Didn't get much response from the geogear.
Tell about you GPS.
How many do you have?
What brand?
What kind did you start with?
What upgrades have you?
That kind of story. Let us hear from you.

I'll tell you about mine ... if you tell us about yours.

a hog on Rich Mountain eat mine.

I got my first GPS, a Magellan ColorTrak, in 1999 to use for offshore sailing. So I had it when I discovered geocaching in 2004. Shortly thereafter I got a Garmin GPSMap76 in order to have mapping capability. I bought it used on eBay. About a year ago I upgraded to a GPSMap76C in order to have more map memory and USB connectivity. Bought this one used on eBay as well.

I got my first yellow eTrex for father's day 2002 when my wife discovered geocaching by watching a documentary on the local PBS station. This past Christmas my wife came through again with the 60CSx - we love it! Those times when I can't find the box aren't because of my equipment anymore.

I've had four GPS receivers, currently have three.
I bought a Garmin GPS 12 MAP In early 2001 'cause it's screen was a tad bigger than the new eTrex units. I still use that GPS for all my 'caching.

I got a little yellow eTrex but gave it to mtn-man. I'd borrowed his to have an extra for "GPS Summer School" and my daughter left it and my GPS 12 Map on the roof of the car. The brick-like 12 Map stayed put, the light little eTrex flew off somewhere. So I bought Greg a new one.

I purchased a Garmin eTrex Legend cause it had a great rebate offer and has much more memory than the old 12 Map. However the screen is still smaller, and I'm not used to the button location so never use the thing.

Recently someone who's nephew works for a rental car company gave me a like-new Garmin 12 from the unclaimed lost & found box. It's even more of an antique than my first GPS, but seems to work just fine.

One of these days I'll have to move to the 21st century and get a Garmin 60CSx. I think I could learn to like one of those.

~erik~

I have three GPS units, two of which get frequent use. After mertat took me on my first cache hunt, I went out and bought the cheapest Garmin eTrex on the market and used it for about six months. I quickly realized that it doesn't do well in heavy tree cover. My wife gave me a Magellan eXplorist 500 for our anniversary, and I like it a lot. It displays a good bit of info about each cache (difficulty/terrain, date of last find, hint) and does well in the woods. It does have what some have called the slingshot effect - you can "outwalk" it, pass the cache, and have to backtrack. My main receiver now is the new DeLorme Earthmate PN-20. It's got some odd quirks, but is the most accurate GPS unit I've seen.

Back in the year 2000 I purchased my first Garmin.
It was a Plus III. I got for its maps to use bicycling. It was mounted of the handlebar. It was handy for finding side streets thru busy sections of the small towns that I rode in on some of my bicycle trips around north Georgia. I showed it to Allen and he got one just like it. He found GeoCaching on the internet that same year and that is how I got into this.

I would still be using that unit if the hogs had left it alone. On a hiking trip to place a cache on a remote mountain top last fall I lost it. I had hid the ammo box and was working back the mountain which don't have any trails except animal trails. I got my feet hung in some vines and fell. My gps fell out of my pocket without me knowing it. I didn't miss it till I got back to my truck. It was to near dark to go back and hunt it. A few days later I went with the help of a friend to hunt it. We found where I had fell but no GPS. Wild hogs had been there and had rooted the whole area. Thus I said the hogs eat. I the purchased a Garmin map 76CSx. I have
been really enjoying it. It even works very goodaround water falls, and heavy tree cover.

I bought my first GPS, an Apelco GPS11, in about 1998 after the LORAN on my boat died. Back then SA was in effect and the GPS accuracy was not as good as my old Loran. When they turned SA off in 2000, GPS accuracy became much better than Loran. The Apelco marine GPS was kind of quirky, and although it worked OK on the water, it would not hold a sat lock under trees, and would reset if it got confused, which made geocaching really tough. I started geocaching in June 2001 with the Apelco, and bought a Garmin GPS76 in November 2001. The GPS76 has a great antenna and works about 500 percent better than the old Apelco. I am still using the 76.

Well here is the "rest of the story", when Johnnie was going to do his first BRAG (Bike Ride Across Georgia+, I told him that if I was doing it I would get a GPS. He wasn't sure how useful one would be. But a biking friend of his show him a GPS III+. He got one, then I saw it and this was during a time when I was in a mood to get gadgets. So I got one, since it was before the days of GPSBabel we needed the same brand if we wanted to exchange waypoints, route tracks etc. Which we still do to this day. I found out about geocaching right after gc.com came live (14 geocaches in GA). I was FTF on the Lake Lanier geocache. After Robert and I found a few, Johnnie help us place the first Lacy geocache, so he helped place geocache before he ever found one. This geocache just passed it's 6th birthday.

A few years later I got a GPS V, I wanted the automatic routing. This has been very handy while on vacation in areas I don't know and for routing to the area of a geocache. However I miss the prep work the GPS III+ required. Robert and I would set down with maps of the few geocaches around here, manually figure a route to what looked like the best trailhead send to the GPS III+ and head out.

Got my Garmin GPS III (not plus) back in the mid 90's. This was a few years before the error codes were turned off of the satellites and EPE's hung around 30 meters. I used it for travel for work. But it only has base maps with no option to upload others. It got me out of several jams and I still have it. It works good and it'll feed a laptop for real time tracking.

I also tried, which I still have too, a device that piggy backs onto my Palm pilot and make it a GPS. I used it several times and it works, but the good ol hand held GPSr is the best.

Now I run the Garmin GPS Map 60CS color unit and love it. It'll hold all of Georgia detailed maps which includes the extensive database of waypoints. I was ready to get a new one recently because I was going to have Garmin replace the display bezel, buttons and battery clips, but dang it if they didn't send me a brand new unit. Guess I'll hold off on that new GPS MAP 60csX for awhile.

Still love my black and white Garmin EMap.... but the children gave me a Garmin Legend C a few years ago which I also love but has a much smaller screen.....unfortunately the usb port seems to be getting loose and I'm having trouble with the connection....looking to buy a 60CSX but wondering why everyone is going to it when the 76C is the same price ....seems to have the same specs except that it comes with a bigger card??????????

After going out with redworm in December of 2001 to find our first geocache using her eTrex Summit I came back home that very afternoon and went on eBay and copped a new-in-the-box Garmin eTrex Vista. We used that for about four years worth of geocaching and travelling, having to send it in to Garmin for reconditioning twice. The first time while it was in the shop I borrowed redworms little yellow eTrex and the second time before I sent it in I went on eBay again and bought a little cammo eTrex so I could still feed my addiction. Also got a few accessories along the way like a suction mount and a car power cable. Sometime during that first four years we also got (on eBay) a TungstenE PDA, CacheMate and started using GSAK.
Nowadays we use a Garmin 60CSx with an expansion card (eBay,eBay) that I take with me pretty much everywhere I go. Stll use the ol' Tungsten, suction mount, car charger, CacheMate, & GSAK. Not just for geocaching anymore, but use it for work alot travelling around the SE. Don't leave home without it, probably coudn't find my way to the store without running my GPS! -JBzHOW

I still hunt one cache at a time.
I tried paperless a little while when I first heard about it but soon went back to my paper hunts. I will pull out my print out when I need the hint.
While hunting with friends lately I have notice how for behind the times I am now days. So I am thinking PDA. What would be a good basic PDA without all the bells and horns?

Started with a Magellan MAP 330x package that I got for Christmas 2000, since then I upgraded to a Meridian Gold running MapSend DirectRoute and TOPO.
2 DeLorme's, Tripmate (serial brick) and an LT-20.
For paperless I use a PALM III PDA (have a Streetfinder GPS for it also) running CacheMate and CacheNav. Laptop is a Dell Latitude CPi running WIN ME, GSAK (ver 7.1.0.37 BETA) and DeLorme Street Atlas 2005.
Some of it ain't the fastest but was economical on ebay and friends retired pieces I picked up on the cheap.

We started caching with no GPS...we found several that way and decided to got one. We found a really cheap Explorist 100 on eBay so we bought it.

We used that for some time until it was lost. Our youngest daughter had the habit of throwing things in the trash....cell phones...remotes...and GPSr's too, we have never found it.

So we went sometime with no GPS and then borrowed a SportTrac from a friend, we then bought a Explorist 200 from a great clearance sale at Wal-Mart.

We really need to upgrade to a unit that can connect to the computer to make cache hunt easier...maybe one day.

As for PDA's we have 2 of them....one we got for $5 from eBay a Palm IIIe...which is a basic one that runs CacheMate and works quite well for that.

We also have a Dell Axim X5 which we use all the time....it has CacheMate and MS S&T Maps on it..we also got it from eBay for $20 and then bought a memory card for it...which cost more than the PDA!!

The GaCacheCows introduced us to caching 3 years ago and I bought the same gps they had, a Garmin Legend, a week later. I used that for a while and then upgraded to Garmin IQue 3600 which gave me the mapping capabilities and allowed me to use Cachemate (pda and gps all rolled into one) at the same time. I use it anytime I get in the car and Fate has one for her car now, too. Ol' Blue is still working just fine and the Angels use it when we all go caching.

I've had to send my IQue in twice for broken screens and Garmin has always been prompt with the service - they just send me another refurbished unit in return. In fact both of them are in Garmin's hands right now being fixed.

T1

Johnnie, I just got a Palm Z22 for about $50 off of eBay. I've downloaded cache pages but haven't used it in the field yet. I'll let you know how it goes.

I have two GPSs

The first, I purchased a few years back. A Garmin GPS V. I found Geocaching shortly thereafter. I found the auto-routing capabilties severly limited (time to re-route, etc) and was quickly growing tired of the limited map storage.

I recently upgraded to a Garmin 60CSx and ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY love it. I don't know how I managed without it. Of course, a $250 dividend return from REI really helped suppliment the purchase.

The only "upgrade" I have is a busted Treo 600 I nabbed from work that I use the Palm OS for paperless caching (CacheMate). If you take the time to keep the stupid PDA up-to-date, it really makes caching a breeze on the fly. (No more printing out details, details.)

Started out with a yellow eTrex. Graduated to a Garmin Vista. I still have both, although the Vista is getting long in the tooth, and sometimes I have to 'tap' the top of the screen to get it to display. Am forcing myself to use a Garmin Map76S, but the Vista is much more reliable than the rest, IMHO. I do like the maps on the 76. None have color screens, so I'm going to see what is out there in the near future.
I still use my Palm m130 with Cachemate for paperless. It is pretty basic, but fills all of my needs, and is Mac friendly.

BTW - By cousin Elmo sent me an OinkMail telling me of a PlusIII he found up on Rich Mountain awhile back. Thought it was litter, so he threw it in the dump.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: phat.bak,