JediMaster21 Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Hi, I have had a GPS for quite a while now, a little Garmin Gecko 201. I have used it for arb things here and there whilst hiking or traveling around but have not used it as much as I would have liked to...Then I watched Top Billing last Thursday and found out about this awesome sport/hobbie as I love the outdoors and now can get some more use out of the GPS! Is this unit "good enough" to go find some caches? Or do you think I need an upgrade? I am going out this afternoon to try and find my 1st cache anyway will let you know how it goes.... Does somebody have a list of Caches in the Johannesburg area? Would like to try and find the caches closet to home 1st... Would also be interested in getting to together sometime with one of the more experienced cachers in the area to go through some basics on geocaching. Quote
+warthog Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Hi there, Welcome to the sport. If you say Johannesburg, where more or less, so that we could give you the ones closer to you. From a GPS perspective, if you have managed to get to a specific point on a hiking trail, etc. using this GPS, you should be able to get to a cahce as well. Regards Petrus (Warthog) Quote
JediMaster21 Posted October 24, 2005 Author Posted October 24, 2005 Going to give it a shot later! I stay in Blairgowrie, Randburg behind Delta park but do not mind driving around johannesburg to much... Thanks for the Speedy reply!!!! Quote
+warthog Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 (edited) Three very easy one's (apart from the multi-cache) in the Jhb Botanical gardens near Emmerentia, namely Shakespeares Garden, Message in a Bottle and The tree in the middle. In Delta Park, Outre is also a good one. It was recently replaced. Alberts Farm is also a very easy and very nice one to do, (to cut your teeth on). Any other questions you may have, feel free to post. Edited October 24, 2005 by warthog Quote
JediMaster21 Posted October 24, 2005 Author Posted October 24, 2005 Thank you, I am going to give The Tree in the Middle a shot! Quote
+Discombob Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 Hey, nice to see more cachers from the top Billing show That GPS should be fine. I started my career with a dodgy 2 decimal places GPS, and had no difficulties finding caches. Sometime people complain a bit when your hiding co-ords are a bit out, but its not a big issue at all! If you want a list of all Joberg caches, you could go to www.globalrat.com, and click on "SA Caches by province" and then select GP. A good place to get your close ones when you start, and then just use geocaching.com to get details on all new caches placed once you have found a few. Also, once you are in a cache pages readme, you can select "Show me all nearby caches", which groups them by distance from a set cache. Quote
+vespax Posted October 24, 2005 Posted October 24, 2005 GPS should be fine. When I started I had a real old unit. I had to input everything by hand and wandered the woods for a long time looking for something that I was told was there, but didn't really know what it looked like. Had to go back to the house two times and check the site. Plus it was raining that day. I used that unit for months, and then my wife bought me a new one. ( I think she regrets that purchase. ) Anyways, welcome to the fun of it all. Hope your caching adventures are great. And remember, it's a great excuse to be outside walking where you have never been before. Regards, Aaron. Quote
JediMaster21 Posted October 25, 2005 Author Posted October 25, 2005 Thanks to everybody for the advice, went out to Message in a bottle yesterday afternoon on the way to Tree in the Middle, GPS worked fine the, because I had to work a little late one problem I had was the light faded very quick so I know I got to the right spot but because the light was so bad gave the hunt up! And then there seemed to be a but of a storm on the way Hopefully I can get off work a little earlier today and get back out there to find my first cache! Once again thanks to everybody for all for the advice! Quote
+Goofster Posted October 25, 2005 Posted October 25, 2005 And I thought my eTrex Venture was getting long in the tooth! Vespa, I covet thy GPSMap 60C (or is it a CS?) Quote
+bear&fox Posted October 26, 2005 Posted October 26, 2005 Goofster, it's almost Christmas. Hopefully you've been a good boy this year (if not, plant some new caches to improve your rating!) Quote
+Goofster Posted October 26, 2005 Posted October 26, 2005 No worries, I've already allocated part of my year-end bonus to the acquisition of 60C - if the bonus comes through, that is! Quote
JediMaster21 Posted October 27, 2005 Author Posted October 27, 2005 I have actually decided to do the same, after making my 1st find yesterday My Gecko 201 worked great but decided I could do with a better GPS now! Quote
+vespax Posted October 27, 2005 Posted October 27, 2005 Goofster, oh how I covet thy cachemobile!!!! I have the CS, by the way. Jedimaster21 - Beware, although this sport is "free" the outside expenses can add up. Somewhere in the SA thread is a post about the cost of geocaching in SA. Some of the stories are funny, some are sad. Ah, the GPS. That piece of equipement that my gov't spent billions of dollars developing so we can enjoy finding 2L ice cream containers outdoors. What a system..... Quote
+Goofster Posted October 27, 2005 Posted October 27, 2005 (edited) Not to mention all the ice-cream one has to eat just so that you can place another cache. Although TV&M's Ferero-Rocher hot chocolate sauce could spur me on to place many a cache! Perhaps this is their secret weapon . . . ? Yeah, there are plenty of hidden costs in geocaching: medical bills for various contusions, abrasions and sprains, Pratley's putty for emergency GPSr repairs, inkjet cartridges for reams of cache print-outs. But I digress. I'm glad you like the cachemobile, Vespa, but I'm not ready to trade just yet. Edited October 27, 2005 by Goofster Quote
+vespax Posted October 27, 2005 Posted October 27, 2005 Point well taken on the ice cream. Are you sure you don't want to trade? Seems fair to me! Quote
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