Superapes Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Bought GPS yesterday, we have been out twice today looking for caches, no luck. What are we doing wrong, looking at the map we should have been looking straight at the caches, all we could find was rubbish. One minute the GPS would say your are 3ft away then it jumped to 30ft away. How do we know what we are looking for? and How do we learn to use our GPS? Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 You might have been looking right at them - sadly some caches are disguised as rubbish.... however, Most of our handheld units have an average accuracy in the 15 - 25 foot range. Sometimes a bit better sometimes a bit worse. Inside of that range, readings can vary and change radically. The posted coordinates for any cache are likely to not be accurate - but they are close. So your unit (under the current conditions and strength and number and geometry of the sats) may think the coords are a spot 15 foot west of where the cache actually is. Close enough. Put the GPS away when you are within 20 foot and start looking for likely hiding spots. If you don't find anything - move back and reapproach the cache from another angle. Verify you are in the right general spot and then slowly expand your seach up to 40 or more feet from where your unit says ground zero is at. and... Here are some general hints: Look for caches with a difficulty of 2 or less for your fist few caches. Stick with regular sized caches for your first few. Micros can be quite hard to find sometimes. Stick to areas you are familiar with. Look for anything out of place or unusual. Look for unusual piles of sticks, grass, leaves, rocks, sand, etc. Feel where you cannot look. Think vertical, not all caches are on the ground. Look up or at eye level. Look for traces of previous searches to zero in on the spot. Think like the hider - where would you put a container in this location? Look for things too new, too old, too perfect, not like the others, too many, too few. Change your perspective - a shift in lighting can sometimes reveal a cache. Keep in mind that many micros are magnetic or attached to something (via string, wire etc). Bring garden gloves and a flashlight - they help! Be prepared to not find the cache more often then you think. Most of all - have fun!! Quote Link to comment
+BrrrMo Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Bought GPS yesterday, we have been out twice today looking for caches, no luck. What are we doing wrong, looking at the map we should have been looking straight at the caches, all we could find was rubbish. One minute the GPS would say your are 3ft away then it jumped to 30ft away. How do we know what we are looking for? and How do we learn to use our GPS? Go to YouTube and watch some of HeadHardHats Geosnippets. Happy Finding! Quote Link to comment
+mcrow Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Definitely stick to easier caches to start, like normal and large sized ones. Also, it may be to your advantage to look at all of the websites that sell caches and caching products, that way you'll get a better idea of what most caches will look like. Quote Link to comment
+Colonial Cats Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Is your GPSr set the right datum and coordinate format. The datum should be set to WGS-84 and the coordinate format should be set to decimal minutes. Quote Link to comment
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