Candcteam

Sorry, that was not at all in specific reference to you. Phone caching is referenced in the thread though. It never fails though, that the very few times I read these forums, there is an undertone of nastiness toward phone caching. I truly am at a loss to understand the hostility.

I still am unsure of this "auto logging" concept. There is no such feature on the iPhone or Droid app that automatically logs a TB as visiting a cache just because the cacher went to the cache. While posting the log the cacher has to go through a few steps to log each bug as visiting the cache. It's way more time consuming than just clicking the "All Visited" on Geocaching.com when posting a log. I don't know why I really care about this, but it just seems that on thesee boards, phone cachers are guilty of every single problem with caching - or so it seems according to most who post here.

Bear with me here, but what's with the idea of "clogging up the page"? As opposed to what? Is there more glory in having a screen with three logs as opposed to thirty? Is this more aesthetically pleasing? I'm truly seeking to understand. I thought the point of Travel Bugs is to travel. It has never occurred to me not to log a bug visit because because I might clog up the log page.

Re: auto logging a cache visit. I cache with an iPhone, and the process to log a TB visit is not automatic - that I am aware of. It actually is a bit cumbersome, as opposed to one click as it is within the geocaching website. Not that I have a huge stash of bugs to log or anything, but just pointing out its not automatic from the iPhone ap. No way would I do multiple TB visits per cache from the iPhone ap if I'm not genuinely interested in seeing the bug travel. If I'm missing something on the ap please enlighten. I agree on the photos. I love the idea of the photos. I think you would see much more photos of your bugs if there was a way to add a photo directly from the phone app. This can be done to add a photo to the cache log, but not to the TB page (again to my knowledge). Therefore, I have to take photos with phone, download to computer and then log on to geocaching and add to the bug page. I do this on occasion, but not always. I can honestly say that if I could upload a photo directly from my phone, I would do it every time.

Just curious why bug owners would be annoyed by someone logging cache visits for the bug. Unless the goal of the bug is related to fewest miles to a certain location, or the cacher is preventing the bug from moving to a better location, what is the problem with racking up miles? i have four bugs that have done nothing. Three of them never even made it past the second cache. Personally, I would love to see any of my bugs making visits so at least I know they aren't at the bottom of a landfill or in some TB collector's evil clenches.

Yes, it is very frustrating. Really though, there are two main issues here - where are the trackables going and why isn't the cache inventory correct? Why the trackables are missing? Who knows why people do that! I cannot fathom why cachers collect other peoples' bugs. What is the value in that? Are there some sort of geeky, rogue cachers that get their kicks off stealing trackables and showing them off to their other geeky, TB stealing friends? I guess so. Of course, you have the cachers that cache once a year when they are on vacation, yet still take bugs (these people really drive me nuts!) and really don't know how to log them. Throw in a few just plain lazy cachers and you have a mess! If these people can read to geocache, they can read how to log a Trackable. No excuses in my book. I know some people say its actually okay to wait a long time (months?) to log a TB, but the "rules" clearly state the bug should be passed on quickly. If you can't or won't do that, fine. Don't pick up a bug. I do however think the link for logging a TB should be more visible from the geocaching homepage. It is sort of buried. Also, the iPhone ap allows you to discover a bug, visit a bug, but does not allow you to retrieve a bug. You have to log on to geocaching.com to log retrieve. Ridiculous. Many honest cachers click "discovered" from the ap when they take a bug. They don't realize this does not remove the bug from the cache inventory and put it in their possession. I am the CO of a TB hotel, and I've had to email several cachers to have them correct their log. All have been happy to do so and appreciated the help. Finally, there is the issue of cache maintenance. If the cache owner is keeping up with his/her cache, they should know if a bug is there or not. Simply reading the logs from helpful geocaches will tell you that. The owner should then go into the cache and mark to bug as missing. It's easy to do and is a courtesy to the bug owner and future cachers. Of course, many cache owners stop caching and don't retire their caches -a whole other problem!

Is there a place where you list what device you used to determine your coordinates on the caching form? I looked over everything and did not see that I needed to list this, nor have I ever noticed this on a cache when searching. I am assuming from your comment above that catchers must be listing this somewhere. Am I missing something?

Thanks so much for your response in defense of those of us who cache with iPhones! I'm am only a few months into caching and am pretty turned off by the negativity I see on these and other forums when it comes to caching with an iPhone. Most of the time, the person doing the criticizing doesn't even own an iPhone and has never cached with one. My cousin and her family introduced me to caching and he couldn't believe how awesome it was to cache with my iPhone 4s. He uses a handheld device (I'm guessing an older one maybe?) and he equated the difference between the two as rabbit ears to digital tv. I understand that caching with a phone might not lead me to caches in the middle of the rain forest, but for my corner of the world it has served me well for the past several months. I am thinking of hiding a cache, have downloaded Perfect Mark and compared my cords with several gps apps and they all agree on the location. I'm going to make certain I do have it right before I proceed and I think I can do it. I don't think negativity encourages people to fall in love with this super fun sport.