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TitusLlewelyn

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Everything posted by TitusLlewelyn

  1. I have a half dozen or so Magellan 500 GPSRs that I use to teach church groups, Boy scouts, etc. in how to use a GPSR. All of my rechargeable batteries have died a long painful death. They would be very expensive to replace. Magellan made a battery adapter that was shipped with each GPSR that uses three AAA batteries. I would like to obtain enough of those to use in the GPSRs when I have a group that asks me to teach them. Please contact me through geocaching if you have one or more of these in your desk drawer collecting dust.
  2. Am I missing something here? I am interested in obtaining a tablet to use when out geocaching. Having found every cache within 75 milkes from my house, I find myself in unfamiliar territory a lot. I gave up on GSAK and several of the various manufacturer's programs to load GPX files years ago. GPX files are ASCII text files with a speciul format. You can use something like Notepad to edit them if you know whaqt you are doing. I own both Magellan and Garmin products that take the files directly. So I ask for a pocket query to be sent to my email address. I download the compressed file to a directory and extract the files. i then copy and paste them to the correct directory on my GPSRs whiel deleting any old files. This process may take a minute per GPSR. So can I will ask a question ==> Can I do this with a Surface Tablet?
  3. (1) I do not think a person should be able to Vote Upor Vote Downa Challenge they have not completed. (2) Challlenges should have a review before publishing. This would be done preferrebley by a group similar to Waymarking. (3) Who is to keep someone from Photoshopping the Photo Challenges. (4) Perhaps there should have been a whole Web site for these like Waymarking has. (5) Please being back Virtual Caches. Did I say please already?
  4. We have had one for over a year. We usually use a Magellan eXplorist XL to travel to the location and then get out with me using the GC and the wife using her Magellan eXplorist 500. Most times as I leave the cachemobile the GC wants to stall and look for new satellites for a while. What was wrong with the old ones? It has allowed us to get into paperless cacheing. The complete description, hint and last five logs comes in handy. I do not sit there and complete a long log using the joystick/button. I might add a few letters to remind me about something such as the cache coordinates being off by a bunch. The funny thing is that in the deep woods once the GC settles it is very accurate. Go figure! I use Magellan's VantagePoint software to load the GC. Of course you will need to be a premium member to set up Pocket Queries for the VantagePoint software to use. VantagePoint is free from the Magellan Web site. Overall for the money it is hard to beat the GC. They witheld a lot of features for the more expensive models. I would think they all use the same GPSR chip and any problems the GC has would be present in the others.
  5. We have a cache owner that placed a cache 75 miles from our home in an area that we do cache quite often. His hint is: "Email me if you need a hint" We went there and the coordinates took us into the backyard of a residence next to a baseball field. Since the name of the cache had to do with baseball I think maybe the coordinates were off by a bunch. So I guess he expected us to drive back 75 miles to our home and to email him for a hint and then drive another 75 miles back to hunt again. Do the math. We are up to 3 x 75 or 225 miles by now. That is about 10 gallons of gas for us at nearly $4 a gallon. I always say: Have good coordinates or a good hint or both. This cache had none of the two. This cache fits quite well on my Ignore list.
  6. I think I have one. I bought a lot of cables off of eBay for Magellans. In it are a couple that do not fit my GPSRs. Email me through GC.com and we will see.
  7. I would be careful on here. Just in seeking parts to repair my GPSRs, I have been contacted by several people that backed off real quick when I started asking too many questions about payment. Anyone, any place could create a free ID and start posting on the forums.
  8. Some should have never been placed in the first place. =======================================
  9. I agree. If a cacher gets out of the game, the caches can be adopted officially. I have adopted many caches because the original owner moved or quit caching. Caches can be saved. You can edit anything but the GC number. You can replaced an ammo can with a baby soda bottle and edit the listing to show that. You can mnove a cache up to 527 feet yourself. I have ahd caches that were muggled and move them 30 feet and they are OK. The muggles can not fidn them with no GPS and no access to GC.com. We have had a number of cachers disappear in our part of the world. Usually teh caches die one at a time wasting a lot of time and money for unknowing cachers. Up in arkansas a cache can be reported as needing to be archived and the steps to archive it start in less than a day. In East Texas it takes a week or so. We all love new caches, but let us admit that missing ones do not help our sport. Groundspeak has been getting their reviewers to archive Virtual Caches in which the owner can not be reached by email. That is sad in a way. If they started archiving other types of caches of owners that can not be reached by email I suspect that about 8-10% of the caches would be in trouble. At least that is the way it is around where I live and cache. We have found a number of caches that were disabled. Typically they had poor coordinates and no hint. after a DNF or two the cache owner disables the cache and places a note saying, "I will check on this soon." well, a year later is still not 'soon'. Alarms should start going off some place if the cache owner has not signed in in a period of say 90 days. The same for caches disabled for long periods. And then perhaps for a number of DNFs in row. All caches marked as needing archived should be reviewed and some action taken. It is that simple. The one reporting it could be incorrect, but that would be OK in most cases. An archived cache can be unarchived and returned to service. ===================================
  10. The unit is holding up great. It is probably the best unit on the market for $200 in my opinion. If you look at the Magellangps.com web site you will find out they have some units coming along with more features based on how the GC is built. Of course they want more money for them too. I have now interpreted it to the fact that you have 20 pieces of information on each cache (not 20 recent logs). The numnber of recent logs has never gone past 5. Things like a hint count for one piece of info. The .gpx files coming from Groundspeak limit the past logs. The Lithium batteries that came with the unit lasted very well. We got a couple of days out of them. On just alkaline batteries the unit could use two sets a day. It is still cheper to use the alkalines. Using the suspend feature helps. Right now a Magellan XL with street routing capability takes us to the site. I take the GC out to the cache and my spouse uses an eXplorist 500. We take no paper. The GC has all the info. To log I make a minumum of shorthand notes because the GCs screen keyboard is very small and hard to navigate. Once back I upload the notes file and start logging the real log info. We now leave home with at least 1000 caches worth of info. We typically have a 90 minute or more drive to the first cache. Some place in that travel period I let my spouse drive and I research the first group of caches. This has worked pretty well. I sure like the unit and it is worth every penny. It does not do street routing, but I have expiermented with guiding us to a cache with their maps and compass out in the countryside and in a city. It can be done (city is easier). Te unit seems to be very rugged. I have not dropped it yet. Putting a lanyard on it makes it hang upside down and it is not very accurate in this position. For a hike back to the cachemobile this works OK. to find a cache you need to be holding it horizontal. we have found caches placed with these GC units and the coordinates are very close. ========================== To customize your geocaching experience with caches that meet your specific criteria, the eXplorist GC has seamless connection to geocaching.com. This allows you to search one millions caches worldwide. With a click of the mouse, you can transfer the information with the Send to GPS feature. I just acquired a new GC. I normally use a Magellan XL with Direct Route/Turn By Turn mapping capability and the wife carries a Magellan 500 with no maps. The reason for the GC is to try and get into the paperless geocaching mode. Yes. With the changes to geocaching.com in recent times you can click on the send To My GPS button. In this mode you get a single .gpx file for each cache. You can also form pocket queries (by various methods). I used their Vantage Point Lite software to load a group of geocaches (200). Using this method to load one big .gpx file (as opposed to individual files for each cache) I got some recent logs for each cache in the load. The literature on the GC says it can get up to 20 recent logs per cache. I don't see 20 for any cache. It does not stop at 5. For some caches it seems to only show the year 2010 logs. For older caches the number varies. I have seen as many as 10. Does anyone know the rules for this? So it's been a couple of months, any updates on how the unit is holding up Thanks,
  11. A GPSR such as a Magellan eXplorist has a NMEA output mode, but uses a USB connector to do the electrical connections. In any case both the electrical standards and protocol standards need to match your boat's radio. I was poking around the Internet and came across this GPS module: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_i...products_id=465 It is normally used by folks to build a robot, but it does have a NMEA mode. If you look on the page they show electrical hookups and articles on how the device works. ==================================================
  12. I usually mark them as missing and wait about a year. A business in Phoenix, AZ makes new trackable tags with the old numbers and I get them to make me new tags. I keep the copy as a reminder of what bugs are out there. Then I send them out again (most times with a new theme). There is new site online (tb-rescue.com) that has helped me get a few bugs moving again. They only accept those in caches. For those that cachers show in their inventory it is hard to get a response. I had one that showed a bug grab and they have never logged a cache find. They also never confiremd their email address at geocaching.com so it is just plain lost. For one, they should not allow a cacher to log TB grabs or cache finds without confirming their email address. By the way, we have seen new caches published foir owners with no confirmed email address.
  13. To customize your geocaching experience with caches that meet your specific criteria, the eXplorist GC has seamless connection to geocaching.com. This allows you to search one millions caches worldwide. With a click of the mouse, you can transfer the information with the Send to GPS feature. I just acquired a new GC. I normally use a Magellan XL with Direct Route/Turn By Turn mapping capability and the wife carries a Magellan 500 with no maps. The reason for the GC is to try and get into the paperless geocaching mode. Yes. With the changes to geocaching.com in recent times you can click on the send To My GPS button. In this mode you get a single .gpx file for each cache. You can also form pocket queries (by various methods). I used their Vantage Point Lite software to load a group of geocaches (200). Using this method to load one big .gpx file (as opposed to individual files for each cache) I got some recent logs for each cache in the load. The literature on the GC says it can get up to 20 recent logs per cache. I don't see 20 for any cache. It does not stop at 5. For some caches it seems to only show the year 2010 logs. For older caches the number varies. I have seen as many as 10. Does anyone know the rules for this?
  14. I have a Magellan eXplorist 400 in good condition. I purchased it in a lot of electronic stuff a while back. I have used it a few times to teach geonewbies. It is not the most classy GPSR in the world, but it is fairly accurate when placed next to several others I have used. You can review the specs online to see if it will meet your needs. I can best be contacted via Groundspeak email.
  15. ====================== I got a pop up message from someone and then it disappeared. It asked if I needed the rubber keys. The answer to that is no. I need the case front with all 6 of the screw posts intact. Magellan used screws that were too short and this places too much stress on the posts.
  16. Are you looking for something with an RS-232 serial output?
  17. You have to tell me about this I take it you have had a bad day?
  18. I would be interested. I can be contacted best via email through Groundspeak.
  19. I am still looking for a non-working Magellan eXplorist XL to get case parts. I need a good case front most of all. If you have a non-working Magellan eXplorist XL, please contact me with details and asking price.
  20. I am looking for a non-working Magellan eXplorist XL to get case parts. I replaced the case a while back, but fell on some rocks the other day and broke it again. I hate rock caches by the way. I also have an eXplorist 500 that needs the rubber keys. I think they use the same rubber keys on any of the smaller eXplorist models (100-600). If you have a non-working eXplorist, please contact me with details and asking price.
  21. I am looking for a Shiloh # 4 in pewter while we are on the subject. ============================================
  22. To All: I am still looking for an Explorist XL to use for parts to fix my own. It is really getting worn now. =================================================================== I have one that starts up and gets to the blue screen, and then stops there. Nothing I have tried to do with it has any effect. The case is in great shape. The rubber keys show some wear, but are not worn out completely. What were you looking to pay for something like you are looking for? P.S. I am almost certain that Magellan will let you change the serial number one time, if you buy another unit. You might want to contact them and ask.
  23. Well, of course I want to get by as cheap as I can. I hope to get another year or so from mine and start shopping. Email me with the asking price including shipping if you are serious. I figure I could get around the serial number stuff by just installing the maps on a different computer. Magellan has not alway been the best resource for any information. Every time I have called them they say to send it in. After speaking with them, I have been able to recover from some serious stuff if I kept working with it. I also have an Explorist 500, but no maps assigned to it. We usually travel to the cache site with the XL and take the 500 out to GZ. My best guess in your case the firmware is hosed. I got the Blue Screen on another 500 I had, but I had bought the replacement insurance on it so I got a check for the bad unit and got another 500. I tried everything possible to load the firmware again on the first unit with no luck. ==================================================== I have one that starts up and gets to the blue screen, and then stops there. Nothing I have tried to do with it has any effect. The case is in great shape. The rubber keys show some wear, but are not worn out completely. What were you looking to pay for something like you are looking for? P.S. I am almost certain that Magellan will let you change the serial number one time, if you buy another unit. You might want to contact them and ask.
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