Brand new and question about premium

[CaptainCrush21]

Hello! I just discovered geocaching tonight and it seems really interesting! I installed the app on my phone since I have a phone holder on my bike so I figured I could use that to go around my local area! But it seems a very big majority of the caches are just behind premium.... Is it a must-have? Thank you!

[+Team DEMP]

Welcome to a very fun hobby!!

The smartphone applications will display traditional caches with a difficulty and terrain rating of 1.5 or less. I'm pretty sure the website will show you all the caches as a basic member with the exception of Premium only caches that you must be a Premium subscriber to see. There is popular Android app that isn't sanctioned that allows you to see the same caches you'd see on the website. 

Also, my understanding is you can only download the full details of 3 caches in a day/24 hour period while on the phone.  So yes, to use the phone and access all caches, you need to subscribe and become a premium member. There should be an option to pay by month or for the full year. You can try month-by-month for a month or two and then if you are still into it, sign up for the full year. 

[+cerberus1]

8 hours ago, CaptainCrush21 said:

Hello! I just discovered geocaching tonight and it seems really interesting! I installed the app on my phone since I have a phone holder on my bike so I figured I could use that to go around my local area! But it seems a very big majority of the caches are just behind premium.... Is it a must-have? Thank you!

Welcome to this odd hobby. 

The 1.5 limit is meant  to get you interested enough (a teaser) to join  the site as a premium member (wanting more).

We've found that if someone's interested enough they often do,  if their interests go beyond the simple. 

Realize that that limitation is only when using the app.  Using gps on phone,  or handheld GPSr and using the site for coordinates allows you to access all but premium member-only caches.   

 - Of all the benefits of premium membership, the last thing I'd use it for is pmo caches...  

[+SeattleWayne]

Yeah, it's a pretty cool hobby, and well worth the premium membership fees. 

[+Viajero Perdido]

On 2017-07-31 at 4:32 AM, Team DEMP said:

There is popular Android app that isn't sanctioned that allows you to see the same caches you'd see on the website.

There are also officially sanctioned caching apps from other providers (just not "the" app from our beloved hosts) that go beyond that 1.5 limitation.

"The" app is focused (dare I say it) on beginners and getting them to cough up for an auto-renewing premium membership to peek beyond the 1.5 curtain.

People forget that.

PS: Here's the official list of approved caching apps.  As far as I know, they all peek past the 1.5 curtain.  (I use Locus on Android, and while - cough! - it's not exactly focused on beginners, it rocks.)

Edited August 2, 2017 by Viajero Perdido
More info, all the time.

[+Team DEMP]

36 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

There are also officially sanctioned caching apps from other providers (just not "the" app from our beloved hosts) that go beyond that 1.5 limitation.

My understanding is this limitation is for 3rd party API apps without a premium membership. Cachly, as an example of an official 3rd party app, also limits in a similar way not because the developer wants to but it's mandated by Groundspeak.

[+nextlogicalstep]

I started caching in late March. I upgraded to premium in early May, a little more than a month later. I found it useful to cache for a while as a basic member for a couple of reasons:

1. I figured I should stick to easier caches while I was learning how to geocache. For the first month, I mostly sought out places I could go in my local area that had caches with difficulty and terrain ratings of 1.5 or lower. I would just open the app and move to different parts of the map to see where there were "green" caches. I cache by foot/transit (unless I'm with someone else who's driving), and this took me to some nice parks out in the suburbs because they had multiple easy caches and I could get there by transit.

(Eventually, I started finding caches that were over the 1.5 difficulty / terrain ratings while I was still a basic member. One way I did this was by using the website in the browser on my phone to read about the cache but using my location marker (the blue dot) on the map in the app to get me close to the grey cache symbol. Switching back and forth was annoying, but sort of workable. I have a friend who started caching around the same time as me and still does it this way. I also tried a few other apps, including Geooh Live, but I can't say I cared for that experience. You also only get access to an additional three caches per day or something like that by using one of the third-party apps, as others have said.)

I think if I'd jumped right into trying to find trickier caches, starting out would have been a lot less enjoyable. Perhaps I would have gotten frustrated and given up. (That said, sometimes difficulty and terrain ratings aren't that accurate, and what's difficult for one cacher to find may be less difficult for another cacher to find. I've found "tricky" caches by myself without too much difficulty and been stumped by "easy" caches.) In general, I think it's a good idea to stick with caches rated 1.5 or lower when you're first starting out. You may also want to stick to caches that have been recently found (if you're not sure how, check where it says "activity" in the app to view other people's logs). I believe the website also recommends sticking to size small or larger and skipping the micros (XS in the app), but some of the first caches I found were micros.

2. I personally can't afford to spend $30 USD lightly. Having a month to get to know geocaching before upgrading gave me time to consider whether it was worth it to me. I also had a trip planned where I was hoping to do lots of geocaching, and I wanted to have access to premium-only features for that.

Edited August 2, 2017 by nextlogicalstep

[+noncentric]

On 7/31/2017 at 3:32 AM, Team DEMP said:

The smartphone applications will display traditional caches with a difficulty and terrain rating of 1.5 or less. I'm pretty sure the website will show you all the caches as a basic member with the exception of Premium only caches that you must be a Premium subscriber to see. There is popular Android app that isn't sanctioned that allows you to see the same caches you'd see on the website. 

Also, my understanding is you can only download the full details of 3 caches in a day/24 hour period while on the phone.  So yes, to use the phone and access all caches, you need to subscribe and become a premium member. There should be an option to pay by month or for the full year. You can try month-by-month for a month or two and then if you are still into it, sign up for the full year. 

The 1.5 limitation applies to the official Geocaching app developed by Groundspeak. The official app does not limit to any specific number of caches, just to the D/T limits and cache types.  HERE is a helpful chart of Basic vs Premium via the official app.

 

The 3 caches/day limitation applies to API Partner apps.  The API Partner apps are not required to apply a D/T rating restriction, according to the API License Agreement:

1. Features and Geocaching Data provide through the API shall be available only to authorized geocaching.com account holders with the following limitations which are subject to change at the discretion of Groundspeak:

a. Basic Members shall be limited to viewing full geocache details for up to 3 Geocaches per day. Prior to viewing the full details for each of the 3 geocache listings, the Basic Member must be notified of this restriction using text supplied by Groundspeak or, in the absence of text supplied by Groundspeak, text which is substantially similar to the text displayed in Exhibit B.
b. Geocache search results for Basic Members shall be limited to Traditional Geocache Listings only.
c. Basic Members may request full geocache details for non-Traditional Geocaches using the GC reference code; however, they will remain subject to the limitation of 3 as set forth in section 1a above.

That is what the License Agreement specifies.  Whether the app devs follow those restrictions or not is a different matter.

[+noncentric]

On 8/2/2017 at 1:00 AM, nextlogicalstep said:

Eventually, I started finding caches that were over the 1.5 difficulty / terrain ratings while I was still a basic member. One way I did this was by using the website in the browser on my phone to read about the cache but using my location marker (the blue dot) on the map in the app to get me close to the grey cache symbol. Switching back and forth was annoying, but sort of workable.

This brings up a good point.  Basic Members can use the geocache map and view individual cache pages via their phone's web browser, then get guidance to the cache coordinates via another app on their phone. Doesn't need to be the geocaching app.

You could use any of several GPS apps, where coords can be entered and a compass/arrow points in the direction of those coords. Or you can enter the coords into the Google Maps app to use the 'blue dot' method of guidance.

 

 

[+kunarion]

44 minutes ago, noncentric said:

This brings up a good point.  Basic Members can use the geocache map and view individual cache pages via their phone's web browser, then get guidance to the cache coordinates via another app on their phone. Doesn't need to be the geocaching app.

You could use any of several GPS apps, where coords can be entered and a compass/arrow points in the direction of those coords. Or you can enter the coords into the Google Maps app to use the 'blue dot' method of guidance.

 

 

There are ways to open another App from the web browser, but IOS or Android require different techniques.  For example, "Commander Compass" (a GPS App) can open cache info from Safari.  On Geocaching.com using Safari, look up a cool cache, read about it, look at the map, use driving directions, and when you want compass and distance, send the cache to Compass Commander.  If I ever settle on whether I want a phone data subscription on a Droid or IOS, I may do it that way, since I prefer the site to "The App".  Of course, most of that process works online only.

Edited August 3, 2017 by kunarion