sholomar

I can't blame google for not wanting sites to charge money to use their maps. Still bandwidth costs money and Groundspeak at least has to break even. Ironic that if the site was free they could still provide google maps. I guess I should have saved more maps offline on my c:geo though. I've got plenty to get me through the winter but will need to save more for offline use by spring. Hopefully a c:geo alternative that can use offline maps and offline cache locations is developed. I don't have or plan to get a data plan, I use my wi-fi.

I use the used droid 2 I got for 70 bucks exclusively and it really works well. Has a built in compass and gets me right up to a find unless it's buried in the middle of the woods, then it takes more time. I do use c:geo with a memory card and offline maps made using the instructions on their site. I don't spend a lot of time accessing the site with the app, I get the data, store it offline, and I'm gone. I use more bandwidth browsing these forums, if that's what they're worried about.

seemed to work fine for me. I use c:geo and cache all the maps for offline use on the droid 2 before leaving and then just log when I get back so the maps on the site suit my needs.

next time you think you have the right to park it in the passing lane going the speed limit, watch this video (may want to mute the audio) Anywhoo, I hope people can figure out how to secure the lids on my caches properly and not leave them open. Too cold here in the frozen tundra to do anything now for a few months unless I order some alaskan winter gear. Thanks to reading this forum I have taken the candles and hand sanitizer out of the cache and will just use em at home. Don't want them leaking or melting, because we can get temperature extremes here. I just couldn't help myself when someone posts about how they park it in the passing lane going the speed limit, I have to respond! "This cop did the right thing. This cop is definitely doing his job. If you are a slow driver, stay to the right. You are clogging traffic. You are the problem. Get out of the way."

this was my first impression when I stumbled upon geocaching a couple weeks back.. I live in a low population density area and the number of caches around here seems to be on the high side, but then I saw most of it was done by one person and it was kind of an anomaly to have so many in such a small town out here. I plan to get to at least 50 finds and trying to get some variety in, but it doesn't get warm enough here until April consistantly. Looking forward to biking around kampeska in the spring and getting all the hides he has around the lake's perimeter. I will say it's nice to have the option there to up the count when they are place all in a straight line on a path I would have ridden anyways. http://coord.info/map?ll=44.924818,-97.207166&z=14

TFTFC, STFL. Like to spruce up my abbreviations a bit and give them a little spunk.

kind of like people who troll the WWE messageboards but hate the product and want it to return to the way it was during the attitude era... sorry it's not going to happen, the only way to relive your nostalgic youth is with a time machine. Accept the hobby as it is or find another. Internet forums are places to criticize though, so I have no problem with this post. Everyone has different tastes though.

if it keeps the log dry it's a step about a lot of micro sized containers. Doesn't look much fun trying to get the contents out of that small opening however.

these are great containers, and made in the USA. I originally found them at a 'fleet farm' type store. If you buy in bulk they are only $5 each or less (buying 20 or more) from this website http://www.midwesthuntersoutlet.com/item/443700_Plano_Molding_Co_Fishing_Plano_3440-10_Waterproof_StowAway_4648_Size.aspx I'm willing to throw down 5 bucks for such a nice container just because it's made in the USA.

true, but when one watches the mainstream media and look at the sensationalism and how politicians react to that sensationalism, they tend to over-react to things, over dramatize them, and make snap decisions based on emotion sometimes when no action is needed.

I have a laser printer I got cheap and 3M shipping label stickers I got at the employee store for dirt cheap... almost threw them all away a few months back, glad I didnt. 10 stickers per sheet, template downloaded off the net, put a QR code with a link to my profile on the sticker along with a description of what geocaching is for muggles, since these will be 'regular' sized caches. Here are the labels except I didn't have to pay $37 for them. I think I paid like $5 (work at 3M) http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/242326/3M-White-Laser-Shipping-Labels-2/ Here's the labels I made, feel free to critique. The QR code and everything are sharp when they print. The strangest thing just happened... an advertisement for the above stickers on photobucket's website as I was uploading the image. Must be tracking me. http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv270/sholomar/Untitled.png

I see someone else here said it already. What needs to change is to stop hanging on every single little tragedy that occurs and think we need to create some new regulation to protect people from themselves every time something happens. Venturing through some state parks, bear butte's climb to the top in South Dakota comes to mind... there are areas where I would not take young children due to steep drops and the like... does that mean they should destroy the natural beauty by erecting large fences all along the path just because a few people do not know what they are doing or have no common sense? I suppose some day it will come to that. Personally I found that path enjoyable because of the lack of handrails and fences. Of course sensible changes will be made going forward... it's the nature of any society to grow and evolve.

my droid 2 can be really accurate until I get into trees.. then it just goes into limbo, even in the winter with no leaves. I got frustrated too today, but I'm not going to give up on it yet without looking for some caches out in the open to see how far off the GPS is, it has been spot on with some caches, and 10-15 feet off with others. From what I've read that's about the best you can expect, and you have to use your eyes. I plan to start some caches around here which are kid and noob friendly. In a wooded area someone could easily move the cache 5-10 feet from it's original location if it happens to fall on the ground too, complicating things. It doesn't help when they are micro, and camoed too boot. The micros I've found so far are damp and not very enjoyable.. just one piece of paper with an empty matchstick container. If only one person doesn't close it tight and moisture gets in, then it will need a new logbook and to be dried out manually. They need to add options to filter the map by cache size and username if they haven't already. If they have let me know so I can go premium. Micros are not really my cup of tea at least for now... I like large enough ones to contain decent logbooks and trinkets. I'm sure that will change once I get better at it though.

what about a book of matches? I'm assuming if the cache became wet they'd be no good. I know it says lighters are off limits. If you really want to pack a bunch of propaganda into a cache without using any space, you can fit quite a bit of text into QR codes. I plan to put a link to my profile on them but you can fit much much more onto a space an inch or two square.

it may be done, but I have thousands of wheat cents.. I will leave 1 in each cache I come across from now on, at least ones done by casuals and not the power cachers who have 500 in a 20 mile radius. Since I've always and still am into numismatics, I will somewhat reflect my personal interests. The pencils are a good idea and cheap. A person could even engrave them with their hometown and encourage people to take them to another cache in the engraving. Cheaper than trackers.

until there are caches with public ownership where anyone can modify them, I'd say just do 'needs maintenance' on them. Of course if I lived in a more populated area I'd have no problem replacing logbooks and pens, but out here the container would be more likely to fail before the logbook would fill up. I'm not going to spend money on new containers for them, since I plan to use good ones that will last several years like ammo containers and the like.

I didn't know what one was either my first time out... would explain why I did not find the cache.

the used droid 2 I have seems to be very accurate, down to a few feet on the ones I've tested so far.. one was almost exact down to the foot. Will do more testing tomorrow. I made the c:geo maps using the instructions on their site, they are offline maps with stored cache locations.

I like them. What I find might be somewhat annoying is... well just look at Watertown, South Dakota and see for yourself. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing to have so many placed randomly... http://coord.info/map?ll=44.890775,-97.096705&z=11 Of course if I ever plan to take a walk or bike ride around lake kampeska, which I have done already (biked around the lake) I can see myself enjoying getting every single cache going around the lake. I don't think I'll get any of those random ones on random roads north of town though.

I bought a used droid 2 on cowboom for 60 bucks, which is ironically how I discovered this site and geocaching in the first place. I now have c:geo installed with offline maps of the states I plan to be in as well. It's quite accurate, gets right down to within a meter on some, a few meters on others. I suppose it depends on the coordinates given to it. I didn't buy the droid 2 for geocaching, it just happened that way. It's also a phone, game emulator, among other things.