Boomeranged For The Last Time

[FiddlinFool]

I've been contemplating trading my Meridian Marine in for a unit with a better display. Well today's caching jaunt pushed my over the edge, here's why.

 

I went out with the Meridian planning a series of cache hunts today. The first one took me on a narrow trail through a lot of tall grass and wooded areas. The horseflies were so thick I had to put a rag over my mouth and nose to avoid breathing them in. Mosquitos were thick too. All part of the adventure, right? After getting back in a ways, it starts to rain, and it rapidly develops into a deluge. Not to be dismayed, I keep pushing on. The trail soon turns into a muddy quagmire that has me soaked to the skin and covered with thick heavy mud up to my armpits. Stubbornly, I keep going. As I near the cache location, the trail runs down into a couple of acres of serious marsh, thick with cattails and scattered grassy hummocks. Mr. Meridian claims that the cache is out there in the marsh about 200 feet. Having cached with the Meridian for a while now, I'm very (sadly) familiar with the boomerang effect, so I loiter around for a few minutes (in the downpour) to let it settle down. After waiting a goodly time for it to settle, the cache has moved 100 feet nearer, but that still puts it about 100 feet out in the goo.

 

Now, this was really nasty muddy swampy territory, not likely ever to be dry, so I'm thinking, "why would anyone pick a spot like this for a cache, except to be deliberately obtuse?" But there is a small copse of discouraged looking trees about at the right spot, so I think, "well, maybe..." and wade out into the gunk. About halfway there I hear a great sucking sound and I lose a boot in the ooze. Now cursing the ancestry of the cache owner violently and hoping not to step on any snakes, I make my way to the copse of trees and start to search. When next I glance at the GPSr, behold!, the cache is now 150 feet behind me, back on the higher ground.

 

Now there is indeed much cursing and shouting of epithets and taking of Magellan's name in vain, and I almost sail the Meridian out into the primeval slime.

 

I slog back to the cache location and spend about 40 minutes searching, swatting, and cursing, but no luck, so it's going to be a DNF on top of everything else.

 

I finally give up and march back to the car in one boot and one sock. A look in the rearview mirror when I get there shows me bleeding from dozens of horsefly bites, black with caked on mud and completely saturated. On the ride home I totally mess up the upholstery.

 

When I get back home, I close the garage door and strip down to my underwear. My laundry room is just inside the garage door, so I lean inside and toss the muddy clothes into the washer then go back out into the garage to toss my muddy boot in the garbage. When I try to go back in the house, guess what? The door's locked and the keys are in my jeans pocket in the washer.

 

So now I'm stranded in the garage in my underwear with my arms and face black with mud, looking like Al Jolson's worst nightmare. Pretty soon, my wife's car pulls up the driveway and she hits the door opener and sees me. For some reason, she is of the opinion that this is funny.

 

I may forgive her some day.

 

The first thing I did after showering was to order a GPS60C.

 

I'll never get boomeranged again.

[+The Roving Ravenstones]

Fiddlinfool, So what cache brought you so much dismay???

[robertlipe]

The first thing I did after showering was to order a GPS60C. 

 

I'll never get boomeranged again.

Congratulations on your new purchase. You'll now instead wander around a circle of a similar size staring at the red popup box that says "Lost satellite reception" while wearing one shoe in a swamp and being eaten by flies in a thurnderstorm...

 

Seriously, though, what you experienced is well beyond typical boomerang effect. You have to pretty much charge up on a location for it to overshoot and even then, measurements of as much as a hundred feet are rare. If you stand the unit still (I typically hang mine in a tree) for even as much as 45-60 seconds, the overshoot will cancel out. Usually if I'm making good enough time - such as a brisk walk on the approach - I'm scoping potential hiding locations during those final moments and kind of mentally compensate for it. For example, if I know I'm making good time and my Plat (or ST or 330) says I'm still 80 feet away, I won't walk past a hollow stump or climb over a fallen tree.

 

So, yeah, it sounds like something bad happened in your hunt -and there's no doubt that it stinks- but the symptoms you describe aren't those traditionally associated with overshoot. Most likely you just plain lost lock (It does happen) or had really poor constellation geometry. Did you have the alarm turned on for lost GPS fix and EPE configured in as one of your displayed fields?

[+reveritt]

That is a funny story! Don't forget to order new boots!

[FiddlinFool]

My unit may be worse than most, I frequently get overshoots of up to 200 ft and it takes sometimes up to 5 minutes to settle, then it's usually right on. For some reason, when I'm driving with the unit on and stop, it doesn't overshoot like that. Only does it at walking speeds. I didn't check the EPE this time, but I have in the past and it usually shows WAAS, no averaging.

 

It's also really fast to grab a lock too, usually within 15 seconds cold, and it works fine indoors as well, so I don't think it's a receiver problem.

 

In most respects, I really like the Meridian and will probably keep it for boating in Fla.

 

Actually, I been looking for an excuse to buy and color display model anyway, just wasn't sure which one.

[FiddlinFool]

I'm going to withhold the cache details to protect my pride, other people have apparently found it with no trouble.

[+EScout]

I never experience this boomerang like described here and elsewhere. I usually walk right up to a waypoint/cache as shown on the screen and am very close. Maybe because:

1. There are typically few trees here, mostly wide open near the coast with generally very good reception.

2. There is a difference between my Meridian Green and the firmware in the other units? It sounds like people are describing something completly different than what I see.

3. I set the hundred foot alarm. When it goes off, I stop, look around, take a bearing with my compass. Plan the best route to a likely spot. I find this to be a good procedure regardless of what GPSr I use.

 

Other times I walk fairly quickly to a known waypoint, one of my own caches and watch the screen. It might show 10 to 15 feet to go, then in a few seconds, settles in. My Meridian's performance in the field far exceeds my Legend, and is equal to my eXplorist 500.

[+Robespierre]

a. I just emailed your story to everyone I know. Funny!

 

b. I'm just thinkin' that unit NEEDED replacin', 'cause to EVER be more than about 30' off would be weird.

 

c. swamp wadin' ??? - I'm not sure I want a cache that badly.

[+AuntieWeasel]

Surely, it was some consolation at the time, that you were going to be able to wring a very funny story out of it...?

[+Joypa]

That is a great story. I have a Meridian Gold and I am very familiar with the boomerang effect. I used to consistently overrun the cache. Now, when I get to within 150 feet on the GPSr, I stop and wait. If I'm with my buddies, they are already tearing to the proper location and it pi***s me off! I have learned to be patient so I do not dive into the river or march over the cliff...but it is still a pain in the a**.

[FiddlinFool]

Yeah, but it wasn't funny until it was all over. I'm just glad my wife didn't bring all the friends she was out shopping with home with her.

[+JMBella]

 

Five minutes after reading that and I'm still laughing.

[+Jeep_Dog]

I'm going to withhold the cache details to protect my pride, other people have apparently found it with no trouble.

I find that very laughable.

 

Wait a minute, you mean there may actually by PRIDE in geocaching?

[+horsegeeks]

You sound like me. My wife calls me the "hard way" horsegeek

[+AtoZ]

Well I guess you could start playing my GPSr is better then your, but I know mine is, LOL. But this is a very funny story and the amazing thing is you kept going despite all the trials and termoil. Everyonce in a while we need a reality check. But I'll laugh all day about this one it is a good story.

cheers

[+Kit Fox]

I own a Merigold with Topo in the USA and my dad has a Mericolor with DirectRoute. When we go caching together, my Gold always puts me "dead on" . At ground zero, his Color always shows the cache being 20 feet away. We have never waited long enough for his GPS to settle, so I assume his problem might be the boomerang effect.

 

I wander if the newer Meridian Series have more problems than the older ones. My GPS is over a year old whereas my dads is new.

[+IVxIV]

Great story!!

 

Was that a 1/1 cache?? LOL

[+vree]

it'll take a little getting used to, but you'll love your 60c. i *hated* the boomerang effect. my geobuddies were kind enough to let me use their old SporTrak Pro for a while and when i saved up some money i bought a 60c and i love it.

with the STP i overshot caches frequently and sometimes by >100ft. it is interesting now to cache with people who use magellans because they often boomerang and come back to where we garmin owners are searching. both manufacturers are good, but it's nice not having to stand and wait and worry about the boomerang.

 

i'd rather get the "lost satellite reception" message and know than have my gps "figure" out where i am and tell me the vicinity without telling me how accurate it is (and without satellite reception, but "shhh, i'm not telling that i can't receive satellite signals here").

[+robert]

shoulda got the CS.

 

[FiddlinFool]

I thought about the cs, but I live in the flatlands, an accurate altitude is not too meaningful and I carry a mag compass so I don't need that feature either.

 

The meridian definitely holds a lock well. It works fine indoors and in heavy tree cover. I can walk around inside the building where I work and get an accurate track, no problem. Maybe I'll just keep it for that reason. I'm a little concerned about Garmin's reputation for losing lock in the trees.

[FiddlinFool]

It's a 2/2.5. I just took the wrong trail getting to it due to some ambiguity in the clues.

[TCE]

Ya know, I just read this sad story to my mom. She had the same opinion as your wife, and laughed for about 5 minutes straight!

 

I'm sorry it worked out that way for you. I went with my mom, and a couple of friends to find a cache this last weekend. My friend had a GPSr, and I had mine. We followed his for a while, and when the going looked really rough...I checked mine...mine found it. Why?...it was the map datum...not the boomerang. And, yes, he has a Magellan, and I have a Garmin. Once he set the datum right...he was right on top of it, just like we were

 

I'm glad our story only had wild roses, 70 degrees with sun, and some poison oak. ...not bad at all

[+TotemLake]

I'm going to withhold the cache details to protect my pride, other people have apparently found it with no trouble.

I find that very laughable.

 

Wait a minute, you mean there may actually by PRIDE in geocaching?

[vagabond]

 

I wander if the newer Meridian Series have more problems than the older ones. My GPS is over a year old whereas my dads is new.

I wonder if maybe Kit Fox may have hit on something, I've had mine for about 3 1/2 years, I've done most of the firmware upgrades and can't remember when I've gone past 20 or 30 feet.

I also slow down and start looking when I get within 75 to 100 feet so that might make a difference also.

The main thing is I've been very happy with my unit.

[+Pablo Mac]

The first thing I did after showering was to order a GPS60C. 

 

I'll never get boomeranged again.

My Garmin 60CS does the same thing sometimes, although I call it a "slingshot effect." My understanding is that any consumer grade GPSr is susceptible on occasion. It's just something to get accustomed to, yet I still have the kind of adventures you did - part of the fun!