turnmybassup

ChefRD, this is a reply a long time in coming! The groups really enjoyed the eTrex's, but I think the learning curve may have been a bit steeper for some of the younger ones (as you may imagine). After we compiled all of the numbers of kids and families that used the units, we realized that it was much more successful than we originally thought! We just purchased two more eTrex's to add to our fleet to make sure that all the participants that are interested would be able to hunt this summer!

Hey guys, It has been a long time (or so it seems to a summer camp employee) since I updated but I wanted to take a minute and let you know about the program we have put in place here. I incorporated a lot of the ideas that you guys gave to me, and had a few of my own that I threw in as well. We did decide to go with the eTrex 10's and we bought 5 of them to put into circulation. We tried to keep one main one separate that had custom settings on it for the office staff, however. We didn't feel it was worth having a different high-end model for the camp's use. We got in contact with the local geocaching group (Abilene Geocachers) and were able to work alongside them to ensure that the caches we did plant were authentic and would make the transition from caching at our camp to caching in the real world as smooth as possible. We hid 13 physical caches as well as took coordinates for 3 earth caches that are scenic views of the canyon we are in and the campground themselves. We used google Earth to print a satmap of our property and labelled the map showing where the caches were located. The maps were zoomed out enough not to give too much away, but not to be frustrating for the groups either. Whenever checking the items out, we had two processes depending on the group. For a camp group, we had no formal checkout procedure because if something happened we knew who to hold accountable. For family reunions and other groups, we had a formal checkout sheet that had to be filled out, as well as keeping a form of identification for accountability. Each GPS had the coord's pre-loaded, and a brief demonstration was given on how to use the unit, as well as what geocaching was and how it was to be done. For the camps we would actually train their staff more thoroughly, as well as take them on a hunt to rouse interest, as their counselors were the ones that truly led the searches, not our paid staff. Each GPS was checked out with a laminated map, the GPSr, a compass and a card that had a list of all of the cache names including difficulty and terrain for quick reference. The idea with all the extra items was to get as many kids as possible involved so they would not lose interest. This summer we did not have a ton of interest, but I don't believe that a week went by without at least a couple of the units being checked out. The family reunions seemed to enjoy it the best (or so I've been told), with many families who had never done it before asking me how they could continue doing it once they got home. Since we did not have the program in place very far before summer, it was hard to push for our camp directors to incorporate a new event into their schedules, but I feel that next year we can market it much better and be able to expand it's use a lot more. I am very thankful to you guys for the advice and helping us put it together! I am very excited to see how we can build upon and improve the experience, and I believe that it will only get more use and excitement as time goes on.

Of course we are talking about settings, user data was discussed much earlier in the thread. Which settings are stored in "inaccessible" (obviously a misnomer) memory? It is my understanding that all user changes to the system settings are stored in the active GPF file. I'll test this whole idea out this afternoon and see what happens. I would love for it to be this easy, except that at times we may not have access to the computer with the settings on it. This could pose a problem, but only time will tell I suppose. Today is our first test-run on the geocaching program, so we'll see how the general public receives it. Thanks for the quick replies and advice!

The caches do contain a log and pencil in each one, so they will have the satisfaction of logging on paper anyway. as for the GPS, we'll just have to see with some real-life data and feedback to see what people like. The main goal is that only the leaders will ever use the device, not the kids, so it may work itself out naturally in that they won't care to log them. For family reunions though, the desire to log may be stronger. Again, we'll just have to play it by ear.

Is there a way to save my settings changes that I make in the unit? I know there is a "restore defaults", is it possible to save my current dashboard/etc to become the new default to reset to? That would be amazing. You're right though, there is a strong possibility that people will mess with settings, even if unintentionally, that will mess the game up for everyone else.

@jholly, That process of going through and marking them as unattempted worked great, but there are so many steps involved it's terribly inefficient. However, since we won't always have access to GSAK while we are doing this, and we will be maintaining 4 seperate units, this is at least a viable option for now, so thank you very much. I'd like an opinion, though: If you were new to caching and coming to do it for the first time, would you rather go through the process of logging the cache to remove it from your list, or just getting close, finding it, then going into the geocaching folder to choose a new one? There will only be 14 cache choices total, with unique names and attributes for each so I would think it would be hard to get confused on what you've done and haven't done. Your thoughts?

I have posted on here before about the church camp that I work for getting geocaching units as a new program for our campers. We are well underway and have decided to go with the Garmin eTrex 10, and everything is great right now except that when you go through the process to log a cache as "found", I cannot find a way to "unfind" it. Because our groups will be going after a limited number of caches over and over with different campers each week, we will really need to be able to reset. I even deleted the file from the device and reloaded it using GSAK, but it still files it as a found cache. I know that we could just make sure that our groups don't actually follow the process of logging the finds, but on the odd-chance that people don't listen to instructions (yes, it does happen believe it or not) then we would be hosed. So, any Garmin insiders have any tricks for me? Am I just missing something basic?

Here is an update of what is going on. We have purchased five of the Gramin eTrex 10's for our use. I'm thinking these will work well for what we are wanting and that they will be user friendly enough for anyone to start working them right away. We are working on the programming and curriculuum for them now, so it's all coming together!

I posted a question earlier about finding a good unit to use for a church camp looking to incorporate geocaching as a programming option. After reading all the info there and talking with locals, I've narrowed it down to these five devices. Garmin eTrex 10 Garmin eTrex H Garmin eTrex Legend H Magellan GC Magellan 110 What I'd like to know, with little or no experience with any of them, is: Which one could I hand to someone that has never used a GPSr before, and the guest have the best chance of understanding and using it within moments (with a brief tutorial of course)? This will basically be the situation that we will find ourselves in at the camp, so I'm wondering which will be best. I believe the eTrex 10's would be the best overall, but I've heard that the learning curve is a little steep. I have experience with the eTrex Legend, but I remember it being a little slower and that could lead to our guests becoming frustrated. So, your thoughts on what we could do?

I will have to talk to my supervisors, but that is something that we will definitely discuss because I think you're right about the deposit. I did not think about having to refresh the units every time either, so we will have to be sure and have the staff trained on that operation to make sure that it gets done every time. Thanks again, those are angles I had not considered yet!

It should be pretty simple to deal with. If you're loaning a $100 device you take a $100 deposit before the person takes the device away. If they don't bring it back then they just bought it. If they bring it back minus batteries, SD card etc, they just bought what's left of it or they bought the missing parts, based on a list of charges they agree to when they book it out and where your charges include the cost of the replacement part, some administration, some allowance for the time to reload it, and a bit of a sting to discourage that sort of thing. So if they bring the $100 GPS unit back with the $5 memory card and $5 batteries missing it might cost them $20 for the missing card and $15 for the batteries. Part of checking the GPS units back in will have to be a simple check that everything is present and correct, batteries are charged (and the same batteries that went out with it), the settings are as they should be for the next renter and so on. If you're renting a unit you'll have to accept some people may want it set up differently for their own reasons, whether that's an issue of preferring positions in a dd.ddddd format rather than dd mm.mmm, using kilometres rather than miles or rearranging the fields on the screens. If people are renting these units you have to expect them to use them, and using them may involve changing some of the settings. I doubt you'll get any supplier to write you a software lock unless you're buying a whole stack of units. It's not worth their while to write a firmware customisation for the sake of a couple of dozen units, unless they consider it a useful feature to apply across every single unit. My main thought on a company with a software lock was under the assumption that they may already have something like that written that could be coded in to units for a fee. We will be requiring an ID from the users to make sure to have someone to designate as accountable, but we won't be charging for their use, as it will be an event option available to guest groups already using our facility (much like basketball courts, etc). I agree with you, there should be a more direct understanding associated with the check out procedure, that "motivates" people to not break or lose them. I am not sure if the average guest will want to/know how to change settings themselves, but that is also an inconsequential problem for us to have to deal with in the long run, if they change things we can simply change them back; I just want to make sure they don't delete our pre-loaded coordinates and notes. Our big picture is that someone will walk into the office, ask for a unit, be given a rundown of geocaching as an activity, how to use the unit they check out, and then they will be off caching for about 1-3 hours, then they return the unit and continue with their retreat. We will have all coordinates and notes pre-loaded as to cut down on initial startup time. I for one love the thrill of finding caches online and loading them before the actual hunt, but assuming most of these folks will have little to no experience in caching, making it as accessible as possible is the goal. Thanks again for the discussion guys, I'm getting some great thoughts stirring with how to implement this activity more efficiently.

Great call on the SD cards walking off, that would be a lot of work to have to constantly re-load and reconfigure all of those. I suppose people changing settings/etc. may just be a hazard that we have to deal with. I wonder if there is any way to contact Garmin/Magellan/DeLorme to get some type of software lock written in? The star party idea won't really need much GPS functionality to it, and I have a planetarium app for my iphone which is pretty cool. I think one of my co-workers has the Droid version that is also pretty legit, so perhaps we'll knock that feature requirement off of the list for our GPS unit. I'm meeting with our local group of cachers tomorrow night to get some direct input and advice, so hopefully we will have a better track on things from there!

Thanks for the input, I appreciate your responses. I went and tried out both sets of devices at a Bass Pro Shop recently and I left there thinking that the Magellan Explorist 110 would be the ticket, but then came back and read reviews of them on here and it seems that folks are having all kinds of problems. I'm still not sure what route to go, but like I said I appreciate the info that you guys have given me!

Hey guys, I have a bit of a unique set of questions for the group and I'm hoping I can phrase them in a way to get some good responses. I work for a church camp in West Texas and we are interested in starting a geocaching program to our property for guests to use while they are here. In the future we hope to open it up to the general caching community, but we want to start by giving our guests another fun activity to do while they are at our site, as well as spread the interest of geocaching itself. We have about 500 acres with hiking trails all around, so places to hide caches are plentiful. The goal as of now is to purchase 3 or 4 lower-end GPS units that will allow the guests to have decent access and success in caching, but then to own a higher end unit for planting and other things that our full time staff may need. Myself and one other staff member have cached before/semi-regularly, and so we are coming at this from an informed level. At this point, I have a couple of main questions that I'm hoping someone can shed some light on. First, what kind of units would you recommend for us to rent out to the guests? We have identified our needs as: - Needs to be accurate - Needs to be very rugged and durable - Very user-friendly and easy to operate - Needs to be good enough to not frustrate first-timers - Perhaps lockable so they cannot mess up our settings or the logs/waypoints (we intend on pre-loading the camps' caches to streamline the process so our users spend more time hunting and less time fiddling with settings, etc.) Budget - $100-150 per unit Possibilities - Garmin eTrex 10, Magellan 110 or GC Second, what unit would you guys recommend for the nicer/planting unit that the camp would not rent out? Some of our thoughts on this unit are: - Very accurate for the planting of caches - Backlit - Durability and battery length not paramount Budget - $100-300 Possibilities - Garmin Dakota 20, eTrex 20/30, Magellan 310/510 This unit will serve another purpose as well beyond geocaching. Our camp is also looking to start "Star Parties" as well, an event where we get telescopes out and show the guests some constellations and planets. Do GPS units ever have the capability of some semblance of star navigation or something like that? I don't really even know what I'm asking, but am hoping that someone reading this gets what i'm going for Another thing for us to consider, are units in this price range actually any more accurate than the others? Thanks so much for any info that you guys can give, it will be much appreciated!