StripyJules

Geeps, pronounced 'Jeeps', for GPS

Here's the duplicate:logs showing now: GCA8D0 logged twice 04/17/2011 once 09/18/2009 GC2Y3WY logged twice 08/26/2012 once 08/17/2011 GC1A878 logged twice 08/30/2009 GCVKRP logged once 09/11/2011 once 08/23/2009

But valid for balance, given the usual anti-smartphone-cacher vibe. I agree, that there appears to be anti-phone tones here... but the thread is/was about logbooks and their use, not phones or GPSr units. You may very well have a point, worthy of its own thread. Highjacking a thread about something else and run it off-topic is, well... sort of like taking a clear mountain stream and filling it with mud. Oh well, I feel it is plenty off-course as it is... judging from the other two responses posted whilst I typed. Go ahead and mud the water some more. I was responding to comments on the subject already made by others. It's kind of what happens, on forums. Not seeing the same mud you are.

But valid for balance, given the usual anti-smartphone-cacher vibe.

I'm not trying to change anything. I like my caching just the way it is. As I imagine do you. At no point have I suggested that the game should be changed to suit smartphone users better (actually can't think of any way it even could be). That wasn't my beef. I just get fed up with smartphone users being spoken to and treated differently just because they use a smartphone. Any question from anyone with a smartphone is usually started or finished with something about getting a dedicated GPSr. Sometimes, it's bordering on the patronising. And then the money thing comes out. As I also said, mostly you don't need a data connection to cache. To log the cache, yes but you don't have to do that then and there. Wait till you have WiFi or do it when you get home. My smartphone runs at around £10 a month; sometimes £15 if I make a lot of calls. That includes my data (I have never gone over my data allowance) and texts. The phone is of course used for other things as well, as are the OS maps stored on it; they ran at about £6 for the licence to use them if I remember rightly. The app which uses the maps is free and can also record and measure your track. The point is: when I discovered geocaching, I already had the phone. Therefore my outlay to start off with was pretty low; add in the membership/app and it's still pretty good value for someone on a low income. Perhaps I should explain the 'funds' angle better: the sort of GPSr I could afford would be unlikely, given the sort of caching I do, to give me much better results than I already get. So to me, it's not worth the spend. I would rather put it towards the fuel needed to go caching which in the UK at the moment is by far the biggest outlay. It's a choice. There are some smartphone cachers who are pains in the a; I should think there are an equal number of dedicated GPSr users being equally painful. It's just you don't get the smartphone users saying 'OMG you use a GPSr? Get with the programme!' or claiming that GPSr users (who we are told are in the majority) are 'ruining' geocaching as is said about smartphone users, though I've yet to find out quite how.

I agree the 'M'-word QR thing is a totally different game (tried once, didn't like). But I do wish geocachers who use smartphones wouldn't get constantly beaten up in these forums. Not everybody has room (or funds) in their lives for yet another piece of technological kit and many people would never have discovered and enjoyed geocaching without a smartphone and its accompanying app. Not everybody wants or is able to go for 5/5s up mountains or deep in the wilderness in which case a smartphone does just fine. In the case of areas with poor mobile signal coverage - of which there are many, even in the little UK - you store the cache details and maps before you go; the phone doesn't need network to receive GPS signal. I also have OS maps (1:50,000 and 1:25,000) stored on mine and can overlay cache locations onto those. Yes, phones have their limitations. Those who can and who want to avoid these limitations can get a dedicated GPS receiver. Those who don't can still play the game with a smartphone, which is a 'GPS enabled device'. With 850-odd finds between us my partner and I have just placed our first two hides, with another under construction. We found that with care we got good accuracy with our phones for the co-ordinates: but we haven't done wilderness 5/5s. No complaints from finders (or DNFers) yet. Someone asked not be 'forced' into using a smartphone. Why should smartphone users be 'forced' into using a dedicated GPSr? It's almost like the last taboo, or something: all over the forum people say 'play the game your way': unless you happen to be a phone-cacher in which case you're somehow not considered a 'proper' geocacher. The Membership fee is the same whatever device you use... Not one of my logs is just 'TFTC'.

Thank you... but: Why say I CAN 'Edit my settings, such as signature, avatar and more' so enticingly (see screenshot) if that's not where you do it? Particularly if there is then nothing to direct you to where you CAN? Begging your pardon but it's far from obvious that it's 'not the place'. "The confusion arises because the forums are not the place to make changes to your account details/profile. It's not where you create/edit your sig line, etc." I would say the confusion arises because there's a drop down menu saying you can - but then it transpires you can't.

Not sure where you're seeing a dropdown menu. Go here: http://www.geocaching.com/account/default.aspx Click on "edit" in the very top box on the left ("Your Profile"). B. This chappie here... If I go to 'My Profile' on the main site, I have an option to review my signature but not to create one. Hence my puzzlement.

I'm signed in, but don't have the facility to add/change a signature either (or avatar). It mentions the possibility in the drop-down menu, but no option actually appears.

Neither does he Huawei Y300 but you can still cache with it using c:geo or cache sense. A bit less intuitive than on my old Orange San Francisco but as long as you remember it only points in the right direction while you are actually moving it is fine. You can still cache with it, agreed, but I find it not much fun. It doesn't function that well, to be honest. As I can't afford to either replace the phone or buy a 'proper' GPSr I have been entering cache co-ords into Viewranger and using the maps on that in conjunction with the GPS to find caches.

Going back to the original topic of getting help to solve a puzzle: nobody would want to be handed the solution on a plate, but I don't see being given a hint or guidance as an issue; the source is immaterial. Either the CO helps you out (or doesn't), or another cacher helps you out (or doesn't) or in the absence of help from there an online forum helps you out (or doesn't). As long as the actual solution isn't just handed over or put out in the public domain I can't see the harm. Can't see it being any different to phoning-a-friend from the field when you're at GZ and can't find a physical cache...

Don't get an HTC One V. It doesn't have a compass sensor. (Thought they all did? Yeah, so did I...)

http://coord.info/GC4B9PC http://coord.info/GC49XJ6

Our team... Himself in action You get a bit tangled in the undergrowth Caching stuff

I write long logs; my partner makes fun of me for it, often in his own logs. But I've not been caching that long really, search in a fairly restricted area and have had six cache owners now email me to say thank you for writing something other than 'TFTC' on their caches. Which is nice. Sometimes the DNF logs are easier to write than the smileys!

This is what boyfriends/husbands/significant others are for

http://coord.info/GC2XG8N

http://coord.info/GC1VPJT

My dog usually comes caching with us, and he's quite 'nosey' but has only ever found one cache on his own; I suspect because somebody had left some sweets in it! I'm not sure I'd actively encourage him to seek out caches, though, for fear of damage to the cache or its contents or injury to him; you can never tell quite what you might find!

I'm always very grateful if conditions underfoot are mentioned in others' logs. I have some mobility issues and would often pick (for example) a towpath cache or something in similar terrain to try; obviously I'm not going to go tripping off to the heart of flood country in the conditions we have at the moment, but in general it's great if I know what the ground is like. What might just mean soggy jean bottoms or a welly-cleaning job for most people can be really tricky for me, particularly if I go out alone. And yes, I probably am a wuss; one cache we did the mud was of that 'holding' kind it's hard to pull your boots out of and I did actually get quite scared. Sorry

We've both done GC33ATF, which takes care of "celebrating" one milestone - but then we haven't had that many yet!

Dog Sykes is with us most of the time; there's been a couple of caches where he's been left behind for specific reasons, but they were both local trips of less than a couple of hours, not whole days out. There are caches we haven't yet attempted because he has been with us and there have been cows, or similar, but there's plenty of other caches to do instead. Sykes is a lurcher and is alert to possible prey, so he is on-lead where there might be such animals or where it isn't safe for him to be free. He has no problems with stiles (indeed has to be discouraged from jumping them, sometimes, if the landing side is a road), though this will no doubt change as he gets older. He can be a pain when you need to search for what he considers to be too long, as he will sulk furiously, park himself and basically anchor whoever has the other end of the lead to one spot, but on the whole he's pretty good and he loves the walking. He has only ever found one cache by himself, because it had sweets in it. He can be good cover, at times, and a distraction for muggles. We'd rather cache with than without him; we tailor our "caching walks" to weather and other conditions (heat, livestock) as we would our "normal" dogwalks so we seem to rub along somehow. Your theory about GSD ears is correct! Also, tail carriage, and body posture.

There is an awareness problem, but the illness is real and being taken seriously. One team of cachers has been affected already: CSI Dunwich Forest Which is what prompted me to post here. This is my first year - and therefore my first autumn - of caching but outside caching I work with dogs so have been watching the updates on this problem for a while. It can't hurt to be aware.

For the last four years or so there has been a problem with dogs becoming ill, some seriously and a few unfortunately fatally, after walking in woodlands in the UK. The illness seems to arise each autumn and is particularly prevalent in East Anglia and parts of the Midlands. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and lethargy within 24-48 hours of walking in forests or woodlands. If your dog suffers these symptoms after walking in the woods please contact your vet immediately. The cause is not yet known but there is a lot of research going on. The Animal Health Trust are asking dog owners who have walked in affected areas to complete a questionnaire online to assist in this whether their dogs have become ill or not. You can also check on their website for updates of affected areas. There is also information on the Forestry Commission website. Please be aware of SCI if you cache with your dog between the end of August and November and speak to your vet if you have any concerns.

This is on a regular walk of mine; we were face-to-face (I'm not far off 6ft tall). The cows have occupied the footpath. I had two dogs with me that day, one of which is cow-phobic. It was either go through the cows, or do a two-mile detour (along a road with no pavement) around them. I tied the dogs to a fence post further back and shoo-ed the cows up the hill and we then scuttled across the field before they wended their way back down again. If you do the Haileybury or Hoddesdon Park Woods series (Herts) you might meet these ladies. Sometimes their husband is with them but he's pretty slow and ponderous (I hope).