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yes and no. as there's no other category to choose, you have to choose micro for nanos. that's one thing and relates to the guidelines and to the selectable categories only. the other thing (reality) is what people say and what people mean. if people say "micro" and talk about those, they almost invariably talk about film can sized containers. if instead they mean to talk about containers that are much much smaller than that, they will say "nano" and talk about those. this is reality. language is reality. there's plenty of posts in this very thread which demonstrate exactly that. guidelines are guidelines and do not necessarily appropriately reflect reality. they just tell you what you're supposed to select on the web page, but that doesn't mean that in reality one equals another when at the same time there's a clear distinction in everybody's mind.

FS: SIM Free Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro 8Gb/128Gb Mobile Phone £300. UK Postage free. Brand new unused, sealed box. Unlocked, Sim Free. I think this is the most amazing Android 9 Smartphone for Geocaching. It has really accurate dual GPS. That is as speedily accurate as my dedicated Garmin. The Mi 8 is the first phone to boast dual frequency GPS navigation technology. It has massive memory and I've not yet had a memory space problem. long battery life. Rave reviews online everywhere. Loads of info online. I bought my first in January 2019, but dropped it 2 days before setting off to Poland, smashing the display. Hence all my plans, geos, wherigoes lost. Urgently needing a phone, I bought a new one from Argos, reloaded everything. Sent to original off to my Insurance company. They sent back a brand new one in a sealed box. This I now have for sale. Specifications. Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro features a 6.26-inch display for a vivid and amazing visual experience. With triple cameras 12.0MP + 12.0MP back camera and 20.0MP front camera, you can enjoy detailed and defined images. And with 8GB RAM, 128GB ROM storage and a long-lasting battery, you can play games for longer. Plus, it's lightweight, ultra-thin, curved body fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. AI dual camera with optical zoom DxOMark photo score: 105 1.4m large pixels brighten and bring out the details of nightscape photos. SLR-quality dual pixel auto focus allows the Mi 8 to snap photos rapidly. Ultra-thin four-sided curved body Lightweight and curved on all four sides, amazing hand-feel Transparent Curved-edge glass body in an 7000 series aluminum alloy frame. Model number: E1S. Network: Network provider: Sim free. 2G, 3G and 4G network capability. Dual SIM card phone: supports 2 SIM cards simultaneously. SIM card type: nano SIM and nano SIM. Display and Design: 6.26 inch LCD display. With a density of 402 pixels per inch. Touch screen. Toughened glass. Dimensions: Size H154, W74, D7.6mm. Weight 177g. Camera and Video: Dual camera. Front camera 20MP. Rear camera 12MP. LED. Camera features: Portrait. Video capture in. Storage: Internal memory 128GB. Technical specifications: 2.8GHz octa core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. 8GB RAM. Operating system: Android Android 8.1. (Download upgrade to Android 9) Battery: Up to 31 hours standby time. Up to 1620 minutes talk time. 3000mAh battery capacity. Product features: MP3 and MP4 player. This phone features fast charge technology - faster than standard charging, for when time is of the essence. Contactless payment Link up your card to your phone for easy buying on purchases up to £30. Fingerprint scanner For simple, safe and speedy unlocking and better security. Connectivity: Wi-Fi. Bluetooth. NFC. GPS. General information: EAN: 6941059614401. Manufacturer's 2 year guarantee. Derek C Johnstone 99B Wakefield Road Pontefract WF7 6BT 0752 197 2632

Assuming you're talking about promotions, I'd sort of agree. I've got someone hounding me about something around twelve hours a day. I cache to be left alone a while. Most times I've only got a regular phone, because people don't/won't talk on phones now. If there was an option to toggle off/on promotions in our settings (We still do annual and states...) I'd be for that.

EVERYBODY was a new cacher at some point in time. You keep caching and you'll begin to realize that you belong. It took me a couple years to realize I was already a "real" cacher, regardless of what types of finds or hides I had and that what others said or thought of me didn't really matter in the larger scheme of things. I wish I had realize that sooner. Be content with what makes you happy when you cache and don't worry about what others think, say, or do. That doesn't mean to ignore what they have to say but realize that they're coming at it from their experiences while you are coming at it from yours. Their "way" works for them but it won't necessarily work for you. If it does, great; if not, then no big deal. There is no one right way to cache. I've changed my caching habits from a find them all attitude (first couple of years) to being more selective in what types of caches I find. Don't be surprised if you change as well. It's part of the game. Your years in this activity don't really make you a "real" cacher. They just make you one that has stuck around a long time! Those charter members and early members, however, are great to talk to and have some recollections about the early days that are neat to hear. I have a couple friends with over 125,000 finds each but that doesn't make them any more "real" cachers than my friend who caches sporadically and has less than 1000. I met some Canadian cachers this past weekend with a crazy high D/T average, but that doesn't make them any more "real" than my friend who has an average around 1.5/1.5. As for the CO who is taunting seekers for not being able to find a 5D cache, that's uncalled for. A 5D cache will, by nature, have significantly MORE DNFs than it will finds and every one of those DNFs is a "real" cacher who logged their adventure the way it should be logged.

I'm so sorry for you. I'm glad I don't cache where you do. The more I know them, the less I find anyone cheats regularly, and the more I find that those that occasionally claim a find for that cache they couldn't quite reach reconsider after I talk with them about whether they really care that much about a +1. But the point in this context is that the proposal is to treat everyone like trash by demanding they produce the right code to prove they're honest. I don't really care much about cheaters, so it makes no difference to me how you treat them, but I do worry about anyone that's being called a cheater until they can prove otherwise. I'm not sure what you mean about making it interesting and challenging. Are you talking about your efforts to thwart cheats? If so, then you must not like the secret code proposal, either, since it would make it too easy, right?

The majority of the participants here in the forums move more hot air than they do finding caches. In addition, the people that like to hear themselves talk here in the forums represent a tiny fraction of geocachers in the real world. I would not come here for advice but come here for the entertainment value. So with that in mind, don't avoid the community based on people here in the forums that think their opinions are the gospel.

RIP Barney. We visited with Barney last summer and he was still sharp as a tack and a joy to talk with. If anyone recorded his "story" please share it! Edited: His "story" concerns being assigned to memorize Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “When Earth’s Last Picture Is Painted,” in the 5th grade. He could still recite it from memory!

I can't imagine why they'd bother to shut people up, since if they're doing such research, it's all to their advantage to let people talk about how much research they're doing. But even if they were, I would expect to hear about the nondisclosure agreements whether people could talk about the actual questions asked or not. They do. Last year before the block party you could sign up for a session to explore changes to geocaching. This was covered by a NDA, the participants could not discuss what was said and really could not discuss that they were chosen. GS is a privately held company that likes to keep things close to their chest.

the new notifications stink. I hate the new green, and all the space in between. In reply to the moderator, I have only been catching for 1.5 years, and I find these changes to be for the worse. I only have basic knowledge of computers, to all this talk about reformatting my email and html and other tech talk is lost on me. I hate that I have to add a click to read logs now on the web page of a cache. Also, is anyone else emailing Groundspeak about the changes, or are just complaining here? I suggest emailing as well. Hopefully someone will listen.

I can't imagine why they'd bother to shut people up, since if they're doing such research, it's all to their advantage to let people talk about how much research they're doing. But even if they were, I would expect to hear about the nondisclosure agreements whether people could talk about the actual questions asked or not.

Thanks Jeff in Pa!! I was just reading all the posts and was thinking to myself of what I would have liked to have seen about a product, before making that substantial purchase. As for your question of what I don't like about the 530HCx, here it goes..... 1. Software Had two or three more software hick-ups. Had to disable and re-enable the radio to get audio to come back once and had my maps go nuts putting me off in ten-buck-two with chucks of the maps missing. A reboot (off and then on again) solved the problem, but I don't think that kinda stuff should happen. Granted, this is a very sophisticated piece of equipment and the more complicated anything is the more chance of problems with it, so I guess it's a trade off. I've only had about 5 software problems in 2 weeks of solid everyday use and not all required a reboot to fix the problem, plus I click the thumb stick a bit much sometimes. Also, again no data loss. 2. Push-to-Talk button and earbuds The push-to-talk button could give you a little more of a "click" feel so you know it's pressed down properly. The way it is you end up pressing on it too hard without realizing it. I've been using the earbud with push-to-talk button on it and that one clicks correctly. Also, the space just outside the connector the the headset/earbud is shaped so that the earbuds that I have for my 2 watt Motorola 7400 GMRS talkies won't fit. It's the exact same plug and exact same mic with push-to-talk button, but the connector on the Motorola earbud is fatter and won't snuggly fit in all the way, even though the connector itself is the same. Minor annoyance, but caused me to purchase the Garmin brand earbuds. 3. Antennas I don't know what you could do with them, but I would like to have the antennas be more ridged. It seems to me that if you are going to have a permanently affixed antenna it shouldn't bend and should as tough as you could get them. I could be wrong and I'm not a RF (Radio Frequency) Engineer either. That's about it for my problems with them and most of these I have noticed in my second week of use. I'm still thoroughly pleased with my purchase and plan to get some more! Maaan, testing the max radio distance was the first thing I wanted to do from the time I ordered it. I'm still doing it, getting a feel for different environments. From my bathroom, in my house, with the door closed, near the bathtub, I can talk a car coming into town almost 2 miles away. That is through lots of buildings and my town isn't two miles all the way across it, so it works out pretty good for me. And for clarification, I was NOT taking a bath and both the car and myself were at the same elevation. 1. No I haven't had any experience with interoperability between the models. Although, for the kiddos in the family I'm considering getting the 130 because it still has the voice scramble feature and compass/weather/etc. and I don't have to worry about the kids with a $350 piece of equipment. Although, they ARE supposed to be rugged and the anything below a 520 is just 1 watt transmit power, the kiddos have these things so we can keep track of them, why would I want to limit the range of tracking? So I'm still torn on what to do there. 2. Unless you are a young female, all my family has already been paired up, sorry. Honestly, even if you were a young female, I wouldn't want to put you through the grief being with any of my brother-in-laws, so there you have it. Sorry it took so long to reply to you guys, I forgot about my post and just today decided to check and see if anyone saw it. I'm glad I could help, thanks for the praise everyone.

The one that always springs to mind when I think of the most challenging caches I've done is Broken Silence (GC6MT5R). Getting to the vicinity of GZ is tough enough, with a hike of some 3km along an undulating ridge followed by a daunting descent to a lower ledge and from there along a few hundred more metres to where the point ended in a narrow neck with vertical sides dropping some 50 metres to the valley below and, at the end of the neck and separated by a small gap, a column of rock upon which sat the cache. My sense of balance is impaired by an inner ear condition, meaning I tend to fall over a lot, so I'm not good with heights if there's nothing to hold onto. After overcoming my terror, I crawled out along the neck, pausing half way along to settle my nerves and convince myself that it was going to be easier to keep going than turn around, finally finding a blessed foot-hold at the end which made crossing the leap of faith onto the column a little less frightening. Talk about pushing myself out of my comfort zone! That photo probably doesn't do it justice, so here's one looking back along the neck from GZ.

I am trying to Bluetooth Caches from Huawei to Garmin oregon 750 via share in Geooh GO. I get a meesage saying 'Bluetooth share: Sent files 0 successful, 1 failed'. Accoring to Garmin I should be able to send Geocaches from my phone to the 750, but I can't find a how to do it. Garmin talk of:- From the app drawer, select Share Wirelessly. Select an option: Select Send, and select a type of data. Select Receive to receive data from another device. The other compatible device must be attempting to send data. Follow the on-screen instructions. However I don't appear to have a 'Share Wirelessly' anywhere on the 750. I don't appear to have anything called 'app drawer' either. I am getting messages (emails), from my phone onto the 750 so the connection is OK. Any help would gbe greatly appreciated.

Most of the events I've attended have been short 30-60 minute "meet and greet" gatherings. Geocachers get together and hang out for a while, talking about geocaching, other hobbies, or whatever they want to talk about. The large multi-hour events are the exception. Large multi-day events, even more so.

All this talk about a lack of connectivity seems off the point to me. If you aren't connected at all, you aren't going to log the cache to begin with, so there's no reason for the CO to be waiting for you to provide the confirming information. And, on the other hand, if you do log, and then are disconnected for a week while you travel home, surely you're not going to be too upset about a CO being a little quick to delete your log, are you? Given he was concerned and raised some questions, it's not really his fault he didn't know you were traveling since the evidence -- your log -- supports the mistaken idea that you are available. I'd just shrug, send the requested information, and expect permission to relog. Why the angst?

Events are "a great way to" - not a requirement. I know plenty of well-intentioned events that do none of the above other than exist as a social "hello" or souvenir-grabber, etc. So, if you argue that 'vacation events' are effectively pulling the hobby down, then all those events are. It's making a mountain out of a molehill. The event was social. Geocachers can attend and be social, and talk about geocaching. That's all there is to it. Even if the CO only wants to do it to get another icon in another country. Everything is a slippery slope these days; all you have to do is present another example going in the wrong direction. Everything about geocaching can be argued as a slippery slope. Well that's really why we have guidelines - to encourage people to climb the hill, not toss things down it - even though there will always be rocks and pebbles tumbling down, gaining speed, and sometimes whacking people in the forehead. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. But how people act and interact while doing that could be. As long as those people's actions don't affect me (or the immediate community, ie log history) then if it's following the rules, I say it's okay. Is it positive and improving the state of the game? Likely not. But is it worth my time getting worked up about it being a 'bare minimum'? Not really. Especially if me getting worked up gets other people worked up. If the LB didn't have a stamp (which it's required to have), I'd probably NM it, or at worst report it. I wouldn't complain that it's bare minimum if it only had a tiny stamp (I've found plenty of micro LBs with a mini-stamp and nano log - is that wrong?). And we're not in the business of rating 'quality' on the scale of what is allowed. Rather, more effective would be to place a new Letterbox that really encourages or demonstrates what a LB cache can be. If an event was published by a vacationer, excellent! Now if the host didn't show up (especially if others did), then I would absolutely take issue. There are far too many unknown factors to claim the slippery slope "vacation events lead to ruining geocaching". "When the primary intent is for numbers-style play, it can have a negative effect on the pastime overall." Yep, any habit in this hobby taken to the extreme can 'ruin geocaching'.

I think you'll find this forum extremely quiet too, sadly FaceBook is where all the action is these days, particularly for the social side. Alternatively go to, or organise your own, event in your area and talk to some people face to face.

For the past 15 years I have owned 2 GPS units that I used for marking fishing spots on the lake. It was not until my 3 boys all got active in the Boy Scouts and were introduced to Geocaching at a BSA event they attended. The next week we decided to try it out. My Garmin GPSmap 76csx did have a geocache option. It did take a while for my computer (using Vista) to update with the latest firmware for the systems to talk back and forth. Last Saturday I told the boys we were going out to look for some caches, it was a little tough to pull them off their xBox after all the games they got for Xmas. So we headed out and we found 7 out of 10 caches. My boys loved it. Sunday my boys came to me and asked to do it again. I was shocked and almost a tear came to my eyes. Going outside vs xBox? We did not pay for an account here. Some cache hiders will only release coordinates to paying members, but others do allow it. These were the ones we found. So it depends on what cache you hunt. Also it takes a little patience setting up the unit to talk to your PC. Don't give up, it is a ton of fun!

I'm always on the lookout for interested parties to partner for an ISS waymark. I thought a mention in the NW states forum might help spread the word to anyone in this area who might be interested. It's easy! In a nutshell, partners must be minimum flight time of 1 minute away (approximately 300 miles), both be able to watch the same pass at a minimum altitude of 45°. You can see the ISS with the naked eye. It makes one pass around the earth approximately every 90 minutes. I am in Oklahoma, and I have a pass that is also seen from the Seattle area, July 18, 3:30 a.m., and again on July 19, 2:30 a.m. I don't know specifics of altitude until I know my partner's location. Creating the waymark can appear daunting, but it's easy and help is available. After this week, it may be a couple of months till another opportunity arises for a partnership between Oklahoma and the NW. Right now, Lynwood, WA looks very good, but I'm happy to check other locations. If you know of anyone interested, I'd love to talk to them.

I have one out at the base of my driveway. It got a few finds within the first couple of weeks. I recognized some of the names from logs on caches I had found in this area--you know, it's a big community where we all recognize each other's names even if we never meet! Well, I started working for a murder mystery theater company about six months after I placed my cache. I met an actor who mentioned that he liked to geocache. Yay, someone to talk to about it! We both are in the St. Louis area right now, but he was recently from Vegas, while I used to live in southern Utah and would to go Vegas frequently to visit a boyfriend there (and still go out to visit, including a few months prior). I thought it was cool that he was from Vegas, and asked what his user name was. It sounded really familiar to me. I realized that I had seen it on one of the caches that I had found in Vegas that year. But then it hit me--he was one of the first to log the cache in my yard! I told him about it, he remembered the cache, and we talked about how my son and his friend gave him hints to find it, and he told me the swag he had taken from it! It was so cool finding a fellow cacher who I essentially know from three different circumstances--Seeing his user name in Vegas, having had him find the cache in my yard in Illinois, and working in the theater with him!

Why are you asking us? Talk to them.

Well, you asked... Guess (if true) multiple sigs and taking up the whole strip might be leading to destroying or damaging, though I feel "vandalizing" is reaching... Are they "taking the whole strip page" on both sides ? Sounds (to me) someone took a request of writing in the log sequentially as a bit much. IIRC, you're also the person who said in a thread that you'd delete logs if folks logged found after you disabled a cache. We have seen similar behavior when people get a little too anal about a hobby, and maybe the locals are attempting to show how silly that is. Sure, they may be a jerk. Consider the source, talk about 'em here, and then forgetaboutit. Have you had caches taken/stolen yet ? If this bugs the heck outta you, this might be a good time to have a sponsor.

+1. I don't need "direction to a cache" occupying a data field, but if I did, I'd select "Bearing". That's the direction from North where the cache is, and is displayed as a line in Map and a pointer in Compass. To Course could be a problem, because it directs you where the course is (for example, that line I mentioned), which is not necessarily the cache. The OP doesn't seem to be so much about the "compass pointing North", more about navigation tool selections. I'm guessing the compass is right, and the other settings are showing various things on individual devices. Still, the compass and GPS tools are subject to a lot of real-world effects. They won't be perfect at all times. If you're using "the Geocaching Dashboard" on any GPS, watch out. You may be directed to "the nearest cache" even if you select a waypoint unrelated to a cache, which would be confusing if comparing GPS pointers. AND since each device may be loaded with different sets of caches, the nearest one can be different on each GPS. In any case, be sure all devices you compare are calibrated and have found their current GPS location, and all are actively "navigating" to the same point. Otherwise, you may be seeing an effect of the Geocaching Dashboard. I'm not trying to talk you out of The Geocaching Dashboard, because it's cool and all. I used it on the main screen on my Oregon 650. But I don't want it when doing the actual Geocaching. It's confusing enough already.

Sorry that I think out loud and work through problems. But since you like to take personal jabs instead of finding out if there's actually anything worthwhile to respond to, I'll just quote the last part of my brainstorm which sums up the thought process (but I recommend you read the prior paragraph or two just to have context and the 'why', which you probably won't do given your reply but hey, worth encouraging it anyway): As for souvenirs as they are now, I hope they don't stay with just that. The system already exists, and unless they develop automated stats checkers internally, going with that would be essentially a complete end to "challenge caching". If they develop checkers, then they have to deal with the issues raised earlier, and even so it would be nothing like challenge caches as they currently exist. You've really just given my argument more merit...because it's all just a bunch of frustration and debate and nobody seems to be in agreement. Nobody wants to work through a complicated arrangement. Nobody wants to worry about "finds" versus "qualifications" and the implications of separating the two. Perhaps I overgeneralize when I say "nobody", because there certainly ARE those who seem to think it's worth discussing ad infinitum, but I think those folks come here to the forums to talk about it while the other 99.9% would roll their collective eyeballs at the amount of hand-wringing and knicker-twisting that goes on in here. Don't take such offense when I talk about your seemingly endless posts. Your prolixity is admirable, but like I said, most people won't read through it because it doesn't seem to drive home any simple, succinct points. You can expound on the merits or faults of any given proposal, but your way of meandering about the point gets tedious and your point - which may or may not be valid, I won't judge - gets lost. Take it as constructive criticism instead of getting offended.

We have a challenge in Ontario for finding 10 Earthcaches requiring the boat attribute. Maybe you should go find them all That question was answered (can't remember if an FAQ or the Geocache Talk episode with Bryan Roth) that all clues would be in the same listings for everyone. Bookmark the homepage for the promotion. The promotion does not require you to be using the latest version of the dashboard. (that we know of thus far)