So, how long does it take you on average to find a cache?

[geo4phil]

Caches, locations, containers, creativity, experience - it all plays a role into how long it take to find a cache. Some cache's are designed for #'s: a quick park n grab. Some caches are half way to being a letterbox - going out for half a day and hiking/exploring. But the aver pull over into a park kind of cache, how long does it take you?

 

I'm on my way to 100 cache finds, and working on my consecutive days, but it seems for the past few days I've lost my geosense. A cache under a bridge took me over 30 minutes to find (27 feet off from GZ, maybe my geosense or the GPS at that time of day). A cache today took me over 30 minutes to find, although cleverly hidden inside a telephone pole, and rewarded with 5 favorite points over the years. Usually, I find a cache in under 5 minutes. But lately, on my 12th consecutive day, it seems I've lost my geosense. I blame my GPS, "oh this one was off 27'", but I know how that can vary - but am quickly convinced GPS was never that off for my first 65 finds.

 

So, on average, how long does it take you to find an undefinable "average" cache?

[+fizzymagic]

Average time is not a good metric. I always expect to find easier caches quickly and harder ones with more time, but it doesn't work that way in real life.

 

That said, the amount of time I will spend before giving up depends on the difficulty rating. For 1-star hides, if I haven't seen it in 5 minutes I will start to consider leaving; for 4-star the time is more like 45 minutes to an hour.

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

WOW, that really depends. I did notice some long streaks of 1/1 caches in your early career. Lately, you are choosing more 2s. Makes a difference. A half hour is not uncommon.

[+Smapte]

I passed 100 a few weeks ago and found I was psyching myself out because I got caught up in the "milestone" number. I hadn't paid much attention to numbers before that, and suddenly it was all I could think of. I had a much harder time finding anything at any difficulty rating. And that shook my confidence, which created a vicious cycle. Once I realized it was all in my head, and that I'd put more importance on the number than the experience, I was able to straighten my priorities out and stopped having difficulties.

[+SwineFlew]

Some of the hardest caches I found are 1D/1T.

[+BlueDeuce]

30 minutes in one outing for one cache pushing it for me. Probably because I only have an hour for lunch.

[+ShaunEM]

I would say anywhere from 10 seconds to half an hour and perhaps a DNF. I personally DNF about 10% of the caches I look for, and about a 3rd of those are actually missing.. another 3rd are too close to a playground or some other fishbowl.. so....

 

Shaun

[+luvvinbird]

Some days I'm sharp and walk right up to the prize. Other days I couldn't find it if it was hanging off my shirt.

[+The A-Team]

So, on average, how long does it take you to find an undefinable "average" cache?

Since there's no way to define the "average cache", it's impossible to define the time to find an undefinable cache. There are just too many variables. You could take 2 seemingly identical caches, and there will probably be factors that will make one more difficult to find than the other.

 

I guess my average time is somewhere between a couple of seconds and 10 separate visits (those being my extremes).

[+Sharks-N-Beans]

Some of the hardest caches I found are 1D/1T.

True. Our first LPC was a DNF.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Some of the hardest caches I found are 1D/1T.

True. Our first LPC was a DNF.

 

Us too. The hint was "LPC". That one was a real head-scratcher until I got home and googled it.

[+OZ2CPU]

I tried both end of the spectrum this week..

 

last saturday we found 40-46 pr hr, and we could continue at that speed for 4 hrs,

then we droppen down and down until we ended at 10-12 pr hr.

one day score = 403 caches

 

last night we spend 4½ hr hike, and search, found just two multies

the hikes was 14 km by foot, and was performed in compleete darkness with flashlights :-)

 

what is most fun or match your way of caching is entirely up to you,

normally I prefer something in between, not that extreame to either side :-)

but it is fun to try your self, this way we now know what it is first hand.

 

a correctly rated D1-2 and T1-2

should be found and signed in under 5 mins

if it is there and the equipment works and the seeker knows a little bit.

Edited September 14, 2012 by OZ2CPU

[+SoonerCardsFan]

I wouldn't have a clue as to an average time. I've spotted many before getting out of the car. Then there a a couple that I've looked for multiple times before finding. Up to probably an hour total time for one of those. And everything in between.

[Andronicus]

Caches, locations, containers, creativity, experience - it all plays a role into how long it take to find a cache. Some cache's are designed for #'s: a quick park n grab. Some caches are half way to being a letterbox - going out for half a day and hiking/exploring. But the aver pull over into a park kind of cache, how long does it take you?

 

I'm on my way to 100 cache finds, and working on my consecutive days, but it seems for the past few days I've lost my geosense. A cache under a bridge took me over 30 minutes to find (27 feet off from GZ, maybe my geosense or the GPS at that time of day). A cache today took me over 30 minutes to find, although cleverly hidden inside a telephone pole, and rewarded with 5 favorite points over the years. Usually, I find a cache in under 5 minutes. But lately, on my 12th consecutive day, it seems I've lost my geosense. I blame my GPS, "oh this one was off 27'", but I know how that can vary - but am quickly convinced GPS was never that off for my first 65 finds.

 

So, on average, how long does it take you to find an undefinable "average" cache?

Not sure how long your consecutive days streak will last, but 12 is awsome (that is my record).

 

I don't think there is an average. Very often I see a cache (or the geopile) while walking up to GZ (maybe 40% of the time). Another scenario is about 2 or 3 minutes (maybe 30%). The other 30% is kind of spread out randomly. It would be interesting if one recorded the search time after arrival at GZ and ploted it. That is a stat I would like to see. Tobad I haven't been recording that data.

[+geodarts]

The search is the least interesting part of the game for me, so in many ways the average time to find a cache is how much time I am willing to give it. If I have hiked a great distance for a particular cache, I will give it more time. If the location is interesting and I want to post a particular find log or upload some photos, I will give it more time. IBut if there is no reason to be in a place except to look for a cache, I might lose interest within 5 minutes.

[+Dog Town]

This question has always interested me. I hope this don't sidetrack the question your specifically asking.....but...throughout my geocaching time I have looked back on a certain caching day with other cachers,or by myself (looking for more than one cache),and have VERY closely almost always AVERAGED 15 minutes per cache for the OUTING.BUT...this AVG. also includes travel,parking,walking to cache,etc. Like I said, I don't want to stray off your question..and maybe I should start another thread with this thought question. So....I.M.H.O....this might be more of a MIX of different D/T AVERAGE rather than say the time between finding a 1/1 or a 5/5. I'm very interested in this question your asking,thanks

[+stijnhommes]

I tend to give up sooner if I know I will return to the area and be able to do a more thourough search at a later date, but generally I'll give it at least 20 minutes or until I've searched all likely hiding spots I can think of.

[+redsox_mark]

The search is the least interesting part of the game for me, so in many ways the average time to find a cache is how much time I am willing to give it. If I have hiked a great distance for a particular cache, I will give it more time. If the location is interesting and I want to post a particular find log or upload some photos, I will give it more time. But if there is no reason to be in a place except to look for a cache, I might lose interest within 5 minutes.

 

It is the same for me too. It sounds a bit odd, as on the surface of it the game is all about finding the box. And I like finding the box, and I get a little thrill each time I find one. I enjoy the waking there, and if there are puzzles or multiple stages I like that too. But when I reach GZ, I want to find the box as quickly as I can. The exception is a very clever hide (which has a difficulty rating to match). If I know it's clever and will take time, I'll spend the time. Otherwise I'll start to get itchy after 10-15 minutes, and I'm unlikely to spend more than 30 mins looking.

 

So while I don't track it; I'd say for me it is something like (search time at GZ):

50% - 5 mins or less

20% - between 5 and 15 mins

10% - between 15 and 30 mins

5% - more than 30 mins

15% - DNF

[+T.D.M.22]

Most of the time it's within 10 minutes. Sometimes I'll go right up to a micro only to log it online and see the D is a 3 and 80% of the finders took 20 minutes and needed help. Then I'll go look for a 4 foot long container and it will take me 30 minutes even when I know exactly what the containers looks like. All that's assuming my GPSr is right on the money. If the CO's or my GPSr is off well I won't know it and it will take longer. Like was said before there is no average hide.

[+Shop99er]

The longer I play this game, the longer a 1/1 takes me to find. So, if I were to average it out, it would be a floater, anyway.

 

That said, I've walked up to caches that took all of 15 seconds to get (LPC's) and that counts getting out of the truck.

 

Others have taken a couple of hours at GZ.

[+Don_J]

It's a strange game. I've pulled up on a cache that was DNFed the day prior by a guy with over 20,000 finds and I had the cache in hand in less than five seconds. Meanwhile, there is a local cache that I have probably spent over three hours looking for over the last three years. The last find on it says, "Our first cache find, only took a minute".

[+Planet]

I don't know. I've never timed it. But if I don't find it soon, I give up and move on. There is so much to see, and for me, it's more about the location, than the container. I will not search an urban cache for more than 5-10 minutes, if that. I won't search a boring location for very long. I will stop and enjoy the view and surroundings on really awesome caches, and keep looking for them. Even when I start to walk away from those, I usually turn around and give it one more sweep. Then there was the time I walked right up to a cache and grabbed it. That was a fluke. The force was with me, that day.

[+sparklefingers]

Urban caches I tend to find in seconds. If its not urban cache then it can take anything from 5 minutes to 45 minutes

[GPS-Hermit]

I seldom do caches that don't involve a hike - but I would say 20-30 minutes would not be unusual. I tend to give up easier if the GPS is of little help and the hillside is really steep. I have found many caches more than 100 feet from the co-ordinates given so it can take a while to widen the search. Hard to know when to quit looking if you think it might be gone. Sometimes I come back and try again if the CO is sure it is there.

[+RoadRoach58]

The difficulty and terrain ratings probably have a lot less impact on the time it takes than other factors. I've seen 1.5/1.5 hides take nearly an hour to get, but mostly because the hide was designed for someone to approach it with a Jeep. I was on bicycle. So, what did the terrain rating really mean? That ground zero at the cache was probably not suitable for a wheel chair, but it didn't really require any special equipment. What did the difficulty mean? That the CO thought it would be fairly easy to find. But, I don't call a small camouflaged sample vial out in the woods easy to find. I put a large bison tube on a bush next to a paved walk-way, and rated it Dif 2.0 and Ter 1.5 based my limited (just over 1000 finds) experience. Three of the four most experienced cachers I know were stumped by it, and all three of them had about 20,000 finds and all had similar hides. One suggested 2.5, one suggested 3.5, and one suggeste 3.0 for the diff, so I modified it and set the Dif to 3.0. The point being, one of them had gone to the site once on one day, and three times on another day, with other experienced cachers, and still had a lot of difficulty and took a long time to find it. I live nearby, and they finally "found" it when I went over and showed it to them. I bent the "rules" a little and gave them the find, however, not the coveted FTF that some seem to think so much of. How long it takes anyone to find something is irrelevant. I've had some that I walked right up to, after walking for nearly 8 miles. That took me a LONG time, but I consider my search to start from the time I get out of my vehicle (or on it as the case may be) and head toward the cache. I found one that was 6 feet under water in a matter of minutes, and retrieved it within 20, even with taking measures to make certain I didn't lose the hiding spot. It was rated 5.0/5.0, for good reason. I just got very lucky that the water was clear, coordinates were spot on, I had 4 foot accuracy on my gpsr, and I stood up in the boat just at the right time to see it. Had I drifted another 10 feet, I don't think I would have. But, from the time I got out of the car, made arrangements for the boat, and got to site for the find, 30 minutes, tops. I have good days, I have bad days. Most of my bad days are on older caches that aren't as well maintained, or that don't have the DNF's logged which would let me know that I may have more difficulty, or perhaps what I seek isn't there. So, don't chide yourself too much with 100 finds. Some of those that take you a little more time at 100 finds will be some of the first places you look by the time you get to 500, and others will be park the car and walk straight to it, and yet, some will still get your goat. The difficulty and terrain ratings are subjective, and mostly based on the experience of the person that hid it. What I call a 2.0/2.0 hide, might be considered much higher by someone else with a lot more experience, simply because I put a little better effort into the container. I don't pay much attention to the ratings, other than to fill in the D/T chart, which will qualify me to be able to log a few others in my area. That's the sum total of my competitiveness in the hobby. I don't have to be reminded that it's only a game.