Off to a good start

[+Doug&Di]

Hi everyone, I wanted to tell of my first geocaching experience (readers digest version).

 

My sister and other members of family came to visit last weekend. They said they might be a little late getting in because they wanted to stop at a geocache in the rest area near our town first. As we go on, we went on a cache hunt the next day and made it a family outing. I had never done anything like this before. We took 3 of the grandkids and all in all, there was 10 of us running around down by the Mississippi river looking for some unknown object the size of a breadbox. Getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and chiggers, we found the cache. As it happened, there was a TB in there along with a beautifully made coin from Germany. My sister, knowing what to do, took both these items home and explained what they were and why they were there. She also rewarded the 3 small grandchildren with "treasure" from the cache, (As I remember, a golf ball, silly putty, and small figure). This may seem a story "old" and "retold" many times, most of you have had many similar experiences. For us, it was great, my wife and I bought a GPS (GPSMap60Cx), and along with my PDA, are starting a new adventure. I have been doing MUCH reading and downloading and look forward to all the things that may come along. I do have a couple of questions. They relate to the software and combinations of software to use.

 

1. I started with premium membership, and using "EasyGPS"

2. I have acquired "GSAK" and "CacheMate" (This combo looks very good)

3. I just now was looking into "GPX Spinner" and "Plucker"

 

I realize that it's mostly a "preference" kinda thing, but you guys with lots of experience, which combo should I start / stay with?

 

From what I see now, only 2 days looking at them, I'm leaning towards the #2 combo.

 

At any rate, I can see my wife and I having a wonderful time together and involving our grandkids and others in what looks like a great hobby.

 

The best thing is, after the price of the GPS, it's free (maybe a little gas).

 

By the way, my sister took the TB and coin from Arkansas and may have or will deposit them in Northern Indiana or Michigan. Those items should get a good little mileage add on.

 

Doug&Di

[+Miragee]

Welcome to the addiction, and to the Forums!

 

I have found the GSAK/Cachemate combo to be the best for me. I tried GPX Spinner and preferred GSAK. That is a very powerful program and has a fairly steep learning curve, if, like me, you haven't worked with a database before. The GSAK Forums are a great help!

 

You certainly started at the top with your choice of GPSr! I have the Vista C and use the City Navigator maps on it to auto-route me through areas I am unfamiliar with.

 

Happy caching!!

[Neos2]

Combo two is what I currently use--but I left the easy GPS on the machine, too. Once in a great while I use it to quickly drop some coords into the unit directly from the cache page.

 

We have the same unit you do (love it), and use City Select (discontinued) and US Topo maps--Navigator is the newer map version of the city maps. You will definitely want at least city maps for your unit. The unit is designed to be used with the maps and they turn it into a powerful tool for regular driving and for caching.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Neos2

[+imajeep]

1. I started with premium membership, and using "EasyGPS"

2. I have acquired "GSAK" and "CacheMate" (This combo looks very good)

3. I just now was looking into "GPX Spinner" and "Plucker"

 

I realize that it's mostly a "preference" kinda thing, but you guys with lots of experience, which combo should I start / stay with?

 

GSAK is good if you want to keep a local database of caches. GSAK users might download hundreds, even thousands of caches, into the local database. But the local database has to be kept up to date with the online geocaching.com database, and as far as I know, there is no fully automated way to synchronize your local GSAK database with the online database.

 

So, we simply bookmark caches we want to do, then download those caches before an outing. We transfer them to our Palm Z22 using CacheMate, and off we go. When we return, we log our finds and clear the CacheMate file. It saves us (what we view as) the hassle of maintaining a local database. But, as you can see from other replies, opinions vary, and many people swear by GSAK.

[+Doug&Di]

Didn't want to get to rambling with that first entry. I use a GPS V in my auto for "road" work so probably won't spend the $140 to get city street maps. As I read and look around, I'm still leaning towards the "GSAK" and "CacheMate" combo and leaving EasyGPS on the desktop. I certainly want to say that you folks are most helpful and the forum is FULL of good stuff, all it takes is a little time to look it up and read it. Wife and I are hitting the trails...happing caching, and thanks again.

 

Doug&Di

Edited July 6, 2007 by Doug&Di

[+Miragee]

The one great thing about having the GSAK database is the ability to filter in one direction or another, load the GPSr, and head out on a caching adventure . . . even when GC.com is down . . .

[+CrkrJim]

+1 on the GSAK/Cachemate

 

I have different queries downloading to different databases for the different areas we go to (friends up midstate, kid in school N end of the state, vacation etc).

 

I like this since we review caches on gsak before going out so easy to sift through. Even though we're no database experts, as Miragee mentioned, easy to filter in a direction as well as other criteria since you just "fill out a form" on the filter dialogue box.

 

Good luck