Found geocaches on GPS

[+ecumountaineer]

With a GPS that holds less than 500 geocaches (Garmin eTrex 10) should I keep found geocaches on the unit. Any reason to keep them on there.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Not once you have logged them online.

 

If you use (and upload) field notes, those found caches should've been removed by the process.

 

EDIT to add: ...as well as the DNF'd caches and other notes.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+Viajero Perdido]

I keep the found ones, because I may want to do a courtesy maintenance check, or drop off a TB, if I happen to be in the area. Did that (TB drop) just the other day in fact.

 

Mind you, I'm not limited to 500 measly caches; that changes everything. (I use custom points of interest to stuff many thousands into my unit. You might want to look into that.)

[+lamoracke]

The only caches I keep in my unit that are not already found are caches/puzzles of mine that are not near home that I can't get to without the routing function. I personally see no value in keeping them in my unit. I may occasionally load them if I am caching with friends and realize they may want a bonus en route to another, but not for myself.

[7rxc]

I keep a few found ones for quite a while, but then I'm not a high number cacher... Most of the time I keep the ones that are good references for bailing out of hunts in difficult areas.

 

By that I mean up in trail systems that might not be navigation friendly. Once I've been somewhere, I can usually get back regardless of say, visibility or conditions. So having some known locations for major turnpoints etc. can be useful many times. Also handy if you need to judge your position relative to a known point.

It's a bit hard to explain, but it does come in handy, and often.

 

Needless you don't have to have ALL of them in there, many times I just create a navigation waypoint and leave it there if I'm in an area regularly. I'm in the process of creating a cache to serve that function as well as having a nice view nearby as a bonus. It just marks a point of decision where you go one way or the other depending on your cache target. Basically it is a point where you can bail out of a nasty drainage relatively easily compared to other routes. Going up is likely to be best from there as well. As I said I often find caches that are not for that purpose originally, but do serve the function well.

 

Doug 7rxc

[+BCandMsKitty]

I keep the found ones, because I may want to do a courtesy maintenance check, or drop off a TB, if I happen to be in the area. Did that (TB drop) just the other day in fact.

 

Mind you, I'm not limited to 500 measly caches; that changes everything. (I use custom points of interest to stuff many thousands into my unit. You might want to look into that.)

 

Funny thing happened to me last week. A local cacher did a "courtesy maintenance check" on a cache of mine and couldn't find it. Knew it had to be missing because they had found it before. they posted a Needs Archived log. I had replaced the container and hid it differently (at the same coordinates) just two weeks earlier. I went out within a couple of hours of getting the NA notification. .... cache is there waiting to be found.

Edited July 10, 2013 by BC & MsKitty

[+sparklefingers]

Nothing stays on my GPS too long. I have my personal WP's saved but thats it. I have loads of bookmarks which store the caches I am currently working through or planning to be working through.

[+ras_oscar]

I have an old Etrex Vista. It has an external data card that routinely stores several thousand caches. The drawback is you can't delete the waypoints on the unit directly. I load my current PQ onto the data card, plug it into the unit, and when I find a cache I " save" the cache with the open treasure chest icon. That pastes another icon on top of the old one, making it appear that I have changed the symbol. The "copy" is stored on the handheld unit. This allows me to visually see all the caches I have logged since my last PQ. Once I do a new PQ i delete all the open treasure chest symbols from my handheld unit and start again. I find it useful to have a visual reminder on my GPSr of what I have found to date.

[+BlackRose67]

I have an eTrex 20 and use GSAK to load my GPS.

 

I have my finds stored on the GPS as POIs, so they are still there but take up less space.