Micros

May 19, 2011

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

2.8k · May 19, 2011

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.

18.9k · May 19, 2011

Why does everyone do micros now?

Easier to hide.

Cheaper to hide.

Goes in More locations.

Requires less planning (in general).

No or little Swag.

Monkey See, Monkey Do - attitude.

May 19, 2011

Technology keeps advancing. Things keep getting smaller. Expect femtocaches coming in Q1 of 2012.

7.7k · May 19, 2011

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.

1.2k · May 19, 2011

Surely you've heard that, with all the advancements in technology, communications, and the ever increasing human population, the world is becoming a smaller place. Stands to reason that caches should get smaller too.

1.7k · May 19, 2011

Sunspots.

6.7k · May 19, 2011

Sun spots.

6.7k · May 19, 2011

Sunspots.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

4.2k · May 19, 2011

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

They fit so good in lamp posts.

1.7k · May 19, 2011

Sunspots.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

:anicute:

May 19, 2011

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

They fit so good in lamp posts.

Altiods.

19k · May 19, 2011

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!!

May 19, 2011

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:

7.9k · May 19, 2011

Why does everyone do micros now?

Easier to hide.

Cheaper to hide.

Goes in More locations.

Requires less planning (in general).

No or little Swag.

Monkey See, Monkey Do - attitude.

This.

4.2k · May 19, 2011

Why does everyone do micros now?

Easier to hide.

Cheaper to hide.

Goes in More locations.

Requires less planning (in general).

No or little Swag.

Monkey See, Monkey Do - attitude.

This.

That.

7.3k · May 19, 2011

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 May 20, 2011 by Isonzo Karst

6.7k · May 19, 2011

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.

9.3k · May 20, 2011

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!

May 20, 2011

So. many. micros. @_@

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

May 20, 2011

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!

6.7k · May 20, 2011

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!

May 20, 2011

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

I don't think they are over populated. I love micros,i also love finding ammo cans,lock n locs and even nanos. I just like hunting caches,so to me the more the better. I like em all.

May 20, 2011

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.

May 20, 2011

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.

2.8k · May 20, 2011

Laziness.

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

4.2k · May 20, 2011

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 May 20, 2011 by t4e

7.3k · May 20, 2011

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".

May 20, 2011

Ive heard of film canisters being used as swag. Probably thats why people are hiding more micros. Free containers.

2.8k · May 20, 2011

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.

3k · May 20, 2011

This.

That.

And the other thing.

May 20, 2011

To me size doesn't matter! :anicute:

It's the inventiveness of the hide!

Edited May 20, 2011 by sheltiedogshowlover

19k · May 20, 2011

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:

May 20, 2011

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.

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

7.7k · May 20, 2011

Where did you get such a huge coin from??

May 20, 2011

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.

1.7k · May 20, 2011

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:

10.2k · May 20, 2011

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.

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.

7.7k · May 20, 2011

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

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

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

1.7k · May 20, 2011

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

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

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

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

15.4k · May 20, 2011

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.

8k · May 20, 2011

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

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

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

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

micro threads are for ice analogies, not enchilada analogies.

Now an ice cream echilada ...

14k · May 20, 2011

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.

20.7k · May 20, 2011

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.

14k · May 20, 2011

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.

20.7k · May 20, 2011

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.

2.1k · May 20, 2011

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.

15.4k · May 20, 2011

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?

20.7k · May 20, 2011

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.

20.7k · May 20, 2011

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.

Micros

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