Remember the days before PAPERLESS caching?

[+Colonial Cats]

We started out with Lowrance GPSrs. We would print out cache pages before hand at first and then we used a palm pilot for a while. We went paperless with our DeLormes but I still print out some pages for earth and mystery caches. I still write up our finds (and DNFs) both in a journal and on-line.

[+Astro_D]

We started out with a borrowed Garmin Etrex and printing out cache pages (virtuals, multis mostly). Eventually we moved up to the Garmin Legend and cache info was just quick notes jotted down on paper. I even remember buying the paper city maps and during the week, painstakingly plotting out all the caches on the map in prep for a cache outing the coming weekend. The paper map was how we navigated from cache to cache easily. I had one shelf in the bookcase with labeled binders - one for for each city we cached in the most, along with the road maps, cache pages and scribbled paper notes. I still have one binder containing the print out of the first cache we ever found (and our notes on it) and a few other memorable caches throughout the years.

 

We eventually got a pocket pc and upgraded our GPSr to a 60CSx and used that for while. Today, we have phones and tablets and iPads that can do all that super paperless caching and logging. When it's time to go caching though, we still print out the occasional virtual, earthcache or multi cache page (especially when traveling), rely solely on the 60 CSx GPSr for navigation on the roads and to the cache, and have scribbled cache notes on a piece of paper. The phone is there for additional cache info or a PAF if we really need it. But rarely use it.

 

One thing that hasn't changed for us - there is no logging from the field or uploading of field notes to other programs to log our caches. They're all logged from home sitting at our desktop computer at the end of the day or the next if we're too tired.

[+Bubbles&Bonkers]

...the days before PAPERLESS caching.

 

I've been paperless caching since the beginning

 

 

I freakin' love that! Not too subtle though.

[knowschad]

I've been able to preserve my "old school" online logging habits. I am not a "numbers hound" but I am very proud of one statistic: my average log length is 109 words, qualifying me for the "Diamond" level in BadgeGen. That is a hard number to maintain across nearly 6000 finds over nearly 13 years of geocaching -- especially when navigating an ocean that's increasingly filled with unremarkable cache placements. Still, I find something nice to say about every cache I find.

 

How do I accomplish this? FIELD NOTES. I never submit a "found it" log directly from my iPhone App. Rather, I save everything as a field note (either on the phone or the GPS), so that I can write a long and proper log later back at home. The field note consists of just a few "prompting" words to remind me of which cache it was, like this example: "big hill, lid cracked, took hello kitty TB" That note will prompt three sentences about slipping and sliding on the hill, a sentence about the maintenance issue and a sentence about taking the trackable.

 

When I get home, the field notes are all arranged for me in order, so it is still a big timesaver versus the old school methods for keeping track of the order in which each cache was found.

 

My average is only 45, a far cry from your 109, but still almost all were unique logs written about my experience at the cache, and I think that is the most important thing. I use Field Notes as well. I particularly like them because they also help me remember my DNFs, and to post Needs Maintenance logs where necessary. I also use the "Add Comments" option on my Oregon sometimes to help me remember details, or to remind myself of TB exchanges, etc.

 

My smartphone has a notepad and a voice recorder, and I have also used both of those at times to record details that I want to remember to log.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

The yellow etrex led to over a dozen Magellan Meridians and then a 60 CSx was added. 4 Palm M500's and 4 Sony Clie' units fed by Spinner and Plucker.

Today 3 62S and 3 Nuvi 780's plus GSAK.....also an iPhone.

[knowschad]

The yellow etrex led to over a dozen Magellan Meridians and then a 60 CSx was added. 4 Palm M500's and 4 Sony Clie' units fed by Spinner and Plucker.

Today 3 62S and 3 Nuvi 780's plus GSAK.....also an iPhone.

 

Wow! All new? If so, that is a LOT of money!

 

For me, a blue eTrex Legend with serial port was my first GPS, followed by a Colorado that I returned for a 60 CSx, and then an Oregon. Still have that '60, and could get almost half of what I paid for it, if eBay and Amazon are correct!