My Garmin 62s -- I want to chuck it

Bought my Garmin 62s in July of 2011 [blog post].

1 year and 9 months later and I'm really frustrated with it. I think I bought a lemon. Almost everytime I'm out on a geocaching excursion I want to chuck it into the nearest trash can and be done with it. I'd buy something else but it's too expensive (I spent about $500 on it) and I'm afraid I'll purchase another lemon of a Garmin.

I loved everyone of my other Garmins: little yellow eTrex, Garmin GPS V, 60Cx. The 60Cx was reliable, durable and accurate. I was hoping the 62s was going to be a paperless version of the 60Cx, but it isn't. 

Scrambled Screen
The dashboard of the screen sometimes gets scrambled when I choose the Reposition Here option.  I was told by a fellow member that my coordinates were consistently off. This really concerned me because we have a reputation for providing accurate coordinates (often (pre-62s) people leave logs commenting on how the coords were spot on). I told him I was using the averaging feature on my 62s. He said that the 62s doesn't always do a great job at averaging coordinates. He suggested using the "reposition here" feature instead. Since using it, I have had fewer coordinate issues (but not getting comments about how spot-on the coordinates are).

Scrambled screen

Worn Keypad
My keypad is wearing out. 2 years of average use (I use it probably every couple of weeks for a few hours) and it looks like this:

Worn keypad

This forum GC topic explains that it's a manufacturer's default "..the 62s buttons are made from a very fragile rubber with an extremely thin protective layer on top...as soon as this is slightly scratched, the underlying layers rub away rapidly". Apparently some 62s have this problem and some don't.

Compass Calibration
I can't use the compass because it won't calibrate. Fails every time on the third step, where I need to rotate the GPS from front to back. It use to work after several attempts but now, after updating the firmware it will not calibrate. 

Map
When moving towards a cache, the map sometimes shows me moving away from the cache.  So I end up following the numbers instead. If the number of meters are decreasing then I know I'm moving in the correct direction. 

I see dead things

I found a nice country road drive-by cache today. It was planted by a 7 year old boy. Took the cache to the car to sign the log and leave swag. Put it back and headed for home. A couple of hours at home and I decide to head out to do some shopping. I get into the car and there's the cache's logbook on my passenger seat. Oh no.

I decide to go back to the cache and afterwards do some quick grocery shopping. I drive up to the cache. I step toward the cache with logbook in hand. I get startled.

There's a small coyote next to the tree. It's sleeping...no it doesn't seem to be breathing and it's slumped over the logs next to the tree. I toss a stick near it's snout just to be sure it isn't sleeping. No reaction. Poor little thing. I gingerly replace the cache in the nook at the base of the tree and wonder how I didn't see it a couple of hours ago.

Originally, I approached from the north and was so focussed on the cache I didn't see it. This time I approached from the south. Maybe, but it's highly unlikely, the coyote perished at the tree sometime after I left and before I arrived. So it wasn't there when I first visited.

I'll have to tell the young CO that the cache is going to be inaccessible soon due to the deterioration of the carcass. It currently had no odour but that won't last long.

Virtuals

Challenge Caches have gone belly up. This was GC management's 2nd 'virtual' game response to the ever-present 'bring back virtuals' request.

Their first new 'virtual' game to appease the masses was/is Waymarking, more like Locationless caches, not really like old-fashioned Virtuals, so the beseeching continued.

The now defunct Challenge Caches were introduced just a few months ago. They are more like a photo location game - 'go somewhere, do something', post a photo. Almost nothing like old-fashioned Virtuals where you needed to visit the location and prove that you found the cache by answering questions that could be answered by physically visiting the location.

Maybe geocaching.com management might re-consider bringing back real circa 2002 Virtuals.  But to control them, so they don't get out of hand - charge $5 per virtual hide. People will probably be more selective about where they put a Virtual cache if there's a small monetary investment involved. The idea comes from the Munzee site. Virtual munzees got out of hand and were abused but are more controlled now that Munzee management put a price tag on them.

Secret Munzees

There are secret munzees. When you find them you can scan them via your computer screen and capture them for points. Tonight I found 4 and I'm on the hunt for more but it's not easy. Here's the forum topic that got me started: Special Hidden Munzees

1. Google munzee contra
2. Try to get a Page Not Found on munzee.com, you'll get a cap-able munzee with a frownie face
3. Google Plano Texas Fire Department. There's a munzee on their homepage.
4. The munzee on the munzee.com homepage is cap-able
5. I remember finding one at a Boy Scouts Jamboree site this summer. I think this is the NOAC Boy Scout munzee:

6. I think the Munzee creators list of deployed munzees will likely have lots of these. The trick is to figure out on what webpage they put the munzee qr code.
7. Ketchup
8. Wikipedia
9. Face book
10. Deuce of Hearts munzee:

11. Most of the munzees in the Munzee Store

Update: someone posted a list of "arm chair" munzees in the forums. Here's the list:

• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/20/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/24/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/25/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/26/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/27/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/31/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/34/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/35/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/heinz57/1/
• http://www.munzee.com/m/munzee/39/

Armchair Munzees -  GeoJewett's blog about secret munzees

Munzee List for Hiders

I was impressed with this list of principles that Zalgariath follows. He posted the list to the Munzees: Have I been doing it wrong? forum discussion. I thought I'd share it here:

• I will make durable, quality Munzees... and usually with a custom skin. Laminated and designed to last.
• I will take care the location I deploy in is scanable, sensible, and has at least some interest.
• I will attach my munzees in a decent manner and NOT damage the fixture with permanent glue or things.* Once they go, I want NO SIGN they were ever there.
• I will deploy a Munzee in each of MY geocaches or at least nearby
• I will deploy while travelling a long way from home if I find an awesome spot.
• I will maintain cache Munzees
• I will not maintain, I will simply archive, all my long distance ones if reported missing.
• I will deploy series and trails, spaced close, in large numbers but taking into account the above quality / interest concerns.
• I may or may not vigorously maintain these series, depending on if they are meant to work together and should be kept whole (like Munzopoly) or if they are a nature trail with so many along a walk the loss of a few won't matter.
• I will help my fellow Munzeers with events, custom Munzees and advice.
• I will comment on and rate every Munzee I find.
• I will tell a Munzee owner if I think their deployment is a bit rubbish or needs a rethink... in a nice way  
• I will Cap Virtuals... I will not comment on them, unless done really well. Effort for effort!
• I will Cap anything, but prefer walks and trails with a Munzee every 100-200m hidden in a variety of ways.

Density is good.... BUT! VARIETY VARIETY VARIETY.... 50 munzees under every seat? No fun. 50 Munzees under seats, on poles, on trees, behind signs, fences... much better

* Some glue jobs are fine. Guard rails, Trolls, Backs of some old signs... but I have seen a number that are stuck to places that they really should be like statues :(

Munzee QR codes used at Boy Scouts of America conference

Thought I'd post a link to an article that explains how Munzee team up with the Boy Scouts of America to munzify the Scouts:

QR codes used by Boy Scouts of America with the help of Munzee

Each event had a barcode for scouts to scan. And each barcode had points. The more important the event, the more points were rewarded. Members with the most points at the end of the National Order of the Arrow Conference won prizes. A great way to get members to attend events, at least long enough to scan the barcode. ;)

According to the NOAC site in addition to the QR code at the events, each participant received a personal munzee in their registration packet that could be shared with other guests which will lead to more points.  Interesting. Maybe this was a test of the moving munzee concept that has been discussed in the forums. Perhaps in the future all munzee participants can purchase a traveller. It could be a quick way to get points especially when worn (tshirt, hat, badge, pin, etc) at munzee events.

Hilarious GC log

I was doing a google search trying to find an old forum post of mine (which I didn't find :( ) when I came across this old Lost & Found Cryptosporidium-623 log nomination. Essence of Beldar Conehead on Saturday Night Live. I thought I'd post it here so I'd have a record of it:

Cryptosporidium-623 found Enigma #1

Friday, 28 January 2011Colorado 

 

Look, I found a
RUBBER CHICKEN inside!

Bwah ha ha ha ha!

Your inverted bolita collector was no match for the mighty Cryptosporidium-623 from planet FURON! As my clone, 507, our K-9 Mark III unit and myself approached the location of your diabolical device, we happened upon a Hooman attempting to use his primate neurons to reassemble the unit. He ran from the scene, waving his arms and screaming something about being unable to solve the "reverse puzzle."

As we were more interested in a conquest of technology than another boring rectal probing (yes, we've learned all we are going to using THAT method), we obtained the device and analyzed its construction.

From our initial scans, it appeared, to us at any rate, as if the unit was intended to be an unholy pairing between a sewage evacuation system and a soup thermos. Interesting, tasty and sinister all at the same time (the way we Furons like them!)

Upon further examination, we discovered that the locking mechanism was left open, allowing us to quickly open the upper compartment and imprint our identities on the pulp-based logging analog. We then used our angular tractor beam device to retrieve the knowledge spheres that contained the security codes allowing us to PROPERLY SECURE THE UNIT. Oh look, we matched the patterned sequence on the FIRST try. Mwah haaa haaaa!

As far as primitive Hooman constructs go, we consider this device to be most worthy. In fact, we may borrow this design for a portable flatulence incinerator that we've been working on.

Thank you for your feeble attempts to postpone the inevitable downfall of Sol-III.

--Cryptosporidium-623
(AWESOME container, guys! TFTC!)

A munzee review blog article

Munzee – A scavenger hunt for your smartphone

August 8, 2012 By Adrian Faulkner

 

It seems every time you look there’s a new geolocation game on the market. Some of these are little more than thinly veiled behaviour tracking vehicles fighting for a place in an already crowded segment of the app market, but some of them are genuinely fun games offering something a little different. Munzee is one of the fun ones, sitting somewhere between traditional geocaching and smartphone based location-based games such as Foursquare....

See the full article at GPS Tracklog

Turn off your iphone apps

A very useful tip for iPhone users. I checked and turns out just about every app I have was running (including 3 geocaching apps and a munzee app). I'm hoping turning them off will decrease the amount of data I'm using up. It should free up some memory and battery life.

Excerpt from the blog The iPhone Mom: 

Perhaps I’m the only one out there who didn’t realize that I had so many apps working overtime for me. Here are the steps to truly shutting down an app – just in case I’m not the only one who didn’t know how to do it.

• Tap the home button twice.
• At the bottom of the screen you’ll see a row app icons. These are the apps that are running. Slide your finger to move forward or backward through the apps. Chances are you’ll have more than the four that first show up.
• Touch one of the app icon’s and hold your finger on it until they all start wiggling. A small red circle will appear at the top left of the icon.
• Tap on the red circle and the app icon will disappear. The app is now no longer running in the background.
• When you’re done shutting things down tap the home button and the apps will stop wiggling.
• Tap the home button again to return to your home screen.
• These steps will work even if you are currently using an app. In other words, you don’t have to be on the home screen to bring up the row of running apps.

Munzee: How to Leave a Comment Without Rating the Munzee

If you, like me, prefer not to rate a munzee, here's how to do it on the app:

Hunt for the munzee, then Capture it.

The next screen asks you if you would like to "rate this munzee". Choose Not Now.

Tap the Hunt button and view the map.

If you are a Premium Member, tap the  Apply Filter button and toggle off the Hide captured munzees option

Your captured munzee should now appear in red on the screen.

 Tap the grey bubble to bring up the details

 Click the Journal button

Click the + sign.

The default option is General Comment. Leave your comment and submit.

Instead of General Comment you can choose Needs Repair, Unable to locate or I found it!. Do not choose "I found it", you have already recorded your find. If you choose "I found it" you will have to rate the munzee.