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First Time Cacher...


monkeyevil

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Posted

Went out today with my bro for the first time on two multi caches. Could not find the first, but found the second cash with no issues. I'm using cachmate for my palm and easyGPS to upload waypoints. Great programs for sure.

 

At any rate my question is this. How much do you all trust your GPSr's? Say you have a coordinate for a waypoint or cache. You have the error of the original cash coordinators GPS, and now the error of your GPSr's. How big do you make your search area when you find your waypoint? Do you go on instinct, or trust the GPS to the end.

 

Just a question to promote discussion ;)

Posted

most caches are obvious to the trained eye ie. a log with a branch up against it and a drab green square underneath.... besides under foilage the gps'r isnt going to help but to 25-50 feet. Try walking in circles slowly and wait for the Gps to correct itself.

Posted

When I first started, I relied on my GPSr almost totally. Then I started reading on these forums. I've learned not to rely so much on my GPSr for the last 30 feet or so. What I've been doing lately is getting as close as I can by the coordinates. Then just standing still or I'll set my GPSr down and let it settle down for a few minutes. Sometimes I can get within a few feet of the cache this way. Had one the other day though, was 70 feet or so off. Instinct came into play then.

Posted

I'll reach the spot my GPSr tells me to and begin to search in about a 15 foot range. If it does not HIT me I will usually walk away (50 foot or so) and return to the same spot with my GPSr in hand. If my "Trail" is off then I know I am getting mixed signals or interference of some sort. Rinse and repeat. If I don't get a good average or idea of my relation to the cache then I put down the GPSr and break out the last resort, my brain. This is painful but it sometimes works.

Posted

My GPS only goes into 0.01 mile increments so going by the NAV screen I can't get very close. I turn it to the direct coords screen and(using UTM) walk EorW to get the Easting right then walk NorS to get the Northing right. When the coordinates on the GPS match the coords on my sheet of paper I look down and I am almost always standing on the cache. I was amazed at how accurate a pre-ending of selective availablity GPS was. I don't have WAAS or anything with my GPS but I am always standing on the cache when it shows the correct coords. My GPS is Magellan 310. I never have to do much of a search radius unless Im in an urban setting in which case the above method will make me look really suspcious. Sometimes following a true EW or NS line to get the coords to match will take you off a street or CLIFF and then I must do a search radius, or grid search. When I find a cache using a search radius or grid search I will check the coords when I find it and they are allways right on. Anyone else have simmilar experiances or an explanation of why my GPS is so accurate??

Posted

My first find was actually a not find, mainly because of instincts, I used my GPSr, to get me to the general location, which from a clue, I knew was the bottom of a small rock outcropping, once I was at the rock outcropping, I decoded the rest of the clue and saw that it was in a ice cream container right at the bottom, and so I just sort of started looking around there looking for it, sort of trying to find it through instincts only occasionally looking at the GPSr. I guess if I go back in a couple days, I'll know where I want to look and I'll try and rely on the bearings of the GPSr more, but I dunno.

 

But then my second find (which was a find, mind you) I ended up walking around the park on a trail and my gpsr was leading me into the woods 500 feet, but I knew there was supposed to be a trail to get into the woods and closer to the cache location... So anyway, I walked around, eventually not even reading my GPS until I found a trail and started heading a way I thought seemed right according to my earlier readings. I got to a sign that had been mentioned in the clue, and it said x marks the spot, now there was a giant x carved into the sign, so I figured it had to do with something around the sign, so I looked around quite a bit, and then I started wigging out, knowing it had to be around here somewhere cause the clue said look for this certain sign and x marks the spot... So I reread the cache page looking for something I missed about a zillion times.

 

This goes on for quite some time, during which, I didn't look at my GPSr at all, then for some odd reason I looked at it, and noticed I was still a hundred or so feet away, I started heading towards the coords and then I saw several dead trees fallen on top of eachother making an X. I made a bee line straight to the spot.

 

And so that just goes to show you, it all sort of depends on the cache, sometimes, you want to rely on your GPSr sometimes you want to rely on instincts, either way.

 

Actually, I don't even know if that's what it shows you, it might just show you I'm a dimwitted person who can only really think about one thing at a time.

 

But seriously, it was supposed to show you my theory on the GPSr which is in the paragraph above the paragraph above this one...

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