GPS used in conjuntion with smart phone

[Tikiboy]

Hello! Pretty new to geocaching. Currently we use our Android based smart phones with the c:geo App (geocaching.com). The only problem we have so far is that sometimes our phones' GPS aren't too accurate. So, I was thinking about buying a more accurate handheld GPS unit to help with coordinates. I realize we could spend $400 or more and get set up with a standalone GPS that we can use without our smart phones. Reading some of the previous threads on GPS units, I didn't see a whole lot on newer units. Anyway, just wondering if anyone else does what I am suggesting and what GPS would be accurate and AFFORDABLE. Not looking to spend $400 at this time. We aren't very "techy" either, so buying a higher end GPS that can be set up as a standalone unit would probably be beyond our technical capabilities (not to mention learning how to use it). Unless by now there are some units designed specifically just for geocaching and are preloaded with all the geocaching software/apps that is extremely user friendly (at least as user friendly as c:geo). Thanks!

[+cerberus1]

Hello! Pretty new to geocaching. Currently we use our Android based smart phones with the c:geo App (geocaching.com).

Could you please explain what's meant by GC.com in parentheses?

Last I knew, c:geo isn't a geocaching.com partner.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

..."Not too accurate"? As in - the geocache isn't AT the listed coordinates?

 

Common occurrence for a myriad of reasons, that have nothing to do with your unit (or app) "accuracy". Many times the cache simply is not necessarily exactly where the listed coordinates say that it is. Usually close, but not necessarily AT, sometimes they are even way off from the listed coordinates.

 

That said, just what do you base "accuracy" on, when it seems that many geocaches are not directly at those coordinates? Have you subjected it other tests... such as Benchmarks? Still not perfect, but better than using geocaches as an accuracy guide.

 

You found one, easily enough. I think the more you use your device, the more you will understand what it will/won't do for you.

Doesn't matter if it is a smart phone with an app, or a dedicated GPSr (which, by the way, doesn't use an "app" -- it works by design in and of itself).

 

No device has any guarantee that it will deliver you to the cache... only close, assuming the coordinates themselves are good.

Remember... it's not taking you to the geocache, it is taking you to the listed coordinates (where the cache is *supposed* to be).

 

 

I would recommend, before you jump into a $300-$400 plunge, that you get used to what you are using, first. You can download other free and/or paid apps for comparison. Better to spend $10 than to dump $400 when you don't quite know what you are doing, yet.

 

I just wouldn't want anyone to spend a whole bunch thinking that the grass is soooo much greener on the other side. You may well be disappointed.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have both a phone/app and a nice Delorme GPSr. I like both, preferring the Delorme -- but then I have used it far longer than I have the phone/app. I am much more acclimated to using the Delorme.

[Tikiboy]

Hello! Pretty new to geocaching. Currently we use our Android based smart phones with the c:geo App (geocaching.com).

Could you please explain what's meant by GC.com in parentheses?

Last I knew, c:geo isn't a geocaching.com partner.

Like I said, I'm a newbie. Perhaps geocache.com is unaffiliated with c:geo. So far we really like c:geo, but we haven't tried any others yet. What do you recommend as an Android App?

[Tikiboy]

..."Not too accurate"? As in - the geocache isn't AT the listed coordinates?

 

Common occurrence for a myriad of reasons, that have nothing to do with your unit (or app) "accuracy". Many times the cache simply is not necessarily exactly where the listed coordinates say that it is. Usually close, but not necessarily AT, sometimes they are even way off from the listed coordinates.

 

That said, just what do you base "accuracy" on, when it seems that many geocaches are not directly at those coordinates? Have you subjected it other tests... such as Benchmarks? Still not perfect, but better than using geocaches as an accuracy guide.

 

You found one, easily enough. I think the more you use your device, the more you will understand what it will/won't do for you.

Doesn't matter if it is a smart phone with an app, or a dedicated GPSr (which, by the way, doesn't use an "app" -- it works by design in and of itself).

 

No device has any guarantee that it will deliver you to the cache... only close, assuming the coordinates themselves are good.

Remember... it's not taking you to the geocache, it is taking you to the listed coordinates (where the cache is *supposed* to be).

 

 

I would recommend, before you jump into a $300-$400 plunge, that you get used to what you are using, first. You can download other free and/or paid apps for comparison. Better to spend $10 than to dump $400 when you don't quite know what you are doing, yet.

 

I just wouldn't want anyone to spend a whole bunch thinking that the grass is soooo much greener on the other side. You may well be disappointed.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have both a phone/app and a nice Delorme GPSr. I like both, preferring the Delorme -- but then I have used it far longer than I have the phone/app. I am much more acclimated to using the Delorme.

 

My wife has a new Samsung Galaxy S5. I have an almost 2 year old Droid Razr Maxx. c:geo can have both of us right on top of the cache coordinates (according to the app), yet we can be standing 20-30 meters apart. Or even if we are standing still, we can be moving 10m here, 15m over there, 20m back to where we were a minute ago. Finally, on mine at least, it may have me on Maui instead of Molokai (50 miles away), or Bakersfield instead of the Sierra National Forest (100 miles away). At other times, one or both of ours are dead on within a meter.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Tikiboy

[+Chief301]

No "perhaps" about it....as has been mentioned on this forum many times, c:geo is not only not affiliated with Geocaching.com, the method it uses to obtain the cache info from the site ("scraping") actually violates the Terms Of Use you agreed to when you signed up.

 

Not saying don't use it, because many folks do use it and like it...just saying that GC.ciom DON'T like it.

 

As far as accuracy goes, accuracy alone is not a good reason to go out right now and drop a bunch of cash on a new GPS. As Gitchee pointed out, NO device in going to put you right on top of the cache every time. There's no magic transmitter in the cache container that the device is homing in on. It's only directing you to a set of coordinates where a cache is reported to be. Smartphones nowadays are very nearly as accurate as a dedicated GPS. Learn the functions and the limitations of your device first and go out and find some caches.

[+Red90]

If you are happy with the phones for everything other than GPS accuracy (battery life, waterproof level, durability..) then I would suggest a bluetooth GPS like a Garmin GLO.

[+phlatlander]

Gitchee-Gummee is right on. 99.9% of the accuracy of a geocache position has to do with the cache owner not the gps device. For my geocaches use the average of three separate occasions to mark a spot with both my Samsung Note II and Oregon 550. These units are never more than .001 different and I know the accuracy of the Oregon.

 

I also use GoogleEarth to check out the relative accuracy of the cache placement. GoogleEarth is usually ok unless you happen to be at the the intersection of tiles then ???.

 

For geocaching I now use c:geo on my Note II - my Oregon 550 sits on the shelf. I have the same geocache data on my Nuvi 2595 so it displays the caches when I am enroute somewhere. I should mention I use GSAK to output TourGuide gpx files to the Nuvi and the Oregon, and simple gpx files to the Note II.