MojoCacher

I have the Explorist XL, I like the additional memory as I travel with my GPSR and have several regions available to load when I arive at my destination. My explorist will go WASS in a car or in my house without being in the windshield or next to a window. This is the improved reception that I first saw in a Bass Pro shop where I purchased my GPSR. That is right waas enabled in a Bass Pro shop! Beats having an external antena to make your GPSR work. Drew

Garmin Vs. Magellan I own 2 magellans and 1 garmin. Meridian Paltinum ( 1st and the one I like the best) Explorist XL ( brand new, only used 3 times, will know more in a month or 2) Rhino 120 ( works very well, saved my but from being lost in Iraq several times, this is another story / works well geocaching, I never use the FRS radio- eats batteries too fast) All three work very well. I personally prefer the meridian series, but the Explorist XL has a very large display with excelent resolution. Any way you go, you may find yourself wanting software for streets or topo maps. Look for bundled packages with discount stores and online stores. In all I recommed a magellan, this is not a knock on anyother brand, it is just what I prefer.

I just today, 21 june 2005, called Thales customer support. 40 min wait, on hold, customer rep freindly, helpfull, and sent me an e-mail containing everything I asked for while I was on the phone and waited to see that I recieved it. I am stisfied that if they had a problem with support they are addressing it. I was not able to fix my GPS over the phone because it died unexpectedly while I was on the phone. The rep sent me the ionstructions I needed to continue the fix and repaire info with an RA # in the e-mail. I am at a loss now as to how to proceed, repair or replace, my Meri Plat. Hope this helps. Mojocacher

Let me post again, AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!! I hate my Meri plat, It just died for no reason, dead, will not start, will not function, very frustating. I still stand by my comments and say that I was very happy with it before it died. I like it's features, I would purchase another but the company rep told me that they are nolonger making it, HMMM, I will see what I can find out there. As far as repair cost it will be $156 dollars to fix. HMMM what can I buy for that? I will keep you posted if you like. MojoCacher

I own a Meri Plat, Love it! I pruchased it 3 years ago and have had only one problem. The compass got screwed up and needed to be recalibrated. Once it was recalibrated, about 15 mins of frustration, I was back to caching. My personal observations: Big Buttons a huge plus Buttons with words instaed of symbols, made it easy to use I run a 64 Meg card and keep about 5 states worth of all informamtion available loaded, POI, resturants, roads and everything. I run rechargeable batteries, they work great I often geocache in inclement conditions, rain, cold ( 0 - 10 degrees F), heat (130+ F), no problems Trees no problem, deep ravine no problem, rain clouds no problem, dust storms no problem, understand that in these conditions it takes longer for GPS to acurately find a cache, patients pays off. again I love my Meri Plat!! would buy another one and highly recomend it MojoCacher

And one other thing. The debate between Quad helix vs patch antena in garbage. I have geocached with a quad helix antena and it get reception everywhere in all weather, cloud, tree cover, terrain conditions, this includes steap sided valleys, in heavy tree cover with dense clouds, driving in heavy rain, at temperatures in the 3-7 degree F range. I have also read that people who use patch antenas do also.

Cybo Do not spend more than you can aford! Find a good deal at a local merchant and be happy you have a GPS. If you find a deal on a maping GPS in your spending limit then get it they are handy. Otherwise stick with your non-maping plan. I have determined that most people are happy with their first GPS. I think you will be also no matter what brand or model you get because you have selected 3 good GPSs. Mojo

Bought one in January, LOVE IT!!!!! would not buy anything else Mojocacher

Heard anything from the state recently? Mojo

I will be watching to see what you mean by "guidlines" as I hope nothing restrictive is imposed that might hurt the placement of geocaches in the state. PS: I went to the "JOCKY" site and I get a run time error for the links on your home page. I emailed the web master, but thought you might like to know.

I find myself recommending the Magellan Sport Trac Map yet agagin today. I personally have a Meridian platinum but my geocaching friend has the ST. It gets good reception under trees, has some memory for maps, and has good screen resoltion. I can not say that maps of Australia are available. It is priced in your range and uses the Quad helix anteana, very important for reception in tree cover. it is small enough for one hand operation. Whish you luck in finding the right GPSR. Mojocacher

sub $200 dollars is a good place to start. the magellan sporttrac is a good all around GPSR. the sport trac map has more memory and can be found on some web sites for as little as $170. following are some links that might help you sort out some prices http://www.gpsonsale.com/ http://gpsforsale.com/ http://www.gpscity.com/ http://www.rei.com/ http://www.affordablegps.com/ be sure to check out the link from this web site's home page. http://www.offroute.com/index.asp?ref=GS hope this will help. MojoCacher

Dusty if this is true: "The Meridian Gold sucks batteries dry because you have to have that backlight almost all the time." YOu may have a faulty display. My meridian platinum never needs the backlight except in the dark. It works fine inside, outside and in the car. Backlight not required. Call magelan and report your problem as the backlight should not need to be on all the time. Mojocacher

Mojesic; You should be ashamed of your attitude toward snakes. They are a vital part of any ecosystem. Besides since God designed snakes without legs who are you to say it is a bad thing. MojoCacher

Please let me know if there is something I can do to help. I was unaware of the ban in preserves. Thnaks for that bit O info. MojoCacher

Thanks for the info. Is there a ban on caching in the State preserve system? I can understand that some might be concerned with damage but geocaching is definatly a low impact activity, unlike horseback riding or 4 wheeling. Mojo

OK I am starting a new thread for the KY group. Some basic questions: What is the link to the Yahoo groups page? Your web page, if you have one? What is going to be you regular meeting schedual? Do you plan to have meetings in other parts of the state, ie: Louisville, Elizabethtown, Bowlingreen for the people who do not live close to Lexington? Are you planing to incorporate as a legal nonprofit group in KY? Do you want to represent ALL of KY or just the Lexington area? Just some questions I thought might be helpful for potential members. Thanks Mojocacher from Radcliff KY

This is my vote. I just purchased one and I love it. It too many features to list but 1 I like is the power key option that prevents the unit from being turned off accidentily if you are tring to map a favorite hiking trail. Something I am learning to do. I usually put my platinum in my cammel back and just walk, never lost lock and the tracs look good. As I have only had mine 2 weeks I am still learning but it comes pretty easily and I learn somthing new every time I pick it up. Mojocacher

Ok, now I have more questions...LOL Expert GPS, is this something my MeriPLat came with; or can I down load it from somewhere? The track I saved ended where I saved it at and that was the last coordibnates listed. So, what I am saying is that even though the track continued to my house it did not have coordinates to erase. I had to download the saved waypoint coords seperatly from the track, is this normal? My caching buddy did not have to do this with his sporttrack map, therfore I am thinking that I have a setting wrong. Thanks for the advice. Mojocacher

Quick question for you experts on a meriplat, I saved a track on my meridian platinum today after which I turned off the GPS When I got home the I down loaded the track to my TOPO software and the track extended all the way to my house from where I turned off the GPS. Is there a way to prevent this? If so what do I need to turn on or off? Thanks in advance. Mojocacher

Got MeriPlat from a store in Frankfort KY. Nothing fancy the GPS and a case $315 no shipping, But I had to drive there so I spent half of the normal shipping cost on gas. The store is Affordable GPS.

Used mine the other day in aboout 35 degree weather and windchills of about 20 degrees F. worked fine satalites were few but had evergreen tree cover and heavy cloud cover, both add to reception problems. I have 4.02 loaded going on 6 days so I may not have atracted the aliens attention yet. Mojocacher

I hope you are right. Is on the way 2 weeks, 2 months, or more, HMMM I wonder. I hope soon because the 4.02 is not as accurate as the preveious version. I still find caches and I love the meriplat I bought. Mojocacher

I have the Meridian Platinum and My caching team mate has the Sport trak Map Both work exceptionally well. Owning the Platinum I LOVE the Compass, wifes loves the barometer and tempeerature. Ocationally switching GPS's with my friend I found the button symbols to be intuitive and easy to adjust to. Both worked well the other day in partial evergreen cover cupled with heavy cloud cover and deep in a valley. I am assuming the Sport trak Pro will work just like the Map and I think it would be a good first purchase. Good Hunting! Mojocacher

I recieved an error message at the finish of my 4.02 upload. "the SD card is lose or damaged..." I do not have one and I can not imagine why I got this message, also during the upload it said it was loading the mgold402.hex file. I double checked and this is the file that comes from the Magellan site for the platinum. Dose anyone know is this the right file? Do you get the SD memory card error? Should I try reloading the 4.02 software? Mojocacher PS: the first cache I checked it was off by about 50 feet poor but could be explained by compounded error, the Coord were off and my GPS was off in the other direction. Will try more when the weather gets better.