Why do you still use external GPS devices?

[ohgood]

More accurate judging by the cachers who log my caches. I can tell who is using a smartphone and who is using a GPS.

You know, it really bugs me when people say this. What you actually mean is there's a good chance you can guess who is using what device based on either the log content or coordinate accuracy. That's it. Handheld users can be just as bad as the infamous "smartphone user", and plenty of smartphone users have much better generally appreciated caching etiquette than many handheld users.

 

There's no way you can "tell" who used what device when placing or logging a cache. There's no signature or device identifier with the listing or the log. You base your guess on a stereotype.

 

I like to repeat this little story often: I love when caching in a big group looking for a well-hidden forest cache, and I end up finding it; I may look out for a few seconds or a minute to see where everyone else is. Hearing people staring a their device (handheld or smartphone, but mostly the former) and calling out "5 meters over here!" "I've got 15 here!" "I zeroed out over here!" ... And I'm standing on the cache.

That situation has happened often since I started caching.

And oh man, log content - absolutely zero guarantee that a handheld user will post more interesting, useful, longer log text than a smartphone user. Yes, more "tftc" logs may be posted by app users, but IMO "tftc" is just as bad as multi-paragraph copy/paste logs describing an entire day or trip with no comments about the specific cache, often mass-logged with a desktop app. It goes both ways...

 

It does no one any good to associate specific devices or device classes with certain etiquette. Everyone needs to discover and learn what is great and appreciated for the general geocaching community.

Maybe or maybe not. But when they tell me my coords are off I am usually (not always) correct when they tell me what they used.

 

could it be that the coordinates are off?

 

I've seen people very sure about their coordinates, until they tried another unit to compare, and realized.... oops

[+Walts Hunting]

GS just gave another reason to use a handheld. The new app displays caches that are on my ignore list. The Classic app allowed me to hide those. So now I see all the caches I don't want to go to when I use it. Renders it useless.

 

I also use a handheld because 95% of my caching is hiking or biking for long periods and the battery dies plus it is more rugged than my phone.

[+thebruce0]

GS just gave another reason to use a handheld. The new app displays caches that are on my ignore list. The Classic app allowed me to hide those. So now I see all the caches I don't want to go to when I use it. Renders it useless.

There are other [better] apps...