trooperdjb

Not sure about caching with the AT&T phones but with my Blackberry and the Trimble GeocacheNavigator it works fine. Seems as accurate as my Garmins although it doesn't have the electronic compass which I've gotten used to. With the data plan you can also go paperless and get full cache details from the geocaching WAP site.

If you can get within .1 mile all you should need from there is an arrow to get you to GZ. In which case even an eTrex yellow would work.

Looking at RIM's site, I don't think the 8830 has an integral GPS. The Pearl does as does the 8330 Curve. I've got the AT&T version of the curve and it works passably well. Not as great as my 60CSx does but in a pinch it'd do.

How about Geocache Navigator on a smart phone? Automatically ties into GC.com and will find the closest caches to your current location, show the cache page and logs and you can log your find right from the app. The only downside is that smart phones aren't as durable as most outdoor GPS's. I'm always pretty careful with mine when taking it out into the field. My GPS on the other hand is water resistant and quite tough. Maybe the thing to do would add a bluetooth link from the smartphone to the GPS so we can download cache data to the GPS in the car and leave the phone behind or at least safer in a pocket.

Sorry that was the somewhat sarcastic me replying. But honestly if a CD player or GPS or even a cell phone can cause a problem somebody has some splainin to do. We all live in a world very rich in EM radiation so our toys and tools need to take that into account.

Good point Mirage. I have a foretrex 101 that I got for my kids to use and the USB to serial adapter brought the cost up some but I think you have to get into the Venture HC to get a USB connection instead of serial. Not sure why they didn't put USB on the basic H model. The other reason we don't use the foretrex much anymore is the difference between that and my 60CSx. We spend a lot of time in the woods and it was frustrating for the youngins to loose signal when I didn't. I think though that with the exchange rate where it is your 70-80 GBP would cover the Venture HC with a list of about $180 US. Probably even have some extra if you find a deal and have USB, mapping and high sensetivity reciever.

I for one don't really want to be a passenger on any aircraft that can have it's navigation system fouled up by someone intentionally or un-intentionally using a cell phone or any other electronic device. If one inside can mess things up couldn't one outside near by do the same? Many airports have roads right off the end of the runway that "gasp" people might be using cell phones on when a plane is at that critical take off or landing stage. Maybe there ought to be a little more scrutiny on the reliability of avionics.

If you're asking what I think you're asking then yes, if you mark and change the coords for a new waypoint to be the stage in the multi then select that point hit GoTo and Off road (if a Garmin user) and you'll get the arrow pointing to where you want to go. Alternately if you select the initial waypoint you can edit it's coordinates to the next stages so when your done you have only the location of the final marked as the cache.

Also I think that the algorithm for calculated accuracy is different between the two units. I have a 60 CSx and a Vista HCx, when using them both the Vista almost always has a lower reported accuracy. I don't think that's what or at least all that's causing your difference, I usually see at most 8-10 feet difference, usually more like 5 feet. If I place a new cache and set both down to average the results are identical about half the time and the rest either north-south or east-west will match and the other off by a number or two in the last decimal place. I think the only way to really check which is more accurate is to find a known bench mark and see which is closer. Trooper

Hey I found one of those same walmart cd player cases in the clearance for $5. Tried it out last weekend and it worked great. Only problem is the cell phone slot is too small for the Blackberry so that stays in it's own case and i put the flashlight in the cell phone holder. Other than that it's just right for anything under a couple mile hike. Carries the pda, notebook, pens, a little small swag and the leatherman.

I've done it both ways, impromptu caching where I just go look (well have the caches all loaded on GPS and the cache pages on PDA) or more detailed planning. I have had a couple where I either missed the obvious path and buswacked a long way or was on the wrong side of a significant obstacle. Now usually if it's a more wilderness type cache I like to look at the aireal photos and get a feel for the area and also once I'm off road switch the mapset from CN to TOPO. For my area at least MapQuest (linked from GC.com) has much better resolution on the imagry.

I've accidentally moved the way point a couple of times myself. Now after about 10 minutes of searching one of the things I do is go back to the cache page and check that the coordinates in the unit are correct.

I'll add another + vote or maybe 2, I have a 60CSx and a Vista HCx for my son. Never had one without until trying out the Trimble GeoCache navigator on my phone. Yes there is some bounce around when you're real close but I personally like the ability to stand still and still have the unit point to the desired location. One of the things I like to do is back off 50 or so feet from what I believe to be ground zero and get a bearing on the location, move laterally and do it again. Where the 2 bearings cross is a good place to put away the GPS and start looking. Yes you could do this without the EC but much easier with. I look at the calibration (probably a couple times per outing) as the price for the extra function. Kind of like remembering to put in new batteries or charging my PDA. Trooper

Almost more important than the boots are the insoles. Most of the standard insoles aren't worth having. The superfeet are pretty good but once you try Lynco insoles you'll never go back. Not in any way affiliated with Lynco just been using them for about 5 years now in ALL of my shoes. Never have sore tired feet at the end of the day anymore. Trooper

How about the old multiple choice test method of the one answer is correct and the other 3 choices are the most likely wrong answers. Set up a multi and put fake finals at likely incorrect locations. Extra work but maybe fun.

Look for your camo duct tape in the paint department of Wal-mart instead of sporting goods. The rolls in sporting goods are about a third the length and twice the cost of the same stuff in the paint department. And yes it seems to work well on the lock and locks or other containers for that matter.

2:11 Central time and still not getting anything but signal and error when trying to log in.

I usually like to plan my route. Have the pocket querries of the area loaded but before going out I look through the list and set up a route in mapsource showing the planned caches. Print out an 8.5x11 map showing the major roads and the cache names. It seems to save some backtracking while driving around since I don't normally hunt in a cache rich environment and it can sometemes be 5 or 10 miles between caches.

I have a 60 CSx and a Vista HCx for my son. With a 2 GB card I have all of North America CN loaded plus about 4 states worth of TOPO. The limiting factor was the 2068 (or something like that) map segments. It actaully only used about 1.6 GB on the card. One of these days I may learn to do custom POI's and use that extra space. On my son's HCx since it didn't come with any card I popped in the 64MB card that came with my 60 and was able to cover about 4 states with both CN and TOPO. More than enough for the average bear.

Ok I'm going to go a little against the grain here but, while the ivisible shield are I'm sure great I've found the plain old generic PDA screen protectors work great. Place them over the screen then use a sharp utility knife blade to trim. I've had one on my GPSr for over a year and it's only now starting to show some wear but I got a dozen of the things for my PDA which since I only change them on that every year or so will last me longer than the PDA will. Total cost for the package was about $8. Well worth having especially at that price.

A couple of questions, I have a Foretrex 101 but other than the rechargable battery I think they're pretty much the same. Can you send to the unit when running Mapsource? If so that will verify that you have the driver software loaded for the USB to serial adapter I assume you're using. That can be tricky with some of the adapters. Second I've had issues getting the serial plug seated properly. Looks like it's in all the way but it's really not and then even from Mapsource I'll get the No Unit found error. Other than that maybe someone using the GC send to unit feature instead of downloading PQ's into Mapsource can offer some suggestions. Trooper

The application depends on what platform your PDA is. If you're using a palm device then cachemate seems to be the favorite. If you're using pocket pc running windows mobile then cachemate is still an option but there's also GPXSonar. My preference is Sonar since the pocket querries don't need any processing to load into Sonar. Some have said that using GSAK and cachemate allows for building larger data sets so you don't have to switch but the 500 caches that come in a querry hav been sufficient for me.

I have the 60CSx and the Vista HCx and a Foretrex 101. The difference in reception with the newer (Sirf or Meditek) are truely amazing. I'd recommend that you stay with one of the H series units for the reception in the woods. If you have an automotive unit then you really don't need the city navigator maps but for being out in the woods TOPO is a huge help. Many times I've gone looking for caches in the woods without consulting the TOPO maps and found myself starting on the wrong side of a stream or with a swamp between me and the cache that the TOPO would have been clear on. That's the main reason to get a mapping unit if you don't plan to use it for car navigation which I do. If you think you'd ever want to use it for road routing I'd definately go with the 60CSx over the Vista as the button placement and screen size (as opposed to resolution) are IMO a benefit for in car usage. If not step down to one of the lower priced H series and that only if you don't think the built in electronic compass has value for you. Again I have it and like it but other's opinions vary significantly on that topic. One final thing to consider is that I believe the basic Etrex yellow that doesn't map also uses a serial cable for downloading caches which on most new computers will require a USB to serial conversion cable which can be a problem. Trooper

Personally I'd be just as happy to finde choice #2 in a cache. Although it'd require a very LARGE container. Choice #3 would be interesting but probably violates the acceptable swag guidelines.

I haven't had any problem loading maps onto either the 60 CSx or the Vista HCx since the big change to Windows Vista. If you're back country caching or working in areas you're familiar with the roads you don't "need" city navigator but it sure is nice to select a cache, hit goto and follow road to get to the nearest point then switch to topo or just follow the arrow. Ony a couple times urban caching I've had CN route me to the nearst point to find that it was a "you can't get there from here" kinda place and have to drive around to come at it from a different direction.