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It has come down to this: Garmin 60cs or Magellan Meridian Platinum or color Garmin Pros: more waypoints, more "geocaching" friendly; Cons: poor satellite lock Magellan Pros: better antenna Cons: 500 limit waypoints; averaging can cause offset (resetting fixes). I have also invested in MapSend Topo but woul be willing to go with other more updated software is pressed. Which would you choose if you had the option of one or the other? Please, this is not a PC versus Mac mud sling but an open appraisal of which works best for you and why. Hurry, my tax refund cometh...

Just last Saturday, my sister & I attended a cache event and ended up doing some night caching on the way home. One of the caches was located in an old cemetery (The Grateful Dead Meet Aerosmith (Traditional Cache) ). Part of the challenge was to define the connectoin between the Grateful Dead and Aerosmith. Since neither of us could remember any of the band member's names, we decided to snag this one later. Besides, the rain was starting to come down harder by now. Well, upon trying to exit, the local Green Cove Springs police pull up. "Can I ask what you are doing here at this time of night?" (Ummm, truth best be used now) "Uhh, geocaching, sir. Have you ever heard of it?" (small grin on young officer's face) "Why, yes, there is one over (he starts listing all the sites we had previously visited). He then asked which one was up here. I stated that I could not remember any of the names for Aerosmith. He immediately responds with answers (I begin to think I should invite this guy to go geocaching with us sometime). So, now he wants to join in the hunt. Two officers, FL SunCacher and myself go walking in the rain . We did not find the container (probably a good thing, too) but did find the answers to the connection. They really seemed to enjoy themselves. All in all, it was a rather unique experience. I wonder what other cachers have had similar experiences?

STP; DC 4702; purchased 2/2003; 2 cracks, one on each side at the middle screw my friends purchased a STM; DC 4302; purchased sometime in the last 6 months; 3 cracks, 2 at the bottom two screws and the other in the middle. Guess I will be upgrading to a plat sooner than I figured

I was having trouble using the arc filter with some new gpx files. I went out and snagged the latest GPSBABEL beta program and (of course) all was well. Thanks for keeping up with all the snags and fixes!

One interesting thing to try at a geo-event is to give everyone the same coordinates and see where everybody is standing after a few minutes. Everyone quickly gets the idea- accuracy is a goal and the fun is in the finding...

I currently use a Palm PDA IIIc. With Pocket PCs finally cominginto their own and some interesting additions to caching SW, the lure of a Pocket PC is becoming greater. I have looked at the Toshiba, HP, Dell and others. Any responses as to who has what and what they wish they had? What about the extras such as wi-fi, bluetooth, etc? Battery life is also a limiting factor since some caching jaunts last for 10-12 hours. Comments, please.

I have just added QuakeMap to my cadre of cache programs. This one can be used on Pocket PCs. I primarily use it for the aerial photos. It will also sync your digital pics with your GPS tracks. This is helpful when I return from setting up a cache to remind myself wha the area looks like, etc. You can set up roues, upload/download waypoints, etc. Nice edition to the other programs I use (Watcher, GPSBabel, Mapsend, and Plucker).

I am getting ready to uninstall version 5 and return to version 4. Everytime I hit a button, the backlight goes on. I went through 1.5 sets of batteries in one 10 hour day of caching! If i wanted the light on, I would do it myself. Thanks Thales for making me consider a different GPS next time I upgrade...

I have found that my hot sync manager for my Palm OS will interfere with uploading/downloading to my Sporttrak Map Pro. Once that is turned off, everything works fine.

I continue to have the same problems but intermittenly. Have been considering going back to the previous firmware version to save me the hassle and my batteries.

This came to the attention of others in Florida several weeks ago. A friend and fellow geocacher gathered some information regarding who's who on the committees that approve their budget. Some of us have already e-mailed our representatives as well to gain insight into this line of reasoning. First, the list: Here are the committees, their members, and their homepages for the congressional oversight of the FWS. (Hilary Clinton is on the Senate committee, but maybe Bob Graham is the way to go since we are his beloved constituents.) There are no Floridians on the House committee. The House Resources Committee, Resources Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, 108th Congress http://www.house.gov/resources/ which has jurisdiction over Western water and lands issues, ESA and the Fish and Wildlife Service,. Republicans already named Richard Pombo (CA) as Chairman of the Resources Committee, U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works http://www.senate.gov/~epw/ Committee Members, 108th Congress James M. Inhofe, R-Oklahoma James M. Jeffords,I-Vermont John W. Warner,R-Virginia Max Baucus,D-Montana Christopher S. Bond,R-Missouri Harry Reid,D-Nevada George V. Voinovich,R-Ohio Bob Graham,D-Florida Michael D. Crapo,R-Idaho Joseph I. Lieberman,D-Connecticut Lincoln Chafee,R-Rhode Island Barbara Boxer,D-California John Cornyn,R-Texas Ron Wyden,D-Oregon Lisa Murkowski,R-AlaskaThomas R. Carper,D-Delaware Craig Thomas,R-WyomingHillary Rodham Clinton,D-New York Wayne Allard,R-Colorado Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and other major environmental laws, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.The new Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) is a conservative and frequent critic of the ESA and the Resources Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, 108th Congress Environmental Protection Agency. A letter from the Northeast Florida Geocachers Association: November 20, 2003 Congressman Ander Crenshaw 127 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 Dear Representative Crenshaw I am an avid participant in the sport of Geocaching. In this sport, a person hides a container and then posts the coordinates on a Web page. Others then to try to find the container using a Global Positioning System (GPS) device. As such, the sport often involves hiking on land controlled by various government agencies. It has come to my attention that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has recently banned our activities from the land that they manage. Not only have they banned our activities, they have refused to explain or discuss the matter with representatives of our sport who have approached them. People of all ages and backgrounds enjoy our sport. It is a way for individuals, families and friends to get outdoors and enjoy the many areas of this wonderful country that they might not otherwise take the opportunity to explore. As a group, we take great pride in our concern and care for the areas to which our sport takes us. One of our mottos is, “Cache in, Trash Out.“ There are often events sponsored at parks to help with picking up the refuse that others have left behind. Not to mention the payment of park fees which, in this time of fiscal crisis, can only be welcomed. There are many other reasons these citizens should be welcomed on lands that are set aside for all to enjoy. Our sport has established organizations that have worked with local, state and federal government entities to establish guidelines for our activities on government controlled lands. We would love the opportunity to establish such discussions with the USFWS. I urge you to look into this matter and at least ask that the USFWS explain their decision and discuss it with representatives of our sport. The National Park Service has a similar ban of long standing and I urge you to look into that as well. If you would like more information on our sport, it can be found at www.geocaching.com and at http://home.earthlink.net/~nefga/. Thank you for your help and attention. Sincerely David C. Klug Northeast Florida Geocachers Association If elections count for anything (other than in Florida ), perhaps a deluge of e-mail and letters will at least get some people to pay attention.

I've always carried it on & used in flight. Never a problem. A time or two I had to explain what it was. The last flight I took from Atlanta to Orlando, I didn't need it because they had our location on screen and real-time including speed, miles & time to destination and a map showing our progress. Sure saves on batteries!

Good idea, elven cachers. I will contact the owner (I met him just the day before) and let him know what I did. I appreciate the comments received back from everyone. I do not regret what I did but wondered how that action would be received by others (not that it makes it any more right or wrong).

Yesterday I was caching with a group and came across an entry in a log that graphically depicted a sex act . Now I have never been a proponent of censorship but I really felt this one crossed the line . We all agreed that it was inappropriate. I removed the log page. This caused us to have a discussion about censorship, Another cacher, a good friend of mine, stated that he does not believe in censorship and would have left it even though he, too, found it offensive. My arguement was that I did not want to put a parent in the position of explaining the what and why. But, on the other hand, I know things happen that provides parents opportunities to educate our children about the world around us- the good and the bad. I wonder what Mike & Jim (who never officially logged the find) was thinking when they wrote/drew in the log? It never ceases to amaze me what some think is funny. I will continue to embrace diversity and understand there are some not of my thinking nor liking. Lessons remain, as do some answers, in this journey we are all taking. What would you have done?

I may have stumbled upon someone else's nightmare last week. While out trying to snag my 200th in the Ocala National Forest, we came across a shredded sleeping bag and a camper's small propane tank. Now that could ruin your stay! Bear sign was everywhere along this trail and I keep wondering about what happened. Bears are usually just curious but I can only hope that the owner was not in that bag just prior to it being shredded! As for "pickel parks" (great moniker!), this past summer I was at a small park in St. Augustine. It seemed deserted upon my arrival but just as I retrieved the micro, I noticed an individual approaching. I quickly walked in the opposite direction and logged then replaced the cache. I thought he had left but upon my exit he reappears and starts walking towards the restrooms. I quickly headed for the safety of my truck. To make matters worse, the next cache I visited was located right at the restroom entrance at a park filled with small children. I can only imagine what the parents thought and I had to chuckle at the thought of that previous individual showing up and seeing me seemingly "waiting". I have seen too much to worry about what other people think. I enjoy caching and often do it alone in large parks. Yes, I carry a walking stick and have been trained in self-defense so the attitude that brings helps. Trusting your instincts is important and caching is always more fun in the company of others. "Life is serious...folly" is a philosophy that always keeps a smile on my face regardless of what it brings.

I have been questioned on a couple of occasions and my response each time was a little different depending upon the person. Anything from mapping the locations of certain plants/trails/points of interest to looking for a lost item have been some of my responses. Once in Arizona while searching for a cache, a lady asked our group what we were doing. She seemd genuinely interested and so I explained to her about geocaching. She was enthralled with the idea and even lent a hand looking. There have been at least two other occasions where the truth has turned muggles into cachers. But for the majority of times this has happend, I would think up a reasonable story. It is a good game to while the time on a long hike having others come up with a good story.

I went paperless about six months ago and have not regretted it since. I use Watcher to help me do basic filters on caches sent to me using the Pocket Queries (well worth the $30). Then I use gpx2html and Plucker to push the info onto my Palm PDA. Another great program is gpsbabel. This one will convert files to a variety of mapping programs (MapSend Topo is the one I am currently using). This allows me to map out my cache run. Gpsbabel in DOS-mode has some great capabilities as well. I use it to filter caches along a route so that I only select the caches within a certain distance. Great for long trips . These and other programs are available and well worth the learning curve. It sure beats carrying reams of paper around not to mentions saving the printer ink! Have fun and keep on caching!

I, too, have a Sportrak Map (Pro) and have had times where the signal was bouncing me around a bit. I usually check my batteries (low batteries=poor performance) and then have re-initialized it. Most times this does the trick. Other times, it must be a Pookah in the clouds playing jokes, yes?

SportTrak Map Pro (more memory yet smaller-and cheaper- than Meridian) Palm IIIc- use gpx2html/plucker to upload caches into PDA; much easier than carrying all those papers around. Not looking to upgrade soon but one never knows.. GPSBabel along with Mapsend Topo are also essentials when planning trips or cache hunts. I can plan a route in Mapsend, convert that route in GPSBabel and then filter my gpx files so that only those caches along the route will be included in both my PDA and my GPS unit. Now I do not have to carry around 500 waypoints when I am opnly interested in the 50 close to the route. Life is good but I am alwyas looking for improvements.

I have been using Mapsend Topo for about 9 moths now and find it useful but does not contain nearly all the trails. I still refer to local maps whenver possible. You may want to chek out the HikeReporter. This is where locals from all over submit hike reports.

Thanks for the info. At least using a line tool will do the trick. Having used GIS for several years, I understand the complexities involved in what GPSBabel already offers and would have been simply astounded if it could handle a route file. "the future is no place to place your better days"- dmb

Correction to previous post: file size for route.arc=0 bytes "the future is no place to place your better days"- dmb

It seems that the latest beta versoin of GPSBabel does not read S&T 2004. Each time I try to create an arc file from a S&T route (extension was .est), it comes up blank. Commands used to make arc file: C:GPSBABEL>gpsbabel -r -i s_and_t -f fgs_rte.est -o arc -F route.arc file size for fgsrte.arc=0 bytes. Commands used to process arc file: C:GPSBABEL>gpsbabel -i gpx -f fgs.gpx -x arc,file=route.arc,distance=0.3mi -o g px -F fgs_rte.gpx Arc filter: Warning: Arc file contains unusable vertex on line 1. To make sure I had the syntax correct for the rest of the commands, I created a route in Mapsend Topo using manually placed waypoints. GPSBabel was able to filter the caches using the arc file from Mapsend. I would really rather use S&T since it follows the roads and Mapsend is point-to-point routes. Any suggestions or corrections? "the future is no place to place your better days"- dmb

I am very interested in identifying caches just 3 miles along a route. However, my Mapsend Topo does not save routes in arc files but along with the waypoint files. I just purchased MS Streets & Trips with the hope of using it but GPSBabel does not recognize the est file generated. Can anybody give me an assist with this? "the future is no place to place your better days"- dmb

The official response I got from magellan follows: quote:The version you are speaking of is 4.20D.....and only adds a SD card utility for small cards and a auto detect testing feature that allows use to see what baud rate you are on. Please check our website as we will have Direct Route available soon that allows for turn by turn directions using a handheld GPSRegards, John Valencia Thales Navigation 960 Overland Court San Dimas, California 91773 USA (800) 707-9971 (909) 394-5000 www.thalesnavigation.com www.magellangps.com JV "the future is no place to place your better days"- dmb