Lousy containers

[+-CJ-]

The question is rather difficult to answer because it really depends on:

 

- Climate. In many countries you can place a cache at the ground level but it's not the best choice in my region.

- Hiding place. A container placed in a pole of a fence, at its top, is subject to rain, snow, everything. If there's any kind of shelter for the hide it makes difference.

- Frequency of visits. So many "city caches" in containers with broken lids or tightly packed pulp inside - and a cache in perfect condition somewhere in mountains with one or two careful visitors per year.

- Maintenance. Well, if I own a cache 10 minutes from my home I'm able to replace the container (visitors may say: "Oh, look, this can seems to be so reliable, the cache is 3 years old and it looks brand new!")

- Availablility. Most of brands you guys discuss here are not available in my country. (And ammo boxes which are widely presented as an example of a geocaching container by Groundspeak are not known here at all).

 

Preforms proved to be unbeatable as the most waterproof solution I know but they are hard to purchase. There are no geocaching shops within the country which would sell them and commercial entities don't take seriously my intention to buy a dozen or two of these tubes.

 

"Tupperware" box is a standard variant for a middle-sized cache.

 

For micros and nanos we have very limited ability to buy containers from online shops. Some cachers do this but due to very high percentage of lost caches in the area buying things from a shop somewhere in Germany appears to be rather expensive. So, most of us use hand-made variants. I myself worked out two constructions and have used the second one for almost all of my caches in Moscow; it's waterproof and very cheap.

[+jellis]

Pill bottles. Great for pills indoors but don't last much outside.Still find water in them.

[+DarkZen]

1415647571[/url]' post='5446783']

Preforms.

Tiny lab sample capsules with those flimsy flip tops.

Test Tubes.

"Standard", thin plastic, blue-lidded leftover-keeping apparatuses. Failure rate increases with every factor of purchase price or lesser brand-name recognition.

I also have great luck with preforms. They are virtually bombproof. I always toss the caps that come with them - they have no raised gasket like soda bottle caps do. So I replace them with those.

As for as the log issue, I use hand printed logs that hold up well. However as with any cache, someone cramming it back in can muck things up.

The diabetes containers also work great.

 

[+.Flo.]

No Russian ammo boxes? What about this: http://www.redstar-militaria.de/de/Dekomunition-Dekopatronen-Huelsen/Munitionskiste-fuer-762x54R-Maxim-PK-PKM-Petcheneg.html

[+GrateBear]

The white translucent Fuji film canisters actually seal quite well. Black Kodak ones with grey cover, not so good.

 

I think you can leave out user error - no one can design an idiot proof container that someone will not mess up. I've seen ammo cans not closed properly. Have it indoors, where it will never get wet, and someone will leave a bottle of bubble solution that leaks all over everything.

Not always. I just found one of the Fuji ones, and when I tried to take the lid off, the container was so brittle it broke into many pieces. Good for a while, but not a long time.

Also, there is one cacher on here (don't remember who), who cleverly said "if your log is in a zip lock baggie, your cache has already failed". Gave me a good chuckle.

Edited November 27, 2014 by GrateBear

[+GrateBear]

Advil pill bottles. Found at least 12 of these today--most with the log expanded to fill the bottom of the bottle.

Edited November 29, 2014 by GrateBear

[+The A-Team]

Advil pill bottles. Found at least 12 of these today--most with the log expanded to fill the bottom of the bottle.

Yep, contrary to what some people seem to think, pill bottles just don't work as cache containers. I recently found one where the log was very damp and already spotty with mold, and it had only been out for a few weeks in generally dry weather!

[+L0ne.R]

Advil pill bottles. Found at least 12 of these today--most with the log expanded to fill the bottom of the bottle.

 

You mean like this, where the neck is smaller than the body:

 

 

 

I agree, and yes aspirin/advil/pill containers do tend to be leaky.

 

Any container where the neck is smaller than the body is a pain. The logbook unwinds and gets hard to remove from the container.

 

My least favourite narrow neck container is the water bottle. People tend to list them as small. But it's really a micro since all that really fits inside is a logsheet and a pencil. You can't get anything through the neck that's wider than a quarter. They also tend to be leaky. The last one I found, a metal water bottle, had a fuji-type of film canister inside which held the logsheet. Guess the CO did that so the logsheet would be dry and contained, easier to dump out. The water bottle had about 2 tablespoons of water in it - the contents were a moldy mess AND the film canister had about a teaspoon of water inside.

[+Ambrosia]

The white translucent Fuji film canisters actually seal quite well. Black Kodak ones with grey cover, not so good.

 

I think you can leave out user error - no one can design an idiot proof container that someone will not mess up. I've seen ammo cans not closed properly. Have it indoors, where it will never get wet, and someone will leave a bottle of bubble solution that leaks all over everything.

Not always. I just found one of the Fuji ones, and when I tried to take the lid off, the container was so brittle it broke into many pieces. Good for a while, but not a long time.

Also, there is one cacher on here (don't remember who), who cleverly said "if your log is in a zip lock baggie, your cache has already failed". Gave me a good chuckle.

Wow, that shows how long I've been away from film cameras - I read your reply without reading the quote and thought, "what do apples have to do with cache containers?".

[+WarNinjas]

What about decon containers. They don't seem as great as they are talked about on here.

[+Chrysalides]

What about decon containers. They don't seem as great as they are talked about on here.

The old decon containers leak because many don't know how to close them properly. The new ones in the geocaching are much easier to close - the lid is a lot more flexible and closes easier. Don't think they're military issue though, and don't know how they hold up long term.

[+Chrysalides]

Wow, that shows how long I've been away from film cameras - I read your reply without reading the quote and thought, "what do apples have to do with cache containers?".

You had me wondering "what apple?" for a while

 

Company is still around and doing quite well. Somewhat ironically, they're still called Fujifilm. I have the X-M1 and it's actually a very nice camera.