Premium Membership

[Lizzie74]

Just started this fantastic hobby- have now found 19 caches and we are still eager to do more but perhaps in a more planned way. A quick browse through the site tells me that there is an award winning series very near by but it is only accessible to Premium members. I am happy to pay- just wondered what other users' experience of premium vs non-premium membership has been?

[+MartyBartfast]

For me the Premium membership is more about the ability to do Pocket Queries etc, rather than being able to do PM only caches. It's not a lot to pay and I think it's well worth it.

 

You could always go for the $10/3 months membership (less than I'd pay for lunch on a good day out walking) , that will allow you to grab those caches and check out the other features and decide whether you think it's worth paying for on an ongoing basis.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Just started this fantastic hobby- have now found 19 caches and we are still eager to do more but perhaps in a more planned way. A quick browse through the site tells me that there is an award winning series very near by but it is only accessible to Premium members. I am happy to pay- just wondered what other users' experience of premium vs non-premium membership has been?

Premium Membership (PM) benefits, other than access to PMO caches, far outweigh that little tidbit.

If you have a "paperless" capable GPSr, it is a real boon. Even if you do not, things such as Pocket Queries (PQ) -- the ability to load caches to your unit, up to 1,000 caches in a single crack (without the occasional mistake of hand-loading coordinates) and Pocket Queries along a specific route make it worthwhile.

A short time ago, Google Maps were available only to PM, I do not know the status of that, at this stage.

 

There also is the "instant notification" -- an email alerting you to newly published caches in your area.

Edited September 2, 2012 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+The_Incredibles_]

Best money I ever spent. In addition to getting more cache, the pocket queries have been invaluable to me.

[+rav_bunneh]

Others mentioned the PQ's which are great. I also like the ability to sort the cache lists, here on the site, by the date placed. Also you can set up email notifications then there are new caches near you; which is dead useful if you want to get FTF (First To Find) on new caches. =:3

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Best money I ever spent. In addition to getting more cache, the pocket queries have been invaluable to me.

 

+1.

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

I've spent 3 times that taking the fam to a movie just to discover it sucked...do it.

[Chino1130]

I've spent 3 times that taking the fam to a movie just to discover it sucked...do it.

 

Truth on so many levels lol

[+Don_J]

I became a premium member in 2005 and have never looked back. Back then, the only way to look at caches on a map was to be a premium member. Just after I started, I took a multi-state camping trip and had picked some caches along the way. A month later, I paid up and looked at the map and realized that I driven right by some very popular caches because I simply didn't know that they existed. Later, they added the Caches Along a Route which totally simplified the process. Bookmarks lists allow me to put caches on them and then run a PQ that only returns those caches, and then share it with my friends so they can run the same PQ. Indispensable when planning group caching hikes. Now that they have opened up the api, I can have GSAK go and get the caches that I want, and then send them to my GPS. I simply can not imagine trying to geocache without being a premium member. When you put the $30 in perspective with other expenses, you realize just what a bargain it is. Some people spend more than that in one week at Starbucks.

[+Arndtwe]

Everyone has pretty much covered all the benefits, and while they are nice to have that is not my main reason.

 

This website, and great game are not going to pay for themselves. This service is offered completely free to me and everyone, but you can choose to support Groundspeak for a very low cost to you. It is worth it. Even if all it did was maintain the site and you didn't get all those nice features, it is still worth it. This game has given me so much and I don't mind giving back.

[+J the Goat]

I became a premium member in 2005 and have never looked back. Back then, the only way to look at caches on a map was to be a premium member. Just after I started, I took a multi-state camping trip and had picked some caches along the way. A month later, I paid up and looked at the map and realized that I driven right by some very popular caches because I simply didn't know that they existed. Later, they added the Caches Along a Route which totally simplified the process. Bookmarks lists allow me to put caches on them and then run a PQ that only returns those caches, and then share it with my friends so they can run the same PQ. Indispensable when planning group caching hikes. Now that they have opened up the api, I can have GSAK go and get the caches that I want, and then send them to my GPS. I simply can not imagine trying to geocache without being a premium member. When you put the $30 in perspective with other expenses, you realize just what a bargain it is. Some people spend more than that in one weekday at Starbucks.

 

Not to mention the support you're giving the company that's entertaining you a little financial support to help keep the entertainment going

[+popokiiti]

We tried basic (free) membership for quite a while, but then decided we'd go for premium. Popoki Nui did hers first, and any caches that were premium that we found, I didn't log online. Didn't know about the 'backdoor' way. Anyways, I decided I was getting so much from geocaching itself, that it would be nice to give back as it were.

[+BlueDeuce]

Give back? If gc.com can give me these features at this price I'm all for it.

[+Shaved Ewok]

Y'all forgot to mention the audit log you get on your premium member only caches! I don't know about the rest of you but I love being able to see who has viewed my cache pages and how many times they have done so, lol. Nothing better than hiding a really hard cache and seeing which of your local friends are slowly going insane!

[+Roman!]

I signed up for a PM right when I registered so I have no idea what Geocaching is like without one but I'm sure I'd hate it.

[+Manville Possum]

I am a PM for the benefits it gives me, and one of those benefits is the abality to list PMO caches if the need arise. Par say muggles from newbies for example. Not to say that newbies are bad, I have saw the worse examples of a geocacher by PM's. The audit log is something I don't have much use for. PQ's and Bookmarks are cool. I can also create Challanges as a PM. It's worth it to me.

[+Don_J]

Y'all forgot to mention the audit log you get on your premium member only caches! I don't know about the rest of you but I love being able to see who has viewed my cache pages and how many times they have done so, lol. Nothing better than hiding a really hard cache and seeing which of your local friends are slowly going insane!

 

That silly thing is still there? Haven't looked at it in ages.