A couple nuts just getting started - need advice

[+nuthouseinva]

New here and just getting started with geocaching. Received a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx for Christmas. We were able to enter coordinates of a few caches and find them. Now we're ready to dive in head first. Need advice of were to begin and best way to get cache info to our GPS.

Any tips and suggestions appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Nuthouseinva

Brian and Casey

[+Panther&Pine]

Spend the 30$ and become a Premium Member so you can use Pocket Queries!

Then try out GASK (free trial but only 25$ for a license) to sort and sift then send to your GPS. (Although someone else may have a brand specific option for you I like GASK).

[NordicMan]

Hi & welcome to the hobby/pastime/addiction

 

My best tip if you're new to GPS receivers then I really recommend you learn IT first before adding the Geocaching learning curve on top of it

 

Read the manual, and practice "finding" known locations a few times, that'll show you a LOT about the accuracy & precision these gadgets are capable of. Too many people assume just follow the arrow & it'll take you "3-2-1-0 voila" right to the cache.. Actually some days it might just do that, but most days nope

[g_o_caching]

New here and just getting started with geocaching. Received a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx for Christmas. We were able to enter coordinates of a few caches and find them. Now we're ready to dive in head first. Need advice of were to begin and best way to get cache info to our GPS.

Any tips and suggestions appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Nuthouseinva

Brian and Casey

 

Welcome to the obsession known as geocaching. This site will show you what you need to do step by step. There is a lot of information for both the beginner and experienced cachers.

 

http://www.geosnippits.com/

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

New here and just getting started with geocaching. Received a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx for Christmas. We were able to enter coordinates of a few caches and find them. Now we're ready to dive in head first. Need advice of were to begin and best way to get cache info to our GPS.

Any tips and suggestions appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Nuthouseinva

Brian and Casey

You can start by printing out the information.

 

After a few months, you will hear about paperless. Where do you live? Start by getting every cache within 1 mile, 2 miles, etc.

[+2BAMBAM4]

All kinds of great suggestions. One very important thing to remember is when out caching don't completely rely on the GPS to get you there and back. Carry a map of the area and a compass. Also give someone your location and when to expect you to return. Otherwise, just get out and get miles on the feet.

[+MamaKatS]

Welcome, NutHouseinVA! Good to see you here! I haven't any advice for you, as I just got my GPS for Christmas as well, and haven't actually found anything yet, LOL. But I'm looking forward to the hunt....!

 

These forums are chock-full of great info. So I guess my one piece of advice would be to surf thru all the forums and read up on all you can. I've learned a LOT, and there are SO many things I'd never even thought of that I can see will be really helpful.

[+entogeek]

New here and just getting started with geocaching. Received a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx for Christmas. We were able to enter coordinates of a few caches and find them. Now we're ready to dive in head first. Need advice of were to begin and best way to get cache info to our GPS.

Any tips and suggestions appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Nuthouseinva

Brian and Casey

 

The following can be done without having to upgrade to a premium membership (which by the way allows you to generate pocket queries which are the next best thing to sliced bread!)

 

1. Enter your home co-ordinates on the Your Account Details page.

2. When you are logged in, click on your username at the upper right corner of the window.

3. Below that click on the "Search for nearest geocaches from your home location" to show caches closest to where you live OR click on the Map It icon.

4. Click on a cache listing and once it appears and if it's one you want to look for, click on the Send to My GPS button (assuming you have already connected your GPS to your PC).

5. Repeat step 4.

 

6. For now you might want to consider searching for caches with low D/T combinations, perhaps 2/2 or lower, so you don't get frustrated with DNF's.

7. Check out the attributes for each cache especially if you have to contend with snow at this time of year. Look for caches with the snowflake icon which means they are winter friendly.

8. Make sure you have fun!

[Pup Patrol]

I would recommend getting familiar with your gps first, before hunting for caches. Do a thorough reading of your owner's manual. You will want to know how to manually input coords, should you search for Multicaches.

 

Also recommended is the Knowledge Books. Lots of good information can be found there:

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb

 

What I do is labour-intensive, but I'm particular about the caches we hunt. I pick a spot on the Geocaching Google map, and see what caches are in an area I'm interested in visiting.

 

I read the cache page, and all the logs posted, taking note of when the cache was last found, any bits of knowledge in the logs, etc. I also peruse the Photo Gallery, if there have been photos uploaded. That alone can make the determination that I want to go there.

 

Then I click on the "LOC waypoint file" button to download it to my computer. I change the title of the file to the GC code and name of the cache before saving to a special folder on my computer. (The default file title for LOC files is useless.)

 

Then I use GPSBabel to send the LOC file to my gps.

 

GPSBabel is free, and can be found here:

http://www.gpsbabel.org/

 

I still do printouts of the cache page. I select "no logs" for printing the cache page. Sometimes I'll just copy and paste the GC code, the coords and the hint (if any) for each cache into a Notepad file.

[+nuthouseinva]

Thanks for all the replies. We are slowly getting to know our GPS a little better. We were able to find out how to download the basic cache information and coordinates via the Garmin plugin. We definitely need to learn how to use our GPS better. It takes a while to figure out how to navigate through the menus but we're getting better, slowly.

We will probably try a couple more close by caches and see how it goes. I'm sure we will learn a lot more after reading the forum and watching the videos.

[+nuthouseinva]

We've found a few more caches. One of them was a nano. Pretty difficult but very fun.

Muggles seem to be the hard part as most of the caches near our house are in very busy places.

After expanding our search I can see where filtering would come handy. There's just soo many to find.

 

Just gonna keep on finding caches and having fun!

[+Colonial Cats]

I reccommend getting The Complete Guide to Geocaching. Read it from cover to cover and you can't go wrong.

[hoosier guy]

Check out your regional forum for events and other cachers near you. It is fun to meet others who cache and hey can be a good source of help.

 

Happy caching

[+nuthouseinva]

Check out your regional forum for events and other cachers near you. It is fun to meet others who cache and hey can be a good source of help.

 

Happy caching

 

Thanks. That was one of the things we noticed when reading last night, that geocahing parties sometime get together for a day with a goal of X many caches in a particular area. That sounds like a lot of fun. We may recruit some family and friends who already have GPS's for hunting and fishing. We could form our own little scavaging party!!

[+nuthouseinva]

Well. 22 found now. Getting stumped on a few. There are some really well hidden caches out there.

Still getting the hang of the GPS. Sometimes it doesn't seem to cooperate once in the GZ. Kinda hard to be stealthy when your doing the GPS dance.

[+NicknPapa]

Well. 22 found now. Getting stumped on a few. There are some really well hidden caches out there.

Still getting the hang of the GPS. Sometimes it doesn't seem to cooperate once in the GZ. Kinda hard to be stealthy when your doing the GPS dance.

When mine starts doing that I usually stuff it my pocket and start using my eyes. If you think you are still quite a way off GZ you might try stoppi8ng for a few minutes to let the GPS settle down. Doesn't make sense but it works for me.