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Ever Broke a GPS while looking for a GeoCache??


Guest Geoffrey

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Guest Geoffrey

I wondered about your experiences with the GPS while geocaching?? Did you crack the display or shatter the GPS? Did it save your life, by breaking your fall??

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Guest EraSeek

Left my Garmin 12 on top the car. I saw it fly off going about 35-40 mph and slide down the road. Dodged traffic to get it... It fired right up, no damage, not a scratch!

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Guest PneumaticDeath

quote:
Originally posted by Peter Scholtz:

I cracked the plastic cover of my Etrex, see.

 


 

Does it still work? I've been pleased with the sturdiness of my legend, though less pleased with it's (in)ability to hold satellite lock.

 

-- Mitch

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Guest PharoaH

at because I found another, larger trail leading in the right direction. It brought me out to

a scenic view of the river and the stone foundation of some old house. I had used the last picture on the camera at the stream, so I didn't get any other pictures that day. The picture below is one taken from someone else who found the cache the next day. It is looking up the Chattahoochee River with some people kayaking.

The foundation still had steps that were a great place for me to catch my breath again. When I got to moving again,

I was about 500' from the cache. The trail was a narrow trail going uphill at a modest grade. I followed the trail up towards the crest of the hill, stopping 3 times to catch my breath. At the crest was another trail, which I took to within 80 feet of my destination. From there it was all downhill. The cache was down somewhere in the ravine, so I worked my way down through thick underbrush. At one point the GPS showed my distance at only 4' but I never found the

cache. I worked my way up and down that hillside for probably an hour. There were so many tree stumps and little granite bluffs that it could have been hidden in. Plus I was so exhausted that I couldn't see straight. The forest canopy was so thick that I got erratic readings, at best, out of the GPS. I finally decided to call it quits and head back. I knew I just wasn't going to find it that day. So, I clipped the GPS on my belt and headed downhill.

I knew there was a stream below, so I could just go downhill until I found the stream and then follow it to the river

and the main trail. Well, the going got tougher the further down I went. The underbrush was like a jungle and when I

finally reached the stream, it was a 4 foot drop-off to a swollen, muddy creek. The water was too muddy and was flowing fast, so I knew I couldn't chance jumping down into it. Plus, the area of the creek was overgrown with shrubs and there were 3-6' blind dropoffs along the way because of the granite bluffs I mentioned earlier. So, unfortunately it was back up hill for me. I stumbled several times and slid downhill, and generally fought tooth and nail to get halfway up the hill. I had to stop and catch my breath again and when I did, I realized that my GPS was gone. It must have been knocked off of my belt one of the times I stumbled!

Well, you know what that means..... back downhill again. I retraced my steps and looked everywhere, but never did find the GPS. By this time my t-shirt, bluejeans, and boots were completely drenched with sweat and covered with ground-in Georgia clay. I was exhausted. I knew that I had to get started back to the truck or I was going to have to lay down and sleep on the trail. I had used up the last of my water already, so I knew I couldn't stay in the heat much

longer. I had to give up my search for the $109 GPS and get back to the truck for fresh water and air conditioning. You know I had to have been tired and hot for a cheapscate like me to leave that much money laying on a hillside.

Well, I made it up to the crest of the hill again and took the trail downhill to the old stone foundation. I stopped,

rested, and looked at a map. Luckily I had a compass to help guide me, because I wasn't about to try to climb up the difficult trail by the creek. This time, I realized that the map was marked with lines to show the difficulty rating of the

trails.

 

..... Was an average trail

. _ . _ . _ Was a moderate trail

_ _ _ _ Was a difficult trail

 

Of course, the ones I chose to take me to the destination were the straightest path, but also were the difficult trails.

There were no "average" trails, so I picked out a moderate trail to follow back. There were two choices, one going uphill and one going along the river. I went along the river, because it was the flattest. Well, that lasted for about 100 yards. The path went by the base of a 100' granite cliff. The river was swollen and muddy from heavy rain and had covered the path. I might have been able to wade through for a ways to the other side, but I wasn't going to take a

chance on that muddy ole river. Since I don't climb granite cliffs, I had to turn back and take a different trail.

This trail ended up being moderate, but it was all uphill in that direction. I stopped halfway up and took an extended

break. My cell phone rang (I carry it for emergencies) and it was Julie. It was already 5:00 so I had been trudging

through the forest for 3 hours! It was nice to talk to her and whine of my poor luck and misfortune. I told her I wanted to get another GPS, and she agreed (what else was she gonna say when I was so down!). With that short rest and new determination, I headed back uphill. The trail reached the same junction where I had chosen the really steep trail (the path less travelled). You know, if I would have only chosen this path back then... There were 4 trails, so I had to look at the map and use the compass to find the right one, which I did and trodded along. The trails from this point back to

the truck were much more forgiving and I made it back in good time.

I got home that evening before Julie did and logged my visit at geocaching.com. I told of how I had fallen and lost my

GPS and gave my email address and offered a small reward. There were two other visitors that evening and three the next day. Luckily, someone found it and were nice enough to say so! They emailed me and left a phone number to call. I'll call them this evening and find a way to retrieve it. Oh, and just my luck the UPS guy just dropped off my new one from Amazon.com! Gee, so now I have a "backup" to get me out of the woods when I lose my GPS - haha!

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Guest Nemesis

quote:
Originally posted by Markwell:

Killed my camera on a hunt yesterday


 

Same Here! I was walking on some slippery rocks by the sea yesterday. I slipped and my camera went flying, it bounced off the rocks and into a tidal pool. Needless to say, it was totally stuffed. icon_frown.gif

 

Cheers,

Donovan.

 

 

[This message has been edited by Nemesis (edited 14 August 2001).]

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Guest Nemesis

quote:
Originally posted by Markwell:

Killed my camera on a hunt yesterday


 

Same Here! I was walking on some slippery rocks by the sea yesterday. I slipped and my camera went flying, it bounced off the rocks and into a tidal pool. Needless to say, it was totally stuffed. icon_frown.gif

 

Cheers,

Donovan.

 

 

[This message has been edited by Nemesis (edited 14 August 2001).]

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Guest hgmonaro

My GPS gave up the ghost last week... flashes it's warning screen on startup and shuts down. Did nothing to it... didn't even drop it! Looked up the local Lowrance site and the mongrals have a set 'out of warranty' service fee that's not much cheaper than what I paid for the thing (approx 4 years ago) Looks like I'll be needing a new one... won't be a Lowrance though!

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Guest Gossamyrrh

I unloaded an E-Trex cover in a cache once because I couldn't work with it...dadgum thing made me crazy! The person who found it certainly appreciated it, though.

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quote:
Originally posted by hgmonaro:

My GPS gave up the ghost last week... flashes it's warning screen on startup and shuts down. Di nothing to it... didn't even drop it! Looks like I'll be needing a new one... won't be a Lowrance though!


 

What model lowrance is it? my Globalnav 12 had been dropped, stepped on and even went flying down a hill and it still works! Did you check the battery compartment? I had to adjust the "springs" in my 12 a few times but it still works great! (okay it rattles a little now) icon_smile.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by hgmonaro:

My GPS gave up the ghost last week... flashes it's warning screen on startup and shuts down. Di nothing to it... didn't even drop it! Looks like I'll be needing a new one... won't be a Lowrance though!


 

What model lowrance is it? my Globalnav 12 had been dropped, stepped on and even went flying down a hill and it still works! Did you check the battery compartment? I had to adjust the "springs" in my 12 a few times but it still works great! (okay it rattles a little now) icon_smile.gif

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Guest Geoffrey

I had an experience where I was a passenger in a car, and 3 miles from home I relized that I had left my Magellan 4000XL on the roof of the car. I reached out to grab it, but knocked it off in the road at 40 mph. Got a remanufactured replacement unit. I gave the 3 year old GPS to my sister, and she lost it somewhere while geocaching. Wonder if I should give her a bright yellow etrex?

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Guest Vagabond

quote:
Originally posted by hgmonaro:

My GPS gave up the ghost last week... flashes it's warning screen on startup and shuts down. Did nothing to it... didn't even drop it! Looked up the local Lowrance site and the mongrals have a set 'out of warranty' service fee that's not much cheaper than what I paid for the thing (approx 4 years ago) Looks like I'll be needing a new one... won't be a Lowrance though!


Which model was it, mines an old global nav 212

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Guest Geoffrey

Anybody ever had a GPS chewed up by a Dog?

 

Anybody have pictures of a messed-up GPS?

 

There have been a few interesting stories of messed-up GPS units since the last post. One is of a GPS, that somebody used a strong cleaner on it, and it ate all the way through to the battery compartment.

 

------------------

My GPS Information Page:

http://members.aol.com/geoffr524/myhomepage/howto.html

This page has many links about GPS information for the beginner.

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