Cold Knight
After being dubbed to shield-bearer and in the anticipation of becoming geoknight one day, it was time to do some knightly exercises.
De Rode Ridder 1: Vrykolakas (GCPRH3) is one of these caches on my list that remained untouched for a while on my to do list. Since it has 7 Geo D’or awards and a 5/5 stars GC Vote score, I reserved this one for special occasions. I also didn’t want to do this one alone, so I needed to find someone that didn’t finish this cache yet. This is rather difficult since it exists since 2005 and already 187 people logged it which includes everybody I know. They all spoke highly about this cache.
Then I met ThierryP whom I made some plans with in order to tackle this series. He already completed partially this cache, but since a WP was vanished, he couldn’t complete it. So he was willing to drag me along and finish it with me last Sunday. After the rain and wind of last week, the sky was wide open which was a welcome change. But this also means that it was rather cold so early (8 AM) in the morning. It seems to have some impact on the viscosity of my blood running through my brains, since I had some trouble with some of the WPs. Or maybe I was in such reverence of the crafty and inventive WPs. So much effort and craftsmanship start to become rare these days. Anyway, ThierryP shepherded me through where needed and after a couple of hours, we could sign our name in the logbook. We made already some arrangements for the rest of the series.
During this cache, I had to chance to try out a Dakota 20 for a couple of hours. Don’t expect a full review from me based on that short experience. There are better reviews available online. Things I’ve notice are:
- The interface requires habituation when you’re used to a 60 Cx. I don’t find things that intuitive as a touch screen interface should/can imply.
- The menu structure is odd and I didn’t find things that easy.
- The fact that page navigation isn’t rotary (if you want to go from menu page 3 to page 1, you need to go via page 2) is odd
- I didn’t find any screen where the date and time is displayed
- Data entry with gloves on isn’t that easy. A stylus would be nice.
- The screen is barely readable in the sun.
- Calibration worked strange and I had to repeat it somewhat 5 times before it was satisfied
- Speed and distance measurement are different from my 60 Cx and I still don’t know which one the most accurate is.
- I find the compass of Dakota as jumpy as on the 60Cx when it comes to precise location determination
- When arrived at the coordinates, it shows a separate screen which needs to be confirmed
All of the above is based on a out of the box configuration and I’m sure that some/a lot of my remarks can be probably fixed when one takes the time to change the configuration to one needs.
The question remains whether it’s worth to consider this GPSr or not. Honestly, I can’t tell for the moment. Not only I didn’t have enough time for checking things in detail – one needs to cache after all – but I’ve also difficulties in placing this device in Garmin’s GPSr range. Some say, it’s meant for the eTrex owner looking for a replacement; other say that it’s ideal as a second unit for the Mrs. I would doubt both though. So far, I would see it as a device that you would buy if you want a touch screen device by any means, but find a Oregon a bit too big. Price wise, there isn’t that much difference with the entry level Oregons. If you don’t give a rip about all this, maybe a plain old 60C(s)x is right choice for you.
