michigansnorkelers

I don't understand. Are you saying you can't load more than 20? Or 20 at a time? I have a Garmin GPS60cs. I used to download all the LOC files I wanted to. Just not all at once. Mark what you want on the first page and transfer them. Do the same with the next page, and so on. It was quite simple, one page at at time. I used to use the free version of GSAK. I am now a paying member of both geocaching.com and GSAK and stick to pocket inquiries. Now, if you're trying to load 500 at once, then you need to shell out a couple bucks.

I have a Garmin GPSMap 60CS. It has been replaced by the GPSMap 60CSx (removable memory) It has an altimeter/barometer and a compass. It was just under $300 in June at REI. I wonder how it works under the heated balloon? If you give me a ride, I'll be happy to check it out!

Sorry, I don't think that's what I said. The GPS coordinates can be downloaded from GSAK to your GPS. The cache pages can be downloaded from GSAK to your Palm via Cachemate. GSAK cannot be loaded onto your GPS. It's a program for the PC. Sorry for the confusion. But, I really enjoy the ease of using GSAK. One click and the Pocket Inquiry goes to GSAK. One click and GSAK sends my selection to my GPS in a couple seconds. Another click, and GSAK sends the cache pages to Cachemate. What do you use?

I too made the mistake of thinking my GPS would lead me right to the cache. I also underestimated how well camoflagued some caches are! My suggestion is to look for a regular size container. Not micro, not small!!! I have seen a number of small containers suspended from tree branches or even 10 feet above the ground on the top of a tall stump! Ammo boxes will probably be on the ground. Difficulty ONE! Not two, not 1.5!!!! Look at the logs. Make sure it has been found recently. Multiple times is better. Short walk is better. Comments about "easy find" or kids found it are better yet! "Just off the trail" is also good. Beware of "well hidden" or "clever hide" or "great camo job" until you've done a few more! Especially avoid "you've got waaaay too much time on your hands" for the time being! Watch for the "Kid Friendly" icon. That's usually an easier cache too. Oh, beware logs that claim the GPS coordinates were "right on". GPS accuracy varies so much from day to day/even minute to minute. If that same person searched for the cache today he might report that the GPS coordinates were off by 30 feet. However, if EVERYONE is posting about erroneous GPS coordinates, then maybe you should skip that cache. Once you're in the area of the cache, look around for anything out of place. An unusual pile of sticks or an accumulation of bark are giveaways. The larger the container, the fewer possible hiding spots. Then, expand your search at least 30 feet in all directions. Look under fallen tree trunks that are close to the ground. You'll be amazed at how little it takes to hide an ammo box that is under a fallen tree trunk. Or INSIDE a hollow tree! Think of where YOU would hide it if you wanted to be sneaky! Expand to a radius of 45-60 feet if needed. I have found caches that were right at the posted coordinates, and others that were off by amost 100 feet! Most are within 30 feet in my experience. Regarding the GPS. Keep fresh batteries in it. Accuracy on my Garmin decreases dramatically with battery drain. Walk away and back to the area several times. The GPS will probably send you to a different place each time. This will form a probability circle. Your cache will probably be within the circle, or within 30 feet outside the edge of the circle. Don't be afraid to return another day. You'd be surprised how many times you'll find it quickly on your second trip. Most likely, you walked right by it several times.

Yes, it does seem intimidating at first. But the tutorials are great. I had a couple hundred caches loaded and ready to go the same night my Palm arrived in the mail. And I'm not much of a computer geek. Now, mastering all the neat optional features of GSAK ... THAT will take time!

I really like GSAK. You'll see it referenced many times in these forums. It is free, but after 30 days you get a "nag screen" about paying to register it. Then, every day, it adds about a second delay before proceeding. You can bypass this by resetting your computer calendar to an earlier date. But it's only about $30 for a LIFETIME registration for GSAK. What's nice about GSAK is that it not only downloads the info from geocaching.com and sorts it for you in many different ways, but it also transfers it to your GPS with the click of a button. You don't need a second program. On the free side of geocaching.com, you can only transfer LOC files, which GSAK can handle. Loc files contain the cache coordinates, name, and that's about it. It get's better! For $30 a year, with a paid membership to geocaching.com, you can load GPX files. These are great because not only do they contain the lat/lon coordinates, but virtually all the info on the cache page, including the 4 most recent logs! And this is very easy to view in GSAK! It gets better! With that paid membership to geocaching.com, you can generate POCKET INQUIRIES. Here's what it's all about. Imagine doing a search, listing what size caches you'd like to find, maybe only singles, maybe only medium and large size, maybe only active ones, maybe only difficulty 1 and 2. Maybe only terrain 1 to three, maybe only within 20miles of your home. This is a much more detailed a search than you can do on the free side. The limit is 500 caches per search. But you can do as many searches as you want. It gets better! You can have this pocket inquiry result emailed to you. (The limit is 5 emailed searches per day). Now, load this into GSAK! So What? Now, you can view any of these caches through GSAK much much faster than searching the geocaching.com website. And it looks very close to what you see on the geocaching.com site. This means you can still plan your day even when the geocaching.com site is down, like it is now. And, of course, with GSAK, you can choose to transfer them all, or only selected ones, to your GPS and head out caching! It gets better! Paperless Caching! Let's say you get hooked. Now, you buy a Palm Pilot off e-bay for under $100. You also pay about $20 for a program called cachemate for the Palm Pilot. So what? Now you transfer all of this information from GSAK to your Palm Pilot and take all this info out in the field with you. You click on the Cachemate icon and look at all those pages deep in the woods. No more sheets of paper! It's great! It gets better! There's lots more you can do with GSAK. I'm just learning. But it comes with lots of help files and a website. So, that's why I like GSAK. I used it free until about 2 weeks ago when I bought my Palm z72 off ebay for $90. (This was overkill for geocaching. It had tons of memory, a high-res screen, a voice recorder and a built in camera. You can go lots cheaper). Paperless caching is wonderful! I now take my Palm and my GPS anywhere I go. If I have time on my hands, I fire up my Garmin and look for nearby caches. I then look these up on my Palm for cache descriptions and hints, and I'm off into the woods. It's great! Wondering what to ask for for Christmas? That's my 2 cents!

I know that someday this site will be up again.

Howdy again NOW I GET IT. I HAD TO LOG OFF .... IN GEOCACHING.COM FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

howdy

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you should never activate the energy saving mode when using WAAS. WAAS needs to "run" constantly, while the energy saving mode interrupts power to your GPS intermittantly. At least, I believe this is true for my Garmin 60cs..

The answers are in your Garmin Instruction Booklet. WAAS significantly affects battery life. WAAS in NOT enabled in the factory settings. You must enable it. BTW. If you live in the eastern US like I do, I don't think we'll have a WAAS satellite until the launch it sometime this month?

You also asked about other things to get? Premium membership, GSAK, Palm Pilot, Cachmate. Get GSAK to load, manage, sort and send cache coordinates to your Garmin. Also to send pocket inquiries to cachmate. Buy the premium membership so you can do pocket inquiries. Buy a palm pilot so you can view pocket inquiries Get Cachmate to transfer the pocket inquiries to your palm pilot. Bought my 60cs in late June. Bought the Palm Pilot off e-bay, and signed up for the rest one week ago. Regret that I didn't do it 4 months ago!

This never worked for me either! So, what I did was enter the number of the nearest cache, which is only two blocks away. That works.

I'm a new premium member, and just became aware of bookmark lists. I made one for myself, that I can look at. I see that you can make a list public to share with others, even if they are not premium members. I've seen some listed on cache pages. But how do they, or I, find a list or do a search of all public bookmarks?

I can't figure out how to do this. All I get is this error: "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." Is there a detailed set of instructions anywhere? I'm really frustrated!

Yeah, I like to look back at my favorite finds to see what others thought of them. Sometimes, I've really enjoyed a cache, especially a multi, that hasn't been visited for a while. Maybe because it was too remote or because people thought it would be too difficult. So, I write REALLY good comments about it, and look back to see if I stirred up interest. And sometimes I do!

I don't think this has been touched upon. I'm looking to buy a PDA and don't want to go over $100. I notice that PDAs come in 160x160 or 320x320 resolution. I can buy a brand new z22 for $100. It is color, but only has 160x160 resolution. Or, I can EBAY a z71 for the same price with 320x320 resolution. Is there a REAL advantage to the 320x320? Does more fit on the screen, or just the same but sharper? Regarding downloaded maps, is there an advantage here?

Check this thread about GPS accuracy http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=144209 It is not at all unusual that your GPS won't take you back to the same place. It is an approximation. If you are within +- 15 feet you are doing good. A lot of trees will also affect accuracy. I suggest you explain this to the scouts. This is a HUNT. The GPS gets you near, then you HUNT. It's sort of like the game where you say "you're getting hot ... now you're getting colder ..." but where you stop giving hints once they get close. Also, due to this variance, I suggest you get the cooperation of your neighbors and place a cache or two on their property. It would be best to place it under a solitary tree, mailbox etc where there are not so many places to hunt.

I went through the same thing my first day of Geocaching. So, here are some suggestions. Some of this is just experience. Look up some VIRTUAL CACHES. It will be quite obvious when you've found them, and this will give you some experience with your GPS. Look for difficulty 1 caches, regular size or larger. Forget small or micro for now. When you are 100 feet from the cache, notice the general direction you are headed. As you get closer, think of where you would put the cache. These include: inside the trunk of a fallen tree ... along side a fallen tree covered with a pile of bark or loose sticks. The same goes for upright trees. Sometimes your GPS will take you right to the cache. Other times it will leave you 60 feet away. Sometimes, caches in a large tree are at eye level, in the junction of several trunks. Remember, in many cases the hider selected a unique tree or other structure to hide the cache. Or, it will be hidden at a smaller tree in the vicinity of the unique large tree. They have to be able to find it again you realize! So, they usually do not head blindly into the forest and randomly select a tree. Ok, some do. If there is a small wooden bridge, it will probably be under it. It may be supported in such a way that you have to look under the bridge. It might be near or behind a beam so that it is hard to see. By all means, pay attention to the title of the cache. This sometimes is an added clue. Also, fully read the description. Read all the clues. Read all the posts! This can be vital. And for now, avoid any cache that has not been visited recently. Some of the easiest caches I have found were at expressway rest areas, and travel bug "hotels". These are intended to be easily found, usually. Sometimes caches are hidden by the local park service along nature trails. Usually these are easier too. It's a learning experience. Remember, this is a HUNT. The GPS just gets you in the general area. If it points directly to the cache, consider yourself lucky. I'll bet if you go back tomorrow, it won't point to the same place again. And, once you get better at this, you will actually become disappointed with easier caches. It will get to the point where you see some caches from 100 feet away and wish the hider had made it more difficult. Speaking of difficulty. This becomes addicting. I was on my 40'th cache when I fell and broke my ankle. Two hours later, I had made it the mile back to my van with the help of a sturdy tree branch. Leg in cast, one week later I was geocaching again! I hit my 100'th cache yesterday, still in a walking cast.

Broken Leg ... 5 days ago!!! I was done for the day, and walking up a short steep incline when my foot slipped under me and I landed with a loud CRACK!!!!!! And my wife has been warning me that I need to get a cell phone! Wish I had one then. Nobody around and a mile from my car, I used a tree branch for a crutch and hobbled two hours in severe pain. I was really worried that the pain would overcome me, and that I would be stranded overnight. However, I managed to make it back to the car before sunset. Fractured Fibula, that's the smaller of the two bones in the lower leg. RIGHT leg! Just above the ankle. Now, if it had been the Tibia, the larger bone, I would REALLY have been in trouble!