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gunslinger1

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hi everyone about 12 months ago i took the grandkids to biddulph grange where they had a geoching try day you were given an basoc etrex and off we went after a few wrong turns we soon began to find the caches so a couple of weeks later i bought an etrex 10 the same as we had used at biddulph and downloade some easy ones from this site for the tissington trail and set off to find them result not a one the etrex apparently said i was standing on top of them result much dissapointment so i sold the unit however i have a real hankering to start again any ideas where i went wrong or advice would be most welcome thanks

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Also, a handheld GPS will not always take you to the exact spot - you shouldn't expect to be "standing on top of them" - That would be far too easy! Expect to search around within a radius of roughly 20ft - Look about the location and think, "Now, if I was going to hide a small container around here, where would I put it?"

 

MrsB

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A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small small.gif size, regular regular.gif size, and large large.gif size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro micro.gif size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars stars2.gif. Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.) And it is often best to start with traditional 2.gif caches, which will be at the published coordinates. Multi-caches 3.gif or mystery/puzzle caches 8.gif or other cache types can require more work just to figure out where the container is located.

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10ft). That applies both to your device, and to the cache owner’s device, so you may find the container 15-20ft from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate. Once you get within that distance of ground zero, put your device away and look around for places where a container could be hidden.

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums.

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hi everyone about 12 months ago i took the grandkids to biddulph grange where they had a geoching try day you were given an basoc etrex and off we went after a few wrong turns we soon began to find the caches so a couple of weeks later i bought an etrex 10 the same as we had used at biddulph and downloade some easy ones from this site for the tissington trail and set off to find them result not a one the etrex apparently said i was standing on top of them result much dissapointment so i sold the unit however i have a real hankering to start again any ideas where i went wrong or advice would be most welcome thanks

 

Wow....punctuation. Just sayin'....😊

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We had an etrex 10 when we started but didn't get properly used to it until we had been caching with it for about 2 months and searched for about 50 caches. It never seemed to be spot on with coordinates but served us well. For Christmas we got an etrex 20, this does seems to be a lot more accurate. I think if you do get another unit, whatever you choose they do seem to take quite a bit of getting used to.

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Here are some general hints:

 

Look for caches with a difficulty of 2 or less for your fist few caches. Stick with regular sized caches for your first few. Micros can be quite hard to find sometimes. Stick to areas you are familiar with. Look for anything out of place or unusual. Look for unusual piles of sticks, grass, leaves, rocks, sand, etc. Feel where you cannot look. Think vertical, not all caches are on the ground. Look up or at eye level. Look for traces of previous searches to zero in on the spot. Think like the hider - where would you put a container in this location? Look for things too new, too old, too perfect, not like the others, too many, too few. Change your perspective - a shift in lighting can sometimes reveal a cache. Keep in mind that many micros are magnetic or attached to something (via string, wire etc). Slowly expand your search area to about 40 feet from where your GPS says ground zero is. Bring garden gloves and a flashlight - they help! Be prepared to not find the cache more often then you think.

 

Most of all - have fun!!

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oh you noticed no punctuation ex nhs staff no punctuation in care plans :rolleyes:

Actually, the lack of punctuation just makes you look immature and uneducated. <_<

unless you have something constructive to add to the thread may i suggest you refrain from posting and forming an opinion of someone you know nothing about sorry just realised you are american that explains everything

Edited by gunslinger1
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oh you noticed no punctuation ex nhs staff no punctuation in care plans :rolleyes:

Actually, the lack of punctuation just makes you look immature and uneducated. <_<

unless you have something constructive to add to the thread may i suggest you refrain from posting and forming an opinion of someone you know nothing about sorry just realised you are american that explains everything

 

It looks like you just expressed an opinion about everyone in a whole country.

 

I will agree with you that Lil Devil didn't express their point in the best way, but it was a little difficult to understand your original post.

 

Anyway, as for advice on getting back to finding caches, as others have mentioned, try sticking to the larger caches with lower difficulty ratings until you get the hang of it. Alternately, you could also try contacting someone who has found one of the caches you missed and asking if you could go cache hunting with them.

 

If you are still trying to interest your grandkids in hunting caches, it would probably be best to find the caches yourself before taking them out. That way they will not get frustrated by the "did not finds" like my sons did when we first started.

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Here are some general hints:

 

Look for caches with a difficulty of 2 or less for your fist few caches. Stick with regular sized caches for your first few. Micros can be quite hard to find sometimes. Stick to areas you are familiar with. Look for anything out of place or unusual. Look for unusual piles of sticks, grass, leaves, rocks, sand, etc. Feel where you cannot look. Think vertical, not all caches are on the ground. Look up or at eye level. Look for traces of previous searches to zero in on the spot. Think like the hider - where would you put a container in this location? Look for things too new, too old, too perfect, not like the others, too many, too few. Change your perspective - a shift in lighting can sometimes reveal a cache. Keep in mind that many micros are magnetic or attached to something (via string, wire etc). Slowly expand your search area to about 40 feet from where your GPS says ground zero is. Bring garden gloves and a flashlight - they help! Be prepared to not find the cache more often then you think.

 

Most of all - have fun!!

 

I would like to add that beginners have more luck when they know the cache is there. If I am taking out beginners or my kids, I only search for ones that have been found recently. When we get frustrated, we can tell ourselves, "Well, it was found last week so it has to be here somewhere".

 

Another hint is to go with another person. If their GPS says "here" and your GPS says "20 ft that way" , you can search a little differently.

 

Good luck!! Keep trying!

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