CacheADoodleDo

I'm brand new, too. We tried to use a GPS our first time geocaching (which was last week). We went 0/4. I discovered my Droid could be used and started researching it. According to the Forum, GeoHunter was not breaking the TOS, even though it's free. I did have to load another app to get it to work but that was only $1.99. I don't think $10 is unreasonable, but from what I read, it's not as effective as other methods. Being new at the hobby I'm going to use the one that makes it easiest to find the caches as long as I'm not breaking the TOS. Today was my second time out and I found 3/3 with my Droid. I'm just sayin' . . .

Congrats! I just joined 3 days ago; I've attempted 5 and found 3. The first 2 were nano's,so nothing to leave/take. I found my first trad. cache a few hours ago. Since my daughter won't be home with me 'til Sat., and she is the one who told me about this, I left a geode, but did not take a memento. It's fun, isn't it? I'm looking forward to going out this weekend!

When discussing suitable swag to leave in caches, the phrase about "One man's trash is another man's treasure" sometimes comes up: A broken tie tack?... To many that would have been trash, not worth leaving... but for you it's become a small, significant treasure. We've been geocaching for many years and now we rarely do 'swaps' (although we usually drop items into the caches) but I still have the small pottery horse that we took from our first ever geocache find on the desk beside me. Have fun with your future caching! MrsB You're right. I have read comments on the forum about "cheap geocachers" but I don't think it's about the monetary value. It's about the fun, the hunt, and the camaraderie. Once in a while one might find a "treasure" like I did, but that's just icing on the cake. Thank you for your encouragement!

August 18, 2010 - My first find! I tried this one the other day with my family but we didn't find the cache. Thanks to a new on-line friend I went back after work and found it. I was so excited! Inside was the log book, a dime, two pennies, a "Blues Clues" sticker, and (coincidentally) a broken tie tack of a roadrunner (not the cartoon one). Why I say it was coincidental is because I work at a school with a roadrunner as its mascot . . . it must mean that I was supposed to find this as my first cache! I took the roadrunner and replaced it with a new mini-emery board and a quarter. The roadrunner will be kept as a souvenir of my first find.

Modern units work just fine with the 2.5v of NiMH batteries, compared with the full 3v of alkalines. An electronic compass is affected by a voltage change from the time is was calibrated. But the GPS is either going to work correctly, or it's going to shut off before it starts giving inaccurate data. And any additional WAAS drain on modern units is not that significant. SiRF Star III and its ilk are all low power consumption chipsets. The bit about WAAS being a big power drain goes back to before the days of the high performance chips. It was true for the chipsets of that era. Today? Not so much. For example, a Colorado, running with all the features turned off (in standard mode), uses about 134mA. Turning WAAS on full time only adds about 7mA to the total power consumption. By comparison, turning the back-light on at 100% brightness will add about 31mA to the power consumption. Say whaaaat??!? It's all Greek to me - lol.

My family tried geocaching for the first time yesterday. We consist of me, my husband, and our 17-year-old son. I thought it would be a hobby that we could all enjoy and wasn't too expensive (we already had a GPS). Unfortunately, we went to 4 sites and didn't find anything at any of them. It was so discouraging! I think it's going to be difficult to get my men to try it again.

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