Are micros an excuse for a cache?

[+bigdogsrule]

Ok. I confess. In general, I DETEST micros. I think they are IN GENERAL, an excuse for a cache just to increase numbers. I have ZERO interest in "looking for" a cache "hidden" in a guardrail in a totally uninteresting location! I mean WHY do we cache in the first place!!!!? I personally do it for neat locations, imaginative hides, and swag (this last is less important than the others and just a fun addition.). SO why would anyone place a cache on a heavily travelled road with ZERO historical or scenic interest, ZERO imagination, and ZERO swag to boot!!!? I mean , WHY BOTHER??? I mean ..."duh... it isn't a real cache if it is already obvious it is in the darn guardrail.."

 

I am about to place a very "Cute" micro which is FUN IN ITSELF (meaning that it is NOT immediately obvious and an interesting container which I have never seen so far) and ALSO LEADS to a "real" cache and will be fun due to the nature of the micro itself. Otherwise I would never do this.

 

What on earth motivates someone to place a ,to my mind ,stupid cache on a heavily traveled road with no interest .........if not greed for numbers of placed caches. Same thing for people who seek these - WHY??? I despise these things. I only go for them if it is clear that they have been placed to draw attention to something interesting. I just did a "small" (read VERY small, just above a micro) cache at an interesting road marker and it was worth it due to the 180 year old marker and at least a real cache even tho small ) cache - it was indeed almost an excuse for a cache but enough fun to justify the travel time and gas ....

 

Am I an iconoclast or is my view shared?

 

Bigdogsrule (Frances feeling snotty after wasting gas for idiiotic boring micros)

[+Bmxer11]

i think they are.they might be good every now and again but now there is a high population of them

[Dinoprophet]

There aren't half as many micros as there are threads about them.

[+9Key]

This can of worms sure does get opened a lot, especially recently. The current running topic is at 7 pages and counting.

 

Micros get picked on a lot, and in most cases for good reason.

* Many cachers just aren't very creative

* Laziness

* Feel that they "have to give back to the game" somehow.

* They feel the need to bump up their hide numbers by hiding a pill bottle every tenth mile down a 10 mile stretch of county highway.

[nonaeroterraqueous]

In defense of micros, I must say that the opportunities for clever camouflage are far greater for micros than for regulars. I do feel your pain, though. The investment in a micro placement is far smaller. No one who places a micro has to put any money into swag. It's way easier to hide and cammo. You can stick it in a high-muggle area, and when it disappears it's no big deal. Yet, it can be frustrating if you've spent lots of time, effort and money in making a decent regular, only to have all of the best areas already saturated with micros...by all the same people.

 

Having said that, my first few finds were micros, and I loved them. Because they were micros, they could be hidden closer to my home, in the big ugly city. I was thrilled at being able to just walk out the door with my brand new GPS in hand and go just across the street and make a find. Sometimes location isn't everything, and sometimes swag isn't anything.

[+Plumberbutt]

In our area...I really enjoy micros. I'm not into swag, most of it isn't the best anyway. It seems like the ammo boxes are nice, but I do enjoy the creative ways people hide some of the micros. If you don't like the micros, just filter them out when you run your pocket quieries. I don't care what kind of container I look for...they are all good to me.

[+doingitoldschool]

There aren't half as many micros as there are threads about them.

 

Well said.

[+Kit Fox]

Welcome to the dark world of Couch potato caching 101.

 

Micro spew really didn't take off until geocaching made it on several different tv shows. All the "couch potatoes" thought the hobby sounded fun, so they found and hid caches that catered to their sedentary lifestyles. This same group also found that they could achieve "status and popularity" based on the number of finds they have. In order to satiate the "large appetite" for "fast food" caches, said cachers hid lots of lamppost and parking lot micros. Caches that require exerting energy (like hiking caches), or caches that require more than a few minutes to find are avoided at all costs. Only the (MSH) Maximum Smilies per Hour caches are pursued by this crowd.

 

Note to disable cachers, this was not a personal attack geared at those cachers who are mobility impaired.

 

 

Here is a list of micros on my top finds list. They are a combination of superb camouflage, and or lead you to a spectacular spot.

 

37 finds, 27 dnfs, and it is located on a cool trail.

 

The only lamppost micro that was worth visiting for me.

 

 

Here are two micro i'm dying to hunt (when time permits). Both are 4.5 terrain micros. I'm willing to bet that these two caches will never be found by 99.99999% of "couch potato cachers."

 

 

Hat Trick

Edited November 22, 2008 by Kit Fox

[+Harry Dolphin]

This can of worms sure does get opened a lot, especially recently. The current running topic is at 7 pages and counting.

 

Micros get picked on a lot, and in most cases for good reason.

* Many cachers just aren't very creative

* Laziness

* Feel that they "have to give back to the game" somehow.

* They feel the need to bump up their hide numbers by hiding a pill bottle every tenth mile down a 10 mile stretch of county highway.

 

And, then again, there are some micros that are in beautiful or interesting places, or are creative or humorous hides.

I will not condemn all micros. But your reasons do explain the problems with some micros. Even with many. But not with all.

[+Star*Hopper]

Pretend for a moment it isn't about numbers, size doesn't matter, and when there's swag it's a bonus.

Bonus as in the noun :: bo·nus pl. bo·nus·es

Something given or paid in addition to what is usual or expected. (Emphasis mine)

 

Usual or expected, as in, an extra, at the will of the owner; an inordinary surprise; not something to be demanded nor insisted upon. In other words - it's not about the swag either.....surely it's not about the swag -- that's self evident.

 

Now - it's being not about numbers, size, or swag......pretend - just pretend....it's a game about finding hidden objects. A game....that YOU choose to play.

 

Yes...pretend it's a game, about finding hidden objects. Pretend.....

Finding.

Hidden.

Objects.

 

Oh, wait...........

 

~*

[+WRASTRO]

I think the OP statement might need to be refined just a bit. I read "I detest micros". But then "I am about to place a very cute micro." This is just a bit confusing to my simple mind.

 

Seems to me the post should be "I detest poor hides", or "I detest guardrail hides", or perhaps more accurately "I detest hides I don't like."

[+Star*Hopper]

Oh and, the other thing.

"In general, I DETEST micros. I think they are IN GENERAL, an excuse for a cache just to increase numbers. I have ZERO interest in "looking for" a cache "hidden" in a guardrail in a totally uninteresting location! I mean WHY do we cache in the first place!!!!? "

 

And every nearly conceivable facility has been provided by Groundspeak so that you may avoid them. So I mean, what's your problem? WHAT is it exactly that you do want?

 

"I personally do it for neat locations, imaginative hides, and swag (this last is less important than the others and just a fun addition.)"

You have those. Right? Nearly every conceivable facility has been provided by Groundspeak so that you may seek those. Specifically. And oddly, avoid micros in the process.

 

"SO why would anyone place a cache on a heavily travelled road with ZERO historical or scenic interest, ZERO imagination, and ZERO swag to boot!!!? I mean , WHY BOTHER???"

 

Because they get some kinda enjoyment doing that, the same way you enjoy avoiding micros?? Why's that bother you? Surely it's not about controlling the lives of others! Right?

 

Maybe now I should start a thread wondering why people bother starting lame threads??

 

Just sayin'.....

~*

Edited November 22, 2008 by Star*Hopper

[+gelfling6]

Would you prefer the micros be known as simple micro Letterboxes? Just because they don't contain tradables, shouldn't limit them... You're still looking for it, You're using a GPS, and not all micros are hidden as Park & Grabs. Some, are bison tubes, hanging in a tree just at eye level (some, a little higher.)

 

Most sadistic, someone placed a Magnetic NANO on the head of a screw, deep in a Forrest.. The ONLY way you could find the bloody thing, was at twilight, because the cap on the nano had a disc of reflexite on it.

 

Their mistake... tiny log = need for maintenance every week.

 

My latest cache, is listed as a micro, because no room for anything, except a single-page log book. It's just that small, but not just an ordinary micro container.

[+KJcachers]

There aren't half as many micros as there are threads about them.

I agree. Instead of starting another "new" topic on this subject how about trying to do a search first and just add your thoughts to an existing thread!

[Mr.Yuck]

This can of worms sure does get opened a lot, especially recently. The current running topic is at 7 pages and counting.

 

Micros get picked on a lot, and in most cases for good reason.

* Many cachers just aren't very creative

* Laziness

* Feel that they "have to give back to the game" somehow.

* They feel the need to bump up their hide numbers by hiding a pill bottle every tenth mile down a 10 mile stretch of county highway.

 

And, then again, there are some micros that are in beautiful or interesting places, or are creative or humorous hides.

I will not condemn all micros. But your reasons do explain the problems with some micros. Even with many. But not with all.

 

I agree with the Dolphin 100%. I even found one of his that was in an outstanding location. That's all I have to say about that. I will not post to this thread again... I will not post to this thread again...

[Skippermark]

I confess. I LOVE micros because they offer a challenge and add a lot of excitement to the game. I mean, anyone can toss a 4x4 under a pile of sticks that you spot from 50 feet away. I mean, what fun is there in that?

[+BlueDeuce]

I confess. I LOVE micros because they offer a challenge and add a lot of excitement to the game. I mean, anyone can toss a 4x4 under a pile of sticks that you spot from 50 feet away. I mean, what fun is there in that?

 

Getting there?

[Mr.Yuck]

I think the OP statement might need to be refined just a bit. I read "I detest micros". But then "I am about to place a very cute micro." This is just a bit confusing to my simple mind.

 

Seems to me the post should be "I detest poor hides", or "I detest guardrail hides", or perhaps more accurately "I detest hides I don't like."

 

Agreed. That's how so many of us mistakenly get labeled as "micro haters". Oh crud, I just posted again.

[+WRASTRO]

I think the OP statement might need to be refined just a bit. I read "I detest micros". But then "I am about to place a very cute micro." This is just a bit confusing to my simple mind.

 

Seems to me the post should be "I detest poor hides", or "I detest guardrail hides", or perhaps more accurately "I detest hides I don't like."

 

Agreed. That's how so many of us mistakenly get labeled as "micro haters". Oh crud, I just posted again.

neener, neener...

[+efflandt]

If you want more of a challenge for micros, get yourself an old GPSr. I used an old GPS 45 (from 1995) to find my first 3 caches (because that was all I had other than a nuvi). 1st was a micro in the woods, 2nd was a key keeper on a bearing from waypoint, 3rd was conventional woods, and 4th I DNF'd (did not realize it was micro, but last previous log since July maintenance call was also DNF).

 

Accuracy for my GPS 45 is 15 meters (49 ft indicated at best), which is better than the +/- 50 meters when SA was enabled in its day (before May 2000).

 

I now picked up an eTrex Lengend HCx on Ebay that appears to be very accurate (9-10 ft) and will try to find that lost one this weekend. But I still may use the GPS 45 for others, so they are not too easy. After all, the excitement is in the hunt. What fun is it if you walk up and the cache is at your feet or at arm's length? Those first 2 took some hunting even when I homed in on what I thought was the obvious hiding place.

 

It can also be a challenge to discretely fetch or stash a cache when muggles are about. When I finally found the key keeper and took out a small plastic pouch with a white substance in it in the middle of an island downtown, I wondered if someone from a distance might think it was something other than a tiny paper log.

[+cwelt]

I guess it all boils down to what you "expect" from geocaching. For me, it is about the journey and the actual hunt, and the smaller the cache (theoretically) the harder the hunt. Maybe because I dont have millions of finds like most people here I am still appreciative and open to all caches. Every cache put out there gives me another hunt and gets my family outside having fun, so who am I to complain.

[+JBnW]

Yes, micros are caches! Sez so in the Guidelines. I dislike micros, in general, mostly because of my newly aquired bifocals, which I still can't figure out. My dissatisfaction comes more from admitting my 'blindness' than admitting a hider is more clever than I as a finder. However, the few micros I have found have been very clever and enjoyable, even if I did kick one several times before realizing the obvious. My first lamppost skirt will be enjoyable, the rest will be for a pupose other than accumulating smilies (aka State, County, DeLorme Challenges, etc). I will appreciate all the "pine cones in oak tree" micros for the creativity of the camo, and the opportunity to look for them.

 

But this topic is amazing! At this writing, there are no fewer than four active threads berating/celebrating/ bemoaning/ defending micros...and what I personally see in all of them is not much more than sweeping generalizations. "One hider isn't creative, therefore all micros are bad";... "I dislike urban micros, therefore they're all bad"...."I found one good micro, so therefore they must be good"... et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

 

My personal observation...there are some folks who dislike walking on concrete (I'm one of them). I very much prefer mud, rocks, dirt, grass, or any combination of same. Concrete hurts my feet. I enjoy chasing caches that allow me to go places where this kind of chase is involved (in some places even encouraged). There are others who prefer to stay in the urban environment. Dirt and mud is something to be avoided. If the road's not paved, they're not driving it! If the path is not paved, they're not walking it! I can imagine that they find lampposts, and all the different urban variations quite acceptable, and look at ammo cans in the woods as something to be avoided. I may not agree with them, but...

 

TO EACH THEIR OWN!!

 

Everyone is different; celebrate that sweeping generalization. If there's a cache attribute, like size or location, that you don't prefer, just filter them. A couple of mouse clicks is all that's involved.

 

{Quietly stepping off the soapbox before my figers get the better of me.}

[Mushtang]

Ok. I confess. In general, I DETEST micros. I think they are IN GENERAL, an excuse for a cache just to increase numbers. I have ZERO interest in "looking for" a cache "hidden" in a guardrail in a totally uninteresting location! I mean WHY do we cache in the first place!!!!? I personally do it for neat locations, imaginative hides, and swag (this last is less important than the others and just a fun addition.). SO why would anyone place a cache on a heavily travelled road with ZERO historical or scenic interest, ZERO imagination, and ZERO swag to boot!!!? I mean , WHY BOTHER??? I mean ..."duh... it isn't a real cache if it is already obvious it is in the darn guardrail.."

Well, IF you just really hate MICROS that much, you can easily avoid them BY filtering them from a Pocket QUERY, and you'll never have to SEE another micro ever. It'll be like they disappeared completely FROM the game.

 

And now YOU can enjoy IT again.

 

You're WELCOME.

[+StarBrand]

As I said in another thread recently. Size isn't the problem with such caches.

 

It is the total lack of imagination to find a better place. It is a lack of caring that leads to using a poor container. It is a desire to have a cache for the sake of a cache. It is the mentality that has caches that look as if they were thrown out the window at 55mph into a bush.

 

But I have been to a few rather stunning and fun micro caches. So I know it isn't the size.

[+Snoogans]

Am I an iconoclast or is my view shared?

 

Iconoclast

 

I know of no one who venerates caches of ANY size to that level.

 

However you'd think some folks would think themselves the 'savior' of geocaching from all the whining they do about caches that do not meet their personal aesthetic.

 

I prefer to be devil's advocate.

[vagabond]

Wouldn't be great if we all liked the same things, just think how much easier it would be.

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[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

Pretend for a moment it isn't about numbers, size doesn't matter, and when there's swag it's a bonus.

Bonus as in the noun :: bo·nus pl. bo·nus·es

Something given or paid in addition to what is usual or expected. (Emphasis mine)

 

Usual or expected, as in, an extra, at the will of the owner; an inordinary surprise; not something to be demanded nor insisted upon. In other words - it's not about the swag either.....surely it's not about the swag -- that's self evident.

 

Now - it's being not about numbers, size, or swag......pretend - just pretend....it's a game about finding hidden objects. A game....that YOU choose to play.

 

Yes...pretend it's a game, about finding hidden objects. Pretend.....

Finding.

Hidden.

Objects.

 

Oh, wait...........

 

~*

Well, it seems to have turned into that. That's not what the Activity started out as, and for many players that have been around a whle, it is not the same thing that it used to be. Maybe that's what it is to you, but that's not what it is/was supposed to be for me. I don't think the definition of Cache includes a container with a scrap of paper. Would a weapons Cache be a Cache with no weapons in it?? Would an emegency food Cache be a Cache with no food in it?? If there's nothing stored in a Cache, then it is not really Cache.

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

As I said in another thread recently. Size isn't the problem with such caches.

 

It is the total lack of imagination to find a better place. It is a lack of caring that leads to using a poor container. It is a desire to have a cache for the sake of a cache. It is the mentality that has caches that look as if they were thrown out the window at 55mph into a bush.

 

But I have been to a few rather stunning and fun micro caches. So I know it isn't the size.

I can agreee with that. It's not the SWAG that makes a Cache for me, but the Curiosity of "What will be in there?" I love to find a little something interesting. Far too often it's nothing but the logbook. This get's back to the lack of effort and imagination in thinking of things to leave. Some claim that there is not room in a Micro for trade items, but with a small bit of effort and imagination this is easy to overcome.

[+Star*Hopper]

Pretend for a moment it isn't about numbers, size doesn't matter, and when there's swag it's a bonus.

Bonus as in the noun :: bo·nus pl. bo·nus·es

Something given or paid in addition to what is usual or expected. (Emphasis mine)

 

Usual or expected, as in, an extra, at the will of the owner; an inordinary surprise; not something to be demanded nor insisted upon. In other words - it's not about the swag either.....surely it's not about the swag -- that's self evident.

 

Now - it's being not about numbers, size, or swag......pretend - just pretend....it's a game about finding hidden objects. A game....that YOU choose to play.

 

Yes...pretend it's a game, about finding hidden objects. Pretend.....

Finding.

Hidden.

Objects.

 

Oh, wait...........

 

~*

Well, it seems to have turned into that. That's not what the Activity started out as, and for many players that have been around a whle, it is not the same thing that it used to be. Maybe that's what it is to you, but that's not what it is/was supposed to be for me. I don't think the definition of Cache includes a container with a scrap of paper. Would a weapons Cache be a Cache with no weapons in it?? Would an emegency food Cache be a Cache with no food in it?? If there's nothing stored in a Cache, then it is not really Cache.

 

Way-ulllll.....if we gonna play semantics. I ain't seen all that many, but most every cache I've found had a container. The container is the cache.

 

But we can test your theory. I ain't never seen one whut had a Geo in it. Nary a one.

And what's the name of the game again?

~

~*

[golfgunny]

@Kit Fox: Stone Sentinel looks like some of the peeks near 29 Palms...Brings back memories. Since I have family in Cathedral City, I plan on hitting as many caches in that area as I can next year. I'll have to add this one to the list.

[+SG One]

There aren't half as many micros as there are threads about them.

 

Haven't read the whole thread yet but this gave me a laugh!

[Mushtang]

I don't think the definition of Cache includes a container with a scrap of paper. Would a weapons Cache be a Cache with no weapons in it?? Would an emegency food Cache be a Cache with no food in it?? If there's nothing stored in a Cache, then it is not really Cache.

It depends on which definition of "cache" you want to use as to whether the game pieces fit the definition or not. If you want to define a cache as a box of food waiting for hikers to be able to eat, none of our game pieces fit, but a box of emergency food would. Or if you want to define cache as computer memory used to temporarily hold information used by the CPU for faster access, our game pieces fail to be caches, as do boxes of emergency food in the woods.

 

Perhaps for the sake of the geocaching game we can realize that it's a container hidden that contains a log book at the minimum, and may or may not contain trade items. That's paraphrased from the site's guidelines on what is required for one to be hidden, right?

 

The folks that run this game have even stretched the definition of cache, as it applies to the game, to include non-containers that can't contain a log book (Virtual, Earthcache, Locationless, etc.), but they're still considered part of the geocaching game.

[+ThePachecos]

Every Micro I hide has meaning to me and it gives you a little insight into my mind. I like to hide mine in places that have special meaning to me. For example.. my Dead Man's Curve cache is a curve near my home that if a man hasn't died there yet I am sure one day it will claim one.. It doesnt have any spectactular scenery but it is special to me.

[+timberdoodlehunter1]

I guess it all boils down to what you "expect" from geocaching. For me, it is about the journey and the actual hunt, and the smaller the cache (theoretically) the harder the hunt. Maybe because I dont have millions of finds like most people here I am still appreciative and open to all caches. Every cache put out there gives me another hunt and gets my family outside having fun, so who am I to complain.

I happen to like the challenge of finding the well camo'd micros. Some are so creative. Another thing the long hikes are great for myself but I cache most of the time with a 2 year old, I can only hike so far with him before he's tired of hiking, so if we can go look for some micros in town, my son and I are both happy. And The camo and creativity of where micros are hid is so much better than most regular caches. I get tired of finding regular caches in stumps, under logs etc. give me a micro on a short walk that is cleverly hidden in a tree so well you only see it when looking just right, now that is a challenge. I plan on doing a short series of micros this spring in the woods it will be deer hunting themed, Like you were looking for deer sign in the woods, such as scrapes, deer poop, etc. can you do something fun but challenging like that with regulars? My dad hates micros, but the good ones I have found like hanging in a drain or the pinecone, or the fake electrical outlet, he will do those. We both like the challenge and the creativeness of the hider.

[+eigengott]

In general, I DETEST micros.

 

Then just don't go for them. As you are a premium member, it's easy to filter them out.

[+bigdogsrule]

Thanks for all the very interesting comments and I apologize if I was whining! I drove around for a couple of hours looking for some caches that were of unknown size, and all ended up being micros with zero interest and I was somewhat (!) annoyed.

 

I was seeing the glass as half empty - (something I don't often do).

 

Anyway, I also did not mean to offend.

 

I'm just the sort of cacher who likes the location and the cleverness of the hide first but also the adventure of opening something even if usually nothing to speak of is in it! I mean we as a groupI am sure don't cache to "get stuff". On the other hand, I make a big effort to keep my caches full of neat interesting , even useful sometimes, stuff. I have the enthusiasm of being quite new to this and thus am not yet jaded except about micros.(although apparently one of my bugs just got stolen and the cache it was in defiled)

 

case in point: I just did an extremely difficult puzzle cache called "ribbitankhamun" with a ridiculously funny Egyptian theme including an impossible hierogyphic clue (the owner held my hand so to speak to get me through it and it still took 8 hours to solve even with that help!). The hike to the cache was through ordinary but very nice woods, and the cache itself must have taken days to do - hand painted. Inside were wonderfully cheesy musical instruments on which to play a few toots to "the pharaoh" and the hider had created little cartuoches as swag, along with geobuttons with said pharaoh on them. It is a tour de force and the sort of thing I aim to do with mine. He even had camo material (holey and odd looking) that looked like it came from the army!

 

Nuff said and again I am sorry for whining and for being negative.

bigdog in the dog house

[+cwelt]

No need to apologize.... I too know what it is like to open a container with the geo girls standing by waiting to trade some items and find a box of "junk" (bottlecaps, buisness cards etc...) Thankfully they dont get turned off by it (yet)

 

I too like going to unique places, and seeing things I haven't seen before and I do a weekly cache day where that is what I do.. grabing caches in places I haven't seen before that require a hike or a good drive and some skill to grab, but having the geogirls with me on weekends, they don't like the big drives and the hikes. They want to be in the city and hunt for a couple of hours, so it all boils down to what type of hunt you have time for.

 

I am sure no one took offence to what you wrote, I haven't been here long but I can see everyone has their own ideas on what is and isn't caching and they are staunch defenders of that idea. I hope some of our posts have made you look at micro's in a different light. Some of my favorite hides have been micros, and actually looked at my stats last night and found almost 50% of my finds have been... and that is by choice

 

Happy hunting bigdog....

[CoyoteRed]

Well, IF you just really hate MICROS that much, you can easily avoid them BY filtering them from a Pocket QUERY, and you'll never have to SEE another micro ever. It'll be like they disappeared completely FROM the game.

Not true.

 

You also have to ignore unknown-sized caches as the vast majority are also micros. You also will come across a few micros mis-categorized as smalls.

 

Then, if you place a cache you have to consider all sizes in terms of proximity and saturation.

 

That's just to toss out the baby with the bathwater, and only addresses the symptom in very broad and ill-defined terms and not the problem.

[+TropicalParadise]

I like micros, almost more than I like 'ammo can 10 feet off the road in bush' hides. The ammo cans allow you to walk right up and see them from a distance. Micros require some looking.

 

Trails and Scenic Routes are not mutually exclusive with non-micros.

 

But then again, I got into geocaching by finding micros and about 85% of the ones I still find are micros. They're fun and I like them.

[+Star*Hopper]

Thanks for all the very interesting comments and I apologize if I was whining! I drove around for a couple of hours looking for some caches that were of unknown size, and all ended up being micros with zero interest and I was somewhat (!) annoyed.

 

I was seeing the glass as half empty - (something I don't often do).

 

Now that's what I call a good attitude! It shows you're flexible, & I think you'll find that'll take you far in this crazy game we play and enjoy. +1 'Attaboy' for ya!

 

Nuff said and again I am sorry for whining and for being negative.

bigdog in the dog house

 

And no need to apologize for nothin'....especially not for expressing your opinions. That's one thing forums are for....and hope you feel better about things for having done so!

 

Cache long & prosper, bigdog!

~*

[CoyoteRed]

The ammo cans allow you to walk right up and see them from a distance. Micros require some looking.

Those are pretty bold generalizations.

 

First, let's trade "ammo can" and substitute "regular." There have been plenty of times where a hunt for a regular has taken a fairly long time to find the cache.

 

Conversely, I can find most micros within minutes. I don't known how many times I've arrived at ground zero and walked right to the micro. Far too many hides are extremely predictable. Of course, that's what the difficulty rating is for.

 

Size has little to do with the ability to hide a cache effectively. It only relates to the ease of hiding effectively. The physical world has varying degrees of granularity and then smaller the container the more opportunities one has to drop a cache in any one area. In almost every case where I've found a micro a larger cache could have been effectively hidden well within the GPS circle of error--in many instances in the very same spot.

 

IMHO, hiding a cache smaller than is needed to increase the find difficulty is little different than using soft coords. Both are cheap ways to increase the hide difficulty instead of using creativity to increase the stealth of the container. I am consistently more impressed with a well done larger container than I am a smaller.

 

Trails and Scenic Routes are not mutually exclusive with non-micros.

Same goes for ease of find in relation to size.

 

Far too many generalities are being tossed about as absolutes. There are some absolutes, but far fewer than some folks think.

[+TropicalParadise]

Those are pretty bold generalizations.

 

Sure I was being a devil's advocate.

 

First, let's trade "ammo can" and substitute "regular." There have been plenty of times where a hunt for a regular has taken a fairly long time to find the cache.

 

Conversely, I can find most micros within minutes.

 

Especially the whole crook of a tree, in a squirrel hole ones! No arguments there.

 

IMHO, hiding a cache smaller than is needed to increase the find difficulty is little different than using soft coords. Both are cheap ways to increase the hide difficulty instead of using creativity to increase the stealth of the container. I am consistently more impressed with a well done larger container than I am a smaller.

 

Trails and Scenic Routes are not mutually exclusive with non-micros.

Same goes for ease of find in relation to size.

 

Far too many generalities are being tossed about as absolutes. There are some absolutes, but far fewer than some folks think.

 

Absolutely! I just meant to say that just because a container is larger - doesn't mean it's a good cache either. I've found more micros that have made me go 'WOW!!!' than I have larger containers. That's not to say that I haven't found cool larger containers, but something about the micros I've found are pretty awesome - maybe this just means I have good hiders nearby. If the only difference between a micro and a larger container (ie. the sight is relatively the same, the difficulty is the same, the creativity is the same) is that the larger container can hold stuff, I think that's pretty poor reasoning as to what make a cache, a cache.

 

If it's about filtering out finds, fine, but it doesn't make one better than another in a general sense, it makes one better than another for a certain person. Just as I was broad, 'ALL ammo cans can ALWAYS be seen from far away' (which is of course not true), saying 'ALL micros are ALWAYS poor caches' is also not true. They must be taken individually and put into context.

[+ThePachecos]

It also depends a lot on where you start looking at first. I have had micros that have given me a headache and others I just center in on and bam.. there it is.

[Clan Riffster]

Most micros in my neck of the woods don't fit my personal caching aesthetic. Those things that appeal to me are absent from the majority of them. Because I have a somewhat narcissistic personality, my degree of pleasure during any activity is important. One of the things I really love about this game is, I can tailor the data to maximize my enjoyment. If I hunt a micro, it's because I chose to do so. If, during the hunt, my fun meter hits zero, I move on.

 

Empower yourself. You'll have a lot more fun that way!

 

(Wasn't it Snoogs who said, "If you ain't having' fun, you're doing something' wrong"?)

Edited November 24, 2008 by Clan Riffster

[+sbell111]

Pretend for a moment it isn't about numbers, size doesn't matter, and when there's swag it's a bonus.

Bonus as in the noun :: bo·nus pl. bo·nus·es

Something given or paid in addition to what is usual or expected. (Emphasis mine)

 

Usual or expected, as in, an extra, at the will of the owner; an inordinary surprise; not something to be demanded nor insisted upon. In other words - it's not about the swag either.....surely it's not about the swag -- that's self evident.

 

Now - it's being not about numbers, size, or swag......pretend - just pretend....it's a game about finding hidden objects. A game....that YOU choose to play.

 

Yes...pretend it's a game, about finding hidden objects. Pretend.....

Finding.

Hidden.

Objects.

 

Oh, wait...........

 

~*

Well, it seems to have turned into that. That's not what the Activity started out as, and for many players that have been around a whle, it is not the same thing that it used to be. Maybe that's what it is to you, but that's not what it is/was supposed to be for me. ...

You are really saying that the game didn't start out being about 'finding hidden objects'? Really?

 

Granted, I haven't been around since dya one, but my understanding is that SA got turned off, so some guy hid a container of junk drawer stuff next to a road and listed the coords on the web so other people could see if they could find it. I don't think that it was the junk that made people go out and find that first cache. It was the coolness of being able to find something hidden out in the world with nothing but coordinates to go by. In it's rawest form, it was (and is) 'finding hidden objects'.

 

Just because you (and others) insist that the game be something else, doesn't make it so.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Wouldn't be great if we all liked the same things, just think how much easier it would be.

..

.

.

 

We'll never all like the same things, so to improve the game just do things my way, okay?

[+dakboy]

I confess. I LOVE micros because they offer a challenge and add a lot of excitement to the game. I mean, anyone can toss a 4x4 under a pile of sticks that you spot from 50 feet away. I mean, what fun is there in that?

This is a really good point. I went out caching with my father this weekend and of the 6 we found, most were 30mm ammo cans and half were obvious from quite a distance away. There's only so many ways you can pile up sticks against a stump/rock/fallen tree, or in the crook of a split tree, that look "natural."

 

The micro we found was lodged in a tree, well-camoed, and right next to a lamp post in a parking lot. Much more challenging than some of the "regular" ones.

[+BCandMsKitty]

Well, to answer the OP's title question ... "Are micros an excuse for a cache?". No''' they aren't an excuse for a cache, .. they are a cache! No matter how you slice it, or whether or not you like them, A micro is a cache.

[+Star*Hopper]

... There's only so many ways you can pile up sticks against a stump/rock/fallen tree, or in the crook of a split tree, that look "natural."...

 

Actually, I think I'm pretty good at getting the 'natural' look with the sticks etc when I hide using them.

The problem's that the ones that find 'em later, aren't.

 

~*

[+Hrethgir]

There aren't half as many micros as there are threads about them.

 

This says it all. If you hate micros so much, do what I did, and set up a PQ that doesn't include micros. Problem solved! If I see some good micros that are in interesting places, I'll load them up individually, but no more looking for that micro on a bench near a very busy road in the middle of a shopping area. I never even found that one, got to the area and decided it wasn't worth the effort, so I moved on.