How did you get here?

[+Sputnik 57]

I've noticed a fair number of threads in the Units and Software forum lately that are asking primarily about car nav units, GPS phones and PDAs. My guess (and its only that) is that folks get these devices, get online to learn more, stumble upon geocaching in general, or this forum in particular, and jump in. Caching has nothing to do with their presence here (not that there's anything wrong with that). It made me curious, though.

 

How many of you were cachers first, who came to the forum to get some help using your unit to cache? How many of you were hardware owners looking for help who just happened to find this site through the net? And of the latter group, how many have since said, "Hey, this geocaching thing is pretty cool. I may give it a try"?

Edited July 24, 2007 by Sputnik 57

[+Knight2000]

I stumbled upon an "about.com" article on geocaching while searching for family activities. Then we went out and bought a GPS. I never thought of doing it with google maps or we probably would have.

 

Then came the PDA. I did have a laptop unit for when i traveled back in 2000-01. But it would not work for caching.

[+mo_town_man]

I've noticed a fair number of threads in the Units and Software forum lately that are asking primarily about car nav units, GPS phones and PDAs. My guess (and its only that) is that folks get these devices, get online to learn more, stumble upon geocaching in general, or this forum in particular, and jump in. Caching has nothing to do with their presence here (not that there's anything wrong with that). It made me curious, though.

 

How many of you were cachers first, who came to the forum to get some help using your unit to cache? How many of you were hardware owners looking for help who just happened to find this site through the net? And of the latter group, how many have since said, "Hey, this geocaching thing is pretty cool. I may give it a try"?

 

For me it was the tool. I bought the GPS for road navigation and for the jetski. I seen on garmin's site a link to geocaching and they said the GPS was geocaching ready. I thought to myself, this is dumb, but would be a good way to test out my new GPS.

 

Well, i found my first cache, and decided this was neat stuff...

 

--danny

[damayo]

I stumbled on geocaching when I bought my 60csx last month. I first found out about it on the Garmin sight which eventually lead me here. I think it's kind of fun but haven't been able to convince the kids to get involved.

[Rhialto]

Local TV program presented that activity about 3 years ago. Didn't care of it for a year then reminded it and searched for it.

 

Then I joined here and start reading only because we were waiting for twins. They are 2 years old now so I think it's about time for me to start Geocaching so I just bought a unit yesterday and I should get it tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile I had time to found a cache without a GPSr last summer! :-)

[+Renegade Knight]

Cacher first, Then got the GPS instead of parts for my rig. I later sold that rig on eBay and made 40 bucks for my trouble. Yet another way that Geocaching has cost me money.

[+EclectEcon]

How many of you were cachers first, who came to the forum to get some help using your unit to cache? How many of you were hardware owners looking for help who just happened to find this site through the net? And of the latter group, how many have since said, "Hey, this geocaching thing is pretty cool. I may give it a try"?

Funny. This past spring, I bought an eTrex just to take hiking. I'd never heard of geocaching, but wanted the GPSr just to lay out and track my movements when I was hiking. It actually was helpful (and a great toy!).

 

Then on my second day of hiking, I met Duncan and Gaynor who were geocaching. They told me quite a bit about it, so I decided to try it a few weeks later. My wife and I now try to find several caches each week and really enjoy both the exercise and the hunt.

 

But where we hunt, the tree canopies can be pretty serious, so we're now thinking of upgrading to an Hcx model. More toys!!

[+Team_CSG]

Learned about geocaching as an aside as part of a Boy Scout roundtable on using a GPS. Within 30 days I had my own GPS and found my first cache.

Edited July 24, 2007 by arthurat

[+TeamCNJC]

It was geocaching - saw an article in the Virginia Pilot while at my in-laws in Virginia Beach. Logged on and saw that there were a few caches within walking distance. Looking for any excuse to get out of the house, it took me an hour to get to the boat store, buy my first GPS, and start hunting caches. Since then I've owned three more GPS units (one was a prize in a Magellan contest).

[Slocaus]

I'm a bicyclist, primarily exploring old dirt roads, or mountain biking. I bought a 60CSx last year as a bike and truck navigation tool (I drive very little). In January 2007, I had a bike accident and broke bones in my shoulder and had a hematoma on my knee. Until I was able to ride again, I started benchmarking / geocaching by walking around town. Now I occasionally combine dirt based bicycling and benchmarking, trying to find all the BMs in the county. My primary GPSr use is trying to get lost on my bike.

[+niffir]

I heard about caching (through the wheresgeorge forums) and became a cacher long before I ever got a GPS. In fact, it was 4 years later before I got a GPS. Of course I only found maybe 30 caches in those first 4 years-- I found them by borrowing GPSs from people I knew who had them and didn't use them much.

[+GOT GPS?]

Bought my first GPS in 1998, which was a Magellan 4000XL 12-Channel GPS, and then a Garmin GPS III, then a GPS IIIplus in 2001, then when researching every possible use for GPS for THIS webpage, I found Geocaching by accident sometime around May 2001, when putting together that page. It is way out of date now. I then signed up and started caching July 1st 2001.

 

Before Geocaching in 2001, I just thought of GPS being used to roughly track my hikes, then to put the hikes on the PC, also being able to use a GPS at all to see my location on the Earth was cool in itself before my Geocaching days.

[Team Sidewinder]

It was the tool first 12 or so years ago. A Garmin 12XL that I used for hunting trips so I could find my way back to the truck. I don't even remember how I stumbled on the Geocaching.com web site and the rest is history.

 

team sidewinder

[OlManJeb]

I've noticed a fair number of threads in the Units and Software forum lately that are asking primarily about car nav units, GPS phones and PDAs. My guess (and its only that) is that folks get these devices, get online to learn more, stumble upon geocaching in general, or this forum in particular, and jump in. Caching has nothing to do with their presence here (not that there's anything wrong with that). It made me curious, though.

 

How many of you were cachers first, who came to the forum to get some help using your unit to cache? How many of you were hardware owners looking for help who just happened to find this site through the net? And of the latter group, how many have since said, "Hey, this geocaching thing is pretty cool. I may give it a try"?

 

 

Guilty as charged... all except the caching part...

[+Miragee]

I learned about Geocaching quite a while before I got my first GPSr. When I finally bought one, just for Geocaching, I came here to the Forums to learn about waypoints and coordinates and other stuff, before finally getting out to find my first cache.

[+SidAndBob]

I saw a yellow eTrex in Millets (UK camping/hiking shop) about 4 years ago. My wife bought it for a Christmas present as I love walking. It was the best present I ever got. The passion grew and I now love hiking, especially in the mountains. I got pretty frustrated with the eTrex's inability to handle forested areas, so when I eventually discovered Geocaching in March 2006 it didn't take long for me to upgrade to the GPSmap60 CSx (at rip off UK prices) and UK Topo (which shows much more detail than the US version apparently).

My free time is now dominated by geocaching and hiking, nearly always with my dog, usually with my son, but absolutely always with my Garmin GPSmap60 CSx.

[+HuskerMagna]

My wife and I were introduced to geocaching at the 2006 Nebraska Star Party, NSP 13 in fact, by a member on here, Twinstars. Joined this site after returning from NSP in August 2006. Bought our GPSr in February of 2007 and have been on the go since. With some time off to get the kids graduated from High School. Now we're ready to spend some time finding some more cache's. We currently only have one GPS but I have a suspicion that will be changing here in the hopefully near future.

[+dew cache]

For me it was geochaching first in fact I borrowed a GPS to do my first caches. I had a GPS for the car Lowrance 500C deffinatly not a hand held. I have been using a Palm since the 90's and did not even know about paperless caching until after I bought my own GPS after reading about in here.

[+NightPilot]

I've been using a GPS since the very early 90s, when it first became a viable system, long before SA was turned off and geocaching began. My first GPS was a Magellan Pioneer, and I still have it, in a closet somewhere. I started geocaching in 2003.

[robertlipe]

From the top of page XVI of "Google Maps Hacks"

 

Robert Lipe, tired of being lost most of the time, bought his first GPS in 2001. Though it was originally justified for his business travels as a software engineer, geocaching quickly consumed it - and him. Frustrated with the available tools to talk to the GPS ... he wrote GPSBabel...

 

So I fall into that latter category - those that found caching after having a GPS. But since I now have somewhere between 30 and 40 GPSes, I'm probably not typical....

 

The GPSes that never leave my desk these days are _way_ more capable and likable than those i was using to find the way back to my hotel in '01.

[goedips]

Just been lurking here for a while and have no interest in the geocahing, but this board seems to be one of the more informative ones about different types of GPS'es and how to use them, and various threads on here helped me with picking which GPS unit to get myself originally.

[moonpup]

I happened to stumble across an article in Boston Sunday Globe a number of years ago that peaked my interest and soon after ran out and got the trusty blue Legend

 

I have since had many gps' now using a 60CSx. What fun!

Edited July 25, 2007 by moonpup

[reidcardwell]

I actually came across geocaching in chapter 3 of Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and AJAX while working on a mapping project about four weeks ago. My new Garmin 60CSx arrived yesterday, and I've already loaded it up with caches to start hunting on a trip this weekend.

[andylphoto]

For me they came about the same time. I had heard about geocaching from a friend a couple years prior, but didn't have a GPS. My dad had a GPS that I had played with briefly a couple of times, and thought it was cool. Finally did the research and bought one, and within a week or two had gone caching. I joined this site before buying the GPS, but didn't go hunting until after I had it.

Edited July 27, 2007 by andylphoto

[+6coondawgs]

Some friends told us about geocaching and I thought it sounded interesting but not that exciting. Then for Father's Day this year my wife and kids got my a GPS so we could go geocaching. We were instantly hooked and I already upgraded to a new Vista HCX a couple weeks ago. Loving it.

[+BlueDeuce]

I inherited a Vista from my Dad and two weeks later I heard about geocaching on NPR.

 

So I guess it was fate.

[+Miragee]

I inherited a Vista from my Dad and two weeks later I heard about geocaching on NPR.

 

So I guess it was fate.

That must have been the same NPR story I heard . . . But since I didn't have a GPSr at the time, it took me a little longer to get started.

[lastrohm]

This is a hobby my son introduced me to. He was here on vacation for two weeks and took myself and the grandkids out. Kids love it and now I am trying to learn what I can about it. Will be buying a handheld GPS soon. Have the Garmin streetpilot for the car.

[+WVRadar]

I had my GPSr long before I started geocaching. I do a lot of research on my family history and bought my Garmin eTrex so that I could find old family cemteries that were located deep in the woods and almost impossible to find. I'd get the coordinates from topographical maps or the Geographical Names Information System and navigate to the cemetery with ease. Of course, cemeteries are almost always on top of hills and it wasn't until I started geocaching that I experienced signal loss when deep in gorges and valleys.

It wasn't until a few months ago that I heard of geocaching from someone at work and I've been hooked ever since.

[Keith Arnold]

I stumbled onto it. Have done some caching by using maps and the like, but need to buy a GPS to really get into it.

[+ergomaniac]

I've used a GPS for many years to get my boat home in the fog and to mark trails while backpacking.

 

I had heard of geocaching but had no interest in it until my son took my GPS out one day to find a cache. He got hooked and now it's a family thing.... I do it because it's something my (grown up) kids will still do with me, so I figure that's a good thing. I probably wouldn't cache if not for the outings with my kids.

 

The forum has been great for me because I'm a "techie" kind of guy and this is a great place to learn about the latest apps and gear in the GPS world.

[+mbharpman]

I have always a gadget freak so when I received my 25yr service award catalouge and saw a Garmin GPS 12 I said "cooool"

I didn't know anything about GPS so I googled it and found GC.com.

found a couple of caches and then up graded to a LEGEND C