PREMIUM?

[TCsquad]

I use to geocache years ago and wanted to start again. Ive only ever had the free basic membership, is the premium worth it? $40 a year isn’t a bad price just curious how big of a difference there is between basic and premium.

[Keystone]

Have a look at this comparison chart for the benefits of basic vs. premium membership.  Also, there is a whole section in the Help Center about premium membership.

 

In addition to the features, I like the warm fuzzies of supporting Geocaching HQ's work through paying for a premium membership (and, off topic, by volunteering my time).

[+Vicious Cycle]

I'm a cheapskate, but I still gladly pay for premium membership (PM). Just taking a look at the comparison chart that @Keystone linked to, I forgot that a lot of the features I take for granted only come with PM. For instance...I make extensive use of lists, favorite points, instant notifications and a lot of other features. Plus...I had no idea until recently that if I didn't have a PM, I couldn't see high difficulty/terrain caches or Mystery and Earth caches. 

 

Let's put it this way...there's no way I could Geocache the way I do without having a premium membership.

[+Smitherington]

Absolutely worth it!

[+kunarion]

4 hours ago, TCsquad said:

I use to geocache years ago and wanted to start again. Ive only ever had the free basic membership, is the premium worth it? $40 a year isn’t a bad price just curious how big of a difference there is between basic and premium.

 

If you cache infrequently, and maybe just do a spontaneous hunt of a cache or two per day, you can do that for free.  Especially if you see plenty of caches on the map and all is well.

But if you're ready to open up the world of Geocaching, have it all available where you may choose and sort and plan trips, that's where a PM really shines!  You can still hunt just a cache or two, but you can filter and select and save the ones that most interest you.

[+cerberus1]

Guessing you're using a phone...

If you're looking for routes or want to plan trips, get notifications of new hides, add favorite points, yep, it's worth it.   

If you're simply doing a couple caches once in a while in a park, maybe not...

We became PM just for notifications, and (for me) those and Favorite Points are the only PM goodies I use.  

I still load caches manually to a long-discontinued GPSr...   Add a tiny notepad for hints and stuff, and good to go. 

We stay PM to help out with the workings of the hobby (HQ and volunteers), and to still allow basic members to play for free.  

If using the website, you can access all the "advanced" caches not available to you now (non-traditional caches, and caches with a D/T over 2).

Just no Premium Member Only hides.   I don't think see a difference between them and other caches...

I think manually adding caches to a phone is a pain-in-the-can, and for that reason alone maybe a PM would be a good bet.   

[+JL_HSTRE]

Why does the forum allow someone to make a post in white text on a non-white background?

[+terratin]

Oh mate, your text is very difficult to read! Makes my eyes go all blurry!

You can start out without Premium, and if you find out you don't get caches you're interested in then you can still sign up. There's no need to hurry. If you look on the website relative to the app you'll be able to see more caches as well. You can take the coordinates and put them into any navigation app, maybe even the geocaching app you use. Maybe a bit more work, but hey, the first gps I had didn't allow data to be transferred and I typed everything over by hand into the yellow device. So why not see if you enjoy it first? I suggest this as someone who's been a premium member for 'ever' really, but generally not a fan of subscription based services.

[+brekkcaching123]

I recently updated to premium. It is awesome!

You can filter the map, so if you want a cache that requires special equipment, you can select tricky difficulties, (3 - 5) and high terrains (4-5)

You can also award favorite points to your favorite caches. 

My personal favorite feature is the apps trails map choice. You can use this to go caching offline.

If you have a garmin gps, you can send a cache page to your garmin.

I would recommend upgrading. This is a great way to up your game

[+AKStafford]

$40 a year is the cheapest thing I have in my life...

[+Mysterion604]

I did Basic membership for the first 3/4 year or so, but then went to Premium, primarily to be able to access the full spectrum of available caches. It made quite a difference.

[+PlantAKiss]

I've had a PM membership so long I don't even think about it. I do remember when it was all free. But I think the fee is nominal, even though it's gone up. It's for a whole year. Monthly would be different. I pay way more just for good weather radar. So I think it's worth it.

[+lee737]

I think we'd burn more money in fuel in any given fortnight, not to mention all the other bits of gear we're always buying!

[+MNTA]

2 hours ago, lee737 said:

I think we'd burn more money in fuel in any given fortnight, not to mention all the other bits of gear we're always buying!

 

So true or a 2600 mile week long caching road trip needing over 100 gallons of gas.  But got 2 new provinces (Alberta & Saskatchewan)  and one new state (North Dakota). 

 

Super cheap well worth the $$$s