Geo caching? Tips please

ca55ie

Good laugh for adults too
Using phone for GPS may ok where you live but in darkest Cheshire and Derbyshire you are off mobile signal for large parts of the countryside. A cheap, proper GPS is more use.

heaven_scent

and its worldwide- look out for caches while you're away , and , because cachers place them locally to where they live, you'll find all the best locations no-one else knows about

pachycephalosaurus

I've found a few thousand caches, so am reasonably well qualified to suggest the following :
1) Read the cache page at home on the computer to plan your trip : your best target would be a 'regular' or 'large'container with a difficulty and terrain of 2 or less, which has recently been found - read the recent finders logs to get an idea of what 'swag' is inside for swapping .

2) Go for a 'traditional' cache : multi caches require some work 'in the field' often finding a plaque to use to calculate the final location of the box and mystery caches will need some puzzle solving skills at home. 'Trads' are straightforward and less frustrating for the small folk

3) Earthcaches are excellent , but have no box to find , rather some interesting geology to see and questions to answer.

4) Mark your parked car as a waypoint before you start - invaluable to find your way back if you get 'geographically challenged'

5) Impress on the junior cachers that geocaching is an activity requiring secrecy and stealth - part of the fun is finding something non cachers (also known as 'muggles') don't know is there . Some non cachers will vandalise containers they find or take the contents, so we try to be inconspicuous !

6) Don't expect a 'phone ( or even a dedicated GPS device) to pinpoint a location in the woods - the leaf canopy will reduce accuracy and you may have a large circle to search. Oh , and smartphone batteries are often drained fast when used as a GPS , make sure you have enough charge .

7) Take along some small items to swap in case the kids find something they like the look of in the box : lego figures , foreign coins , keyrings, that sort of thing .Best to avoid anything which might be affected by damp. The rule is swap even or leave something worth more than what you take. You may find a 'trackable' in the cache, either a metal dog tag with a code number on it or a coin. They are not to keep or swap , but should be logged as found if you take them away, they have been sent out by their owners to travel from cache to cache. Only take them if you will soon be visiting more caches to place them in a different one.

8) Get the kids to help you compose your 'found it' log on the computer back at home , cache setters like to hear a bit about your adventure, they are just folk who like caching and go to the trouble of setting caches for you to find out of community spirit - it amazes me how many people are keen to 'put something back' into the hobby by buying clip boxes etc and filling them with trinkets for total strangers to take. Say a proper thank you to those generous folk in your online log.

9) Take a pencil or pen ! There may not be one in the cache and to claim the find you must write your caching name and the date in the caches log book .

10) My summer lowland caching essentials : long trousers , long sleeves, gardening glove(s) the nettles are evil !

wallbash

Can pachycephalosaurus suggest a good value GPS ?

Want a dedicated one, not a phone app.

pachycephalosaurus

Sorry to leave that question hanging so long ... I'm not a very frequent visitor here ... too many caches to log !

The most commonly used basic GPS is a little yellow Garmin Etrex10 . It has no useful maps built in but will steer you towards a cache, you just need to use an OS map ( or Open Street Map printout or similar) if you are walking in unfamiliar rural places . I used one for 3 years ( and a previous model for 2 yrs) and found it worked fine.

I recently sold it on when I upgraded to the next model up (20) which has a colour screen and maps ... but you either pay plenty for them or need a bit of techy knowledge to get hold of , and install , Open.St.Map files ) Only really worth the extra ££s if you get really hooked , sign up for premium membership and can then download the full cache info. as files into the GPS.

That Etrex10 model was around £80 last time I looked , prices go up from there to as much as you like ... several hundred £ for all singing & dancing models.

The main advantages of GPS over smartphones are the dedicated GPS units are pretty rugged - genuinely waterproof and mine has been bashed and dropped repeatedly with no ill effects . Best not do that to your smartphone ! And the GPS uses 2 AA batt.s which last at least a couple of days caching (16+ hours , I use rechargeables and carry a spare pair.) which is a lot longer than a smartphone can manage.

Smartphones have some advantages - apart from the obvious 'if you already have one it won't cost you anything to try the game out ' In town I've sometimes seen them be more accurate than a GPS - something to do with using the 'phone towers to triangulate as well as the GPS satellites I guess , and also with a GPS you have to load it with the cache info in advance , bit with a 'phone you can connect with the website and decide to hunt a cache on a whim with no notice.

There is plenty of information out there by folk with more experience of different GPSs & 'phones than me , but I hope I've given you a bit of a starting point .

wallbash

Exactly what was required, many thanks.

£76 on Amazon . best seller ,