Is my Iphone app enough?

[Mr.Yuck]

I tried my first cache with my iphone 3gs with the $10 app, the closest it came to the cache was 30 ft, and the accuracy was showing 155ft .....155ft!! so the cache could be anywhere within 185ft?

 

needless to say my daughter and i could not find the cache and are wondering if we ever will find anything with the app and phone, with these numbers it seems impossible?

 

I can't speak for the 3GS, but I've been caching with only my iPhone 4 (and the $10 Geo app) for almost a year now and I consider it quite accurate, easily in the 5-10 ft. range. It does struggle in heavily wooded areas, but even then it usually gets me within 20 ft. or so. Granted, the 4 does have better GPS functionality over the 3G & 3GS. Smartphone caching has its pros & cons, but I'm more than satisfied with it. I don't think they deserve the negativity they often receive here in the forums.

 

I just said two posts above that with the "negativity" smartphone users often receive, it's all about the short, no information logs posted from the field on the phone. That and nothing else. Unless you have me on ignore. Hmm, I wonder if there are smartphone Geocachers who have me on ignore, all over misunderstanding my take on the situation.

 

To answer ChezBez, heck yeah, you can find these things with a Tom-Tom. The disadvantages are the same as those of a smartphone; not waterproof, and without a rugged shockproof design you'd find on a handheld. I could drop my GPS from 15 feet up a tree and in a pile of rocks, and it would be fine. Your phone or Tom-Tom probably wouldn't fare too well. I'm of the opinion there is no major difference in accuracy.

[+33Forward]

Oh its definitely not a "my device is better than your device" game. Granted, they play a role in how close you get to GZ (target coordinates for the cache, ie, ground zero), but they only get you so far. If every device with a GPS chip put the cache right in front of your face, where is the fun? Its part device, part human knowledge, creativity and awareness.

I just started doing this myself. I have 4 finds, and 2 DNFs. Did I ever blame my app or my phone for the DNF? Nope. One of my tough finds, my GPS was all over the place. How did I find it? I looked. I kept looking. And you know what? Its the most satisfying feeling to find something you never thought you were going to find.

[ratmloud]

I tried my first cache with my iphone 3gs with the $10 app, the closest it came to the cache was 30 ft, and the accuracy was showing 155ft .....155ft!! so the cache could be anywhere within 185ft?

 

needless to say my daughter and i could not find the cache and are wondering if we ever will find anything with the app and phone, with these numbers it seems impossible?

 

Switch over to the aerial view from the compass / direction mode and move slowly until the blue dot (you) is at the target. You should be pretty close at that point. Signal reception isn't always the best though and you could be standing still for a while waiting for the app to catch up with you, but I primarily hunt in rural areas anyway, so that is bound to happen.

 

This helped ALOT, I was going with the compass but it only was getting as close as 32ft with 155 accuracy (not able to find) so i took your advice and got close and switched to pin view and it got me as close as 3 ft on one cache we did!!

 

I have found 3 more caches now, and having much more fun, thanks.

[+TL&MinBHIL]

I just said two posts above that with the "negativity" smartphone users often receive, it's all about the short, no information logs posted from the field on the phone. That and nothing else. Unless you have me on ignore. Hmm, I wonder if there are smartphone Geocachers who have me on ignore, all over misunderstanding my take on the situation.

 

To answer ChezBez, heck yeah, you can find these things with a Tom-Tom. The disadvantages are the same as those of a smartphone; not waterproof, and without a rugged shockproof design you'd find on a handheld. I could drop my GPS from 15 feet up a tree and in a pile of rocks, and it would be fine. Your phone or Tom-Tom probably wouldn't fare too well. I'm of the opinion there is no major difference in accuracy.

Nope, don't have you on ignore Mr. Yuck. I saw your earlier post, just speaking my mind is all. Yes, there's a lot of smartphone negativity in reference to short logs, but you can't blame the device for those. I'm certain there are plenty of GPSr users who do the same with their logs. I create longer logs, making note of my experience & anything interesting that might have happened and I do it all from my phone. If someone leaves a short (or no) log, blame the person not the device. There's a lot of unfair generalization in this forum when it comes to using a smartphone and there's a dark cloud cast over us just because we don't use a GPSr. In the end, although short logs & no logs may be undesirable to some, they're not against the rules. So attacking those who do it (and those attacks are usually aimed at smartphone cachers) isn't getting anyone anywhere.

 

For the longest time, I only had a hard plastic case on my iPhone without any screen protection. But I take very good care of my belongings so thankfully nothing ever happened to it on caching expeditions. Now I have an Otter Box on it (thanks to a kind friend who gave it to me as a gift) and I'm much more comfortable taking it caching. I'm not saying I'll drop it 15 feet onto some rocks, but at least it's a lot more shock resistant & protected than it was.

 

I tried my first cache with my iphone 3gs with the $10 app, the closest it came to the cache was 30 ft, and the accuracy was showing 155ft .....155ft!! so the cache could be anywhere within 185ft?

 

needless to say my daughter and i could not find the cache and are wondering if we ever will find anything with the app and phone, with these numbers it seems impossible?

 

Switch over to the aerial view from the compass / direction mode and move slowly until the blue dot (you) is at the target. You should be pretty close at that point. Signal reception isn't always the best though and you could be standing still for a while waiting for the app to catch up with you, but I primarily hunt in rural areas anyway, so that is bound to happen.

 

This helped ALOT, I was going with the compass but it only was getting as close as 32ft with 155 accuracy (not able to find) so i took your advice and got close and switched to pin view and it got me as close as 3 ft on one cache we did!!

 

I have found 3 more caches now, and having much more fun, thanks.

You know, I rely heavily on the compass function of the Geocaching app to get me to GZ and it'd put me well within the 20 ft. range...many times within 5-10 or right on it. I only ever use the map to get me to the general area & to check the satellite image. But maybe I should try out the map to get to GZ and see if it's more accurate. Up until now I've done just fine with the compass but it's worth a shot.