First time poster

[+Paragon33]

Have been trying back and forth with the geocaching since April. I absolutely love it, but am getting easily frustrated with my iphone when with my kids (10 and 4). With my recent life upheaval, I will have more time to search I guess. I use the geocache with my iphone but it's frustrating when it says 100 feet and then I walk 100 feet and it says I need to go back the opposite way 100 feet. And justifying the monthly cost while not under contract, might be downgrading for awhile. I didn't buy the app, and that may have something to do with it, I don't know. Have done some reasearch on handheld gps units and hoping I can get one soon. What I'm not sure of, with northeast ohio winters generally keeping people inside, do people search in the snow? It's going to be a bit easy following footprints, I would think. I might be wrong. Just want to mentally justify the expense of a handheld unit prior to purchase, which will be difficult if it sits all winter.

I will continue to look at tips and tricks here. And if you see this strange guy wandering around in the forest aimlessly in circles with two kids in tow, don't be afraid to say hi.

[+dfx]

A dedicated handheld will definitely help your accuracy issues, unless it's a really old unit. Even something simple like an eTrex H would probably be a big improvement.

 

As for snow... Some people do stay at home all winter and don't go caching, while others don't care and dive right into the white stuff. We're of the latter kind, and you're right that some caches are easier to find in winter, but also others are nigh impossible to find. Experience helps here - if the description and/or the hint tells you that the cache is hidden above ground, chances of success are quite good. Same with recently hidden or recently found caches, as you say yourself, footprints will lead the way (and caches hidden in winter are almost guaranteed to be hidden in winter-friendly fashion). For me personally, it's mostly a matter of being comfortable in the cold and snow for a longer period of time, which vastly depends on clothing. Warm (as warm as possible) and waterproof is what you want.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Some people really like their smartphones and wouldn't part with them, some people use both a smartphone and a GPSr, some people swear at smartphones.

 

As far as the walking to and fro 'cuz it sends you this way then that way, it is because YOU ARE THERE! Granted, 100' is a little much, but some devices dial in better than others. When you suddenly start being turned around again and again, that is about as close as your device is going to get you to the cache -- it will only put you in the area, it will not necessarily take you TO the cache.

Put the device away, and look for the hide, or better yet, the hiding spot -- then look for the cache. You will eventually learn and recognize the spots to hide, making the hunt easier(?).

 

Wintertime and snow are neither good nor bad, just different. In some aspects it makes caching easier, in others, more difficult. It does certainly open doors for easier/quicker travels for longer hikes (skis, assuming you live in a snowy area... snowmobile if you live in a "real" snow area... snowshoeing is becoming a big sport in and of itself, I'll just assume that you aren't into dog sledding). Some hides are placed with snow in mind and are "winter-friendly" being hidden so that they are easily accessible during such times. Footprints in our area are crotch-deep, by the way (and then, your feet still aren't on the ground)-- definite requirement for other means of travel rather than just "walking". This has a slight tendency to make ground hides very hard to find.

 

A plus to winter caching is that there are no bugs to speak of (mostly just snow fleas, and they die if they get on you -- too warm. Besides, they aren't really fleas). Likewise, no snakes and the bears are usually denned up tight.

 

Be sure and try winter-caching, you just may prefer it.

[+briansnat]

If you're using the iPhone 3 it's notoriously inaccurate. A dedicated hand held GPS will certainly help, a lot. Since your iPhone can show the cache pages,maps, etc all you really need is a basic unit like an eTrex H or the newer eTrex 10.

 

As far as snow, most geocachers I know keep going all winter. It's actually may favorite time of the year to geocache.

[+RickandCindy]

Wife and I just started caching the end of September and are loving it. As of today we have 214 finds have lost a couple pounds and are riding mountain bikes. I dug out the old Magellan sport track pro and it took so long to put cords in it was a job in itself. We started using the samsung s4 android with the play store app and it helped better but no good when you don't have a phone signal. HeHe. Here in southwestern PA there are lots of dead spots in the hills. We are on limited income but looked for a geocaching friendly gps unit and ended up with the garmin etrex 20x. It's way faster and easier to D/L cords. It's not so easy to learn but getting everyday and helps way better with a gps over a phone. My wife still uses her phone. There are many different gps units that are caching friendly. We just got 4" of snow and I went out yesterday and got frustrated so went to car friendly closer ones and still found 4.Even gps bounces all over depending where you are and maybe the more expensive ones are better but ours works fine.BTW this is our 1st. post also. Good luck and have fun.

[+Team DEMP]

Have been trying back and forth with the geocaching since April. I absolutely love it, but am getting easily frustrated with my iphone when with my kids (10 and 4).

 

I can't help you with your kids - you are on your own there!! :-D

 

I started geocaching many years ago and had a dedicated GPS since it was the pre-smartphone era. I stopped caching for close to 10 years and when I started up, I've used just my iPhone and found over 500 caches this year. The smartphone and GPS will get you close and it should be closer then 100 ft unless you are under heavy tree cover and still then you should be able to get closer. Once you are in the general area, I'd suggest putting your phone in your pocket and using your eyes to scan where a cache might be using the description and hint provided for the cache. The more you search for and find, the more you will be accustomed to where a cache might be. Also remember that if your phone shows off by 30 ft and the person that placed the cache could have been off by 30 ft, you are looking at a larger search area.

 

Most folks would suggest looking for small, medium or large size caches vs micros/nanos and ones that have a lower 2 or less difficulty rating. That should make things less frustrating for you and the kids and provide you with experience in various hiding locations, techniques and containers. It should be fun so go after caches that won't purposely frustrate you.

[+on4bam]

We started using the samsung s4 android with the play store app and it helped better but no good when you don't have a phone signal. HeHe. Here in southwestern PA there are lots of dead spots in the hills.

 

Your Samsung S4 has a GPS so there shouldn't be "dead spots". You don't need a phone signal at all.

[+Bear and Ragged]

We started using the samsung s4 android with the play store app and it helped better but no good when you don't have a phone signal. HeHe. Here in southwestern PA there are lots of dead spots in the hills.

 

Your Samsung S4 has a GPS so there shouldn't be "dead spots". You don't need a phone signal at all.

 

So long as the caches are downloaded to the phone before you get out of signal/wifi range...

[+on4bam]

So long as the caches are downloaded to the phone before you get out of signal/wifi range...

 

Use the right app and that's not even an issue (and I don't mean the ":" one, any API partner will do).

[+niraD]

So long as the caches are downloaded to the phone before you get out of signal/wifi range...

Use the right app and that's not even an issue (and I don't mean the ":" one, any API partner will do).

Well, technically you do need to download cache data while you have a data connection. It's just that API partner apps do that automatically without requiring an explicit "save for offline use" step. Reasonable geocaching apps assume that you want them to save any data they download.