Do you need the hint

[+Davon2]

Hi just starting , but getting a bit annoyed with myself because i find i need the hint to find the cache . Just wondering as you get better at this , do most of you explore without the hint and only use as a very last resort

 

Thanks

 

Davon 2

[+hzoi]

It depends on how my day is going. Most times I try to get by without the hint. But if I've struck out on several caches already and then get to a spot with a million possibilities, I might resort to a hint pretty quickly.

[+Legochugglers]

When we first started we assumed we HAD to use the hint and used to decrypt them manually before we went out, before we realised there was a decrypt button (LOL). Now we tend to allocate a few minutes of searching GZ and then resort to the hint if we feel that all initial ideas have been exhausted. I wouldnt feel too disappointed as I am sure most cachers use the hints regularly even if they say they don't. You may also find that you turn to the hint on occasions and find that it confuses you more than when you started looking without it.

[+L0ne.R]

I need the hint a lot. Probably 40% of the time. Mostly because I don't want to spend too much time traipsing around and around. That can cause damage to the location, nothing serious usually but gives geocaching a black eye when there's a 30 foot circle of squashed plants, even if it's just tall grass and weeds. Or if it's a muggly area I want the hint right away so that I spend as little time as possible at GZ.

[+The A-Team]

You may also find that you turn to the hint on occasions and find that it confuses you more than when you started looking without it.

Or you get stuck finding a cache, check the hint to get the information you need to make the find, only to find it says "none needed". If it isn't a hint, don't put it in that field.

[+L0ne.R]

You may also find that you turn to the hint on occasions and find that it confuses you more than when you started looking without it.

Or you get stuck finding a cache, check the hint to get the information you need to make the find, only to find it says "none needed". If it isn't a hint, don't put it in that field.

 

Uggghhh. It's soooo frustrating when that happens. And it happens a lot.

[Pup Patrol]

I decrypt the hint while I'm reading the cache page. Later, when I make a Notepad file of cache info, I include the decrypted hint. If the hint is of no value, then I don't bother including it.

 

We got burned once, out in the field, wasted time decrypting the hint, only to find it was about where to park. Ever since that incident, I decrypt the hint long before we leave the house.

 

I've learned to recognize "none given" or "no hint" while they are still encrypted.

 

I use useful hints because I'm just not a patient person. 15 minutes of searching, tops, then I go to the hint.

 

 

edit for brain spasm

Edited February 15, 2012 by Pup Patrol

[+Legochugglers]

I decrypt the hint while I'm reading the cache page. Later, when I make a Notepad file of cache info, I include the decrypted hint. If the hint is of no value, then I don't bother including it.

 

We got burned once, out in the field, wasted time decrypting the hint, only to find it was about where to park. Ever since that incident, I decrypt the hint long before we leave the house.

 

I've learned to recognize "none given" or "no hint" while they are still encrypted.

 

I use useful hints because I'm just not a patient person. 15 minutes of searching, tops, then I go to the hint.

 

 

edit for brain spasm

[+Legochugglers]

I decrypt the hint while I'm reading the cache page. Later, when I make a Notepad file of cache info, I include the decrypted hint. If the hint is of no value, then I don't bother including it.

 

We got burned once, out in the field, wasted time decrypting the hint, only to find it was about where to park. Ever since that incident, I decrypt the hint long before we leave the house.

 

I've learned to recognize "none given" or "no hint" while they are still encrypted.

 

I use useful hints because I'm just not a patient person. 15 minutes of searching, tops, then I go to the hint.

 

 

edit for brain spasm

 

VIL must be one of the most well used geocaching words in the UK

[+kunarion]

as you get better at this , do most of you explore without the hint and only use as a very last resort

I need the description & great coords, an excellent hint, terrain map, and a big neon sign pointing to the container. I can sometimes do without the map.

[+briansnat]

I give myself between 5 and 20 minutes before going to the hint. It depends on my mood. If its a somewhat sensitive area where my poking around might create adverse impact I'll go to the hint earlier. Similarly if the cache was a long hike sometimes I don't feel like looking for a half hour or more so I go to the hint earlier. If I know it's supposed to be a difficult find I try to hold off as long as possible but after about 20 minutes I will go to the hint.

[+taggdog]

For me it depends on how much time I have. If I only have a few minutes to stop and find a cache then I will go to the hint right away. If time isn't really a factor then I will use the hint after searching awhile. It still counts as a find whether you use the hint or not so there is no shame in using it, IMO.

[+Stargazer22]

For us, it depends on the area at GZ when we get to the cache. We usually make a search first to see if we can find it without the hint. It it appears that there are plethora of places the cache could be, then we will read the hint. If it appears that there are only a few places the cache could be hidden, we'll make more of a search in those areas first just to see if the hide may have been cleverly camoflaged and difficult to locate, despite limited places to hide it. These are my favorites - caches that are hidden in plain sight but seem to be invisible.

If we are looking for a small or a micro and the area looks like there are a bazillion places to hide it, I'll read the hint right away. Part of my cache searching parameters include not damaging the area where the cache is hidden. If I feel that an extended search in the area is going to put too much wear and tear on the surroundings, I'll read the hint to shorten the hunt and minimize my impact to the area.

[+niraD]

I usually read the hint. The question is when.

 

In busy locations, I sometimes read the hint immediately to avoid standing around drawing attention to the cache. Otherwise, it depends on how much fun I'm having searching without the hint. Sometimes I search for a few minutes first. Sometimes I'll search much longer first.

 

And when I find it without the hint, I usually read the hint just to make sure that where I found it is where it belongs.

[HerahL]

I like to get to GZ first and look around. Then I read the hint, every time. Decrypting it manually is part of the fun.

 

The one and only time I have run into another cacher, I was standing back and letting my son handle the GPS for a change. His bee dance covered a good 40 feet. The other cacher arrived, greeted us with exitement, and immediately followed up with "Oh, doesn't your GPSr show the hint? Mine does, see: it's under a rock." I would have preferred not to have it thrust on me so quickly.

 

I don't quite get encrypted parking hints. If I can't figure out how to get to GZ then maybe this cache is just out of my depth.

[+6NoisyHikers]

For us, the hint is a last resort*. When we finally give up the initial hunt and check the hint, we say: "Darn. Well, okay..."

 

Hopefully the hint is something useful. If it isn't, or the meaning is cryptic, there is usually more answers to be found in the logs than anywhere else. When we DNF, we go home and check the cache page again and read all the logs. More often than not we find something written there that makes everything click.

 

*The only exception to this "rule" is if it is monsooning and we are running for a park and grab.

[+Tobias & Petronella]

For us it all depends on the size of the cache, how many hiding spots, the signal strength or signal bounce, the muggle factor, and how much time do we want to search. There are times that the coords take us right to GZ and we find it in the first place we look. So in this case no hint is needed. If GZ is a very busy muggle area, we will look at the hint even before we start looking. Because the last thing that is needed is to have the two of us walking a round in a down town area searching for a nano while ten to twenty people watch us.

 

With signal bounce there have been a times in a city we are standing still but the reading from our GPS shows us going up and down the street. So at that point a hint is needed just to find which area to look. One time in the woods with a thick covering near a high voltage power line our GPS found two spots that it claimed to be GZ (GC27X0Q). That time the hint and a PAF didn't help.

[+WarNinjas]

We went on a trip about 200 miles from home. When we needed the hint I would have my daughter decode it. Later we found you could click on it and decode it instantly. I found it more funny then my daughter did.

-WarNinjas

[+Lieblweb]

It depends....

 

The more 'experienced' you are with geocaching, the less often you'll use the hints.

 

I don't like to use the hints unless I've become 'tired' of looking - and that will vary depending on your mood for the day.

 

In most cases - for an experienced cacher whose already spent 30+ minutes looking.... the hint doesn't help. The cache is probably a difficult find and the CO wants it to be that way. The hint will never 'give it away' (per say).

 

My husband uses the hints a lot faster than I do. I think I have more patience than he does....

[+popokiiti]

I'll take all the help I can get - hint included.

[+FunnyNose]

You may also find that you turn to the hint on occasions and find that it confuses you more than when you started looking without it.

Or you get stuck finding a cache, check the hint to get the information you need to make the find, only to find it says "none needed". If it isn't a hint, don't put it in that field.

 

Uggghhh. It's soooo frustrating when that happens. And it happens a lot.

 

What is even more frustrating is when the hint says "look on the left side of the trail"

Uhhh how do they know which way I came in from?

Edited February 19, 2012 by FunnyNose

[+hukilaulau]

I generally use the hint if I don't find the cache right away. Once I get near GZ I want to just find it and then maybe I'll look around at stuff. If it's an urban micro I will look at the hint when I am about 40 feet away, try to pinpoint GZ visually, and then swoop in for the cache without breaking stride.

I started caching with a gps that did not show hints. I had a LOT of dnf's when I was traveling.

Then I got a gps that showed about 24 characters of a hint. Frustrating when you read, "the cache is located abo..." instead of "stump"

If there's one thing I could tell people about writing hint's it's this: You don't have to use complete sentences or perfect grammar!

[+luvvinbird]

The hint is helpful because the co-ords are rarely bang-on. But some clever CO's, who don't supply a hint, often have one subtly hidden in the cache name or cache description. It's helpful to think "outside the box" in those circumstances, something I'm still trying to perfect, lol.

[TheDoctorPH]

i always read the hint when i first read the page. i'll take all the info i can get. the only thing that bothers me is when the "Hint" blatently describes exactly where the cash is. it's meant to be a "Hint" not a "Tell me exactly where it is" button.

[+Kochibu]

I almost always read the hint, because I'd rather find the cache easily than taking a frustrating and huge ammount of time destroying everything that COULD be a hiding place and/or get muggles suspicious.

 

A hint should not tell you exactly where the hiding place is, but it helps keeping the environment and surroundings from damage.

[+K_And_S]

For us, it depends. It I am looking, we need the hint. If my gf is looking, more often then not, she sees it. She doesn't use the hint too much.

[+ShaunEM]

It depends how private the cache site is for me. I almost always hit up the hint prior to the location when urban caching in a very public place.

 

I will also use the hint if the cache site is getting damaged by others.

 

I do get annoyed when a cache should have a hint and it says something like "In the rocks" in a field of rocks, or "In a tree" in the middle of a forest.

 

I have taken to using the hints on the chances I place to TELL the finder where to find the thing.

 

It is good if everyone can come away with a smiley, imo. If you are looking at the hint.. you WANT THIS THING!

 

Shaun

[+BlueDeuce]

Considering all the paperless software how many offer a rot13 decryption option of cache detail that you can flip in the field? Or is is it flipped on download?

Edited February 24, 2012 by BlueDeuce

[+akkatracker]

Just saying, I usually get forced not to use it

When caching overseas I use my Geomate as that loads the whole country's caches. If I am caching around home I will look it up on the android but then we'd usually use the Garmin 60C

[+DanOCan]

If I am caching in the woods I'll look at the hint if I can't find the cache. In a high visibility urban location I'll look at the hint before I even get close to the cache so I can get in, find the thing and get out as fast as possible.

[+RobDJr]

I love having hints available. I have a deep appreciation of good hints, and I loathe bad ones.

 

But I rarely use them. Mostly because I'm just a very stubborn searcher and I enjoy the search.

 

I almost never check the hint until I'm stuck. Checking early gives me a slightly greasy feeling that I'm cheating myself. Some people like instant gratification, which is fine, but I prefer to earn mine.

 

The only exception to not checking the hint early for me is once in a while, a poor quality park-n-grab in a highly active public area. I'm more inclined to pass those up, but on occasion there will be one that I just have to get(a very disappointing final for a good puzzle cache, for example). In that case, rather than trying to look like a complete idiot in public, I might be inclined to check the hint after a short search.

 

And if I don't check the hint during the search, I always, without exception, check it when I log the find. Just for the fun of it.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

We like to find the cache without using the hint. When we're ready to quit looking and move on we will use the hint.

There is nothing worse than a silly no-hint...." you don't need a hint " or " too easy ". In the old days the hint had to be decrypted so it made you mad to get a silly no-hint......if you don't want to leave a hint, fine, just don't waste the time of others leaving a no-hint.This is yet another negative behavior that newer cachers are exposed to and they begin to emulate it because they think its cool.....go figure.

[+doofie]

We like to find the cache without using the hint. When we're ready to quit looking and move on we will use the hint.

There is nothing worse than a silly no-hint...." you don't need a hint " or " too easy ". In the old days the hint had to be decrypted so it made you mad to get a silly no-hint......if you don't want to leave a hint, fine, just don't waste the time of others leaving a no-hint.This is yet another negative behavior that newer cachers are exposed to and they begin to emulate it because they think its cool.....go figure.

 

We fully agree with Bamboozle and others who state that a hint actually needs to be a hint. Nothing more frustrating than to grab a life buoy which sinks...

It's only too bad that those fellow cachers who have been given the sometimes tedious job to approve caches apparently don't comment on the quality of these socalled hints. We would appreciate some quality control in that respect as well.

 

doofie

[+popokiiti]

We usually check the hint. Mainly to keep away from any eco-sensitive areas. I agree that those non-hints such as "none needed" or "not at this time" are annoying. Luckily my GPS decrypts the clue for me....