How many caches can that thing hold?

[+user13371]

I met a cacher today who was impressed with my iPhone. He uses a PDA for paperless caching and saw advantages of having the GPS and "PDA" in one device. While we were discussing various features, he asked a question I hadn't thought about for a while:

 

Q: How many caches can that thing hold?

A: All of them.

 

I know I used to preload cache info before leaving the house, and making sure I had everything I needed. But since I can get the info on demand, download management doesn't cross my mind anymore.

 

Which leads back to the title of this post: How many caches can your GPS have loaded at one time? How many do you feel you really need, and what's the largest number you think is practical to manage "onboard" your GPS?

Edited May 10, 2009 by lee_rimar

[+ICHTHYS]

I met a cacher today who was impressed with my iPhone. He uses a PDA for paperless caching and saw advantages of having the GPS and "PDA" in one device. While we were discussing various features, he asked a question I hadn't thought about for a while:

 

Q: How many caches can that thing hold?

A: All of them.

 

I know I used to preload cache info before leaving the house, and making sure I had everything I needed. But since I can get the info on demand, download management doesn't cross my mind anymore.

 

Which leads back to the title of this post: How many caches can your GPS have loaded at one time? How many do you feel you really need, and what's the largest number you think is practical to manage "onboard" your GPS?

 

My Lowrance H2Oc can hold all of them but only display 1000 at a time. As long as I can fit them on a memory card I can load as many as I want.

[+wkmccall]

I met a cacher today who was impressed with my iPhone. He uses a PDA for paperless caching and saw advantages of having the GPS and "PDA" in one device. While we were discussing various features, he asked a question I hadn't thought about for a while:

 

Q: How many caches can that thing hold?

A: All of them.

 

I know I used to preload cache info before leaving the house, and making sure I had everything I needed. But since I can get the info on demand, download management doesn't cross my mind anymore.

 

Which leads back to the title of this post: How many caches can your GPS have loaded at one time? How many do you feel you really need, and what's the largest number you think is practical to manage "onboard" your GPS?

 

I go out with anywhere between 300 to 500 at a time, but that just lets me pick the area I wish to cache in.

So, in answer; it'll hold more than I can do before the info goes "stale" so to speak.

[+Cacheoholic]

For now 5000 would be nice but as more geocaches are being hidden that won’t be enough for long. I’ve been to cities where 2000 geocaches that my Colorado’s and Oregon’s hold only covers about a 15 mile radius. My solution was to load up 2 GPS’s for a total of 4000. I know, I know; you can load unlimited geocaches as POI’s but it sure doesn’t work the same.

 

Hopefully this dosen't derail your topic but another question is: How many geocaches would you like returned in a Pocket Query? I think the current limit of 500 is way low. I’m constantly generating PQ’s, figuring out the radius of coverage, placing radii on a map, coming up with the total coverage I need then actually running the PQ’s. I find 500 the most insufficient when doing “Caches Along a Route”.

[+Tequila]

My Oregon can hold 2000. However there are easy ways to get it to hold an unlimited amout.

 

(1) Using a GSAK macro you can load tens of thousands as POI's.

 

(2) Since the OR uses .gpx files in a specific directory, you can create multiple .gpx files and place them in a different directory. Then use your PDA to move the files around to get the OR to use a different .gpx file.

 

The new OR 550, just announced, will handle 5,000

[+Rockin Roddy]

More than I can do at any given time! I can load 1000 caches complete with info into my PN-40, that's more than I'll ever need! I don't feel the need to load every single cache from an area since I don't care for many of them (puzzles for example), so running a PQ will allow me to load only those I know I will enjoy. This works great since the info can go "stale" as someone pointed out before, plus I can load all caches of an area I wish to do and be ready in a hurry!

 

I only have something like 330 caches on my unit right now, so it seems I can load MORE than I need!!

[+user13371]

More than I can do at any given time!...I only have something like 330 caches on my unit right now, so it seems I can load MORE than I need!!

Roddy, you and a few others think about it the same way I do. But I can see how a dedicated cacher would want more than the couple of hundred I keep in my PN-40 at any given time.

 

Judging by Cacheholic's reply, he and some other folks obviously want (need?) numbers in the thousands. I can think of three approaches, types of devices that already exist:

1. GPS with a fixed storage for caches - as big as possible.
   
2. GPS with working memory for caches, plus a memory card and a way to swap sets of waypoints on demand.
   
3. GPS-equipped smartphone that's always (or almost always) online for access to the Groundspeak website. You don't have to pre-load anything, it's just there when you need it. Unfortunately, some cachers find smartphones unsuitable for other reasons -- not rugged enough, short battery life, too expensive, etc.
   

I'm guessing most hard-core cachers opt for devices in the second category.

[+jmd65]

I can load as many cache locations as I have memory for into my Nuvi. I store them as Points of Interest, and I currently have 2,500 on the SD card, and have used only a tiny fraction of the available space on the 1 gig card.

[+bbqqueen]

My Oregon can hold 2000. However there are easy ways to get it to hold an unlimited amout.

 

(1) Using a GSAK macro you can load tens of thousands as POI's.

 

(2) Since the OR uses .gpx files in a specific directory, you can create multiple .gpx files and place them in a different directory. Then use your PDA to move the files around to get the OR to use a different .gpx file.

 

The new OR 550, just announced, will handle 5,000

 

I have just bought an Oregon 400t I keep getting the message that I have the maximum gps files. I put in a 4B micro card and transferred the gpx files onto it to make space. But I'm still getting the same message. I had transferred 4 new caches and they seemed to write OK. But when I got to the location they weren't there. Help!!

bbqqueen

[+CCATBQFM]

If your GPS has a SD or some other kind of memory card the number is as great as your card will allow you. I have a Lowrance Hunt, and I have loaded over 2000 caches. You can store as many as 2000 in the internal memory of the hunt.

[NordicMan]

I guess if you're a rich retired "jet setter" who often travels the globe on a whim then knowing where all the caches are to your current location, whereever that is at the moment, would be nice

 

For me, having all the caches within 30-50 mile radius covers my needs just fine.

 

My Vista Cx can hold 1000's of caches using the POI loader. My Treo 650 usually has about 1500 loaded using Cachemate. My XOG can hold countless caches in it's SD memory chup but can "only" have 1000 max red into it's interal memory

Edited May 10, 2009 by NordicMan

[+user13371]

I guess if you're a rich retired "jet setter" who often travels the globe on a whim then knowing where all the caches are to your current location, whereever that is at the moment, would be nice

Most people wouldn't have to travel very far to overrun the 1000-2000 that most high-end units can keep in active storage. If I do a PQ for all active, traditional caches, excluding micros, within 10 miles of my house I get 415 items. Doubling the radius or including micros would probably put me over.

 

I think most serious cachers do what you do though - carry a GPS with a memory card and a file management scheme letting you swap sets in and out as needed. And you refresh the PQs daily, or at least as often as you go caching, right?

[+Tequila]

My Oregon can hold 2000. However there are easy ways to get it to hold an unlimited amout.

 

(1) Using a GSAK macro you can load tens of thousands as POI's.

 

(2) Since the OR uses .gpx files in a specific directory, you can create multiple .gpx files and place them in a different directory. Then use your PDA to move the files around to get the OR to use a different .gpx file.

 

The new OR 550, just announced, will handle 5,000

 

I have just bought an Oregon 400t I keep getting the message that I have the maximum gps files. I put in a 4B micro card and transferred the gpx files onto it to make space. But I'm still getting the same message. I had transferred 4 new caches and they seemed to write OK. But when I got to the location they weren't there. Help!!

bbqqueen

 

There is a file limit of 200 files. Look under device:/Garmin/GPX and see how many files are there. Delete old ones you don't want.

[+GeekBoy.from.Illinois]

The area where I live is what many consider to be "cache rich" or "cache dense". Within 100 miles of my home, I have about 10000 (yes 10K) active cache s which I haven't found yet. Because I never know exactly where I will be caching on any given day (or at any given point on any given day) I try to keep as many of those loaded as possible.

 

I have used the POI "trick" but I don't like that, as you lose the geocaching functionality on the newer GPSr models. For this reason, I have been using the "manage GPX files externally on my SD card" method for a little over a year now. I currently use a Garmin Oregon 400t and previously I used a Colorado 300. I store all geocache GPX files on the SD card which I pull from the unit and move/rename GPX files to "activate" a new group of caches based on the area in which I am caching at the moment.

 

Over this past weekend, I even went another route. I used a combination of my iPhone (with the Groundspeak Geocaching app) and my Oregon to find caches. When I sought after some new caches which were not in my GPSr, I used my iPhone to get the cache description, coordinates, and also to post my Field Notes back to GC.com. The only thing "wrong" with this technique is that it gets my local GSAK database out of sync as I now have found caches which are not included in my GSAK database, but that is another issue, not a GPSr usage issue in the field.

[segler999]

Somebody should start to calculate and map out cache densities in various states/counties/cities. Make a cool false-color density map.

 

With numbers like reported above we will start tripping over all the caches just walking down the street. No place to hide them anymore. All the hiding places already have one or multiple caches. Why, cache owners will check and find new unauthorized residents in their hiding places. Caches will be tossed. Tempers will flare. Cache squabbles will escalate to cache feuds, which will further escalate to cache wars. Laws will be passed. The President will appoint a Cache Enforcement Czar.

 

I'm just waiting for public agencies besides the national parks to come out with cache placement restrictions. Something like the city council in, say, Dubuque issuing an annoucement that no cache be placed within 25' of another cache. Make it 10' next year.

[+mcrow]

Mine holds about 500 but I normally only load up caches in the areas I plan to hit up during caching trips. So, typically I will do a PQ for a 5 mile area if it's an urban area or 25 for a rural area. That brings up from 100 to 500 caches.

[Andronicus]

I use a windows mobile cell phone, so I have all of them. The problem with having only 4000 or whatever, is that you alway have to make sure you have the ones for wherever you are going. If I go on vacation to Florida, or Montana, I (like the iPhone guy who paid for his phone and his software; mine was free) just pull up all the caches within a given range, and wala... I am off caching. I like that because most of my caching is rather spontanious. I have 15 minutes after grocery shoping, or at lunch during work etc. Anyway, I guess I should stop bragging. Lets face it, My HTC is much more fragile than a eTrex or other outdoor GPSrs.

[+Maingray]

Oregon can hold full information for 2,000 caches. I travel a lot to get to cache runs and even locally, at such a high cache density, this is not enough, and I need to alter whats on there often from my main GSAK database of 5,000 (100-mile radius).

 

5,000 would be a sweet spot for me. Such as the Oregon 550