how close can you get?

[stiner0305]

iam new to the sport/game. i have a germin gps and i can't get it to 0ft. i get close, yes i have found some, but many i can't find. it seems like once i get to about 2 feet or so then i stop to just look around the gps will bouce from 2 ft-10ft. why doesn't the feet stay the same when your standing still??

[Motorcycle_Mama]

The accuracy of recreational grade GPS units is typically 20 - 30 feet. What you are seeing is normal.

 

Once you get to the general area, put the GPS unit away and use your senses and skills to look for the cache.

[+Ike 13]

Even the best GPS can only get you to the spot the hiders GPS said it was. Sometimes this can be 30 feet off. As soon as I hit 50 feet my eyes are off the gps looking for hiding spots. I occasionally glance down to see if the distance jumps, but focus on your surroundings.

[+hukilaulau]

Also, with my explorist 500 the reading is often 20-40 feet when I find the cache, but by the time I get logged in and everything, the reading has gone down to 2-6 feet.

[stiner0305]

thanks everyone!

[+North Fork Seeker]

There are a lot of things that go into answering this question terrain, how thick is the cover both leaves and clouds how good were the coords when the cache was placed. mine will generally get me to within 20 feet of the cachcoords given then you just have to hunt.

[warddr]

IF the galileo system is online navigation will be much more accurate (less than 1 feet).

The release is planned for 2014 (initialy 2010).

Edited April 25, 2010 by warddr

[+Mosaic55]

I don't think I've ever gotten to "0" exactly. I'm real happy if I get anywhere within 10 feet. That generally gives me a pretty good idea of where to look. Lot's of times I'll find the cache then look at the GPS and see 6 to 8 foot distance, sometimes more, occasionally much more.

[suewes]

I didnt ask the question - but THANK YOU all for the answer...I was within 2 ft...and still DNF!!! ugh...look up!! i'll try that next time

[+briansnat]

I've probably gotten to zero maybe 5 times in close to a thousand cache hunts. I find most caches between 10 and 30 feet from where the GPS says it is, though 40, and 50 or more feet are not uncommon.

[+Knight2000]

As far as GPSr being accurate. They can be very accurate. My brother has one at work that is accurate to 1/500 of a foot. You get what you pay for.

 

I didnt ask the question - but THANK YOU all for the answer...I was within 2 ft...and still DNF!!! ugh...look up!! i'll try that next time

Just because your unit says 2' doesn't mean the cache is 2' away. It could still be 30' away. Go to where you can get the lowest # possible and search out from there. Chances are you will usually find the cache within 30' but occasionally it might go to 50' if the coords are off somewhere. (I found one 170' off once!)

 

Your unit has 10' accuracy. The hiders unit has 10' accuracy (usually). That is potentially 20'. Imagine searching an area with a 20' diameter. (300+ square feet.) Now think about the signals to these units being wacky. It could be a much broader search.

 

Just go to as low a number possible and search from there. If you don't find it you can always see if your unit has settled down and re-check ground zero.

[+AuntieWeasel]

The farthest I've ever found one, my GPS said I was 297 feet away from the cache. I was a relative newbie, or I probably would have given up long before I found it, but I just walked in circles from the spot my GPS liked best until it turned up.

 

Since no one else in the logs mentioned that the coords were off, I have to assume my GPS (ordinarily pretty reliable) was having a bad hair day.

 

I've seen a GPS read 0, but never while I was standing over the cache. And I've had three.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

My GPSr said 0.00 ft on three of four caches yesterday. But they were exceptionally well hidden. All of them were listed as regular size (one could have been listed as a large), but for each one it took over a half-hour to find it -- and one was a multi, each stage hidden as well as the final, those stages themselves qualified as at least a small. Ugh!

 

No, they weren't dead on when my GPSr said 0.00, but they were very close to it, certainly within sight had they not been hidden so well. Needless to say, the CO did not utilize the "standard" unnatural-pile-of-sticks routine for the hide.

 

That's when ya gotta love it!

Some cachers do however, prefer not having to work at finding a hide. For that matter, many cache owners don't really want to make people have to work for the find. You are going to run into both scenarios.

[+dfx]

As far as GPSr being accurate. They can be very accurate. My brother has one at work that is accurate to 1/500 of a foot. You get what you pay for.

but that's not just GPS (i.e. the Navstar GPS) itself (unless you're also using the military data channels). it's augmented GPS, such as Starfire. WAAS is a "light" version of such augmentation.

Edited April 28, 2010 by dfx

[+roziecakes]

Also, GPSr's usually read better when you are moving, that's why a lot of geocachers walk around in circles. So when you're standing still your reading will probably jump around more.

[+OldBenC]

I have two PN40s and an Oregon 550T. B normally get me within 5-6 feet, so I guess the hiders here (Oahu) do an excellent job with placement. I have had those occasions where the distance was 3-4 times that.

[suewes]

As far as GPSr being accurate. They can be very accurate. My brother has one at work that is accurate to 1/500 of a foot. You get what you pay for.

 

I didnt ask the question - but THANK YOU all for the answer...I was within 2 ft...and still DNF!!! ugh...look up!! i'll try that next time

Just because your unit says 2' doesn't mean the cache is 2' away. It could still be 30' away. Go to where you can get the lowest # possible and search out from there. Chances are you will usually find the cache within 30' but occasionally it might go to 50' if the coords are off somewhere. (I found one 170' off once!)

 

Your unit has 10' accuracy. The hiders unit has 10' accuracy (usually). That is potentially 20'. Imagine searching an area with a 20' diameter. (300+ square feet.) Now think about the signals to these units being wacky. It could be a much broader search.

 

Just go to as low a number possible and search from there. If you don't find it you can always see if your unit has settled down and re-check ground zero.

 

this makes total sense...of course they arent all going to be within the same accuracy level..thanks again! I had my daughter w me and we had a great laugh that we werent that great at this 'geocaching stuff'! Ahh it's all about the memories I'm determined...I WILL find this one

[+Team_Searchgeo]

I am finding quickly that it can very greatly. I am just using a blackberry with the blackstar app and yesterday when I found the geocache I looked at my BB GPS and it said 39', then I went to a second geocache and it said 22' when I found it. Now last night I went to one at the local park and it said 4' and I looked to my left and sure enough there it was about 4' away. I am not sure if it has something to do with the sat number or what but so far I am 3 for 5 using the BB.

[newdiscovery]

I also have a Garmin and closest I have seen is 2ft. it jumps a lot. what I do is take really slow baby steps and watch it go down

Edited April 29, 2010 by newdiscovery

[+Night Stalker]

My first try with my GPS said 0 right at the cache. That was 8 years ago, and I can't remember this happening since. I thought at the time that this caching thing was going to be easy. I have since revised that thought many times. The farthest away from zero I found a cache was a little over half a mile. I found this cache only because a previous searcher actually found this cache by the clues and left corrected coordinates in his log. I would have given up long before I had hiked that much further without his updated information.