TheWanderesss

Hi, my iOS and Geocaching app are the latest versions. The widget doesn't appear among the widgets I can add. How do I do this?

Can you please explain how exactly to do this?

Why can't I see the LA on the desktop map of geocaching.com? Considering that each LA stage counts as one find, it would make sense to show not only the LA, but also all the stages on the map. Working with 2 apps is exhausting. Is there a way around this?

Hi everybody! So I recently started geocaching in the US, after having done so in Europe for years. I will confess that in EU I just used my iphone, because it usually had accuracy between 1-3meters, so I didn't feel the need to get an actual GPSr. While in the US, my iphone's best is 6m, but mostly it's 8-16m...or the phone keeps jumping from one direction to another so I end up walking in circles.....I actually had to abort my geo-mission several times because of that, it's getting annoying. So now I'm looking into the Garmin GPSrs and wonder whether I should get an Oregon 750 or GPSMAP66, or maybe a Montana? I don't need any fanciness such as camera or bluetooth - I use the geocaching app on my iphone to look up the geocaches and plan my trip anyway. What I need is a GPSr with the best accuracy that I can get, so that it gets me to Ground Zero quickly and efficiently. Can you share what you're using and what the accuracy of your GPSr is? I'm interested in your experience and some numbers. Or any tips that come to mind are welcome, too, thanks!

Some possible reasons could include funky characters, too many characters (the max is 20 characters), or the name is already taken. Can you give examples of names it won't accept? Edit to add: The Help Center article on username changes is here. The buddy's nick is CachLin, so I wanted to change my username in "CachLin&The Wanderess" but it won't work. Actually any other username (unique) are "not available". Recently I upgraded to premium membership, could that be the reason?

I want to change my username to include a geocaching buddy into my team, but any username I try to enter is rejected as "not available". How do I change the username? Are there any restrictions?

When has "bring a pen" ever been a requirement for the cache page? Common sense says you'd need a GPS and a pen (since all logs must be signed...) in this hobby. I say we should use the term "uncommon sense" cause common sense is no longer that common. I didn't know it either until I noticed it's being mentioned in many listings...so I started to think it's the way things are supposed to be. I thought we were talking about opinions and not testing the knowledge of rules, thanks.

What a discussion....I'm no tax expert but the questions others have asked sound logical. I think it's a pity GS can't be bothered to reply properly to those concerns, that only destroys their credibility. On the other hand, many of those who claimed not to get a PM because this price difference is ridiculous (which I agree with), are listed as Premium Members. Huh? I never seriously considered becoming a PM...why should I pay 30USD (back then I didn't even know I'd actually have to pay 30 EUR!!) for something I can perfectly do for free?? Hoping I will turn 80 happy and geocaching one day, I would contribute 50 times 30 EUR...there are more than 6 million geocachers in this world, so now do some maths!

At home, save the caches you wanna go visit on a list in the iphone app and when offline, you can use the app to find them. This doesn't require internet connection, only the use of gps the iphone has anyway. I do this for geocaching abroad and it works fine, however, the position tends to be a little less exact. But so far, I managed.

Why would ppl sign the container instead of the log?? Assuming the log is there and in order, obviously. A couple of times I failed to bring my own pen (it wasn't mentioned in the listing you should BYOP), so I took a picture of the logbook/cache and posted that along with logging it and asking the CO if it was OK. So far I got no deletes.

Life changes. You should be open to some new stuff and if you want the good old to live on, make it

I can't imagine why not. At least as long as you make it a game that's not solely dependant on the coordinates, then it should be great fun!

I'm sure you'll find it worth those few bucks! Especially considering the alternative is a handheld gps device and a preium membership which together cost a few hundreds

I guess you can find the listings via your iphone app, save them on a list and then go find them, you don't need a gps.

1. seems to be solved already 2. I've got a couple of coins and travel bugs, I'm also not sure what exactly to expect. So I just let them travel and keep the track hoping they'll make it, but I'm also kinda ready for the option they won't. I guess it's a risky business. Also, I like to get geocoins with copytags, so that I get to keep my nice coin and let the (less nice ) tag travel. 3. Geocaching culture...to me it's a kinda mix of hiking and being a tourist. I love caches that bring me to a place I've never noticed even if I walk nearby every day! I think it's a perfect hobby for ppl who love to be outdoors, who enjoy nature and sightseeing. I do get a kick of the "numbers", but it's not the most important aspect to me. It's more like "omg, there are still so many to find!", plus I know I will probably learn something cool by cracking that mystery cache!

Just wait for the moment when you get this brilliant idea about what kind of a cache you want to make (traditional, multi or mystery etc) and what its theme will be. The more caches you find, the more inspiration you'll get. After having found my first 50 caches, I thought geocaching was about hiding a lunchbox or a film container....I couldn't have been more wrong! It's important to think about your cache very well and put some proper effort in placing the container(s) but also in setting up your cache page. You need to ask yourself some questions, like do you wanna buy a container or make it yourself? If so, how creative can you be, what tools and materials are you gonna need? Is there a story you want to tell through your cache or do you want to honour a special place? Can that place (plants around it etc) handle all those geocachers who will come looking for your treasure or is it better to choose a different location? It's recommended to be critical of your work, double-check everything before you let it be reviewed to make sure it's all on its place. Fine-tune. It can come handy to have a friend geocacher proof-walk your cache before you publish it. Good luck!

I use the official geocaching app on my iphone and am very happy with it. Mostly I check the coordinates in the google maps app to see about where the cache lies and also to see if i can get there without using the geocaching app. So basically I try to find out a street name and number or a significant point that's easy to find. Once there, I follow the geocaching app, just like you, using the compass. When difficult to find, I look at the coordinates of my current location and those of the cache and see which way I need to move, that proved helpful quite many times. When abroad or offline anyway, I save the caches on a list before I go geocaching and then let the app get me to the GZ. As others already said, the most important is you're having fun while geocaching and do no harm to nature while geocaching. Enjoy!

c:geo is an app that does it all!

I'm not sure I get you right but reading your initial post, I think it might be a mystery cache and those often have no "navigate to" option as you need to solve a puzzle first. Maybe it would help if you told us which cache (the cache code) you're talking about? The whole discussion about apps and memberships is irrelevant, while using the smartphone apps, you don't need to pay a premium membership (it only adds some extra features).

That poking is one thing I have issues with as well. I'm convinced that geocaches are supposed to be placed so that you can find them without destroying any nature. Geocachers who poke into everything and walk in the woods like bulldozers are plain criminals to me!

I found it helpful to pretend being a tourist: ppl won't think you're acting weird if you walk around with a camera and a map and look like you're exploring the beautiful sights of the city. Or actually go geocaching while I really am a tourist in the place Besides this, I think the trick is in your attitude - if you act like you're doing the most normal thing in the world, ppl won't even notice you exist (mostly), but if you act all stealthy and sneaky, you'll soon be getting at least weird looks. Some ppl might even think you are about to steal stuff, so be careful.

I wouldn't agree on that. I've been geocaching using my iphone and the geocaching app. Mostly, the precision is ±5m so I didn't ever have a trouble to find a cache. I consider getting a gps anyway, because after having placed a cache myself, I heard from other cachers that my coordinates were not quite exact. I used a garmin gpsmap62st which disappointed me greatly...it managed to pin my position with precision UP TO ±10m in the woods where the iphone has ±5m! And when walking on a huge open square in the middle op a city, garmin said ±20m....so finally I returned that thing back to the shop. While using the garmin, I realized there were other negative points, I sum up the pro's and con's here. Garmin 62st vs. iphone geocaching app: the winner is iphone because of the precision and user-friendliness. Pro's of garmin: - battery life (iphone manages about 5hours of geocaching) - works on AA batteries that are easy to buy anywhere - robust and spatter-proof Con's of garmin: - you need to be a Premium member to be able to download the whole cache including all its info to your garmin (iphone app costs 9EUR and does the rest for free), which means that using a smartphone you can geocache not only paperless but also as-you-go, while with a garmin, you'll always need to plan your trip ahead and keep paying for it - small low-resolution screen - precision (iphone turns out to be more precise!) - slow and not very user-friendly interface - compass just keeps turning, there's no way I could follow it So far I'm happy with the iphone and I don't see any reason to pay hundreds of euros for a garmin that doesn't live up to my expectations. However, it's just my experience, so I would advise you to rent a garmin from your local shop for a few days, if you can, so you can test it properly.