than humans. Either way, a terrible choice for swag.
I would only add, "with the possible exception, to some extent, of my immediate family" because the immediate family of a person with special needs usually changes their habits somewhat just so the affected person "fits in" and to not necessitate extra work. E.G. when i was diagnosed with diabetes, the whole family got healthier meals. They don't have to watch their carbs as closely as I do, but it doesn't hurt and preparing separate meals is nonsense.
If I had a very young child with a food allergy, you can rest assured that food would not be in the house. But after the child came to sufficient intelligence to recognise the hazard and showed sense enough to leave it alone, that food would be available to the rest of the family if they wanted it. At that point, it is the individual (child's) responsibility to avoid the problem substance.
I agree, and certainly people living around an individual with health concerns should work with them and help them in any way they can. And likewise, it is good for us, as individuals, to become more educated about the hardships that others encounter. Being sympathatic to their situations will never hurt anyone, however an ounce of prevention on the affected person's part, will usually be enough to keep them safe while allowing others to continue with life as usual. And really, most people I have met with serious health condition, or physical impairment, want just that.......life as normal as possible.
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On one of the other threads about this subject, there was a cacher who has a child with a nut allergy who even said that they keep peanut butter in the house but make sure it is separated from their child. Now, I'm sure that there are varying degrees to the allergy, but given that nut allergies only affect about 1.3 % of the population, it's a small concern to cachers in general. Proper washing of containers, and just good common sense on the allergic individual's part will virtually eliminate any issue this could cause. I'm sure that the majority of cache owners would accept a picture of the found container in lieu of writing your name in a log book if you're allergic to nuts. You can tell which containers are likely to have once held peanut or other nut butter. Most of us carry around a camera with us every day on our cell phones, so this is truly not an inconvenience to either party.
Playdoh is a poor choice for a swag item because of it's "smell-factor", but will cause little harm to anyone with Celiac Disease. Gluten is not asorbed through the skin, so as long as you wash your hands before cross-contaminating anything that you might eat, you will not be affected by the Gluten in Playdoh. Celiac Disease is also not normally a fatal intolerance as explained by this quote from the Merck Manual:
"Although most people do well if they avoid gluten, long-standing celiac disease can be fatal in a small percentage of people who develop intestinal lymphoma. Whether strictly adhering to a gluten-free diet decreases the risk of long-term complications such as intestinal cancers or lymphoma is not known."
I have Celiac Disease, as well as an extreme allergy to bees. I cache, I hike, I live. I use my common sense, and everything is fine. I don't expect my health issues to dictate how others live their lives. I make sure I read the cache descriptions and I stop looking for anything that makes me feel uncomfortable (due to allergies or otherwise).
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I can tell you from first hand experience with the Triton, right now it's a mess. The units are being pulled again from many store shelves until they can get them fixed. If you are truly interested in a Triton, you'll need to be patient and wait out some of the firmware issues they are having. The two we tried out were virtually unusable. That's not to say that the Tritons won't be a good option for the future, you'll just have to wait a bit.
I have tried out the NG Topo software and can tell you that it doesn't even come close to the capabilities that the Delorme software has. We ended up switching to the PN-20 by Delorme after the Magellan mess and researching into the Colorado (several limitations on this unit that made it a poor choice for our needs).
I can't say enough about the PN-20. It's an incredible unit and the software is unbelievable! I would suggest checking out the Delorme forums for more detailed information, and call Delorme with any questions you might have. Their customer service is unmatched in this market, IMHO. I think, for your needs and wants, the Delorme might be just what you're looking for.
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What would really be great, Chip, is to have the ability to open an entire new screen when clicking on the geocache icon.
I created a post on our forum with images of the new Comment Details page that will be available in a week or so. There are lots of great suggestions coming in... We are very pleased with all of the feedback we've gotten from our forum and from the gc.com forum. Thank you all for taking the time to pass along your ideas.
http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?p=64972#64972
Chip Noble
Team DeLorme
Very nice! I look forward to seeing just how much of the description is available. This is definately going to improve geocaching on the PN-20. Thanks for putting our needs into consideration!
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What would really be great, Chip, is to have the ability to open an entire new screen when clicking on the geocache icon. On that screen, you would be able to view the cache description, hints, and maybe a few past logs. I don't know how easy this would be for you to achieve, as I'm not a programmer, but it would put the PN-20 in an entirely different class.
Your competition, as you know, are the Triton and Colorado, both of which display alot more cache information. I've heard that you have an update in which there will be more characters displayed, but 800 characters won't display the entire description of a lot of caches. Of the 19 I own, it won't get the cacher past the initial paragraph describing the series. We chose your unit because the mapping capabilities are unmatched, but increasing your geocaching capabilities could put you at the top of the market.
Right now the Colorado works with the new Wherigo game, but honestly, it has some serious limitations that can't be fixed without a change in the hardware design. The Magellan is not currently functioning with the game either, so it would put the PN-20 on an even playing field.
The other suggestion I would make is a little more "out there", but would be a fabulous addition to your PN-20. Your Topo program, and Xmap already have a routing planner and can be used to navigate roads, and I've read on these forums about several truckers who use the BT-20 alongside a laptop computer to navigate. A laptop can be too big for the average family driver, but a smaller lcd screen comparable to other car navigation units that could connect to your PN-20 to display the info, and maybe include text to speech, would be unbelievable.
Edit: Whew....that shows you how poor your English can be when you're mind is focused on other things....sorry...typing when I have a second while homeschooling.
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Has anyone had A CSO come to an event To try to educate the LEO's about geo cacahing. We are getting cameras installed throuout the city soon and they are a combination of HLS and LEO cams. I guess i just would like some advice on maybe getting them educated about our Hobby.
Thanks For any Imput.
Greg
Hmm..... OK, I get LEO (Law enforcement Officer), but the others I am lost on
CSO=?
HLS=?
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Well, the ability to add roads and tracks--and even make them routable--is in T7, too, so one wouldn't need XMap to do that. I have to admit that I've had T6 and now T7 for about a year total, and I still only feel like I know a portion of it's capabilities.
Didn't know that.....haven't gotten it yet, but noticed that in description of XMaps. Pretty cool either way.
To address the OP: We have been extremely pleased with our Magellan Meridian Platinum. However, we went through two separate Triton 500 units, both of which had so many problems that they were literally unusable. Before you consider purchasing one, I would suggest you check out the Triton Forums online as they are literally ripping the units apart on there. The forum wasn't formed as a complaint forum either.
You can get a good grasp on the Colorado situation on this forum. It definitely has some issues that need to be fixed by future firmware updates. But, it also has a few limitations that cannot be fixed with software that pertain to uses that it was advertised to be able to perform.
I would suggest you do alot of research prior to purchasing and then buy somewhere with a good return policy (avoid Swiftmaps for the Triton *see my post about them on here....they're causing lots of problems to pretty much everyone who purchased one*).
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Jake, in making your decision I wanted to make sure you knew that Delorme makes their XMap Pro package available to PN-20 owners at a steeply discounted price (I think its $99). It's a professional-grade map program that overlaps enough with Topo7 that it largely supplants it for PN-20 users (as I understand it...T7 satisfies my needs ok so I don't have it).
The chief advantage of XMap for PN-20 users is that it allows the import of scanned maps and export to the PN-20. So a number of people are using it to load the free or specialized imagery they have into their GPS. Here is a recent thread on the Delorme boards with a little more information.
Although it's additional $, that's functionality I don't think I'm likely to use. So I'm just as glad that they make it available, but don't bundle it with their other packages.
You can also use it to edit roads. So if you have a new road in your neighbor or something, you can add it. You can add trails and such too. It's a pretty cool piece of software. If you want to look any further into it, you can read the user manual online at Delorme at this link XMaps manual
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Thanks!!! I appreciate the link!
BTW, hope I didn't come across as a weirdo about the car.....I just can't help but feel for people when I see someone driving a KJ. I just think, "geez, I hope they don't go through it too". Anyway....just hoping to save you a bit of grief.
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Chip: I would like you to pass along a huge thank you to everyone at Delorme. I've called many times over the last month with different questions and every time the Delorme employees have been incredibly nice and helpful. Living in Maine must be a blast because everyone seemed to be in a great mood and willing to do anything they could to help. Delorme has some stellar customer service, and it's something you all should be very proud of! We're looking forward to our new GPSr and to more products in the future!
Additionally, I tried to edit my post above, but I guess it has been too long and it won't let me. You CAN NOT connect any GPS to your computer and get it to track. The new Colorado will not do this function. The Garmin tech told us this to begin with, but you also don't have the software to add to your computer. Secondly, the Colorado owners can't get the unit out of mass storage mode when they hook it to their computer. I haven't tried it with my Magellan, but I'm pretty sure I can't do it with it either. I didn't try it when we had our Triton, so I can't comment on it......but then again nothing worked on it so for all intensive purposes, it can't either.
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I actually also posted on the Magellan Triton forums where I first heard of the company. Apparently, we are not the only ones he hasn't refunded and he's been ripped apart on there. It's a shame to see someone act so childishly in business. If he had taken the proper measures to refund money where he needed to, he wouldn't lose the business this whole mess will ultimately end up costing him.
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As an additional note, you might want to check on the Delorme forum for a sticky that talks about removing the sd card. I guess the way in which it unlocks is unusual and a good number of people have broken a tab off in doing it wrong. They explain how to do it properly. It' supposed to be easy once you understand how to do it, it's just different than most people are used to. I will let you know how it goes for us tomorrow.....but just incase you might want to read it before you try it on yours.
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no way to input notes to an iPod other than through your computer. You can get an add-on microphone that plugs into the slot on the bottom and use this for creating voice memos that you can save and playback through the iTunes player or the iPod. I use the Griffin iTalk for recording my practice sessions with my mandolin. Never thought of using it for voice notes while caching but I will now. No more writing down all the tooks and lefts while doing a multi-cache day! Thanks for the idea!
How much does the microphone cost, and where can I look into getting one? Are they large, or pretty decent in size? Thanks for the idea!
As a side note....and totally off topic.....watch the oil levels on your KJ. We had a 2002 that died this year. We had all the timely oil changes and suddenly this year after 100k, everything started falling apart on it. We had it in at least once a month to have a major repair done. If that wasn't bad enough, in Aug. while we were 30 miles from the nearest town in the desert up by the Four Corners, our engine seized. We have documentation that the oil had been checked each month for 3 months prior to it, and all was well. The engine was found to have no oil in it, it was completely dry. There were no leak points, no warning lights came on (even after the engine seized up), and the Jeep mechanic can't figure it out. We've been battling the GAP insurance through Jeep ever since. I don't want to scare you, but since I saw your avatar, I thought I would just quickly let you know. I'd hate to see anyone else have to go through what we did. I'm sure if you watch it closely, you should be ok.
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If you want simple Route from A to B, get a Garmin Nuvi 200W. It will get you there and back.
With respect to Magellan units, you could download Geocache coordinates and covert them for use on the 4250. I have a Crossover and simply convert the .loc files from Geocacheing.com into .wpt files using GPSBabel. Works great.
One problem is that if you convert them into Waypoints you cannot easily add them to a Trip. They must be POIs and there is a way to convert the .loc files into POI files as well.
On the other hand, the Crossover will give you pretty much the same Vehicle routing as the 4250 (but with older maps) and will give you an Outdoor nav mode that has Topo maps installed. The Crossover is far from perfect but it's about the best multi-purpose unit out there. The Vehicle Nav is about as good as the Garmin Nuvis I tried and the Outdoor Nav is far superior to what you can get on most Automotive navigation systems (but perhaps not nearly as good for Geocaching as other Garmin/Magellan units).
My complaints on the Crossover are mostly that I wished Magellan would provide the same updated maps as come on the 4250 and also provide the AAA POI database as well. Everything else I can live with for now although there is plenty of room for improvement.
The problem with the Garmins is that they don't allow for true multi-destination routing until you reach the 700 level or above, which puts it out of our price range. I can't just enter the next one I want to go to, unless I know which point is the next closest. I could map it all on Google maps before I go, but then there's no reason to spend $400 on a unit, I can just print out my google itinerary. Maybe it's me being picky, but if I'm spending that kind of money, I want it to map it all. Like I said, the TomTom will do everything I want, I just don't the software. I'm not willing to work around other unit limitations....I'll just suck it up and get the TomTom again so I can have it without the work arounds.
I won't do a Magellan again because the mapping was so poor. It had no idea where I was and where the stores were that I was trying to find. It kept telling me that they were in areas they just simply weren't. Now maybe that store was there years ago.....but I should hope their maps would be updated since then. Again, that kind of money, you just expect more.
I think we've decided to try the Pioneer next. We talked to their techs today and were assured that you can both input coords and perform multi-destination itineraries.....so here's to hoping! If not, I guess it's back to TomTom....ugh.
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Swiftmaps is a company that has been advertising on the Magellan Triton forum and appeared to have a clear sales record. The owner was friendly and helpful throughout the sale until it came to our return. Prior to purchasing the item, we inquired about the return policy as they mostly sell paper maps and so their policy online reflected that. He assured us that he would happily take the item back if there was an issue.
We received the unit and found that the NG Topo software that we purchased along with it came with only 8 of the 9 discs needed with our 9th disc being a duplicate of the 8th. We called for help from him and was told that NG would have to take care of it. So we called NG to be told that he is not a certified dealer for them and that they could not help us. When we contacted him again with this info, his response was one of anger.
We explained that we were having significant difficulties with our unit, as others are having on GC.com, and wished to return the whole thing. He said we'd have to pay a restocking fee. We contacted him again reminding him of our verbal contract and this is the response I got:
"Whatever...just send the piece of garbage back to my attention."
The unit arrived via confirmation on the 11th of this month. We have yet to receive our refund and are currently waiting the 14 day period our bank requires to file a claim. He will not respond to emails or our phone calls anymore. Please, be wary of this vendor!!!
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Does your nano or the classic have a voice recorder? I noticed that Cachemagnet comes in through the note pad on the ipod, does that render the notepad unusable? I guess what I'm asking is can you still use the notepad to jot down info?
I'm pretty sure that our stereo accepts ipods, but I will definately read the manual again to check. Yeah, I checked....it has a full ipod interface.
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Actually they can not participate in forums as it is a violation of SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) requirements. This can be viewed as "hyping" the company for stock inflation purposes.
I believe this, as well as other reasons given for vendors not posting on forums. Ironically I just hit a post that appears to be by a vendor; http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=3272022
Note the use of 'we just improved' and the signature of Team Delorme
Interesting.....
Team Delorme is part of Delorme. They are very active on the Delorme forum and welcome emails to them with questions about Delorme products. I have to say that Delorme has, by far, the best customer service I have seen of the GPS companies.
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There is definitely and issue here. Yesterday I sent Garmin a GPX file with a single cache that causes my 400t to freeze. They were able to reproduce the freeze on a 300 and said they would get back to me.
It has something to do with either the contents of specific logs or the number of logs. When I exported the same file from GSAK with fewer logs (ie. 5, like a PQ) the same cache worked fine. I'm just not sure if it was having fewer logs that helped or the fact I eliminated a log that contained something that caused the GPS to go nuts.
I guess if you really want a work around, just export from GSAK with no logs for now.
GO$Rs
Just a thought I had...... do the cache's that are causing this problem have logs with embeded BBC code for images or anything of the sort? Maybe the unit can't handle that code. That is the only thing that I can think of that would distinguish one log from the next.
Refund for unused portion of subscription?
in Website
Posted
Decided to take a hiatus from caching, just wondering if there was any way to get a refund for our unused portion for the year, and if so....what do we need to do?
Thanks!