What came first, the cache or the GPSr?

2.6k · May 17, 2007

I'm always hearing about folks that bought a GPSr just for caching. I would never have thought it would be that way. I had my GPSr long before I heard of caching. In fact I had own a GPSr before caching was conceived of.

Just curious here, but did you have a GPSr before you heard of caching, or did you buy it because of caching?

May 17, 2007

I bought mine for caching. I stumbled across gc.com and read up everything I could, decided I had been looking for something like this since I was wee and there you have it.

I'm always hearing about folks that bought a GPSr just for caching. I would never have thought it would be that way. I had my GPSr long before I heard of caching. In fact I had own a GPSr before caching was conceived of.

Just curious here, but did you have a GPSr before you heard of caching, or did you buy it because of caching?

Edited May 17, 2007 by Ursamajr

1k · May 17, 2007

I bought my first GPSr (a Garmin III+) in 1999. I found out about geocaching while doing research to upgrade to a Garmin V in Oct 2001. Found my first cache a few days later.

May 17, 2007

Yep me too! Bought my gps for geocashing. My cousin who got me into this got his for hunting and then found out about geocashing. Took me on a geocaching hunt with him and I was hooked.

May 17, 2007

I got my first GPS (Garmin GPS II) in July of 2000 at the MCAS Miramar PX.I really didn't use it much until we started heading out into the desert on the weekends.I mainly bought it for hunting/fishing trips when I got home.I wish someone would have told me about Geocaching back then.It would have been a great thing to do and not have to spend money doing it.Not to mention totally dope charter membership yo..

1.3k · May 17, 2007

My stepdad has had a GPS for sailing since long before caching..

My boyfriend (PolskiKrol) bought his GPS after we got lost in a park that, well, turned out to not be a park anymore, with the idea that Geocaching might be another perk to having a GPS (little did we know, additional thing we could do with this tool would soon become an obsession).

Mine was a christmas gift explicitly for Geocaching.

Back to that "park" we got lost in; it's a pretty good story. A long one though. It was still listed on the Florida State Parks Site. The gate to the parking lot was wide open. There was a log to sign in, and one other car parked there. Sure looked like an active park. Actually, the other pair that had signed in that day signed the log as "geocachers" piquing our interest...I suspect they placed the multi that I have since located (on a map) in the "park" the timing seems right.... I digress...

We had a trailmap gotten off of the web. We were just planning on a quick short loop before meeting my grandmother for lunch. We made all the right mistakes: not bringing water, no sunscreen, etc. Luckily I had a cellphone. The trailmap turned out to be horribly inaccurate and we got VERY confused b/c half of the trails in the park were marked, and there were ALL sorts of trails that were just not on the map. Also theres a relatively new highway that cut off a section of the park, twice we were on a trail that deadended at a HUGE fence. We could see freedom but not get to it... We came to deadends, and circled around the park for hours. My fingers were puffing up like they do when I get dehydrated and I was getting dizzy and scared. After what seemed like forever, we saw a marker on a tree...I don't remember whose marker it was, but it had a serial number on it...and not to far from the marker we saw a spine. It was probably a deer, but I freaked out and we ended up calling 911. The person who answered the phone did not care about the marker, and it didn't seem the E911 location features were working, she hung up and called back a few times; finally a helicopter flew around and we waved our hands until it spotted us (it felt like a movie). The sheriff came in a truck to get us. He said he knew where we were just from the description; and that apparantly people get lost out there ALL the time. In fact, he said a couple of weeks prior he found a girl and a boy, accidentally, who did not have a cellphone and had been missing for awhile. They were searching for the boy because they thought he had killed her.

It also seems that the park was no longer a park, or maybe it was closed for the season? The additional trails we saw were actually, barriers (all the trails, real and fake, were sand) because they do "controlled burnings" of the area; and we got really lucky they weren't burning it that day. He also told us we should buy a GPS

Looking at a map of the area, its not THAT big, but we did a lot of winding back and forth... Next time we're in Florida maybe we will have to find out if it is an active park (again?) and try that multi. Now that we have a couple of GPS' we should be alright...right...?

Edited May 17, 2007 by ThirstyMick

11.3k · May 17, 2007

I bought my GPSr just for caching . . . I heard about Geocaching on a National Public Radio "All Things Considered" segment, but didn't have the money for the GPSr until much later.

1.4k · May 17, 2007

I'm always hearing about folks that bought a GPSr just for caching. I would never have thought it would be that way. I had my GPSr long before I heard of caching. In fact I had own a GPSr before caching was conceived of.

Just curious here, but did you have a GPSr before you heard of caching, or did you buy it because of caching?

Well, technically I bought mine because I heard of caching, but I was planning on getting one "someday" for marking out morelle mushroom locations and for car navigation, so I guess geocaching was what pushed me into actually spending the dough because I thought it looked like a great thing to do with the kids.

18.9k · May 17, 2007

I had 1 about a year before I started caching. I was updating the firmware when I saw a little paragraph about geocaching.

May 17, 2007

I got my mapping GPS because I wantet to be more safe in the mountains at heavy fog and whiteouts in the winter. This lead to reading forums on GPS and thus I stumled on geocaching. Never regreted it.

May 17, 2007

I picked my first GPSr out of a company gift catalog as my 30th company anniversary gift. It was a low-end Magellan with only TWO decimal minute positions. I selected it because we had recently been relocated to CT, and it seemed a good way to keep from getting lost. That was in late 2001. Before it arrived in the mail, I had discovered my first geocache when I came across some geocachers in a park and helped them find it. When the GPSr arrived in early 2002, the first thing I did with it was go geocaching! I found about 275 caches with that GPSr before I upgraded.

So answer is, got it for other reasons, first use was geocaching!

6.7k · May 17, 2007

GPS for boat navigation and marking fishing holes was the natural progression from Loran C.

Bought my first hand-held to mark inland lake fishing holes.

Discovered geocaching while reading up on how to use the handheld (eTrex Yellow).

May 17, 2007

Just for GeoCaching, but don't tell Mrs. Good 'ol Eagle told her it was for Boy Scout camping.

May 17, 2007

I got my first one because it was on the clearance rack (handspring visor accessory) but I did a search that night for what I could do with it. It took me a couple of months to find the time to start geocaching.

May 17, 2007

Had watched geocaching when it first started up, but didn't dive into it till much later despite thinking it was a cool idea - so I had to have the GPS so I could cache.

May 17, 2007

I'd been wanting a GPS since I heard they had consumer versions available. I heard about Geocaching in a youth oriented magazine sometime around when it was starting.

I didn't get my first GPSr until early 2005.

---

I figured this question would be more of a Chicken or Egg thing.

Which came first: Leaving some type of 'caches' or GPS?

May 17, 2007

I'd used a GPS-12 for awhile for hiking, camping and paddling around the Thousand Islands in Cocoa Beach. After I bought a yellow eTrex, I found out about Geocaching through a Google search for uses of a GPSr.

My third (GPSMap 60c) was bought to make caching a little easier. Gotta love color maps!

May 17, 2007

I had mine about a week when my friend said, "nice, I use mine for..."

Still not it's primary use, though geocaching had more than a little to do with buying a new unit last year.

May 17, 2007

I had seen geocaching mentioned on different forum and when one came up on woot.com cheap, we jumped. We've been having fun ever since.

1.1k · May 17, 2007

My first one was a Magellan 2000 XL I bought in 1994 for $138.00 at Wal Mart, as I recall.

I took it to Colorado that summer and loaded a ton of waypoints into it for later use, then on my next to the last night I knocked it out of the overhead pouch in my tent and didn't notice until morning. It was fine, but the batteries had fallen out and all my precious waypoints were lost. With the 100 meter accuracy it wasn't much use for precise work but I still had fun with it for several years.

Just wish I'd known a few years earlier that SA was turned off in 2000, I would have been a charter member here asa well.

8.4k · May 17, 2007

I'm always hearing about folks that bought a GPSr just for caching. I would never have thought it would be that way. I had my GPSr long before I heard of caching. In fact I had own a GPSr before caching was conceived of.

Just curious here, but did you have a GPSr before you heard of caching, or did you buy it because of caching?

I got my Magellan GPS2000 in 1995. I got it mainly to mark the coords for the spot in the John Muir Wilderness that I want my ashes scattered to put in my will.

I found nearly 200 caches with it.

BTW- I was hiding caches in the 80's. They just weren't geocaches.

May 17, 2007

I got mine this past Sunday solely for caching and plotting my hiking routes in TopoUSA.

Found 6 caches so far.

2.5k · May 17, 2007

Um, both? I bought my husband a GPS to use for his work. He drove a truck over-the-road then (he is regional now) and I thought it would be nice for those times when he had to go around a wreck or when the directions he had been given were inferior. I stumbled across the gc forums while I was researching which unit would be best to buy. The day he opened his gift, we went out to find a couple of caches near our home. A couple of months later, he bought a GPS for me so we wouldn't have to argue over who got to hold the unit on the way to the cache.

May 17, 2007

I bought mine because it was another cool gadget that I happened to spot in the open box section at Cabela's.

Did some looking online for the manual that it was missing and found a bunch of stuff about geocaching.

Within a day I was out searching for our first one.

Now we're hooked.

Oh yeah, we also use the Vista Cx and the Legend C for urban navigation.

~k

3.2k · May 17, 2007

I bought the GPSr only because I heard about geocaching. It "saved" me in a manner.

I was an online gamer. A MMORPG called DAOC. I gamed everyday for anywhere from 2 hours to a couple of 16 hour days. I was hooked. We have a block breakfast every year and one of the neighbors (I think he was 65 at the time) came down the street for some food. Some folks asked him what he'd been up to and he got a big grin and said, "Ttreasure hunting!". They all laughed and asked what he meant and he said, "Geocaching!". He proceeded to explain what geocaching was and most of the neighbors shook their heads and laughed good-naturedly. However, being a bit of a geek, I asked him for the URL and, after breakfast was over, I went home and immediately made an account so I could check out the forums. Within a week I had purchased a Garmin 76CS and started caching as soon as it arrived in the mail. I never gamed again.

2k · May 18, 2007

I didn't even know what a GPS was until Renegade Knight introduced me to geocaching. My wife thought it would be a cool hobby and bought me a SporTrak Pro. I have upgraded twice since then and I suspect my wife would appreciate it if I spent more time at home and less geocaching.

May 18, 2007

We bought our GPSr's just for caching. Found out about geocaching in a magazine, looked it up online, sounded iteresting so the next day we went out and bought a GPSr and the day after that we went out caching. Been hooked ever since.

3.2k · May 18, 2007

Caching... :laughing:

May 19, 2007

Bought my first one for marking fishing holes and monitoring trolling speed on Lake Michigan. Second one just for Cachin'.

2.6k · May 19, 2007

So far it's pretty even.

Owned and used GPSr before starting caching - 15

Bought a GPSr just for caching - 14

May 21, 2007

I bought my first GPS about a month before we discovered caching. It was a Garmin GPS 12. My dad had a GPS 12XL for use on his boat, and I thought it was cool, so I bought one off ebay for $50. As I was showing it to another friend, she asked if we were GeoCachers and we said What is that? Went home and looked it up... the rest is history. We since have purchased a Magellan Meridian Gold and a Garmin GPSmap 60C.

24.7k · May 21, 2007

Because of caching.

The rig that I didn't fix becaues of the cost of the GPS was hauled to the Junkyard no so long ago.

2.5k · May 21, 2007

I wanted a GPS when I was pretty young. I can't remember how old but I'm sure it was my early teens.

Finally I got my AirMap 500 when I was about 16 or 17 for use with my flight training. I got one I knew I could use for pretty much everything, and I did use it for everything. I packed it around like people do cell phones before I even heard of Geocaching, and still do.

I found caching browsing a Kayaking website, someone mentioned it in a product review for a GPS and I got curious. I had seen the word used only once before on my 2nd GPS, a Garmin with the "Geocache" symbol.

May 21, 2007

i had my GPSr for running (Garmin Forerunner 301)...caching started about 6 months later!

i now use a Garmin Foreunner 305...

Edited May 21, 2007 by allrounder

May 21, 2007

Found out about geocaching on an online forum, signed up, found some, brought gps in an online auction.

Totaly hooked.

38.2k · May 21, 2007

I bought my first GPS specifically for geocaching. Owning a GPS wasn't even on my radar screen until I read about the sport.

1.5k · May 21, 2007

Until I heard of caching, I had no use for a GPSr. Now I use it pretty much all the time - caching, driving, marking personal POIs, as a stopwatch... yep, it's handier than I ever thought it would be.

May 21, 2007

I bought the GPSr only because I heard about geocaching. It "saved" me in a manner.

I was an online gamer. A MMORPG called DAOC. I gamed everyday for anywhere from 2 hours to a couple of 16 hour days. I was hooked. We have a block breakfast every year and one of the neighbors (I think he was 65 at the time) came down the street for some food. Some folks asked him what he'd been up to and he got a big grin and said, "Ttreasure hunting!". They all laughed and asked what he meant and he said, "Geocaching!". He proceeded to explain what geocaching was and most of the neighbors shook their heads and laughed good-naturedly. However, being a bit of a geek, I asked him for the URL and, after breakfast was over, I went home and immediately made an account so I could check out the forums. Within a week I had purchased a Garmin 76CS and started caching as soon as it arrived in the mail. I never gamed again.

Funny, just this week I mentioned to my wife that since we've been caching, I haven't played any serious computer games. We just got a new PC with Windows Vista and I had to make sure that GSAK was Vista-compatible, but I still don't know if my favorite game will run on it or not - and have no inclination to check. Cache on!

May 21, 2007

Just a few months before I found out about geocaching I had been offered an older GPS. I played with it for a bit but decided to let the guy donate it to a charity auction rather then to me (I think it only brought in like $20)... when I learned about geocaching I cursed myself because I really wanted to try it... a few months later I found my first cache without a GPS then I broke down and bought a new Garmin Legend.

May 22, 2007

I bought mine for backcountry hiking and backpacking, but the day that I bought it I tried geocaching for the first time and was hooked. It is all that I have used it for so far :laughing:

May 22, 2007

The cache came first. yup. it did.

May 22, 2007

Sailing/boating and 'hiding' lobster pots in '97. It was a tip from the owner of a yacht I used to move. No need for a new one since. Saw J on CCN and hid a cache a week later.

May 22, 2007

I had mine for a year before caching and learned about caching because I had it with me. I got it because my brother showed me his and I wanted better trail maps of county parks who's maps were really wrong, like bad wrong. Those maps got me so lost I am still out there trying to get back.

14.3k · May 22, 2007

I got my GPS first because I'm a gadget geek. I found out about Geocaching after doing a Google search looking for fun things to do with my new GPS gadget.

3.2k · May 23, 2007

Caching...

Note that I was replying to the topic title, not the initial post. Don't count me in the "got a GPS to cache" group.

May 28, 2007

Hmmm, both! I bought a Garmin Nuvi 660 because I am terrified of driving highways so I can use it to get where I want to go and avoid them. Then I found out about geocaching while searching info about my garmin a few months later.

That very day I read the post about which one to buy, went to Canadian Tire to pick up a Magellan Explorist 400 and found my first cache that day after my kids came home. Little did I know I could enter coordinates in my Nuvi although I find the combination of the two work great. It's been exactly one month today and only 27 finds but doing my best to get out as often as I can!

3.5k · May 28, 2007

Bought my Garmin 45xl well before Geocaching exisited. I don't remember the year. Started caching in Feb 2001. After I started caching I bought a Garmin 12, then a Garmin Map76, then a Garmin 60cx.

May 28, 2007

Bought for back road, and hiking navigation. Saw caching on the unit itself, looked it up, never turned back.

May 28, 2007

I bought my first GPSr on a rainy day in Lake Placid. Cockroach and I were up there camping, with the intention of "bagging a few more peaks." Remembering a past instance where we had a difference of opinion on how to read a map and where we were, I was intrigued by the Garmin Vista. One of my hopes was that we would climb Esther, a trail-less peak. However, not only did I want us to make it to the top, I also wanted us to make it back down before nightfall without getting lost.

The next day took us out to Whiteface Mountain, one of the more popular of the 46 peaks, as it is the ONLY peak that non-hikers can drive to the top of. It's also the only peak where you can be served a fresh cheeseburger and icy drink at the summit of. During the 4-1/2 hours it took to hike to the top, I found out that there were a lot of bells and whistles to the unit, more than I felt comfortable using. I also knew my limitations, and that means MANUALS! I don't understand 'em half the time, so I learn by doing, not reading when it comes to technology.

The day after we got back from that High Peaks trip, I remembered the Eternal Flames geocache page that I had stumbled across on the net a year ago. At that time, I had been looking for a trail map leading to the Eternal Flames in Chestnut Ridge Park. I perused the geocaching website, and the next day, I set out to find the closest cache to my apartment. I had not a clue what I was looking for (50 cal? What's that? A low-calorie soda can?), and luckily I ran into another cacher on my first hunt.

Let's just say the rest is history. I now own four different Garmins, teach geocaching and GPSr classes for Eastern Mountain Sports, and enjoy caching on nearly a daily basis. Using geocaching to learn how to use a GPSr was a successful goal, and so much more.

By the way, I hiked within 100 feet of a cache on the way up Whiteface that first day (it's now archived ), and I still have to bo back to hike up Esther! The irony in this hasn't been lost on me. :huh:

May 28, 2007

Read about it before I had a gpsr, then had to buy a garmin because heard magellin sucked

What came first, the cache or the GPSr?

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