Zinnware

I live in Pennsylvania. I had good and odd experiences with State Park rangers in this state before they imposed A $25 fee. I am an ambassador of Geocaching and have been promoting the sport since 2003 through various presentations. (See my profile for details: http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?id=67185) Here is my "odd" story with dealing with Kings Gap Environmental Education Center in Pennsylvania. It is a state park. What seems odd to me is that almost every year beginning in 2007, they have been trying to have programs in the park to promote geocaching, but at the same time would have not allowed a single cache placed in the park since 2006. Details below: - June 2007 -I was approached by a member of the Educational Staff to do a geocaching presentation. I happily agreed to do the presentation. I coordinated this through the Program Director of the park. As a follow-up I asked to set up geocaches in the park. I was politely refused. I asked if I could setup 5 one-day demonstration caches in the park. I could with the approval of the head park ranger. No problem. I conducted the demonstrations that year. - June 2008 - Again, I was requested to conduct another geocaching presentation for 2008 and happily agreed. Again I asked if I could place real geocaches in the park and was denied. This really seems odd to me that a park would promote geocaching and at the same time not allow ANY geocaches in the park. When asked, I was told that Geocaches are not allowed because someone had placed a Geocache in the park back in April 2002 (before Pennsylvania State Parks had any geocaching policy) and the cache was in an area that rattle snakes frequent in the summer. I explained to them that with the new State Park rules that all caches and their locations must be approved by the park. Note: That since 2003 the State does run the suggested geocache location through a PNDI database search (Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory search) to make sure it is not in a sensitive area. I indicated that I would work with the park to establish acceptable locations. - April 2010 - I was asked to assist in providing more information about setting up Geocaches. Apparently, the park was considering allowing geocaches placed only by park staff. Great. I offered to assist. I discussed ideas with the park staff member about theme ideas for geocaching that incorporated education and taking advantage of views in the park without any invasive placement. They said they would get back to me if they needed any additional assistance. - June 2011 - Again I was approached by the Education staff member to conduct another presentation on a specific weekend. Unfortunately, I had multiple other activities planned for that same weekend and was unavailable to do the presentation. As a follow-up, I inquired about the Parks ban on Geocaching. I did not receive a response. - June 2012 - I was approached again to lead a presentation on Geocaching at the "Get Outdoors Day" event at the park. I again agreed to the do the event and also followed up about placing Geocaches in the park. As a follow-up, I inquired about the Parks ban on Geocaching. I did not receive a response. - April 2013 - I inquired about the park's stance on geocaching. Here is the response; OK So now that they impose a $25 fee, they will consider Geocaching in the park. Note: There have been no geocaches in that park (other than my one-day demonstration caches) since 2006. What seems odd to me is that almost every year beginning in 2007, they have been trying to have programs in the park to promote geocaching, but at the same time would have not allowed a single cache placed in the park since 2006. -Zinnware

My friend has a cache "Historic Words" (GC9A6E) that has been found more than 9251 times. Does anyone know of a cache that has been found more than 9200 times? http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9A6E_historic-words

Here is an account of a geocacher struck by lightning while climbing Longs Peak in Colorado. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=00acc8c2-bef3-4072-831e-5bf89abf563d

I have been using 2.95 for about a week and would recommend 2.95 at this point. I can lock in on WAAS in my house now. The issues in previous versions seem to be fixed and have not affected my unit. Generally speaking, many of us have been using beta version for a while without any harm to our units.

I have an Oregon 400t , 60csx, etc. and recently used the Nuvi 500 for geocaching too over the last week I am impressed with the Nuvi 500 especially if you will be using it mainly for driving and sometimes for Geocaching. For on the trail, I would go with the Oregon 400t and buy City Navigator maps. There is a rebate on the Oregon too. Here is my comparison of the Nuvi 500 against the Oregon 400t, and 60csx. http://zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching/GPS_Comparison.pdf

I have an Oregon 400t , 60csx, etc. and recently used the Nuvi 500 for geocaching too over the last week I am impressed with the Nuvi 500 especially if you will be using it mainly for driving and sometimes for Geocaching. Here is my comparison of the Nuvi 500 against the Oregon 400t, and 60csx. http://zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching/GPS_Comparison.pdf

The previous post is good advice. Additionally, when getting close to the cache (50ft or less) I always flip to the map screen and zoom in the whole way. On the map screen you can see your position (the triangle icon) relative to the cache location. I also believe that you will be more successful not even looking at the GPS once you get under 20 feet of the cache. I have yet to know of a geocacher who has found the cache while looking at their GPS.

Information on Accuracy between 60csx and Oregon 400t Here is an example of a dart board with two darts. See the link below. An Oregon 400t (version 2.85) and a 60csx (version 3.70). The 60csx tracks are in red and the Oregon tracks are in green. http://zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching/GPS...7_GPS_Tests.pdf Tracks were laid every second over a period of 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is roughly 9,600 samples. The GPSs were placed in the same location at the same time. Both had their WAAS turned on, but I do not think the Oregon 400t ever got a lock on WAAS. I can't be sure. The 60csx did get a lock. Note: the scale of the map in the lower left of the screen. The 60csx tracks take up (GPS wandered) an area of approximately 50 square feet The Oregon tracks take up (GPS wandered) an area of approximately 67 square feet. What does this prove? Maybe the 60csx is about 34% more accurate and that Garmin needs to fix the WAAS on the Oregon 400t model.

Here is an example of a dart board with two darts. See the link below. An Oregon 400t (version 2.85) and a 60csx (version 3.70). The 60csx tracks are in red and the Oregon tracks are in green. http://zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching/GPS...7_GPS_Tests.pdf Tracks were laid every second over a period of 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is roughly 9,600 samples. The GPSs were placed in the same location at the same time. Both had their WAAS turned on, but I do not think the Oregon 400t ever got a lock on WAAS. I can't be sure. The 60csx did get a lock. Note: the scale of the map in the lower left of the screen. The 60csx tracks take up (GPS wandered) an area of approximately 50 square feet The Oregon tracks take up (GPS wandered) an area of approximately 67 square feet. What does this prove? Maybe the 60csx is about 34% more accurate and that Garmin needs to fix the WAAS on the Oregon 400t model.

It would be nice if this list of features could be put into a voting form where GPS users could vote, or indicate the importance of each feature. This could be helpful feedback to GARMIN in ranking fixes or updates to their software for the Colorado, or to help insure that those features that are important are not lost in new models that may along from GPS manufactures. It would also be nice to include features from other non-Garmin models such as the Delorme PN-20 model which has taken the lead in quickly switching between map sets (a feature I use often). Although that feature may not be used by many Garmin users now, I see this becoming more important as satellite images maps sets become avaialble on Garmin models too, and users begin to see the benefit of switching between road, satellite, and topo map sets. Zinnware

My Squirrel@Random TB was released at the Books At Random cache located at a park near the Random House, Inc. Distribution center in Westminster MD. It was immediately taken to Germany and released. It's goal was to be returned to the Wetminster Distribution Center. It was. The current goal is to travel to other distribution centers in the US. http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=16849

Anasazi Ruins http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...b5-dd93738b3d46 Three visits since 8/24/2002 The first visit took over 1 year since it was hidden. Although this is a virtual cache there is a log book and container at the site. From the nearest parking area, this cache requires a 40 mile round-trip hike or horseback ride. Why should I archive it? It may be a challenge for some to find. Add it to your list.

The best/easiest method to go paperless with a Garmin 60scx is to have all of your GPS Garmin friends ask garmin to enable their existing models to be able to store GPX data in their units that include all decriptive text, hints, difficutly, last 5 logs, etc. that can be displayed in the GPS unit. Currently, as you use the GPS and laptop you will find that Puzzle caches and caches that require additional requirements to find the cache will be too hard to remember from the time you leave your laptop in the car and when you finally reach the cache. You need all of the info right there in the single Geocaching tool.. The Garmin 60csx. How can Garmin claim that their units are Geocaching ready when they do not provide the information that we ALL want. The sotrage requirements for 500 caches is only about 2.5 MB. That is insignificant when you can put a 1 GB or 2 GB card in the x units. If Garmin were smart, they would do this and then they would recieve orders from all of the geocachers using another manufactures product. They would all switch since this would save us massive amounts of time delaing with GSAK, and many other time consuming products. PS. I do not want to carry another device either such as a PDA that also requires another download. Please, everyone using a Garmin unit... Send Garmin a email asking... No Demanding this feature be activated in their current and future units. The URL to respond to Garmin is provided: http://www.garmin.com/contactUs/salesSupport.jsp

I am an ExpertGPS fan (http://expertgps.com/). I believe it to be easier to use than USAPhotoMaps, but there is a fee for the software.

Does the date and time on the GPS unit agree with the real time and date? I once had my 60cs loose track of the correct date when I left batteries out of it over a few weeks (2-4). Unlike your situation, my unit did finally aquire sats after 45 minutes.

I agree that the second and final warning is too late too or "slow" on the 60cs and 60csx models that I own. I truely believe that last warning should prompt you to hit your turn signal in the car. To me it seems to be about 2 seconds too slow or late. I have suggested to garmin to increase this time.

How do you control the 60Csx estimation of driving speeds for different types of roads? Is there a setting in the unit or are these controlled from the Mapsource City Navigator or is there no control in the 60csx unit? Routes created and calculated in Mapsource - City Navigator 8 do not seem to match up with those calculated in the 60csx unit. I do understand how to control Driving Speeds in the City Navigator software.

Your tip 5 is important and not obvious to most cachers. It is a great tip and should stop the pointer from jumping around.

I did a test the other night with a 60CS and a 60csx. I turned both GPSs for 15 minutes or more and took them out to my patio. I placed them upright on top of the patio table's umbrella post (hanging from the knob on the back of the GPS units). Both units were 3 inches apart and were back to back. I began marking a waypoint by using the average facility. Each took 26,000 samples (1 per second) I saved the marks after the 26,000 samples. I thought it was important to test both units at the exact same time because they would (potentially) be recieving the same signals form sats. The GPSMAP 60cs unit showed 1.9 foot accuracy and the GPSMAP 60csx showed 2.1 foot accuracy when the test was completed. The marks were 6.75 feet apart from each other. I guess this could be a result of the units facing different directions. When I compared the marks on Expert GPS's aerial photos, it appeared that the 60csx was closer to the actual location on the map. I had to zoom in a great deal to see the difference, but it could be done.

Ditto here in GMT zone...a whole days caching is going down the swanny Don't let the geocaching server outage ruin your day! If you are a member, you can get GPX files emailed to you weekly or even more often. From that data, you can print off any cache page you want without being connected to geocaching.com. I for example have weekly queries sent to me showing the nearest 500 geocaches that I have not found. Geocaching could be down for a year and I would still have geocaches to find. You can use either GSAK or the Watcher, a GPX utility to view or print out geocaches from the GPX file generated from the query.. Even if your query results were from last week, you would still be able to review caches that existed up until that point in time.

Simply put, we as geocachers should all send emails to Garmin, Magellen, and other manufactures and request that they be able to process or load GPX files into their units and store some basic geocache information such as full Cache description, Cache Type, Last 5 logs, TB information, difficulty and terrain. This is not too much to ask. They claim that their units are geocaching enabled. Not! Data for 500 caches normally takes less than 3 MB which is an insignificant amount of space with today's units. We all need to ask for this or they will not do it. Who wants to carry a PDA and a GPS? Who wants to waste more time printing out sheets? Who wants to spend more money on additional equipment when storing and displaying this information in your current GPS is nothing more than a software update and available memory? Contact your manufacture now and let's put an end to this non-sense. Zinnware

I use my 60cs to navigate in my car and found that the windshield mount is excelent. It is a sucksion cup. It is designed so that you can angle the GPS towards the driver or anywhere else (like the passenger). The placement on the windshield provides good reception. You can transport the windshield mount from car to car. I too would try the unit first and then order the external antenna later if you feel you need it.

I have used lithium batteries in the past and found that they last at least 3 times longer than Alkelin and are 1/3 the weight. While in the Grand Canyon, my first set lasted 24 hours on a Garmin Vista. (I accidentally left it on when I went to bed). That was with all features turned on including WAAS and the electronic compass. I normally use everready recharables for day-to-day caching, but would use lithiums for back packing trips.

Give me a break! Ask Dave Ulmner what he thinks about hiding a cace without finding one. If this rule was applied to geocacing, then we would never have a cache to find. http://www.todayscacher.com/archives/may04/people.html http://zinnware.com/HighAdv/Geocaching/mos...r_notables.html Zinnware

Jeremy, Can you create an alternate query to accommodate both objectives? 1) Displaying caches found that exclude Locationless 2) Displaying a complete list of caches found by a user including Locationless? I am extremely surprised that this feature was removed since the link implies all caches found.