Any Beckerheads geocachers?

Chameleonbear said:
I guess I should clarify quick before someone DOES take offense. I actually have the highest respect for those that are in the military. I was just making a joke that the list of equipment you were using, at the time you were using it, seemed to be military only equipment.
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yup I got it.
 
in late 1999 Garmin produced one of the first MAPPING GPS units. Street Pilot Mark I. black and white. pre-loaded basemaps. $800 or so. street price (yar) was a bit more reasonable, but still, $550 was a tough nut to swallow. then add in the fact that if you wanted street level maps, you drop another $300. oh, and you needed a way to strore those - proprietary memory cards, $200. oops. yah. oh, and it DID not automatically route, or re-route.

bought one anyway. wow. amazing.

now? $250 or so will buy you a top of the line model, with everything... lifetime maptupdate, live traffic, myriad features too notable and important to list.

$25 will get you a serviceable model. cell-phones have it. io6 will come with a very good one in software soon (based on TomTom stuff iirc). hell, i've trashed picked the damn things. they built GPS into anything these days.

and the govt could turn that off anytime they want.

right when you need it the most...

good thing there's other services floating up there. like the chinese :) heh.

(oh, and osama/saddam jokes got kinda sad when it was revealed that the USA trained them, then blamed them, burned them, and murdered all their families/etc, and treated their bodies disrespectfully, think about that)
 
Actually garmin appeared on the scene ....late 80's early 90's... I was working at a software development company back then specializing in civil engineering, surveying software, and they wanted to break into that market somehow.... They contacted us to serve as a supplier of their hardware, but they could not compete at the accuracy level needed for our application, so we turned them down.

Magellan was first in the handheld market, but their stuff was junk... Garmin's multi-track processing software (and it's subsequent iterations) is still the best for speed and accuracy of any of the handheld code receivers on the market. All of the units you buy ,for personal use are code receivers, whether they are in cell phones, or whatever. It's a means to an end....

Doc
 
keyword: mapping. 1999. not just coordinates. but MAPS. moving maps.

garmin had some fine X/Y units out in the early 90s, but maps not a chance. that i know of. even for pro-sumer let alone con-sumer levels :)

we take a lot for granted in the last 10 years tech-wise. we have computers far more powerful than we "deserve"

on the flip side, i don't think they're still nearly as good as i would like.

take a look at startrek (TOS, TNG)... the level of tech they had, and no idea how to use it. i have ideas :)
 
Yeah... They had maps.. You just have to remember that the map has to have geospatial relativity. A map can be to scale, within mapping standards, but still be geospatially wrong. No manufacturer was creating the maps, they were incorporating them into their units. As a matter of fact, most used the census Tiger maps and trying to push them into geospatial locations.

Problem is, if the map is geospatially wrong, and the more accurate a GPS is, the worse it will look on screen. I want accurate coordinates. State plane, or geodetic. I can get to and from anywhere with that....the inaccurate map just gets you hurt. Just got in a wreck last Friday.... Woman listening to her bullshit GPS, rather than watching the road... She runs a red light, trying to turn the wrong way on a one way road.... I get T-boned.

You are right.... We have computers (technology) more powerful than we deserve.....

Where is Spock or Data when you need them?

Doc
 
Anyway, back from Sturgis. Grand total for caches for the week - 8, including one that I had to climb to a cave in the Black Hills for. Grand total of Triumphs spotted at the rally - 3, including mine. One was a Tiger, and one was a really old one with a 'not for sale, do not touch' sign on it.

I'm thinking of picking up one of the on/off road Beemers, but can't decide which one to get. I want it to be useable on the highway (not get blown around too much) but agile enough to do some trails. Research is the fun part.
 
My uncle has a K1200 I believe it is by BMW. He does love his bike, I don't quite think it is what you are looking for though.
 
Doc, I think this was a great idea. We will have to see about getting it closer to TN so I can get my hands on it to move it along. I did some caching in South Korea when I was visiting my daughter and brought several travel bugs home to the states with me from all over the world and placed them around TN.

I think we should celebrate the Fall Gathering with sending out another Travel Bug then. I will have one to set up just didn't know if you were going to be here this fall.
 
I like caching, My BK11 almost always goes with. I will look for your TB here in Nebraska.
 
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