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Vehicle Static Cling/Decal/Magnet Travel Bugs?


BlueDeuce

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I bought a window sticker one too, but not thinking I put them on my tinted windows and have now realized you can barely see them. So I am gonna take the tags and release them, and I will just use it as a regular TB.

 

Now I have to order another sticker one, and this time put it on the back hatch of my truck.

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I have a question for all those Geo-Junkies out there just like me. I bought a TB for my truck so that the whole vehicle is the TB. Do any of you have one, or has anyone come across one. How does it work. I set one up but I would like to find out as much as I can. So if I did anything wrong I need to change it......Thank You

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They are primarily designed to be Discovered by cachers who happen to come across it. They wouldn't Grab it away and log it through a cache unless they took your truck 4-wheeling.

 

It's comes with a set of dog tags so that if you decide to stop using your car as a TB you can release it as a normal bug.

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Yep, they are easy to activate, just like a regular TB. As the owner you can dip it (log it in and then out of a cache) every now and then for mileage. Some people set up their own guidelines, such as the vehicle (TB) must have come within x number of feet of the actual cache in order to 'dip' it into that cache.

 

Once on the vehicle the TB can be seen and 'discovered' by fellow cachers who will easily recognize it. I recently attended my first geo-event and I noticed a couple as we pulled into the parking lot.

Cachers make a log entry as 'discovered it' and then usually make some comments about where they saw it or what they were doing at the time.

 

FYI : I have also met a cacher with a TB shirt, one with TB hat and another with a TB walking stick. Two days back I came across a 6ft wooden pirate TB. You can discover it at the establishment located near GC1VY7W, The Ships Chamber. I guess almost anything can be a TB!

Edited by LandStar
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The one from my vehicles;

 

Current GOAL: To explore and cache the United States. If you see me driving around, feel free to log me and let me know where you saw me.

 

About this item:

This will be on my vehicle and will be along for all caching that Docster68 and family venture out on.

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So, when ou see a vehicle travel bug decal I presume you must record the secret number in order to log it as a find, but how you do you log the location? Does that matter? Or I just mention when I write the log?

 

Mileage/location is only tracked through caches. You'll just have to mention where you saw it.

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Magnetic or "cling" travel bugs are now available. They come with normal travel bugs (2) as well, that have the same number.

 

The implication here is that the normal travel bug is launched in the normal fashion. The magnetic travel bug is then attached to your car.

 

So, the normal travel bug will be logged in the normal way by people.

 

The one stuck on your car? Is this logged in the same travel bug log? What is logged - just the sighting? Is there a real example I could look at somewhere?

 

Bit confused over this.....

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The idea of tagging your vehicle is sort of allowing folks the opportunity to log that they spotted you somewhere (or at least your car while you were off on some god forsaken trail slogging through the mud and freezing drizzle with a bleeding arm after running into that hidden barb wire fence and missing one of your good shoes in the ooze of some chemical waste somebody illegal dumped in the 40 acre nature perserve that has a 10 stage multi cache). B)

 

No - don't send out the metal tags - put them on the mirror in the car.

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Magnetic or "cling" travel bugs are now available. They come with normal travel bugs (2) as well, that have the same number.

 

The implication here is that the normal travel bug is launched in the normal fashion. The magnetic travel bug is then attached to your car.

 

So, the normal travel bug will be logged in the normal way by people.

 

The one stuck on your car? Is this logged in the same travel bug log? What is logged - just the sighting? Is there a real example I could look at somewhere?

 

Bit confused over this.....

 

Per guidelines you cannot release multiple bugs with the same tracking number.

 

The extra set of tags is if you should decide to stop using your car as a TB, you can re-release it as a normal travel bug. Just throw them in a drawer until you should need them.

 

Car TB's are normally Discovered by people who come across it. They would not Retrieve it or move it to a cache. Unless they decided to take your car 4-wheeling.

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I wonder if Groundspeak would consider sending out usage instructions along with the vehicle TB stickers they sell...? It does seem to come up a few times here and there.

Plus, it's not even explained on the Travel Bug FAQ nor the How to Log a Travel Bug

 

they don't explain what to do at all.

 

if they are going to sell these things then it needs to be explained correctly in the FAQ as well as the How to Log to help get rid of all this confusion.

 

when I get one, I'm going to try to accurately describe on my cache page to post the log as a Discovery

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... just wondering how popular they are?

 

If you have one, has anything bad / weird happened as a result?

 

jazzmonster

I don't have one (yet), but I do have a "GEO" sticker on the back of my SUV and a license plate that reads "2CACHE". I figure both give away what I do in my spare time. After more than two years with both in plain view, I haven't had anything bad happen to either me or my car (nothing I could attribute to those things, anyway B) ).

 

As to the possibility of attracting weird stalkers, I'm still listed in the phone book white pages. What, me worry?

 

--Larry

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I don't get it... how would a car thief or "wierdo stalker" make use of a travel bug on your car? Look up your geocaching profile? Send you an email from there? I don't get it.

Me either.

 

I have the TB stickers in my windows on my Jeep and the only weirdos that I have come in contact with are Random cachers asking me my username?? (and they are no weirder than I am!)

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I don't get it... how would a car thief or "wierdo stalker" make use of a travel bug on your car? Look up your geocaching profile? Send you an email from there? I don't get it.

 

This reminds me of the "don't save your home location on your GPS device" warnings that I see from time to time.

 

Crazy stalker werdos were following you around just fine before you bought that Nuvi or put that TB sticker on your window. They already knew were you lived. Sheesh.

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I've had one on my truck for two years now, and I do alot of miles every year, so the truck is on the road more than the average vehicle. To this day my Truck TB has zero miles on it, as nobody has noticed the TB magnet right in the middle of my tailgate!

I've read other threads claiming the same experience as mine - the only place vehicle TB's get noticed usually is at cache events.

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I've had one on my truck for two years now, and I do alot of miles every year, so the truck is on the road more than the average vehicle. To this day my Truck TB has zero miles on it, as nobody has noticed the TB magnet right in the middle of my tailgate!

I've read other threads claiming the same experience as mine - the only place vehicle TB's get noticed usually is at cache events.

 

I've 'discovered' two so far. One was at a CITO event. The other was while driving down Rte 36. "Pull up close at the next light, so I can read the TB number!"

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I bought one of the standard travel bug vehicle decals. The decal came with two other actual travel bug dog tags with the same tracking number that is on the decal.

 

Personally, I did not want my car to be discovered, so I cut the tracking number off of the decal before I applied it to my car. That way people can identify me as a geocacher without tracking my car too.

 

I just saved the dog tags themselves, and will use them on a separate item just like any other travel bug.

 

However, you can turn your car into a "travel bug" so that other geocachers can see the tracking number, and log that they discovered your car.

Edited by heyjonathan101
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I've had one on my truck for two years now, and I do alot of miles every year, so the truck is on the road more than the average vehicle. To this day my Truck TB has zero miles on it, as nobody has noticed the TB magnet right in the middle of my tailgate!

I've read other threads claiming the same experience as mine - the only place vehicle TB's get noticed usually is at cache events.

Good to know. I was thinking about doing the same on our truck. I average 50,000 miles per year, so it also sees quite a few miles. If they don't get noticed from normal every day driving, caching, and shopping, then I won't waste my time on one.

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