Fryguy1111

I use a Cachsense with my Blackberry as it allows me to download multiple PQ's directly to my phone and store them until needed. So if I know I'm going to be in an area without cell service (like hiking in the mountains), I can download the PQs I'll need before I go on my trip. Once I'm there, I can use my app and choose which ever PQ I want to use, then do my hunts. The GPS in my BB uses satellites rather than cell towers, so I don't need any cell tower connectivity to use the GPS in my phone. Maybe there's a way for your iPhone app upload and store PQ's and use it similarly without cell service.

That was my thinking as well. If I can see my DNF's in a quick view on the map, I can decide to do it at that moment or not

I just realized that I had a DNF on a find I did a while back and wanted to see if there was a quick visual way to see any caches I marked DNF. I figured that if the maps displayed the blue DNF icon, it'd be pretty easy to see which I've DNF'd rather than not looked for yet (it's a difference I think is important). Has this been suggested at all? Is this a good idea? Thanks.

From first-hand experience, my 10yo boys are quite happy using their Geomate Jr's.. The list cost is $69.95, but you can get them cheaper if you look around. They are durable, splash-resistant, come with a neck lanyard, is the size of a credit card, and have only 2 buttons (not including the power on/off button). The simplicity of use was proven when my boys figured it out after just a couple of hunts. It's been improved over the years to increase it's capabilities. The latest is that you can import PQ's in the the Geomate Jr. This allowed my boys to look for premium caches (and other types of caches) as well as those with a D/T of 5. NOTE: to be able to import your own PQ's or any worldwide regions list of caches, you'll need to purchase a proprietary Update Kit cable for $24.99. But it can be used for all Geomate Jr's, so you'd only need 1. The only "bad" thing I can say about them is that you don't get the full cache description or even the cache names on the device. You do get the GC code, cache size, coordinates, D/T, distance, and satellite strength. But this has been a non-issue for us as I use a BlackBerry Torch with CacheSense that does display all the cache details. So all we do is check the GC code to ensure we're looking for the same one . I gave the device 4 out of 5 stars...the minus 1 star for the required cable and the lack of the ability to display the cache name (it'd make it easier to identify when comparing with my BlackBerry) .

I prefer the view that shows when I found the cache and when it was last found....log into your account, click on "Your Profile" and select "Geocaches" in the "Geocaches (Yours)" dropdown, then in the right frame, click on the "have found" link the the "List geocaches you own or have found".

For a school idea, you can check out the Geocaching in Schools link by Apishpere (manufacture of the Geomate Jr. My sons use one and with only 2 buttons, it's a piece of cake If this picks up at your school, you can consider the purchase of 6-unit Educaching® Class Pack. It includes lesson programs and the update cable to update the internal cache list, add your own PQ's or cache locations. Edited to say that at Educaching.com there are many different sizes and types of geocaching kits (not just the one I mentioned above) and teaching programs available.

Thanks, everyone. I got it to work using IE rather than Firefox. It was the ActiveX that was the issue. I'll work with it at a later date to get it to work with Firefox. But for now, we're good to go...and even uploaded one of my PQ's so my boys and I can find the same geocaches, in particular, the premium ones and ones with a Difficulty and/or Terrain of 5 that the standard upload doesn't account for. Again, thanks for the quick responses. Also, since I've not heard back from Adisphere, they could be on vacation this week.

I purchased my sons a Geomate Jr. and its update kit, installed the software on my laptop, but can't get anywhere with the update. I switch on the Geomate Jr, plug it into my laptop, select the region and caches, and then receive a popup saying "You must install the software kit in order to use this feature". I've installed, uninstalled, rebooted, used Firefox (even made a change in the browser as instructed), tried IE8, but still get the same message. I did see my Windows install a drive for the connection at some point. I'm beginning to think this is an issue with the security on my laptop, but I'm not not too familiar with the Computer management part of My Computer to feel comfortable messing with it. I do have Sophos security software installed, if that's any help. I've contacted Apisphere for assistance as well, but not heard anything yet. Thanks

Hehe, reminds me of one that I did that was a fake rock in a rock wall....very evil

I use a Blackberry Torch for all my hunts. The convenience of having GPS mapping (I can simply drive to the cache area with a couple of clicks from my geocaching app), phone (to let the wifey know I'm out geocaching), a camera (to take a picture for any virtual caches), internet access (to post said pictures), etc. in one single device is extremely useful. With the right geocaching application, you can go 100% paperless...even logging travel bugs. I use CacheSense (now available for Android phones too) and can do everything that I'd normally do online using the application right then and there....so no more waiting to go home to log my finds from scraps of paper . As far as accuracy, it's always put me right at the GZ...just as good or better than my friends dedicated GPSr. The only thing that I can see to be aware of is battery usage and handling. The phone does use a lot of power, but I've been able to find 10 in one day and still had 3/4 charge left. One also needs to be sure to try and keep the phone out of the weather. I'm up here near Seattle, but still go out in the drizzle with my phone and have not had any issues. I have no desire to get a dedicated GPSr and thoroughly enjoy caching with my BB.

G'day Fyguy1111 It's Waz here, and I work for Geomate.jr. To answer your question, a Pocket Query will actually replace your loaded 250,000 caches. But once you have finished with your PQ, just use the update kit to select a region of the world and reload another 250,000 geocaches. I hope this helps! Thanks, Waz. But as a parent of a new user of the Geomate Jr., I don't think we'd ever go an upload the 250,000 caches again once we start using PQs. The issue I can see is the inability of the 250,000 download to differentiate between their own "found" caches and new ones, and the possibility of "finding" a cache a 2nd time. But thanks for the info and I'm sure my boys will look forward to trying it out on December 25th...probably bright and early

Quick question that I didn't see answered...when using the update kit, say to import a PQ, do the caches in that PQ get added to the 250,000 already in the Geomate Jr., or do they replace the 250,000 that's already there? I would hope it just adds them to the ones already listed..... In any case, I already purchased a Geomate Jr. and an update kit for my sons to use, but wanted to get some additional clarification. Thanks

If you're looking for just a way to show which counties you've found a cache in, try looking at my public profile for an example. I use mygeocachingprofile.com to create my public profile and includes a county list There's much more available to be shown on my profile from mygeocachingprofile.com, but I only allow it to display things that are relevant to my own finds. I believe that Groundspeak just purchased it, so look for some of these features to be included at geocaching.com soon.

Drop by the forums as I noted above. Someone there can walk you thru a "practice" geocache hunt each step of the way . In fact, the forum called Geocaching with CacheSense is probably the most appropriate. See you there.

I've been successfully using CacheSense on my BB Storm2 without a single issue for the past 5 months. I am completely satisfied using the app and the support one receives is totally amazing. The free download is a fully functional version, good for 30 days. It was the first 3rd party app to use Groundspeak Live API that fully integrates it with the geocaching.com website. So CS allows for a full 100% paperless geocaching. Any question or issue can (and usually) be resolved in minutes....hours at the most at their forums. The developer/program is always online and eager to please his customers. He's directly assisted me a few times with some odd issues on my corporate issued BB too. And the full price of $9.99 is a life time purchase too and includes all future versions and upgrades. But try it for 30 days and check it out [].

If you're using CS and a BB, you have two ways to get CS to recognize your PQ. You can download it directly from geocaching.com as I mentioned earlier, or if you already have it on you BB, click on the BB button and select "Import GPX/LOC" and browse to your PQ. Once you do that, you'll see your list of caches. To activate a cache, click on one to select it and you'll see the cache details. Press the compass to activate the compass. It may take a 1/2 minute or so to get some satellite locks. You will know when you have a lock when you see the the number of "samples" start counting. Once you get some numbers (doesn't matter how many), press the "OK" button. Then give it another 1/2 minute to display your compass. If you don't ever get a satellite lock, check to see that you have your GPS enabled with your BB. A quick check is to see if GPS works with your BB maps. Or you can go to your BB and click on Options/Advanced Options/GPS and see that it's enabled. Again, I suggest you go to the CS Forums at http://www.zitafarm.com/forum/ as I'm just a user/beta tester and there are others much more knowledgeable about how this all works.

Actually, the easiest way if you have any PQ's, is to start CS, and click on the BB button, the click Pocket Queries. CS will connect to geocaching.com and you click on any of the PQ's you have and it'll automatically download them to your BB. It only takes a few seconds and you'll have a full PQ on your BB. The geocaching.com Live API has enabled CS to fully interact with geocaching.com. You can log your finds (or DNF's), even post pictures, and even have CS post a newsfeed to Facebook or Twitter. You can download hints, the lastest logs, or even all of them if you have the time, hehe. It's a pretty amazing app and I'm more than satisfied using it.

The best way to get your questions answered is to go to the CS boards. Bruce, the developer of the actual program runs the boards and answers almost all the questions there...seemingly day AND night . And if he's not around, someone else there will speak up. And of course, Bruce, can't help but chime in once he gets a chance, hehe. He's very hands on and takes a lot of pride in seeing that no one has issues with his product. Just post over there with some detailed info and you'll have a reply very quickly. As a FYI, I use CS on my BB Storm2 and have had no issue at all...up to 200+ finds and now about to hide my 2nd cache.

I was a Cub Scout for a couple of years, but my dad was in the military and we bounced around a lot and never was able to finish...I remember much of it to this day. Once dad retired, I joined Boy Scouts for a year or so junior high/high school. Forgot all about Scouting and got married. We raised 3 girls (all adopted) and then decided to go for some boys. So we adopted 2 boys as babies who are now in their 4th year of Cub Scouts as Webelos Scouts. I expect them to be earning their Arrow of Light award (highest award in Cub Scouts) in end of 2012. As for me, I was their den leader for two years, then became Cubmaster for the Pack of 30+ boys. Scouting, coaching 3 seasonal sports, geocaching....oh, and work <grin>, keeps me pretty busy I guess my avatar says it all

Good responses, everyone. My two boys and I have been doing this for almost a year and a half and they're both 9yo now. At first it was the "Woohoo!!! We found it!" and the jumping for joy would start , but now after almost 200 finds under their belts, they understand what this is all about and have matured...or at least tried to mature into good geocachers, hehe. Understanding what a "Muggle" is (courtesy of Harry Potter and Co. ), really made being stealthy hit home and they go to great lengths to tie their shoes by a bench, or trip near a lamp post in the middle of a parking lot, or squat down below the height of nearby bushes. It's kind of enjoyable to watch their "acting". It's also funny to hear them whisper, sometimes way to loud, "Watch out!! I see a muggle!", or "Quick, hide the cache...someone's coming!". Their geocaching mentality really hit home when one evening when we were returning from a relatives house that was a couple of hours away. One of my sons HAD to use the restroom, but none were nearby. So we pulled off the road and both boys ran 20' into to woods past some of those 2'x 4'concrete blocks. On their way back, I see them stop, turn around and go BACK to those blocks, look around for about 15 seconds...Meanwhile, my wife (not much of a geocacher), wondered why they ran back and then wondered why I started chuckling out loud <grin>. I quickly said, ask them when they come back. She asked and one plainly says, as though it was normalest (is that a word, hehe) thing to do, they thought that those blocks were a perfect spot for a geocache and wanted to check none was hidden there . Kids can be very funny at times and I'd rather be caching with my boys than without

I just found this one from Movable Type Scripts as the ones above were too complicated for my brain to handle But this one accepts many different formats and then presents you with the distance and a google map picture of the coordinates. Oh, the distance metric but you can easily convert it if you wish.

Thanks for the quick responses. I tracked down a member that picked up a coin the day after it was placed in the cache and requested an update from him. If they say it's been lost, I'll mark it as missing on the trackables own page. Again, thanks for the link and the info.

I carry a Kick on my belt as a normal part of my attire, but also keep a Swiss Army knife in my car for those times when a pair of tweezers are needed

Hi everyone. We own 1 cache and it's been a blast for our family to watch and maintain it. But something just came up that I'm not sure how or what I'm supposed to do. I noticed our cache mentions that a trackable was placed in it over a month ago, but it's never moved and it's still supposed to be there. So when we went to check it out today, we confirmed that it wasn't there. How am I supposed to handle this situation where the cache description notes there is supposed to be a trackable there, but in reality, there's none. Thanks.

I use a BlackBerry Storm2 using CacheSense and have no desire to change. It routinely puts me right on the mark, better than any of my geocaching friends iPhones. They've since changed and now use dedicated GPS units (but still use their iPhones to log finds and/or access additional cache info), but my BB is still on equal par with them as far as GPS accuracy goes. And since my BB is a smart phone, it's totally paperless as I can find, log, plan, edit, route etc., do everything via the phone. The only caveat is battery drain when using the GPS...it's pretty high. But to address that, I plan on getting a larger extended battery for the phone for about $20, to nearly double my energy storage. Oh..and I have to be careful not to drop it or get it wet. Outside of those things, I'm satisfied just using a phone.