scott.hicks

Well I had my one and only cache "muggled." It's gone, so I am going to get a microcache capsule and be evil. HaHa. I just know this will help the cache not get MIA by civilians because it will be so well hidden, only cachers will be looking for it where it is at and will see it and recognize it.

OTOH I've had the wind blow away a paper map and I've had one fall apart after getting wet whereas a GPS receiver is less likely to succumb to that fate. And the paper map and compass are far less useful in white-out conditions where no landmarks are visible. (The fate of the party lost in the storm near their high-altitude camp in "Into Thin Air" might have been different if a GPS receiver had been available, although reduced judgement due to oxygen deprivation was probably the main culprit.) Perhaps the lesson should be that single points of failure should be avoided and therefore it's good to have multiple means of navigation, preferably with very different failure modes. That was the point in the first place. Didn't mean to get you soo upset. Jesus you're a sarcastic son of a gun. If I met you in person, I wouldn't know to buy you a beer or hit you on the head with the stein.

So each area of the country has reviewers? I live in New Jersey. How do I get in touch with those in charge of the NorthEast? Thanks Scott

Speaking of logs, as a newbie, before I place my first cache, what is the logbook supposed to look like? Just a notepad, or one of the fancy Groundspeak ones. (I ordered a couple and would like to know)

yep, since it was broken already, it didn't matter. (sorry, forgot to mention that) He was a sadist on computers. Used to take the shop computer (back then it was a steel box) and drop it to make it reboot. What a psycho! But since you replied I hope you see my point.

I bought a Magellan 400 Explorist because I used Magellan in the Army. That is the only reason I picked Magellan over Garmin. I will report back after my first geocache to let you know. I guess the important thing is the sport of geocaching itself, not the equipment. I have seen both Magellan and Garmin making big strides to get us geocachers to buy their respective products. If we as geocachers find one product or company providing less then stellar service to us as a consumer base, then we should get together and complain as a whole with our letters and dollars to get the offending company to shape up. Other then that, my advice as a Desert Storm veteran is this: Land navigation using a compass and a map is an art and skill that is definetely needed when these electronic devices fail in the field. My platoon sergeant demonstrated this fact in a way that I will never forget. He took a gps device, and a map, and placed them in front of the tires of his HUMVEE. After he ran over the both of them, he picked them up and told us the fancy electronic do-hickey was useless, and the paper map was still in good shape. Just please be safe.