Team_FussyPants

I finally was able to go out the other day and try finding a cache using geopher lite. I purposely left behind my garmin so I had to use only my iphone. I went after a cache I hadn't found before to get the full experience, and used only my iphone, no compass, etc. I tried to use the map function on geopher, but the cache was in a park close to a freeway, so google maps snapped the location to the freeway and gave me directions accordingly. So I just panned around on the map to figure out where to go and made my way to the park. Once there I headed in the general direction that the cache was according to the navigation screen on geopher. With no compass and just knowing generally which direction I was heading I got to within 1.5 meters of the cache location. Geopher led me directly to a large tree on the edge of the park, so I figured it had to be the cache location. Searched around quite a bit and couldn't find it. Tried the "cloverleaf" method to try to narrow down the location, and kept getting back to the same spot. So I figured the accuracy was off, and searched the surrounding area with no luck. Finally pulled up the cache page on geoper and read the clue, sure enough the cache was about 8ft up in the tree geopher led me directly to! So I learned that although I would much prefer a "GoTo" pointer like Garmin uses, the navigation compass on geopher still works pretty good. You just have to pay attention to your direction a little more. I was pretty impressed with the accuracy of the geopher program. While standing next to the tree I pulled up the google map app with the pin for the cache, and it showed me standing about 10ft away and floated around a bit, while geopher still showed me 1.5 meters away. Being able to actively pull up the nearby caches is amazing, and is going to be great for me since I travel so much. While there is still some work to be done on geopher, its definitely a great start!

Just to be clear, my intention wasn't to create any drama, maybe just vent a little of my frustration and possibly even get a response to what was going on. My frustration was with the statement "we are not currently willing to provide permission for the commercial use of our data on an iPhone". Like I stated if there are currently allowing this to happen on Palm and Blackberry platforms, why not iPhone. Or perhaps since the gpx files are downloaded from pocket queries, then downloaded onto the phones GC has no control either way? It seems though that the geopher app has been allowed to stay out there by both gc.com and apple, so in its current form its "supported". While the geopher program is far from being a proper standalone caching program, its definitely a start. I know there are also other apps out there in development, hopefully this will spark some competition, and the end user will be the winner there.

The programmers of this site have nothing to do with it. All apps are being written by private parties. What does it matter how long the product has been out when gc.com announces they will not approve any commercial apps for the iPhone? There are commercial apps available for both palm and blackberry platforms, why dissallow only the iPhone? I understand the bandwidth concerns, but I'm already accessing the site on my phone as it is.

In regards to the accuracy of the iPhone, testing it along side my etrex it seems to be pretty accurate. The inacurracies and slowness seem to be caused by the google map app.

I purchased an iPhone last week on order, and picked it up on Monday. I've been very excited about the release of the iPhone 3g with one of the main reasons being able to use it's gps as a geocaching device. I've been following the development of the geopher app, and was excited to see it released today, then only to see on the geopher blog that gc.com asked that it be removed. I'm a premium member and would love to be able to use that membership to cache on my iPhone. GC states that they won't support the commercial release of any app for geocaching on the iPhone. WHY?! I've been using geoniche on my palm and love it, it's a commercial application and seems to be ok with gc.com. Why would they reject a huge market with cachers on their iPhones, and the great chance to bring on new members? I personally feel I've been robbed a little as a premium member by gc.com.

I have been using Geoniche and my treo 680 for the past year and a half and love it. It works with a bluetooth gps, which you can pick up pretty cheap on ebay these days. I have a holux gpslim 236 with the sirf III chip and it is more accurate than my etrex, and can pick up and hold a signal much better than the etrex. I know you said you wanted to use you current gps, just thought I'd give you an opinion on what I use with my Treo. It makes it nice to only have my treo and a gps the size of a book of matches and be able to search caches, have all my cache note available, and be able to log and find caches on the geocaching wap site.

I also have a 3G on order, and one of my main reasons for getting it is the GPS function. I've been caching for the last year and a half with my Palm Treo with a bluetooth GPSr and love it. Its a little clunky carrying around the phone and the bluetooth, but much better than carrying a large GPSr and a palm for paperless. I have been using Geoniche as my caching program and have to say its great. Its simple and gets the job done, but I think with the capabilities of the iphone there should be so much more available. I know people have commented on the durability issue. Otterbox makes "waterproof and crushproof" cases for the old styler iphone iphone otterbox, and according to their website are currently working on one for the 3g. To me this would make the iphone the ultimate geocaching device, as tough as my etrex, internet access, phone, camera, and even an mp3 player. Now to some of my wishes. With my palm I still have to go through the routine of downloading a PQ, converting it on my pc, then syncing it with the palm. Since I travel alot I'd love to be able to open geocaching.com, go to the google map feature, see what caches are close by, and be able to navigate right to it. Once in the navigation mode I would like to either be able to tap on the geocache icon, or have a button available that will pull up the cache page and/or notes. This is one of the features I enjoy about the Geoniche program. While navigating you can tap on the icon and pull up details, notes, logs, hints, etc about the cache. This is greatly useful on the fly when you cant find a cache right away, a quick lookup of the description or hint usually puts me back on the right path. Also to be able to instantly log the cache, and even upload pics directly from the camera to the log would be awesome. With that being said, I'd also like to retain the capability to be able to load a PQ onto the phone and be able to use it to navigate out in the field. This would save us from being at the mercy of a wi-fi network, 3g, and the painfully slow edge. I definitely think the any cache app created should NOT rely solely on internet access for availability of caches. This sport invariably takes us into remote locates and thats why I love it, but those locations often lend themselves to poor or no cell reception. I know GC.com makes alot of its money from Premium Memberships, and some of these functions may bypass the PQ function and take the requirement for a membership out of the loop. I personally would have absolutely no problem continuing to pay my membership for the ability to use my iphone as described about.

Hello all, I just took a job offer and will be relocating from Reno Nv. to the Boca Raton/Delray area, I did a quick search for caches in the area. There seems to be quite a few, but probably not as many as my current area. Just wondering how many cachers are in the area. I found the South Florida geocachers assocation website, although most member seem to be based out of the Miami area. I'm looking forward to some new terrain styles, and maybe some new hide styles as well. Hope to meet some of you out there soon!

Hey, so are you guys caching tomorrow during the day then? Let me know what time and where you guys are meeting and it looks like I should be able to come out and meet up with you guys.

I bought GeoNiche a few months back to use on my treo 680, and so far I love it. The only problem I have with the program is that in the navigation screen the little icon for my current position scrolls as I move/drive. I would love to be able to lock it in the center of the "radar" screen, that way as I drive I can see what caches are close to me. As it works now I have to constantly tap the icon to get it to return to the center of the screen. I have tried turning the gps lock on and off with no result. Is there a solution to this?

How did those Lockwood caches go? I ended up with 33 for the day, so not too shabby! I thought about those ammo cans once cookie and faith dropped me off. If you end up passing through town for some reason let me know and I can come meet you and take some off your hands

I'll take some ammo cans off your hands too as well John, I have some caches I want to place, and wouldn't mind a little bit larger one for storing tools in the back of my truck. Looks like the plan is still to hit up pyramid lake area, we can meet at the "cover up" cache, which is on the corner of pyramid highway and eagle canyon, in the albertsons parking lot. John, there are alot of great caches on pyramid highway heading north from I-80, if you get an early start it'd be a good chance to grab some caches.

I'll have to head over there and check it out! So my original plans for saturday may be falling through, hopefully I should know by tomorrow and can make plans to come meet up!

Saturday will probably be pretty busy for me, sunday would be good but I know thats hard for most people. Although I'll be out at the racetrack in fernley on saturday, and could possibly meet up after I'm done there, but that would be a little later in the afternoon.

Haha, same here. I tend to spend alot of time in front of a computer, upside is I spend alot of time out in the field checking on jobs, and many of those "job site checks" include finding caches in the surrounding areas. Getting paid to cache is a nice perk.

Hey, By the way congrats on the 1000th, heard your audio on podcacher today, pretty cool!

Haha, yeah. To each their own I guess. I've been a member of several performance automotive forums for a long time, and all the forums have archived the mailing list and moved to forums. Funny thing is that everyone complained about the change at the time, but now everyone cant believe we used to do it like that. So back to the matter at hand... So tomorrow doesn't look good. I would have got online earlier to say that but power's been out at my house for the past 4 hours, I'm having tech device withdrawls. Actually, tomorrow afternoon might not be bad, after about 2 or so. Its supposed to be raining pretty good both days, but I've got waterproof jackets and the rain just cuts down on muggles I think most of you guys have my cell number, just give me a call if you want to head out!

Sunday? Not sure if Saturday will work yet. Plus its supposed to rain pretty good Saturday, then again thats what raincoats are for

Wow, this is turning out to be tougher than I though! I just got a call that there is a meeting tomorrow for the race team, so looks like I'll have to pull out of tomorrow as well. So although I wont be able to get much if any caching in this weekend, I get to go play with a new Viper and Porsche 997 racecar Haha, tough choices huh. So... Lets shoot for next weekend, maybe we can go for the VC loop. John, go ahead and shoot me an email with your number and we can probably coordinate a little better that way. I am paperless, and also usually bring my laptop with me loaded with a bunch of waypoints. So if you have a data cable for your GPS I can transfer all the waypoints to you so we all have the same data. I think I'll take some time this weekend and get a couple caches placed that I've been sitting on for a while now. Hope to get a tough puzzle cache out there, as well as a fun camoed traditional, especially since I had to disable my only hide due to some construction

One of the things that I like about my Grand Cherokee is that I have plenty of drive options. I can choose from 2wd, 4wd High (full-time), 4wd High (part-time), 4wd Low (part-time) and both axels neutral for towing. The 4wd full-time choice locks the rear, but not the front. The part-time choice locks them both. Also, I can shift between them on-the-fly which allows me to gain a few MPGs by keeping it in 2wd but allows me to go to 4wd if it gets a little sloppy. That sounds pretty slick. My toyota just has the 2-hi, 4-hi, and 4-low. You can shift between 2 and 4 high on the fly below 50mph, so I can do the same thing, keep it in 2 to save on gas, then switch over to 4 when I need it. Originally the locking rear diff could only be enabled in 4-low, but there is a simple one wire mod you can do to enable it in any gear. 4-hi with the rear diff locked works like a champ in all the sand we have here. Plus with the rear locked in 2-hi in the snow makes for an excellent driving experience, not to mention a wicked donut-machine

And then I remembered.....it's Super Bowl Sunday Looks like my caching is going to be limited this weekend I still can't believe no one has placed one at Mt.Rose Ski Resort, well that is going to change this weekend! If I don't get time to find any, I may as well place one! At least there isn't much snow, shouldn't be too hard to hide an ammo can up there! Next weekend I have no obligations! Woohoo! Ok, does that mean we are back to Saturday altered7151??? I was going to mention the Super Bowl Sunday thing too. I guess LostinReno is out completle for this weekend. Saturday early, give me coords and a time and I'll be there?? Yeah I can still do saturday, wasn't sure if you wanted to hold off until the following weekend until lostinreno can meet too or not. Since she hasn't done VC yet, maybe we can save that until everyone else can get together. Any other locations you want to hit? Maybe we could start at the Pagni Canyon cache then work back through washoe valley and south reno. Lostinreno has already hit most of the caches in south reno but I haven't so this would be a good chance to hit those also. I know there are quite a few in the huffaker hills and rattlesnake mountain area.

I bought my cachemobile before I started out caching, but once I started it turned out to be a great choice. Its an 02 Toyota Tacoma TRD edition. The TRD comes with a little lift and larger tires, locking rear diff, better suspension, and some undercarriage protection. I have the extended cab with a snugtop on the back. The dogs love it in the back, and it keeps the drool and hair off the interior. With the 4x4 and locking rear diff I'm pretty confident I can go anywhere any stock jeep can and more. The best part is its super comfortable. I drive it daily and it drives great, no noisy cold in the winter, hot in the summer soft top, nice air conditioning, nice stereo, etc.

I'm a member a couple of message boards for the old mid 80's to early 90's front wheel drive turbo mopars (my other guilty pleasure) and one of the members posted a thread in the off topic forum about geocaching (ClayC on here). He had just got involved in caching and was wondering if anyone else on the board was into it. He posted up a like the geocaching.com. It was perfect timing because I had just received an etrex yellow for my birthday a couple weeks before, so it was a great way to play with the new toy I had just received. Been caching ever since! I just wish I had heard of it a couple weeks earlier as I had just returned from a business trip in Denver and had my nights free for a week. This was in august so I probably had about 5 hours of good daylight to cache. Instead I just drove around making track logs

Yeah sunday should work for me, I'd have to check though.

I might bring my buddy with me that caches with me on occasion, but maybe we can plan a meeting spot and ride in one car? I looked up the caches on google earth for the area, and it looks like coming through South Reno, up Geiger Grade to VC, down 6-mile canyon to 50, 50 back to Carson City, then back to Reno through North Carson and Washoe Valley will give us a good collection of quality caches. John, I know you're coming from Fallon, so not sure where you'd want to meet, let us know what's easiest for you. I'd like to hit the Pagni Canyon Cache on the north end of Washoe Valley too if we have time, its a little bit of a hike, but it is one of the original caches in the Reno area. I'm down for an early start, just not TOO early