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Is a Premium Membership worth it?

DadONine

By DadONine
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DadONine

+DadONine

Posted
Posted

Hey everyone,

I've been pondering a Premium Membership, but what exactly do you get with it that you don't have with the free membership?

 

I know you get access to Pocket Queries, but I haven't seen a real goo definition of what a Pocket Query is.

 

TIA,

DadONine

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RainDog

+RainDog

Posted
Posted

The real issue is not so much the extras you get by being a premium member, it's that running this site costs money. Hardware such as servers must be maintained and replaced. Bandwidth isn't cheap, either. Banner ads don't quite cover the cost. For your money you also get the warm fuzzies for helping to keep this site up and running. To answer you question - think of a pocket query as a super advanced search. There are all sorts of options to choose from in them. I have one to find "Members only" caches in Wisconsin. Oh, yeah, you also get access to those. I don't think I get $30 worth of goodies by being a premium member but I sent my cash to help the site because I like the sport/game/hobby that is geocaching.

 

How do the Angels get to sleep when the Devil leaves his porch light on?

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WildcatRegi

+WildcatRegi

Posted
Posted

I agree with the dog.

 

There's all of 1 member only cache within 20 miles of me so I sure didn't pay the money for that.

 

It is nice to get pocket queries so that I can keep my Etrex current every week so as I'm driving around, I can spot any cache in the area without having to download each one individually.

 

Paying the money to help support an activity you like is money well spent.

 

"The hardest thing to find is something that's not there!"

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The Leprechauns

+The Leprechauns

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by EricIndiana:

I know you get access to Pocket Queries, but I haven't seen a real goo definition of what a Pocket Query _is_.

Read the "What the Heck are Pocket Queries?" portion of Markwell's Update to FAQ's.

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Next time, instead of getting married, I think I'll just find a woman I don't like and buy her a house.

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baloo&bd

+baloo&bd

Posted
Posted

The pocket queries are more than worth it, however as stated above, most of us have joined because we want a site to keep coming too.

 

As someone who owns servers that a "not for profit" organization is using, I can tell you without the help of a few significant "donors" I would have shut them down months into the project.

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arrowroot

+arrowroot

Posted
Posted

I'm happy to support Groundspeak and this site, but I would like to see a bit more value for the membership, namely the ability to do a limited number of 'live' pocket queries to create GPX files, rather than having to wait for the e-mail to arrive.

 

If there were a limit of maybe 500 waypoints per week for live queries, I'd be more than satisfied. But there have been times I will want to go out *right away* with a PDA full of cache data to an area outside my usual zone.

 

I've been conservative in my querying, and I don't even have a weekly query for the local stuff, since I don't want to waste Jeremy's bandwidth and CPU. So it'd be nice to get the occasional at-will query.

 

I am Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt. I have many names, you know

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ClayJar

+ClayJar

Posted
Posted

I'd like to think that, if nothing else does, Watcher makes subscribing worth its weight in golden McToys. I'd subscribe just to support the site, but that's *quite* the moot point considering what I get out of it.

 

[[[ ClayJar Networks ]]]

Home of Watcher downloads, Official Geocaching Chat, and the Geocache Rating System

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Marky

+Marky

Posted
Posted

A few days ago, my membership expired and I had to resubscribe. During this process, I went without pocket queries for nearly 24 hours. It was awful. I don't want to ever be without my pocket queries again. Plus, Watcher, GPX Spinner, gpsbabel and gpx2html would get very lonely without them as well. Fortunately, I was wise enough to sign up for the automatically renewing version this time. icon_biggrin.gif

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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Mushtang

Mushtang

Posted
Posted

I'm definitely going to be sending in my $ soon. This is a really great site, and I want to support it so I can continue to enjoy my new hobby. This is the only site that I want to send money to that doesn't have lots of nake... um, nevermind.

And if this strange new "pocket queries" of which you speak is useful, then that's just icing.

 

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"A noble spirit embiggins the smallest man." - Jebediah Springfield

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SamLowrey

+SamLowrey

Posted
Posted

I picked up Geocaching about a year ago and really got into it until it turned cold (well, cold for Texas) I got distracted with the Holidays, school, life, etc.... I missed Spring and something in my mind kept bothering me to get started again. I almost forgot how fun it is (an in a fulfilling sort of way unlike the ready-made entertainment so common these days).

 

I've been impressed with:

1) how this activity has gotten me outdoors and places I wouldn't have gone otherwise

2) how well organized and sophisticated the site and the boards are (who is this Jeremy person - he must be a superman to be doing this stuff)

3) the calibre of people I meet - (down-to-earth, intelligent, good-natured, funny)

4) what I have learned not only about GPSr's, but things like CamelBaks (bought one and used it TODAY for the first time in a 7 mile hike (Fallen Timber Cache ) in the heat - that ice cold Gatorade from that Camelbak really kept me going.)

 

So, yes, TODAY I joined because I want to support this place - I don't care about the extras. I'm probably not really quite serious enough to take advantage of them anyway (check my stats, they aren't too impressive)

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Lone Duck

+Lone Duck

Posted
Posted

quote:
I know you get access to Pocket Queries, but I haven't seen a real goo definition of what a Pocket Query is.

Pocket Queries are the cache pages in ebook format. Very handy to have compared to paper.

 

I'm checking out the Premium membership myself for the first time. Only signed up for a month as a trial, and I'll most likely sign up for a year after that.

 

That Quack Cacher:

Lone Duck

 

When you don't know where you're going, every road will take you there.

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DadONine

+DadONine

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Update:

 

I sent in a month-at-a-time PayPal for the Premium Membership, and it is SO worth it! Aside from the satisfaction of keeping the site going, and getting the Title Of My Choice under my Avatar, PQ's are so unbelievably handy.

 

I loaded a coupla PQ's with a coupla hundred WP's on my Mag 315, and their eBooks on my Palm, had a great weekend caching with my daughter. Very cool! icon_razz.gif

 

DadONine

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Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking

+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking

Posted
Posted

We never use the pocket queries (such blasphemy!). We've only done one member's only cache, before it became member's only. We paid for this because $30 is cheap for the entertainment value we get out of geocaching. We support the website.

 

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes

On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --

"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"

 

Rudyard Kipling , The Explorer 1898

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