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Mostly cause they are small and can be placed anywhere. Allowing people to easily hide caches in a populated area. While putting little to no thought to placing an interesting and creative cache. Though many have taken them and made interesting caches. Some times they are even used in some very evil caches. But for the most part they are used in boring and thoughtless hides.

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First we have Vinny returning, now pinehurst. Must be a sign of the coming Rapture...

 

The two reasons I have are already in StarBrand's list : cheaper and easier to hide. Also, consider the fact that it is easier to hide and maintain urban caches, and most urban locations don't allow for something larger than a micro.

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Why does everyone do micros now? Is it because new gps's are better and their trying to make it harder?

Exactly. I heard that they are now working on the new generation of nanos... you can fit ten of them on the head of a pin!!

 

Ughh. Talk about the pain of fitting a log sheet in one of em. :tired:

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Have you ever seen a cache description like this?

 

It Shoulda Been a Film Can

 

I was doing some of the other caches in this nice preserve and noticed this great tree. So I left a cache here. All I was carrying was an ammo can, sorry.

 

Yeah, I know, it shoulda been a film can.

-------------------------------------------------------

 

some size stats from Florida Pocket queries:

 

2390 physical caches 12/25/2000 - 6/7/2005

 

53.8% trading caches (small reg large) 1287

46.2% micro+unknown = 1103 46.2%

 

40.3% micro 963

5.9% unknown 140

11% small 262

42.4% reg 1013

0.5% large 12

 

2390 physical caches 10/05/09 - 6/7/2009

35% trading caches (small reg large)

65% micro+ unknown = 1552

 

53.8% micro 1284

11.2% unknown 268

19% small 453 19%

15.8% regular 378 15.8%

0.03% large 7

 

2358 caches Feb 17 2011 to May 1 2011

63.4% micro+unknown

36.6 trading

 

53.4% micro 1260

18.68 % other 235

22.8 % small 538

13.57% reg 320

0.02% large 5

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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I don't find my Oregon or my 60Cx any more accurate than my old blue legend was. They just get much better reception. Besides, how accurate do they need to be to find a lamp post? I tend to think it is more of a monkey see monkey do situation compounded by the numbers game.

 

When I started there was still a "look at this neat place" attitude amongst the local cachers. There are still a few around here that hide caches for the aesthetics of location but for the most part the numbers have taken over. Where the numbers were a side issue, now it is becoming the focus of many cachers. This is seen in the continuing growth in the number of easy micro hides.

 

Are there some micros hidden to be difficult and challenging? Yes, of course. And there are some that are hidden because they are the appropriate size for a given interesting location. But most seem to be micro, small, or other these days. Hidden in places that are of interest only for the fact that the cache is there. Oh well.

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Pinehurst, one thing these folks haven't told you is, the proliferation of micros, (AKA: The END of Geocaching as we know it), is the end result of the plan of one evil, evil man from Texas. Yup. You guessed it. It's all Snoogans' fault! Fetch the torches and pitchforks!

 

And don't forget the bonfire!

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I only have one micro hidden and it was done out of fun and making things harder. Other than that I only use micros in my multis. My wife and I found our first nano last weekend. We had never seen something so small. I think a lot of this just has to do with numbers. I'm more in it for the fun.

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So. Many. Micros. @_@

 

That was the title of another thread, pretty similar to this. Can't find it.

 

 

So. many. micros. @_@

 

the Search works great with the new forum software :anibad:

 

 

Laziness.

 

People don't want to walk more than 10' from parking out into the woods, where larger caches can be hidden.

 

 

BS...i have microes at the end of a good long walk, and they got great feedback

 

most of us don't give a rats a** about swag, we go for the hike, so what's the point in putting out a big container, especially ammo cans of which we had two stolen already

Edited by t4e
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When I started there was still a "look at this neat place" attitude amongst the local cachers. There are still a few around here that hide caches for the aesthetics of location but for the most part the numbers have taken over. Where the numbers were a side issue, now it is becoming the focus of many cachers. This is seen in the continuing growth in the number of easy micro hides.

 

Are there some micros hidden to be difficult and challenging? Yes, of course. And there are some that are hidden because they are the appropriate size for a given interesting location. But most seem to be micro, small, or other these days. Hidden in places that are of interest only for the fact that the cache is there.

 

oh yeah, it's killing me ... my old hides (in the coolest place i knew about along the trail) are now just another number in the run, a cache literally every 529 to 600 feet.... in a scrub, micro, "my pointless numbers series #1 - # 35".

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Laziness.

 

People don't want to walk more than 10' from parking out into the woods, where larger caches can be hidden.

 

BS...i have microes at the end of a good long walk, and they got great feedback

 

most of us don't give a rats a** about swag, we go for the hike, so what's the point in putting out a big container, especially ammo cans of which we had two stolen already

 

Not saying there are no good micros at the end of nice walks that get lots of "Favorites". I was offering my explanation as to the explosion of micros. You'll find lots more new micros in parking lots that in the woods.

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Why does everyone do micros now? Is it because new gps's are better and their trying to make it harder?

Exactly. I heard that they are now working on the new generation of nanos... you can fit ten of them on the head of a pin!!

 

Picture of an intermediate stage:

 

1a46cc64-8039-49ae-9f2f-d40844a5d665.jpg

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We've only come across a half dozen or so LPC's, one of which was a good sized container with room for swag. Two of them were the first 2 stages of a 3 part multi leading to a nice final cache, so that didn't bother me. The rest of the micros we've found haven't always been in the most spectacular of locations (some were very nice) but at least they were caches to be found. It's all about the fun of the hunt & family time for me. If it weren't for the micros, there'd be a lot less and we'd run out much sooner.

 

Exactly. I heard that they are now working on the new generation of nanos... you can fit ten of them on the head of a pin!!

 

Ughh. Talk about the pain of fitting a log sheet in one of em. :tired:

 

Not as bad as trying to get the log sheet out. :blink:

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And another thing; why is it that micros and nanos are hidden where there are perfectly good spots for a larger cache? I know, it's about the numbers. Oh well.

Just curious,how is putting a micro where there is a spot for a larger cache all about the numbers? It's one find whether it's a micro or an ammo can. Dont see how you run your numbers up there.

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First we have Vinny returning, now pinehurst. Must be a sign of the coming Rapture...

 

The two reasons I have are already in StarBrand's list : cheaper and easier to hide. Also, consider the fact that it is easier to hide and maintain urban caches, and most urban locations don't allow for something larger than a micro.

When I returned from my little, "hissy fit" I got no warm welcoming! :ph34r: :ph34r:

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And another thing; why is it that micros and nanos are hidden where there are perfectly good spots for a larger cache? I know, it's about the numbers. Oh well.

Just curious,how is putting a micro where there is a spot for a larger cache all about the numbers? It's one find whether it's a micro or an ammo can. Dont see how you run your numbers up there.

 

Well, you probably got them there. What they're more likely talking about is hiding say a micro on a guardrail 25 feet from the parking coordinates, when they could have gone 500 feet down the trail and hidden a lock-n-lock or ammo can. Seen that more than a few times. :o

 

I've also seen many o' micros hidden in spots where a larger trading cache could have easily been hidden. That, in most cases I've seen, appears to be simply because it cost next to nothing to put out a micro, as opposed to a trading and/or Travel Bug friendly cache. I couldn't care less about the swag and trading, but we do have these Travel Bug things floating around. A few million of them, I would imagine. :P

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When I returned from my little, "hissy fit" I got no warm welcoming! :ph34r: :ph34r:

I'm not sure equating pinehurst coming back with the rapture is exactly warm welcome.

 

Now, Vinny, that's a whole different enchilada.

 

:o Vinny's an enchilada??? That explains a lot!!! :o

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Keep in mind too that it's more than just being able to place a larger container. Even if the cache won't be noticed where it's hidden, cache seekers can draw attention to it as they search for, retrieve, and replace it. Smaller containers are easier to retrieve and replace discreetly than larger containers. I've seen several locations reused for new caches after previous ones were archived. Larger caches are easily muggled, and last a relatively short time. Smaller caches last longer. Eventually, someone hides a micro-cache and that's what survives.

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When I returned from my little, "hissy fit" I got no warm welcoming! :ph34r: :ph34r:

I'm not sure equating pinehurst coming back with the rapture is exactly warm welcome.

 

Now, Vinny, that's a whole different enchilada.

 

:o Vinny's an enchilada??? That explains a lot!!! :o

micro threads are for ice analogies, not enchilada analogies.

 

Now an ice cream echilada ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate-Tortilla-Ice-Cream-Enchilada.jpg

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Laziness.

 

People don't want to walk more than 10' from parking out into the woods, where larger caches can be hidden.

 

I won't go so far as to attribute the proliferation of micro caches to laziness but my theory is related to your second sentence.

 

I'd suggest that the types of caches being hidden may be related to a perception of the purpose of a GPS. When geocaching first started, handheld GPS devices were relatively new and many saw a GPS receiver as a modern equivalent of a compass. A compass was something that one used out in the wilderness to avoid getting lost and not something one would use in their car to find their way around in an unknown city. Thus, early GPS receiver adopters would tend to use it like a compass and more caches were hidden in places that were off the beaten path and more conducive to larger containers.

 

Then auto-navigation GPS devices started to hit the market and proliferate. Then GPS receivers became a tool for finding ones way around a city, perhaps as a means to find the best route from a hotel where one was staying to a Chinese restaurant. In fact, that's exactly how they were marketed. So the perception of the purpose of a GPS went from a device one would use in wilderness areas to help navigate a series of trails, to a device one used to drive from one place to another. Perhaps that led to a perception that geocaching was an activity which used a GPS to drive from one place to another where a geocache was located with the assumption that the cache would be located close to one parked. Finding a spot to place a cache close to a parking spot limited the possible hiding spots to smaller containers, thus a proliferation of micro caches followed.

 

In any case, that's my theory.

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I don't know about that theory. My old GPSr didn't have a built in compass, so in the early days of the game, I always had a real compass in my pocket or pack.

 

Instead, my old GPSr was more like a map analogue. So was all of the other GPSrs that I've owned and our current nav systems.

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I don't know about that theory. My old GPSr didn't have a built in compass, so in the early days of the game, I always had a real compass in my pocket or pack.

 

Instead, my old GPSr was more like a map analogue. So was all of the other GPSrs that I've owned and our current nav systems.

 

I think you missed my point. It had nothing to do with the features available in older/newer GPS devices, but the perception about the purpose of a GPS. I remember when I first read about the use of handheld GPS devices in the context of sea kayaking navigation. There was a very strong consensus about not relying on this new fangled electronic device and to carry a real compass as a backup but I think that many saw a GPS as a tool which might replace the compass and thus used it as they might use a compass. When auto-navigation GPS receivers hit the consumer market, they weren't marketed as a replacement for a compass (I doubt many people used a compass to find their way around while driving) but as a replacement for a paper road map. When auto-navigation GPS owners heard about geocaching, and that it "required" the use of a GPS, the presumption that geocaching was about navigating on roads from place to place isn't much of a stretch.

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I don't know about that theory. My old GPSr didn't have a built in compass, so in the early days of the game, I always had a real compass in my pocket or pack.

 

Instead, my old GPSr was more like a map analogue. So was all of the other GPSrs that I've owned and our current nav systems.

 

I think you missed my point. It had nothing to do with the features available in older/newer GPS devices, but the perception about the purpose of a GPS. I remember when I first read about the use of handheld GPS devices in the context of sea kayaking navigation. There was a very strong consensus about not relying on this new fangled electronic device and to carry a real compass as a backup but I think that many saw a GPS as a tool which might replace the compass and thus used it as they might use a compass. When auto-navigation GPS receivers hit the consumer market, they weren't marketed as a replacement for a compass (I doubt many people used a compass to find their way around while driving) but as a replacement for a paper road map. When auto-navigation GPS owners heard about geocaching, and that it "required" the use of a GPS, the presumption that geocaching was about navigating on roads from place to place isn't much of a stretch.

I guess you missed my point. When I bought my first GPSr, it's purpose was to show me where to go, like a map.

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I don't know about that theory. My old GPSr didn't have a built in compass, so in the early days of the game, I always had a real compass in my pocket or pack.

 

Instead, my old GPSr was more like a map analogue. So was all of the other GPSrs that I've owned and our current nav systems.

 

I think you missed my point. It had nothing to do with the features available in older/newer GPS devices, but the perception about the purpose of a GPS. I remember when I first read about the use of handheld GPS devices in the context of sea kayaking navigation. There was a very strong consensus about not relying on this new fangled electronic device and to carry a real compass as a backup but I think that many saw a GPS as a tool which might replace the compass and thus used it as they might use a compass. When auto-navigation GPS receivers hit the consumer market, they weren't marketed as a replacement for a compass (I doubt many people used a compass to find their way around while driving) but as a replacement for a paper road map. When auto-navigation GPS owners heard about geocaching, and that it "required" the use of a GPS, the presumption that geocaching was about navigating on roads from place to place isn't much of a stretch.

I guess you missed my point. When I bought my first GPSr, it's purpose was to show me where to go, like a map.

I always thought the GPS was supposed to show me where I am, not where to go.

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I guess you missed my point. When I bought my first GPSr, it's purpose was to show me where to go, like a map.
But what kind of map? Did you use it to navigate trails the way you'd use a USGS topo map? Or did you use it to navigate streets and highways the way you'd use a AAA road map?

 

I think that's the shift NYPaddleCacher is referring to. Ignore the compass vs map distinction. Is a GPSr a tool for navigating through undeveloped wilderness, parks, and open space; or is a GPSr a tool for navigating streets, highways, and interchanges?

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I guess you missed my point. When I bought my first GPSr, it's purpose was to show me where to go, like a map.
But what kind of map? Did you use it to navigate trails the way you'd use a USGS topo map? Or did you use it to navigate streets and highways the way you'd use a AAA road map?
Both.
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I don't know about that theory. My old GPSr didn't have a built in compass, so in the early days of the game, I always had a real compass in my pocket or pack.

 

Instead, my old GPSr was more like a map analogue. So was all of the other GPSrs that I've owned and our current nav systems.

 

I think you missed my point. It had nothing to do with the features available in older/newer GPS devices, but the perception about the purpose of a GPS. I remember when I first read about the use of handheld GPS devices in the context of sea kayaking navigation. There was a very strong consensus about not relying on this new fangled electronic device and to carry a real compass as a backup but I think that many saw a GPS as a tool which might replace the compass and thus used it as they might use a compass. When auto-navigation GPS receivers hit the consumer market, they weren't marketed as a replacement for a compass (I doubt many people used a compass to find their way around while driving) but as a replacement for a paper road map. When auto-navigation GPS owners heard about geocaching, and that it "required" the use of a GPS, the presumption that geocaching was about navigating on roads from place to place isn't much of a stretch.

I guess you missed my point. When I bought my first GPSr, it's purpose was to show me where to go, like a map.

I always thought the GPS was supposed to show me where I am, not where to go.

Just like a map, it does both.

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