Any Geocachers?

[cerbera147]

Been looking at this and it sounds like fun  A good excuse to get us out and add a bit fun to a walk in the park

I have had a look at geocaching.com and can see they are quite few near me which is a plus 

However, am I right in saying you can only do this with a handheld GPS? I have a Tomtom which is not going work at all. Anybody got any recommendations for an entry level GPS?

I saw a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx on Amazon for £145. A bit more than I'd like for something that might not get the use I'd like but maybe that's my only option.

[Gareth]

I know DaveK has done some.  Someone else too but I can't remember who right now. 

[Screwtape]

I've done some, and you can get away with some in car satnavs,  I used a Garmin Nuvi 250w quite successfully while I was still cashing a lot

All your GPS needs to do is allow you to input co-ordinates as your destination in the format given on geocaching.com.  I set my Nuvi to pedestrian mode zoom in and use a dot for the destination for accuracy.

Its not perfect, it's definitely not waterproof like an Etrek  and you can't take spare batteries with you but it does have maps which can help you a lot. and it's great for urban caches 

[NutSAK]

I've done a fair bit, and I wouldn't do it with anything other than a mapping GPS.  I currently use an eTrex Legend, but the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx is on my short list.  The newer antennas such as those used in the Legend HCx are much more sensitive than my legend, which often loses signal in the woods.

I have a car satnav, and while it would work, I wouldn't use it simply because I like to map where I've been.

[DaveK]

I have a Garmin Vista HCx myself, and it's just about perfect for geocaching (and general hiking).

I know DaveK has done some.  Someone else too but I can't remember who right now. 

Hawkchucker has done loads of geocaching, Dunc has done a bit, and Hedgekid was talking about the other day too!

[Gareth]

I have a Garmin Vista HCx myself, and it's just about perfect for geocaching (and general hiking).

I know DaveK has done some.  Someone else too but I can't remember who right now. 

Hawkchucker has done loads of geocaching, Dunc has done a bit, and Hedgekid was talking about the other day too!

I think it was Dunc I had in mind.

[David]

Yes Ive done some geocacheing. Rather enjoy it. I have a travel coin stuck in Canada at the moment.

[Shane769]

Geocaching is fun times. But it is even more fun without the GPS, and only a map and compass. That's how we are moving in my area, post a landmark and original heading, and then have a clue, which must be solved to get another heading from the clue's location, and you keep going. Obviously low tech compared to the easy load up and go of a GPS, but a little more involved and fun. We have set up courses where there are 6 different routes and teams that race to a hidden location.

GPS wise, I wouldn't ever use a carnav style one in the bush, too many things can go wrong. I don't know about other peoples situation when it comes to a cache, but some of ours are at least a full day hike to get to, some are several day treks with very few names on the lists

Get a lower grade model than the Vista HCx, as long as it can replace batteries and is accurate you are good to go.

 

[cerbera147]

Thanks for all your replies guys 

Definitely sounds like fun, might 'try' with my Tomtom as a test run

But it's not like I need an excuse to get a new gadget 

[nuphoria]

Excuses help

We're looking at Garmin models at the moment as they seem to be amongst the better ones on the market.

[cerbera147]

**Update**

Took the kids out at the weekend to find some local caches with the TomTom and some printouts. After about 5 mins of searching we found our first cache 

Lunchbox with bits and bobs in it. Got the kids to bring some swaps so we took some out and left some in, all very exciting

We did a few more later in the day ranging from a tiny nano magnetic cache the size of your fingernail to another lunchbox size one with swaps. There were a few couldn't find but we'll be back. A fun day had by all 

Our geocaching fun helped me make up my mind to get a handheld GPS. So after much deliberation and questioning Dave I've ordered a Garmin Dakota 10. It's a touch screen and perfect for geocaching. As yet Garmin have not released OS mapping for N Ireland but will do at some point in the future. There appears to be many free opensource mapping out there that will suffice.

I visted Cotswold Outdoors to have a play with it first and the guy showed me a Satmap Active 10 Plus with the added OS maps, WOW!! I was really impressed. The detail with the maps was amazing on the big screen and the controls easy to use. The best price I could see for that was £300 plus the OS maps. A bit OTT for a geocaching newbie though, maybe someday though.

I'll update after we've been out on the trail, I'll bring the camera with me too 

[Millhouse]

I have a Garmin Oregon 200, and I use the free open source mapping from here: http://talkytoaster.info/

Already compiled for use and updated every couple of weeks.

[Turnstone]

I use a Garmin Oregon 400t now (after starting with a Garmin GPS 60 (no maps and quite bad reception in the woods) and having fun with an etrex Vista Hcx for a while). Switched because it is great to have the cache description with you when you go geocaching a lot. I too use a OSM-map which I can download ready to use 

Just yesterday I searched a local multi in a park. Had to climb up a tree and wade into a little stream and had a lot of fun 

[NutSAK]

I used an eTrex Legend for several years, but recently bought an eTrex Summit Hc to replace it.  I'm very happy with the purchase.  The newer high-sensitivity receivers (denoted by the "H" in the model name) are indeed a great improvement and work in even the heaviest tree cover.  I also like that the Summit and Vista models include a compass.  The compass allows you to mark a bearing even while standing still, unlike others models that require you to be moving.

[M.TEX]

 I Geocache too with the same name  ( M.TEX ) so far I only have 2 GPS units.
 Started with Etrex ( old version ) and moved to 60cs. last week I got the Oregon 400T
 so far I only have 37 finds and today I had 2 DNF ( sucks )

 Geocaching it's fun . I placed 1 Cache here in my Town and I have a Good Feedback
 Just search my name there and you will see.

 It's always good to go walk in the woods with my EDC gear 
 M.TEX

[DaveK]

I'm glad you found a unit that works for you Dan, although it sucks that nobody has been arsed to map N.I. properly yet  You have some of the best scenery and hiking territory in the UK, so there MUST be a market for tourists, let alone the people who live there!

Glad you and teh kids are enjoying the geocaching too

[Turnstone]

Yesterday was a great day. I picked up a geocoin that I released in April, 2008. After travelling through Germany, Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands it finally returned home. Quite a few coins and travelbugs get lost or just travel somewhere but not where they should go, so it is always a wonderful feeling when a traveller comes home or reaches their destination.

[David]

Yesterday was a great day. I picked up a geocoin that I released in April, 2008. After travelling through Germany, Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands it finally returned home. Quite a few coins and travelbugs get lost or just travel somewhere but not where they should go, so it is always a wonderful feeling when a traveller comes home or reaches their destination.

Glad your geocoin came home. I drop one off in Ownings Mills, Marylad three years ago when I was at my sisters and its been in Canada for over a year and a half now. It started west back to Kansas then went to Noth Carolina then went to Pennselvania, New York then to Canada where its been ever since. If it ever makes it back I hope its thawed out by then.   

[Andreas]

I figured there would be geocachers on here, as that's one of the things I use my multitools for. Only started about 4 months ago, got about 160 finds so far. Bought a Oregon 450 for it. Great fun

[cerbera147]

I've found a grand total of 17

I do recommend giving this a go especially if you have young children in your life  It's a great excuse to get out into the big wild world 

I just worked out how to get geocaches onto my Tomtom as well  This will help massively as I can use the Tomtom to guide me there by road and my Dakota to finish up on foot  The Dakota can do turn by turn road navigation but in this case that's the Tomtom's job.

I'm off next week so we are planning to go further afield in pursuit of those caches 

Where else can you use multi-billion dollar satellites to find tupperware hidden in the woods?   

[David]

I've found a grand total of 17

I do recommend giving this a go especially if you have young children in your life  It's a great excuse to get out into the big wild world 

I just worked out how to get geocaches onto my Tomtom as well  This will help massively as I can use the Tomtom to guide me there by road and my Dakota to finish up on foot  The Dakota can do turn by turn road navigation but in this case that's the Tomtom's job.

I'm off next week so we are planning to go further afield in pursuit of those caches 

Where else can you use multi-billion dollar satellites to find tupperware hidden in the woods?    

 

[Andreas]

For those looking for a GPSr to use for geocaching I'd recommend the Oregon 450/550. It's much better suited for geocaching and it shows you both description, hint and recent logs from the GPX files along with waypoints and the geocaches themselves. Can also store I think 5000 caches. Older models may even require you to carry paper on the side and enter coordinates manually, which I can only imagine has to be a pain in the impulse drive

[Turnstone]

For those looking for a GPSr to use for geocaching I'd recommend the Oregon 450/550. It's much better suited for geocaching and it shows you both description, hint and recent logs from the GPX files along with waypoints and the geocaches themselves. Can also store I think 5000 caches. Older models may even require you to carry paper on the side and enter coordinates manually, which I can only imagine has to be a pain in the impulse drive

True, but not completely... over here in Germany we have quite a lot multicaches. For most of them you still have to carry paper and of course enter the coordinates manually... But caching is a lot easier with a Oregon (or Dakota) model than it was with the etrex, and much better than with that old receiver which didn't even had a map on it (but even with that I found over 300 caches before I was able to buy that etrex with map and better receiver!)

[Turnstone]

I forgot... try GSAK ("Geocaching Swiss Army Knife") together with the Premium Membership and the Oregon / Dakota models. It makes geocachers life so much easier! It's a database for storing and organizing your pocket queries, but can do so much for you! For example you can filter your caches for your special needs of the day, send them to your receiver, you can add notes to the description and send it to your receiver, too, etc. I don't want to miss it anymore

[Andreas]

I don't really care for GSAK, it's borderline command line and not very user friendly. I have an iPhone, so whatever I can't do using pocket queries directly on the Oregon I can do on that, like multicaches, or logging caches, drop trackables, write notes, upload photos etc. The GPS on it isn't very accurate though and it eats battery like there's no tomorrow, hence why I have the Oregon. I find it quite boring to log 20 finds at the end of a long caching day, and that blurs the various locations together and makes for short and boring logs, so I particularly like being able to log on-site with the phone. Groundspeak just updated the geocaching app for the iPhone so it's a really nice tool to have now, more so than before when you for instance couldn't log trackables.

[Turnstone]

I can't afford an Iphone, and I can't see how GSAK isn't user friendly. I can't take it outdoors (I have my Garmin for that), but at home I can do so much stuff with it without any problems  I don't use it for logging my founds, I use the field notes for that. But usually I don't have to log more than 10 caches a day (most times less), so I don't care about that. It's a part of the game and I enjoy that, too. As well as uploading pictures.

[cerbera147]

Funny you mention GSAK [Geocaching Swiss Army Knife]    That is what I used to transfer my geocache pocket query onto my Tomtom 

I'll have a play around with to see what else it can do.

I think using your phone for geocaching does have a certain place. However if my batteries go on my GPS I just pop in some spares, not as easy with phone. If drop I my GPS on the ground and into muddle I just wipe it down and keep going, not as easy with a phone. If I'm in unfamiliar territory I would quite like my phone to stay operational 

TBH I quite like sitting down at the end of the day to log my caches Although I would imagine if I'd done about 15 that day it could get tricky 

[65bellett]

Hi Guys I am a really big fan of the Groundspeak iPhone app as I have found it a really good way to do some off the cuff caching when out and about with the family. When on family trips we have been able to plan our stops around caching spots and to save on battery and make it easy to drive to the location we just punch the coordinates into the Garmin Nuvi gps.

I often carry my Etrex with me but I find as my son is only 2 and has a very short attention span it is easier just to use the clues from the Groundspeak app and keep moving

I think the ground speak app is available on other phones to although I have not used it personally.

[Turnstone]

You can have the hints on the etrex, too. You just need to send the caches to your etrex with another tool, like easyGPS (free) or GSAK. There you can select what you want to have in the comment of the waypoint (easyGPS) or you can create an extra POI for the hints (gsak, free for 30 days). You can even change the name of the cache from that cryptic numbers to the name of the cache and add difficulty, terrain and size (both) to the name.

Unfortunately you cannot have spoiler pics on your etrex, here only your iphone helps. Don't know how common they are where you cache, but here most caches don't have them. I can load them on my Garmin Oregon.

For windows based smartphones there is a nice application, gczii, which is free and works fine if you need something on your phone. I use it from time to time when I need to look up a picture that is missing or if I want to check the status of the cache when I can't find it. But I tend to spend a long time outside, drop my things and I am out even when it rains. No good for a smartphone  My Garmin looks really bad after a year of use, but still works fine. And it works the whole day on one set of eneloops 

[Hull_ n_Back]

For those of you with Android phones I tried out Geobeagle the other day. Seemed to work fine and led me to my first ever find!

We were out walking the other day and had a signal so thought I'd have a look and see what was around. Sure enough a few caches showed up not far from where we were. Downloaded them to the phone and away we went. It has a handy little radar view for when you get close.