victorymike

Last time I went it was my electric toothbrush. But I am getting a Celestron SkyScout before my next big trip.

Yeah...I get 1-2 days on a fully charged battery. Thanks very much for the replies. Looks like I am going to be spending a few bills for exactly what I want. That is why I ask now. Time to start saving up.

Non cotton hiking pants are best. I have a few pairs of Patagonia pants. If you wear cotton it will get wet and take forever to dry out and you'll freeze. Get the long underwear for it too (again, non-cotton). A good sleeping bag leads to a good night's sleep which really rejuvenates you. Nothing is more demoralizing than trying to drag yourself thru a long day of exertion after a crummy, cold, night in a poor sleeping bag.

In Michigan we had a cacher named dirtbiker that placed 3 caches, DIYDS, DIYDS 2, and DIYDS3 (short for Do It Yourself Dual Sport). He placed them all on his dual sport bike. They were long multis and went thru some really nice 4wd trails. I completed them all in my Jeep Wrangler and it took some skill to make it thru some of the areas. From what I remember they were each 6-8 stages and each covered 50-75 miles.

I got the same thing. It was no problem to simply change the date tho. I am sure it will be fixed in a future update.

I started paperless caching long before the days of GSAK (in late 2001...maybe early 2002) on my expensive HP Jornada 680 PPC. Then I transitioned to a very cheap Palm iiixe with Cachemate and GSAK. It worked great and I really loved it. I still do. but I gave it to my sister when I: Upgraded to an expensive Palm LifeDrive and Cachemate automatically transferred over. Didn't use half the features it offered. Had battery problems. Case problems. It eventually died. I downgraded to a Palm Tungsten e2 and Cachemate, once again, automatically transferred over. It works nicely. I've loaded lots of geocaching pictures onto it in addition to some conversion programs, calculators, and other helpful programs. I play a lot of backgammon on it. I just got the new Colorado 400t. You may have heard of people's complaints here in these forums...but I really like mine and it works well for me. I might still carry my Palm for various other features. Conversion factors and stuff I have in there that has been helpful on other cache hunts.

I started out geocaching on my reason for buying my first GPS, my 2000 Victory V92SC. Here's my baby parked between my other 2 rigs. This was it's last ride of 2007, mid-December in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Snowy, slick, and a bit scary...but trouble-free. But I also cache in my '94 Wrangler. This is a pic of it when it was in the 2007 Memorial Day parade in Waterford. Michigan Winters.

I see several misconceptions here already. This is a pet peeve of mine. Averaging on a GPS is done by selecting the "AVERAGE WAYPOINT" function on your gps. It uses a different algorithm to factor in additional satellites to perfect your fix. It then shows you a timer counting the number of seconds that your waypoint reading has averaged in those extra satellites. From the Joe Mehaffey and Jack Yeazel website it has been shown that the best length of time to average a waypoint is 5 minutes. It is NOT, and I repeat NOT, taking a bunch of gps readings, adding them up, and dividing by the total number of readings. Since the satellites are orbiting the Earth every 11 hours and 58 minutes it is quite likely that you will be utilizing a different satellite in your fix when you take different readings over time. If your fix uses a different satellite in its simple calculation then you will get a different end result. If you get a satellite with poor health in the fix then you are simply averaging poor numbers into your mathematical average. In the end...you are everaging in unknowns and the end result is pot-luck. If your GPS does not have the "Average Waypoint" feature then you can't average. Don't be fooled into mathematically averaging a bunch of waypoint readings.

I make chainmail keychains and include my custom geocaching card in a craft baggie. I buy the wire in 1/4 mile sections, wrap it on a 3/8" steel rod (mandrel), cut it, bend it, weave it, and attach a split ring. I have about 20 patterns and can change them with different colors of wire and/or different colored split rings. Total time to make just one...I'd guess around 30 minutes. I make a bunch every Winter. Right now I have 4 pretzel jars and a large cheeseball jar full of them...I'd guess 600-700 total. I also have around 80 geocoins left (from my batch of 200) and just bought 200 pathtags...but those are for special caches. I call these V-Man chainmail keychains. Here are a few of the styles. Last Winter's work. Cost to me is around 40 cents each...and a LOT of personal time. That includes price of wire, baggies, split rings, and printing and laminating my geocaching card.

This sounds like the screen protectors for the PDAs. Any difference?

Where did the clue say the cache was? Behind that Rabbit??? Gah...I nearly soiled my armor. Beware the cache guardian. Run away! DNF! DNF!!! We are poor roaming geocachers on our way to find treasure. "NONE SHALL PASS!" But it's just over there. "NONE SHALL PASS".

I am planning a 16 day hike, 118.5 miles, on Isle Royale for late August/early September and need something to recharge my digital camera bettery. It is an EN-EL2 Li-Ion battery. I've heard of crank radios with adapters to charge cell phones...can I get a lightweight one that will recharge my camera battery? How about a solar cell panel trickle charger? I was thinking of putting one on top of my pack and trickle charging one battery while using another. What do you use and what would you recommend.

I have a Princeton Tec one, not sure which model. Came with a 3-led reflector and a white light bulb reflector. Main reason I bought it was that it uses 2 AA batteries so I don't have to carry AAAs too. I replaced the batteries after using it for almost 2 years. I'd guess around 100 hours on 2 AA batteries. Other people have said it is a bit dim...but I can see just fine with it and it doesn't wreck my night vision. I use it for night caching, camping, hiking, etc. I'll just add that if you use the white light reflector the battery life is only supposed to be around 4-6 hours...I've never installed that reflector tho.

1994 YJ Built it all myself, not bought. Had a smashed shackle mount so I bought a bent TJ frame and used its shackle mount to replace mine. Then I cut it up and used the pieces of frame to make matching front and rear bumpers. I also made the swing out tire carrier. Rust repair, cut out and welded in new panels, mostly from steelcase cabinets they were tossing at work. 8K winch with pieced together winch kit. On Board Air 2.5" RE lift kit 32x10.5R-15 BFG MTs Aussie locker in my D-30 Rebuilt D-30 and D-35 New brake and e-brake lines I've got a Dana 300 and rebuild kit but need to get some other items to flip and install it. Also have almost everything needed to install my onboard weldernator.

It took 32 hours for me to load almost all of North America with City Celect v7.00 maps onto my 2GB SD card (1.32GB) via a card reader. But I am running an archaic 300mhz Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop (circa 1996) with Windows XP porfessional. And everything shows up fine.

I've always had 2.78GB of memory on mine, 144MB available for Wherigo files, .gpx files, etc. Even after upgrading to 2.40 (I just checked it 60 seconds ago). But I have a 2GB SD card too, so space is no object. Mine has been pretty much glitch free so I wouldn't want to trade for a 3.72GB unit.

I, also, used to have an eMap mounted to my bike...but it was with the old Garmin bicycle mount and I never trusted that plastic thing about 45 mph. And I used to wrap the lanyard around the mirror mount in case it decided to come loose. I'd keep it in the pocket on the tank strap and sneak peeks at it when I had a free hand. It was a bit troublesome. It is great to hear of another eMap user. I LOVED mine and found over 1800 caches with it. Put thousands of miles on it. It survived snow storms, sub-zero temps, rain squalls, constant sprinkles...really good considering it is not waterproof at all. Great little unit. I also had a cheap marine mount for my GPSMAP76C that I put on my bike, but it was problematic because it put pressure on the edges of my unit, which seemed to have an intermittant short and automatically turn off. The short seemed to be focused on...the upper left side edge. Most of the time I'd have to twist the GPS case to get it to come back to life so I'd have to unmount it, wring its neck, and put it back in...only to have it do it again. In the end, the Zumo was the answer. Awesome!

I have never had good luck with either NiMH NOR Lithium rechargeables in my GPSs. I first bought them when I had my Garmin eMap back around 2002...and they wouldn't last 4 hours. So I stuck with Alkalines since then. I recently bought the Colorado 400t...and recently upgraded to firmware v2.40. I figured that I'd give rechargeables another try since my 400t actually offered settings for specific types of rechargeable batteries. I bought a set of 4 NUON 2500mah NiMH rechargeables in a kit. Last weekend the last set of alkalines died and I put in the first pair of NiMH's. I have no idea if they will last or not, but I am hopeful...so I am following threads like this with renewed interest. When this pair dies I'll gladly add my information, but I expect to have to recharge these batteries a few times before they reach their maximum potential.

I've got a Zumo 550 for my 2000 Victory V92SC...and in my Jeep Wrangler (it came with a RAM mount and power cord for the bike and a suction cup mount and cigarette lighter adapter for a vehicle). Powering the unit from your vehicle is a must if you intend to have it on the entire time you are traveling. For the trail I have a GPSMAP76C and a Colorado 400t. I have a mount and power for my 76C in my truck. So far my Colorado is just for the trails. But I do have an SD card loaded with City Select v7.00 in it and have auto-routed with it in my lap in my truck...just to see. The Zumo 550 is awesome on my bike. I have it sync'd to my bluetooth phone and bought a Scala Rider bluetooth headset for my helmet(s). I have MP3s loaded into the Zumo and I listen to them on my headset wirelessly. It also interrupts the music for turn by turn prompts with the GPS. It has a touch screen meant to be usable with a gloved hand and all the buttons except for the power button are on the left side so you can use your left hand and not roll on/off the throttle when using the GPS.

Okay, I accept defeat. Upon further research I see where you pro-WAAS-ers are coming from. But I swear that I didn't just pull that 200 mile radius from a ground station thing out of my...you know. Then again, I haven't further researched WAAS since 2003. A lot has changed and websites have been updated. As far as WAAS satellites go I know there are more than 2...but just 2 for the U.S...at least until this information was passed on to me... Your post #12 in http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=185697 is not strictly true. In the USA only 2 can be seen, but if you have a Magellan that's been reset only 1 will ever be seen (it's still going to look for the long gone PRN122). There are actually 7 WAAS/EGNOS/Japanese satellites in the series now. see http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/sbas.txt AOR-E (EGNOS/PRN 120) 1 24307U 96053A 08048.66246862 -.00000137 00000-0 10000-3 0 20662 24307 0.0746 311.0861 0007010 7.9258 50.9474 1.00271084 41922IOR-W (EGNOS/PRN 126) 1 25153U 98006B 08048.71146378 .00000127 00000-0 10000-3 0 90802 25153 0.4165 8.5083 0004594 318.7703 100.8276 1.00269931 36801 ARTEMIS (EGNOS/PRN 124) 1 26863U 01029A 08045.09162414 .00000125 00000-0 10000-3 0 41122 26863 6.2300 76.1018 0004363 263.3958 218.3866 1.00275320 25240 MTSAT-1R (MSAS/PRN 129) 1 28622U 05006A 08048.36110413 -.00000293 00000-0 10000-3 0 51202 28622 0.0321 36.4712 0001621 108.3819 271.8687 1.00268724 10887 ANIK F1R (WAAS/PRN 138) 1 28868U 05036A 08048.41477119 -.00000087 00000-0 00000+0 0 45292 28868 0.0526 109.7006 0002620 208.9801 230.0925 1.00272272 9023 GALAXY 15 (WAAS/PRN 135)1 28884U 05041A 08048.56002566 .00000065 00000-0 10000-3 0 39882 28884 0.0177 297.6256 0002273 23.2580 254.6140 1.00272870 8612 MTSAT-2 (MSAS/PRN 137) 1 28937U 06004A 08048.61768639 -.00000257 00000-0 10000-3 0 37742 28937 0.0197 356.9208 0003276 349.2430 168.0908 1.00268512 7367 Now, in my GPSr, a 12 channel receiver, if WAAS is ON, 2 of the channels are dedicated to WAAS and therefore only 10 are left for the regular GPS sats. If WAAS is OFF all 12 channels are available. I've seen mention of 14 channel receivers to give you every possible chance to receive every possible satellite. But actually with 30 satellites up there (skip PRN07 and PRN32 right now) you still can't see ALL. But I still say that people enabling or disabling WAAS at will you may be closer or further from the cache placer's coordinate. In then end it does not matter. WAAS enabled or WAAS disabled...your GPS will still put you close enough to find the cache. Although I have WAAS disabled I average my coordinates for 5 minutes when placing a cache. And have had nothing but compliments on accuracy.

Thanks jotne! That worked great! It's 6pm here in Ann Arbor, MI. I'll have that in my GPS after I get home after Midnight. Aha! That is where I remember seeing your name, LifeOnEdge! I specifically remember you because you logged you were from Texas and I thought, "Wow...That is a long way away". We had a great time in the U.P. In late Aug/early Sept 2008 I intend to take my GPS to Isle Royale for a 118.5 miles hike over 16 days. Only 3 caches tho. I take pictures of my log entries so I know exactly what pictures were associated with that cache...and I write the name of the cache at the tops of the page. I am sure it is strange to future finders but it works for me. I told my family that if the Colorado had a digital camera in it it would truly be an all-in-one.

Looks like you can get 2.4 for the 400C in downloadable for...but not the others.

For cheapskates like myself Webupdater is not an option. I only have internet access from work...and I don't load software onto the community computer there. I'll either save the Colorado 300 v2.4 onto my flash drive to take home with me or wait for the official Colorado 400t update. I'd really like to get this update into my 400t and play with it this weekend.

There are only 2 WAAS Satellites...Pacific and Atlantic. Multiple ground stations.

My first GPS was a Garmin eMap that I bought in 2000. I upgraded to a Garmin GPSMAP76C in 2005. In late 2007 I got a Garmin Zumo 550. And I just got the newest unit...a Colorado 400t. From eMap to 76C wasn't a big leap. Going from the 76C to the Zumo WAS a HUGE leap in how you use the unit. The same can be said for going to the Colorado. From looking around many websites I determined that most of the complaints were simple software fixes...eagerly awaiting updates. The most complaints were from people comparing the user interface to their old units. Hey! The Colorado is going in a new direction. When a new computer comes out you upgrade yourself...not downgrade the unit. Of course, these complaints would also be simple software changes to go back to old user interfaces. IPX7 problem? So one guy drowns a Colorado (on purpose...which results in the accident) and all of a sudden there is an IPX7 problem? No. He got a replacement unit at no cost. My old eMap never encountered a problem and it was not even rated waterproof...I've cached with it in pouring rain, snow, sleet, etc, etc. I have that 76C and I have never purposely dunked it...nor will I. Shoot...I've even boated with it. My intended usage for the Colorado won't be any different. And so far it has worked well for me. I would like to see it easier to change waypoints when going after multicaches and the ability to average when placing a cache...also software fixes. The Rock-n-roller is an awesome new user interface. The receiver gets lock in the unlikeliest of places. And the 3-D mapping is sweet. One hardware problem might be the dim screen. Basically...user complaint. Once again, comparing it to their old units. But from my usage I have determined that it is okay outside. Sometimes, when inside, I have turned it on and then off again and then on again only to find that the screen had been so dim I didn't see anything come up the first time. Simply turn up the backlight. It's not that big of a problem for me. Another possible hardware problem could be battery usage times. It does chew throught them pretty fast. I don't know if this can be changed with a simple battery management software update or not. If I get a battery alert I can turn the unit off and then back on again and it will be fine...for awhile. The battery meter seems to drift. I just bought some 2500mah NiMHs to try in it but have heard many stories of poor performance. Overall...it is worth it to me. Do lots of reading/research. Be sure to read the complaints closely. Weigh the pros and cons. I think that you will find its future is as exciting as I do.