1st day lessons learned from a nOOb

[+team-cox]

Well yesterday my son and I went for our first day of hunting. We found two, didn’t find three, I was hoping for a little more success to keep my 11 year old interested but we had fun none the less. I know we did a few things wrong and was looking for a little advice for our next venture out.

 

Things I did wrong:

 

Four of the five we looked for were micros, and I know from reading the boards that you shouldn’t start with those but they are so prevalent in our area and due to limited day light we tried for them.

 

I haven't fully learned the capacity of our GPS. We bought a Nuvi 200W (we needed one for the car and decided that we would get a hand held if we decided we like this activity). I loaded it with pilotsnipes macro and use GSAK and understand that pretty well. What I’m not sure about is the accuracy. At one of the locations the GPS pointed us to and area and there was nothing we could find so we walked back to the car, turned it off and on again and then went back. This time it took us to a location about 40 feet from the previous spot it said were the coordinates. The satellite screen on the GPS says that its 54 feet accuracy. I assume that means there is is a 54 foot radius that it could be in. Is that normal for most GPS, would I get better accuracy from a hand held? When I got home we googles the coordinates and the spot was a bout 25 feet from either of the places the GPS pointed us to.

 

We know that well get better with experience and are just looking for a little advice on what is normal and what we should attempt to correct before going out again next weekend, and yes we well be out again. The two finds were enough to keep us coming back for more.

 

Thanks for the advice

[+vwaldoguy]

54 feet accuracy IMO is probably with tolerance, but still a little high. But, once you get 25 to 50 feet from the cache, you probably should rely on your senses moreso than the GPSr. Look around. Think about the locations that could hold a cache. For those blastad micros, check every little nook and cranny.

 

I've also experienced that location shift after rebooting my GPSr, such that if I can't find the cache, I'll reboot the GPS and try approaching again to see if I have better luck. Sometimes, that really helps.

 

Personally, I have a handheld Garmin 60CSx GPSr, and I typically get 10 to 18 feet accuracy, that's with WAAS enabled. I don't think your Nuvi has WAAS, so your accuracy will not be as good. When hunting, my unit typically leads me directly to the cache. One of the problems you face using an automotive GPS for geocaching is battery life and rugability. Nuvis are great units for the car, but not so much when you need a long battery life while out hiking, or when you drop the Nuvi while scrambling up a hill, or snag the screen on a branch, or get caught in a rainstorm. The handheld units are more rugged, have long battery lifes, and are typically water resistant.

 

Also remember, the posted coordinates are only as good as the hider's GPS unit. If they used an inferior or low end unit to hide the cache, the coordinates could be off by as much (or more) as you suggest. If their unit was giving them 75' accuracy when they hid it, when you try to find it using a more accurate unit, you might have a few location problems. In other words, your accurate GPS might lead you to their inaccurate coordinates.

Edited December 7, 2008 by vwaldoguy

[+Kelinore]

thanks for posting this. I'm in the same boat as you. I've been using my Tom Tom One, primarily because i need it (i'm directionally challenged) so why would i think that geocaching would be easy?? lol...

 

I asked my parents to get me that garmin map cx60 that you all rave about. I too have questioned how much of a radius you'd actually be off. 1 of my friends who's in the military said that the military grade GPS's would put you dead on. But, trying to get him to let me borrow it is another story

 

I too have had to reboot my Tom Tom many times, as it put us several miles off before. That is quite frustrating as well!!

 

Now that we have about 3 inches of snow on the ground, our caching is going to be more limited.

 

Question i have, for the people who place the caches in the winter time (Ohio, etc) for the micros you place, do you replace them to a higher area off the ground? Digging around today in a few cemetaries i couldn't find them. We have about 3 inches of snow, and my hands froze. It was also a challenge to get in and out of them because they're on a little hill and my little honda isn't the best in the snow

 

Again, thanks for posting this

 

Kelley

[+DiamondDaveG]

 

-snip-

 

Now that we have about 3 inches of snow on the ground, our caching is going to be more limited.

 

Question i have, for the people who place the caches in the winter time (Ohio, etc) for the micros you place, do you replace them to a higher area off the ground? Digging around today in a few cemetaries i couldn't find them. We have about 3 inches of snow, and my hands froze. It was also a challenge to get in and out of them because they're on a little hill and my little honda isn't the best in the snow

 

Again, thanks for posting this

 

Kelley

 

I don't know of any caches that get moved for the winter. Yes, it is a little tougher when the snow flies & yes, the find rate drops (but I also cache less). I have found some that probably arent going to be found again until spring, but thats the nature of an activity that changes as nature changes.

 

I just hid a cache that might be affected by the snow but I doubt it will be 'closed' for the winter.

 

On the original post, i agree that 54' would be within a tolerable distance to start looking. I can usually get it down to about 26-30' and use the geosenses from there. And, yes, that accuracy reading means that distance as a radius from you is where the coordinates are.

[+Grigorii Rasputin]

Welcome to Geocaching!!!!!

 

As you go, you learn, and the hunts become a little easier for the most part. Before you know it, you'll have two or three hundred finds under your belt!!!

 

Grigorii Rasputin

http://grigoriirasputin.wordpress.com

http://www.glass-cockpit.org

[+m.austin]

I think that is why cedar tree hides are so popular around here - year round camouflage! Personally I like caching in certain areas when it's cold because of the tick/snake factor - there are none!

[+briansnat]

Also remember, the posted coordinates are only as good as the hider's GPS unit. If they used an inferior or low end unit to hide the cache, the coordinates could be off by as much (or more) as you suggest

 

Low end units generally do not have worse accuracy than high end units. All consumer grade units have roughly the same accuracy, which is about 10-30 feet depending on conditions. Any differences are a matter of a couple of feet and insignificant as a far as geocaching.

 

If however they hid the cache and had a poor signal or a lousy sat alignment, then the coords could be well off regardless of the cost of the unit.

Edited December 8, 2008 by briansnat

[Neos2]

Even if you could use a military/surveying grade gps unit, all it would do is get you to within a few centimeters of the posted coordinates....which could still be as much 30 feet away from the cache, depending on the actual location of the cache vs the coords the cache owner got with their own unit!

 

My 60CSx usually reports 10-15 feet accuracy or so...my old eTrex Legend usually claimed to be accurate to about 15-20 feet. I typically find the cache within about 10 feet of what the gps says is 'the' spot. But once I get within 30 feet or so, I start looking around for a good place to hide something the size of what I'm looking for. You get much better at that part of the adventure fairly quickly.

 

PS We have lots of micros around here too, and that's what we cut our teeth on. I think it may have made us more intuitive cachers

[7rxc]

I think that is why cedar tree hides are so popular around here - year round camouflage! Personally I like caching in certain areas when it's cold because of the tick/snake factor - there are none!

 

Cedar trees will soon stand out yearround out here in BC... All the pine trees are being killed off by beetles...

 

As for the ticks / snakes (add bears etc...) they take the winter off because they don't like frozen flesh...

What I like is the lack of crowds, need for reservations in campgrounds etc... of course there could be a few more findable caches locally.

 

Doug

[7rxc]

I haven't fully learned the capacity of our GPS. We bought a Nuvi 200W

 

I do not know that unit other than to look at one... but... does that use the 'lock to road' option that

many here refer to... that can force the unit into displaying only the closest road access to the coordinates.

 

As for EPE.... I always tell GPS students to imagine that the waypoint is somewhere in a circle with the EPE as radius... Then I tell them that the your position shown is in another circle with with the EPE as radius... worst case is that the circles can just overlap on opposite sides... (just touching) but the place you want to be may be on the far side from you or vice versa... using 50 feet for EPE both cases that could be almost 200 feet away... add to that the fact that the circle you are in can be anywhere around the circumference of the first, and the area can get quite large... Of course that is the Worst case (for accurate readings)

 

Some say I should buy a newer generation GPS, but at least mine presents coordinates and bearings to the target area... so I can triangulate a bit... That said, I have not missed a find because of the age of my 45xl... my age maybe!... Welcome to the club!

 

Doug