Reddgroom

Please Please, don't avoid upgrading your apps and technology because "it's hard"! I am a long-time GPS user and geocacher and have found it almost redundant to even bring along my GPSr anymore. As my phone is more and more capable, my GPSr is gathering dust. The applewatch app would be a slick and conventient way to GC on the phone without having to keep it out in my hand with the screen on. The biggest problem I have these days GCing with my phone is battery life. It kills the battery to leave the screen on the whole time. AYKM?? You don't see the priority in keeping the app? Add my name to the list of people who think having an easy to reference on my wrist app ESSENTIAL to the continuation of GC in a new tech age. I don't need full functionality. A "distance to" and "bearing" screen to read while enroute to (hiking or walking) the cache is all you need. or maybe a "bing or a buzz when I get close. That way you save phone battery. I can pull my phone out and use it again when I get to GZ. No need to have super special watch capability for zeroing things in. Like all other watch apps - I still keep my phone with me, even with Watch 2, a techie isn't gonna leave the phone at home if GCing. Don't need any logging capability or any other fancy stuff... just let me walk and look at my wrist instead of dragging out & opening up the phone, every time I wanna check distance.

It's actually pretty easy. I have always cached with older GPS's (first a Garmin 45 circa 1994, now a Garmin GPS III plus circa 2002) but have always gotten good results with a few easy (and maybe obvious tips) 1. Don't store your GPS in your backpack or your pocket... put it out there where it can see the sky. If it has an antenna, let it point up. Don't put the GPS next to the cell phone or radio or other kind of electronic equipment that might cause interference. 2. On sunny days, you should get pretty good reception, on cloudy days, expect some variance and less accuracy. 3. Be a little patient. Stand still and let the coordinates settle to measure and average. If searching for a cache, put the GPS down on a rock or a wall and let it sit still for a few minutes while you look around. 4. Follow the numbers, not the arrow. When you get close to a cache, the arrow will flip back and forth as it thinks you are on either side of it. Pay attention to the exact coordinates you are searching for and use your GPS to make the numbers match. I like to think in terms of "Go more North.. or Go less West" to get the exact spot. I wouldn't worry about trying too hard, most GPSers work pretty well and get you SUPER close. I can usually get within 10 feet or so of a cache without even trying too hard. Get out there and try it a bit. The more familiar you are with your GPS unit, the better you can make it work for you.

Thanks for the information. I'll try back later.

Me too! and then got the stack error message. Now having trouble logging back on. I think the server is having problems.

My local area has several geocachers who started placing "night only" caches about a year ago. Most involve following a trail of something at night to lead to the cache. I researched reflective paint like they use for roadway stripes, but unless you think you can use an entire gallon it's kind of a waste of money. I have also seen bicycle reflectors and those 3M reflective dots used. What I thought worked the best was small pieces of reflective tape I found at home depot. (probably available at any hardware store) You will have to decide what is a good spacing between the markers based on the brightness of your reflectors & the terrain in the area. For ideas, look at these caches: GCT6N8 GCRVAE GCVGHB

As the person who started this thread, I'd like to chime in on the purpose of it: Many geocachers are not aware that there is another similar activity called Letterboxing. I intended to use this thread as a non-hostile, non-critical, educational posting where geocachers could find out what Letterboxing is. I never intended for it to be a place where they could actually witness the kinds of debates & criticism that exist out there in cyber-land. I have my own opinions and criticisms of both sides, but felt that here in the "getting started" area, a neutral educational posting would be more appropriate. However, once started, threads tend to go where they will! If you'd like to respect the original intent of this post, please take your personal conversations & comments to another topic or a private arena. I'm sure you'll find plenty of room for debate out in the other forums. Thank you! ReddGroom

For you Newbies: There is also a game that is similar to Geocaching called Letterboxing. Geocachers plant geocaches and look for them with precise GPS coordinates; Letterboxers plant letterboxes and search for them only with clues about the location or a description of the area. Geocaches usually contain a log and some swag to trade, and maybe a pen or pencil. Letterboxes generally contain a (ONE) unique (mostly hand-carved or custom made) rubber stamp, a journal to stamp in and maybe an inkpad or a pen. Geocachers swap goodies out of their boxes, sign the log and sometimes post their find on the internet. Letterboxers DO NOT swap goodies in the box. They collect stamp impressions from all the boxes they have visited in their own personal journal and leave only stamped impressions from their personal stamp (mostly hand-carved or custom made) that they carry with them. Since both Geocachers and Letterboxers like to visit the same kinds of places, and are always looking for similar hiding places and hidden boxes, it is very common for Geocachers to find letterboxes by mistake. (Despite the seeming accuracy of GPS) When a Geocacher finds a letterbox by mistake AND DOES NOT REALIZE IT, the Geocacher will very commonly take the unique, handcarved rubberstamp as a swag item and they leave a cheap dollar store trinket in it's place. This destroys the letterbox because there is no longer a way to "login" to the box if you don't have the stamp. Once the stamp goes missing, the box-owner either needs to re-carve another stamp and move the box to a place where geocachers won't find it or they will end up disabling the box. Letterboxers generally dislike geocachers because of the confusion and damage caused by errant un-informed geocachers. Handcarving stamps is pretty difficult & time consuming & these stamps can be pretty intricate. Please if you ever find a "geocache" with a rubber stamp in it. DON'T TAKE THE STAMP!!!!! Look very carefully at the box and the log and see if it is labled as a geocache or a letterbox. If it it not a geocache, consider it an extra find, Don't take anything or leave anything but feel free to write in the log and then return the box to it's hiding place. Then, you can keep searching the area for your geocache! Thank you on behalf of the Letterboxers.

I am a regular pocket query user and I have also had problems with pocket queries not emailing to me over the weekend. I got my regular saturday ones, but added one on sunday AM (clicked the sunday box) and it never arrived. Today I added 2 on Monday (not exceeding my 5/day limit) and haven't gotten them yet. Usually it only takes a few minutes to process & mail them, but the sunday ones never came at all. The PQ page says they haven't been generated for a month or more. I think the issue mught be with the PQ generator.

I'm still new to GSAK & just learning all the functions. I have loaded PQs for all the areas near me and individually loaded caches that I got while out of my normal area so that I could track all my finds in one GSAK database. (I also have other db files for specific areas. I noticed my counts don't quite add up. GC.com states I have one more than on GSAK. I think the difference is the one travel bug I logged as I noticed GC.com adds those to my count. I haven't been able to find a way to download a TB as a gpx file. Is there a way to add the TB to GSAK to make my counts match? Thanks. Libby

I am not yet a paperless cacher, but have been inspired to get my old 2001 version Pocket PC out of the drawer & have the battery refurbished to give it a try. If that doesn't work, I'm going for a cheap Palm. Recently at the IECachers mini-event I heard about the Palm version of a program called Cachemate. First off, I noticed Cachemate is not listed on the Geocaching website? Does anyone know how Cachemate stacks up againt these other programs? If Cachemate is newer & better, how does it get listed on geocaching .com? If I become a Pocket PC user, are there any PC programs comparable to Cachemate? I tried searching tucows & Google, but haven't found good info, what other good sources for PDA software are out there? Thanks!

Anyone have any info about when the White Jeeps will be released in our area? I've done a search on geocaching.com and it looks like most are not in the field yet. Those that are logged are in other states. What's the best way to search out & grap one of these travel bugs?

I have been geocaching for 3 months and would like to be able to download waypoints into my GPS. I can't get the computer to recognize my serial connection. I have a magellan sport-trak map & a garmin 45 (ancient) and easy GPS gives me the same error for both. can't open serial port. What am I doing wrong?

Cool Breeze, If you do combine the letterbox as a geocache, please be sure to add specific instructions regarding the rubber stamp. Most letterboxes contain hand-carved stamps (which is much harder than it looks!) which are unique to that box and usually pretty detailed. Letterboxers tend to be wary of geocachers because geocachers remove things from their box. You wouldn't want some geocahcer who is unaware of the letterboxing rules to remove your unique handcarved stamp as a geocaching memento! Many letterboxing stamps seem to come up missing (by accident I know) simply because they are located too close to a geocaching area. If you are going to combine the box, or list it on teh geocache site, please be sure to indicate that the stamp is supposed to stay with the box as it's "signature." Happy hunting! Redd