Premium Membership

[+Hoppslover]

I have been thinking about getting the premium membership. How can you tell if there are premium member caches in my area. Also I would like to know if people who have purchased the premium membership have thought it was worth it.

Thanks Hoppslover

[+churchrules]

I just bought a premium membership a couple of days ago after having a regular membership for over a year. I have not figured out what the advantages are yet, however I thought it was a way to give back to the sport.

[+ReadyOrNot]

I have been thinking about getting the premium membership. How can you tell if there are premium member caches in my area. Also I would like to know if people who have purchased the premium membership have thought it was worth it.

Thanks Hoppslover

 

One of the greatest benefits are the instant notifications. You can create a notification to alert you when a new cache is placed within ## miles of your home location.

[+ArcherDragoon]

I like the PQ's (Pocket Queries) and the almost natural route of going to paperless caching. As ReadyOrNot stated, the notifications aren't bad either.

 

The PQ's do allow you to download a whole bunch of caches in a partiular area though...and you can hunt all day long until you heart is content...it also allows the best type of caching...

 

...the unplanned trip to the middle of the state just of the heck of it on the flip of a quarter...

[+Lacomo]

I have been thinking about getting the premium membership. How can you tell if there are premium member caches in my area. Also I would like to know if people who have purchased the premium membership have thought it was worth it.

Thanks Hoppslover

Pocket Queries alone are worth more than you pay for a premium membership. Go to your "My Account" page and click on "Pocket Queries" to learn more about how to use them.

[+The finch farmers]

I am now a premium member.

I have built PQ’s.

I have downloaded GSAK.

I have made a couple of DB’s in GSAK.

All I need to do is get something to go paperless with.

This is all good! Except you may need the 12 step program that my wife talks to me about!

 

But my main reason to become a paid member was to hopefully support the longevity of the sport. If we did not have the GC site what would we have?

 

Thanks to everyone that makes this game possible!

Edited December 31, 2007 by The finch farmers

[+Cardinal Red]

I have been thinking about getting the premium membership. How can you tell if there are premium member caches in my area. Also I would like to know if people who have purchased the premium membership have thought it was worth it.

Thanks Hoppslover

 

On a cache index listing, look for caches with a Black upper torso silhouette graphic with a White background. As a premium member, I was able to check the general Fort Wayne area. This is how many the search revealed.

 

25 mile circumference = 20 members only caches

60 mile circumference = 40 members only caches

75 mile circumference = 60 members only caches

80 mile circumference = 80 members only caches

85 mile circumference = 100 members only caches

 

There are many reasons to buy a Premium Membership, but finding Premium caches is the least of them.

[+Atticka]

You also get links to detailed cache location maps on Google.com

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/gmnearest.a...p;lng=-73.56577

 

You can get a google map with all of the caches automatically mapped in any given area, very cool!

[Donald, Daisy and Kids]

I have been thinking about getting the premium membership. How can you tell if there are premium member caches in my area. Also I would like to know if people who have purchased the premium membership have thought it was worth it.

Thanks Hoppslover

 

We became premium members because we like the sport. Here in Australia (more so in our area) there is not many PMO caches (havent heard of one yet)!

 

Purchasing premium membership helps with the costs of running a site which is otherwise free for anyone to use, with the costs of petrol these days it is very hard to whine about paying an extra $30 a year which helps keep us fit and active, and takes us to spots we would normally drive on past.

 

Our tribe of geo-ducklings all love geocaching too so it is a really small investment for the amount of entertainment we receive!

[+Bad_CRC]

pocket queries and paperless caching make it worht the small fee if you cache regularly.

 

there's really no excuse for not at least trying it for a month for 3 bucks to see for yourself, you can always cancel once you get sick of caching.

[+tabulator32]

The premium membership is worth it just for the ability to do POCKET QUERIES if nothing else. All other benefits are just icing on the cake.

 

(My two cents.)

 

[+fairyhoney]

Believe me, It IS totally worth it

[+izzyvet]

I initially got the Premium Membership, because when I first started caching the 2 closest caches to my house were for PM's only. It would have driven me crazy to see these keep popping up without being to find them! So I went for the $3 a month membership. I now love the PQ's. (I have owned a Palm since they were invented) and the Instant Notifications are great if you want to try to get a FTF! I also agree that supporting this great organization is important too.

[+ThirstyMick]

The advertisements also disappear

 

But pocket queries are definitely the best part about the premium membership. Well worth the membership cost in time and energy saved. Although, I think I need a PDA or something; this past week I avoided more than one cache b/c I didn't want to tresspass, turns out they had permission...ahh well, still worth it. I think back to all those hours wasted planning trips, and plans change. sheets and sheets of caches manually entered...and nothing we ended up in a different town... now, we find internet wherever we end up; do a PQ in 3 minutes and were good to go.

 

We never are sure where we'll end up...

 

of course not feeling like a freeloader is a nice benefit too

(not criticising anyone though, personal feelings of freeloading guilt, it did take me a whole year to upgrade; gotta make sure any hobby will stick before making the commitment)

 

Though, the member only caches do still leave a bad taste in my mouth; something about excluding certain people doesn't sit right with me (though, I've been told people like to do this b/c it lets them see who is looking at your page)

Edited January 2, 2008 by ThirstyMick

[+Trucker Lee]

Welcome to premium membership, it has been well worth it to me.

 

As for the something to go paperless with, I Ebayed a used Palm 505, and it has more than ample memory to hold cache information. GSAK and Cachemate are the programs I use.

[+StarBrand]

I have been thinking about getting the premium membership. How can you tell if there are premium member caches in my area. Also I would like to know if people who have purchased the premium membership have thought it was worth it.

Thanks Hoppslover

Best reason to do it is simply to say thanks for all the server space, internet bandwidth, programming time and etc that has gone into creating and maintaining the site.

 

There are just not enough PM caches to justify the fee for that reason alone.

 

I would also pay 3 times the price just to use the PQ along a route function.