FireTacks Usage Tutorial

I have posted a FireTacks Usage Tutorial over on the Cache At Night blog.  It seemed to make more sense  to post it there.  The tutorial offers tips on where to place FireTacks.  Of special note is the safe implications of taking people of the trail using FireTacks.

No related posts.

From the geocaching.com website:

Geocaching.com will be going offline temporarily for a site update on Tuesday, March 08, 2011 at approximately 11am PST (GMT -8). We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

No related posts.

1. There is geocaching logo in the window
2. There is a travel bug window cling, magnet or sticker on the car (vehicle)
3. This one is frequently overlooked, the license plate frame.

I have both a vehicle travel bug window cling and license plate frame.   I am partial to the reverse image vehicle travel bugs as those are placed on the inside window.  There is less chance of them going missing.

I’ve only ever had my vehicle discovered once when I wasn’t parked.  Someone was behind me in traffic and was able to discover it.

Related posts:

1. Geocaching Gift Suggestions

His comment got me thinking.  I’ve been using the carabiner clip system since I got my Garmin Colorado last December.   What I do is clip the carabiner to a loop on the shoulder strap of my backpack.  In this way I’ve got the GPSr handy when I want to look at the screen.

The problem I had with the loop on the backpack is that it’s not aligned such that the GPSr rest flat on the shoulder strap.  Instead the GPSr is a little askew.  I’ve figured out two ways to correct this issue.  One is drastic the other is not.  Me being me I opted for the drastic route.  In fact it wasn’t until after I made the modification that I realized there is another way to achieve the same goal.

Backpack Loop Before Modification

Backpack Loop After Modification

What I did was use my hot air gun to heat the loop until it was pliable. I then inserted a metal rod and twisted the loop. The result is that the loop now runs somewhat perpendicular to the shoulder strap instead of parallel.   By changing the orientation of the loop the GPSr now rests more comfortably on the strap.

The second method you could employ is to use a split ring on the clip.  A split ring is the kind of ring you find on your key-chain.  The split allows you to wind it on to something or something on to it.   The split ring would then serve the purpose of changing the orientation of the loop.

This wasn’t a completely original idea. I have seen twisted loops on various backpacks. Garmin also makes a belt clip mount. I could also use one of those as I still have the belt clip from my 60Csx.

Related posts:

1. 60 Series Style Mount for Garmin Colorado
2. Review Garmin Colorado GPSr
3. Garmin GPSMAP 62s Initial Thoughts

Something I’ve found that helps me to enter notes faster is to use the left and right direction arrows of the scroll wheel.  Let’s say I want to type TREE as my note.   The scroll wheel always starts at the letter A.  The last two letters in the word EE are closer to A then the first two.  If  start by entering TR then I have to scroll all the way back to enter the EE.

What I do in this case is double left the scroll wheel >> then enter EE then double right << and enter TR.  In this way I scroll once forward and once backward instead of twice forward and once backward.  It may not seem like a lot but when you are as obsessed with optimization as I am you make every effort to make things faster.

Two other Garmin Colorado hints:

1. Clockwise scrolling brings items closer and counter clockwise pushes items away.
2. Hold the right soft key for about 5 seconds and you will have captured an image of your screen.  This is great when you need to show coordinates for an Earth cache.

Have a look here for more Garmin Colorado Hints

Related posts:

1. Review Garmin Colorado GPSr
2. 60 Series Style Mount for Garmin Colorado
3. New – Garmin GPSMAP 62st