Reasonable Distance From Gps Coordinates

[+FireRef]

I made the newbie mistake of looking exactly where the GPS told me to for a few caches, and didn't have any luck finding them. Then I started broadening my search, and managed to find a few. What is a reasonable distance from the actual center of the GPS coordinates to look for caches? Is there a "standard" max distance they're supposed to be from the coordinates? I'm presuming, of course, that the coordinates given are correct, and my GPS is giving me an accurate location as well.

 

I know I should be looking in convenient hiding spaces nearby. Just wondering how far to expand my search.

[+Beffums]

I made the newbie mistake of looking exactly where the GPS told me to for a few caches, and didn't have any luck finding them. Then I started broadening my search, and managed to find a few. What is a reasonable distance from the actual center of the GPS coordinates to look for caches? Is there a "standard" max distance they're supposed to be from the coordinates? I'm presuming, of course, that the coordinates given are correct, and my GPS is giving me an accurate location as well.

 

I know I should be looking in convenient hiding spaces nearby. Just wondering how far to expand my search.

We generally assume about 40-50 feet, unless the cache page or previous logs note that there's a problem with the coords. Our logic -- a lot of the time, you only have 20-25 foot accuracy. Figure the same is true for the hider. so double the distance, just in case. If there's a lot of tree cover, and we only have 40 foot accuracy, we'll broaden out our searching radius.

[+The Leprechauns]

When hiding a cache, I look for accuracy of 25 feet or less. That is considered normal where I live; you can do much better on average if you are in the desert.

 

So, assume that I hide the cache and my coordinates are 25 feet off. You search for it, also with your GPS saying that you have 25 foot accuracy that day. This gives a maximum of a 50 foot radius. I consider it entirely normal to search all the hiding spots within a 50 foot radius of where my GPS settles, before I will complain too loudly about bad coordinates. Get to a spot where your GPS settles at the lowest number possible, then quit looking at the GPS and just start looking in places where a cache of the indicated size might be hidden.

[+Renegade Knight]

Virtually all caches that I find are within 20 feet of ground zero per the GPS. I don't sweat it if it's up to 50' off. After that I may make a note of better coords in my log.