Hide-a-keys, Drive-bys And Style

[alifeofplay]

Hi all. I found my first cache the other day and now I'm hooked.

 

Can somebody tell me:

 

Is there a suggested place to purchase the magnetic hide-a-keys that can be used as caches?

 

Is there a symbol on the Geocaching.com site for drive-by caches/ or how can I sort my search by those if I'm planning a car trip and want to remain close to the road?

 

Is it considered cheating to type the coordinates into the GPS? I didn't do so the other day, but it found me just driving in smaller and smaller circles until I got the GPS to lock onto the coordinates I was looking for.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

[+Team Teuton]

1. Auto parts stores, Wal-Mart, lots of places.

 

2. I don't think so. As a premium member you could search by the 'less than 1 hour' and 'kid friendly' attributes. That would get you in the ballpark.

 

3. No, entering the coordinates by hand is not considered cheating. Nor is sending 500 waypoints to your gps all at once via software. Whatever way you use to get them on the machine is fine.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Team Teuton

[+Groovy Cachin' Dude!]

Nice Job alifeofplay! I would have given up long ago if I couldn't put the coordinates into my GPSr.

[+dkwolf]

Hi all. I found my first cache the other day and now I'm hooked.

 

Can somebody tell me:

 

Is there a suggested place to purchase the magnetic hide-a-keys that can be used as caches?

 

Is there a symbol on the Geocaching.com site for drive-by caches/ or how can I sort my search by those if I'm planning a car trip and want to remain close to the road?

 

Is it considered cheating to type the coordinates into the GPS? I didn't do so the other day, but it found me just driving in smaller and smaller circles until I got the GPS to lock onto the coordinates I was looking for.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

 

Wow. That takes dedication man....

[+Prime Suspect]

Is there a suggested place to purchase the magnetic hide-a-keys that can be used as caches?

I've found auto parts stores to be strangely devoid of these. Maybe that's a regional thing. But they're easily found at hardware stores.

[+Miragee]

Target has two in a package for $2.99. They have very strong magnets.

 

I put the log in a small plastic bag when I hide one of those, even if it is also hidden out of the weather, since they aren't completely waterproof.

[+briansnat]

Is there a symbol on the Geocaching.com site for drive-by caches/ or how can I sort my search by those if I'm planning a car trip and want to remain close to the road?

\

 

There is no symbol, but if you search on caches that are 1.5 terrain or lower, there is a good chance its a drive up, or pretty darn close to being one.

[+RichardMoore]

Congratulations on joining the addiction!

But there are a few things you might want to know:

~ The cache that you found (and I'm not knocking the type of hide) is not the only kind of cache. What you found is called a "micro-cache". Most caches are larger than a key case, and contain trade goods. You might want to find a few more before you start placing them.

~ If you found the cache within ten feet of where you're GPSr said it should be, you were right on target. The GPS is accurate to within yards, not inches. Being 20 to 30 feet off is normal.

~ Attend a geocaching event. You'll meet a whole lot of other geo-addicts who will be glad to guide a "newbie".

Once again, congratulations and welcome.

Now quit reading this and go out to find another cache!

[+bwmick]

 

Is there a symbol on the Geocaching.com site for drive-by caches/ or how can I sort my search by those if I'm planning a car trip and want to remain close to the road?

 

Is it considered cheating to type the coordinates into the GPS? I didn't do so the other day, but it found me just driving in smaller and smaller circles until I got the GPS to lock onto the coordinates I was looking for.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

 

Hey Jeff

 

couple of things there is lots of software out there that will help you organize caches anyhow you want to. I use GSAK and like the fact that I can plan a route in mapsource and then use GSAK to tell me where the caches are along it. A new premium member feature that is being tested is also a pocket query by route.

 

as far as typing the coord into your GPSr that is what they are for, once they are typed in you can use your GPSr's goto feature to help (it will point the direction of the cache as long as you are moving). as someone said before you can lot lots in at a time if you use software.

 

hope this helps a little.

 

bwmick

[+Team Cotati]

Wal-Mart. While there you might want to pick up 2 or 3 Lock & Lock tupperware type containers. These make good, quick 'regular' cache containers.

[+LDove]

I found some Hide a Key's at a Dollar Store and they were the best. They opened like a drawer where the inside compartment actually slid into the top section thereby making it waterproof. Some that only have the lid that slides off the top tend to leak. Welcome to geocaching!

[+geognerd]

2. I don't think so. As a premium member you could search by the 'less than 1 hour' and 'kid friendly' attributes. That would get you in the ballpark.

I have a nearby "easy" cache pocket query, but I foolishly forgot to use the attributes as part of the query. Here are two more attributes I found that might be indicative of a drive-up: Wheelchair accessible and stroller accessible.

[+Team Neos]

Hi all. I found my first cache the other day and now I'm hooked.

 

Can somebody tell me:

 

Is there a suggested place to purchase the magnetic hide-a-keys that can be used as caches?

 

Is there a symbol on the Geocaching.com site for drive-by caches/ or how can I sort my search by those if I'm planning a car trip and want to remain close to the road?

 

Is it considered cheating to type the coordinates into the GPS? I didn't do so the other day, but it found me just driving in smaller and smaller circles until I got the GPS to lock onto the coordinates I was looking for.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

Wow. That takes dedication man....

I have to admit---I really didn't read the manual when we got our first gps, and we did the same thing the first day we went out. Then I read through the forums to see if there was a better way. When I learned about entering the coords and hitting "go to" I was estatic! While my beloved husband was at work, I marked coords in my backyard and practiced navigating to the cords again from the front yard. When he got home, I showed him the new trick I had learned, and he was so fascinated that he loaded up cords for some caches and we went out again looking for more caches!

 

A couple of months later, we were doing a cache and ran into another couple. It was the first time we had ever met anyone else while caching, and we talked a long while. They had been geocaching a lot longer than we had at that point. They also had the same kind of gps we did, but had never figured out how to put in coords or how to use the "go to" feature. They were delighted to have someone to coach them through the steps and we were pleased to be able to help out other geocachers.

 

I was even happier when we got a premium membership, and I found Easy gps and Plucker and Spinner. Wow! Now I could get 100 caches at a time into my gps without getting numb fingers--and put the cache page info into my PDA so I didn't have to print out all those pieces of paper and carry them around!

 

For my next trick, I am trying to figure out how to use GSAK.

[alifeofplay]

Congratulations on joining the addiction!

But there are a few things you might want to know:

~ The cache that you found (and I'm not knocking the type of hide) is not the only kind of cache. What you found is called a "micro-cache". Most caches are larger than a key case, and contain trade goods. You might want to find a few more before you start placing them.

~ If you found the cache within ten feet of where you're GPSr said it should be, you were right on target. The GPS is accurate to within yards, not inches. Being 20 to 30 feet off is normal.

~ Attend a geocaching event. You'll meet a whole lot of other geo-addicts who will be glad to guide a "newbie".

Once again, congratulations and welcome.

Now quit reading this and go out to find another cache!

 

Thanks for all the help and comments.

 

1 - the purchase of the hide-a-keys is definitely for the future. As RichardMoore suggested, I'll be trying to find a bunch more before I hide my first one.

 

2 - I knew about the GOTO feature of my GPS, just wanted to see how close I could get by maneuvering around. We actually circled the town once before I decided to keep one coordinate about the same while moving along the E/W line to adjust the other one. *As it was my first micro, I wasn't familiar with the placement of these, so I looked all around for about 15 minutes once I was in the vicinity.

 

I have more placement questions for the future - BUT I'm going to put them in a new post.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

Edited June 13, 2006 by alifeofplay

[+Team JSAM]

Hi all. I found my first cache the other day and now I'm hooked.

 

Can somebody tell me:

 

Is there a suggested place to purchase the magnetic hide-a-keys that can be used as caches?

 

Is there a symbol on the Geocaching.com site for drive-by caches/ or how can I sort my search by those if I'm planning a car trip and want to remain close to the road?

 

Is it considered cheating to type the coordinates into the GPS? I didn't do so the other day, but it found me just driving in smaller and smaller circles until I got the GPS to lock onto the coordinates I was looking for.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

 

As for the micro container a waterproof match holder works better and as for a logo that cacher will know:

 

[+gps_junky]

I guess I had a pritty good understanding of my GPS before I learned about geocaching. Got lucky I guess. Anyway, I don't speak on behalf of all geocachers, as a matter of fact, I have never met an other geocacher, but I do know that most geocachers realy don't like Micro's. Even a penutbutter jar or somthing is better then a micro. I say that the only time to use a micro is when your doing a puzzle or a multi. Just my thoughts. But I still will go and get a micro (I need the credit).

[+IV_Warrior]

Target has two in a package for $2.99. They have very strong magnets.

 

I put the log in a small plastic bag when I hide one of those, even if it is also hidden out of the weather, since they aren't completely waterproof.

 

Completely? They're not even close to waterproof. Water-resistant, maybe......