Cache Description Page Usage

[+Z_Statman]

I am moving forward with confidence but still rely on printing out the cache descriptive page and taking it/them with me on the find. Is this common, or is there another way beside getting a PDA?

 

Tks,

[+briansnat]

PDA is better, but the printed page works fine. One more way is to go with the coordinates only and no page or hint. A lot of people do it that way.

[+JeepCachr]

Its also quite common for people to print out a street map of the cache area. If you get a PDA with mapping capability you can bring the cache details and maps with you without printing. The biggest advantage to a PDA is the number of caches you can bring with you this way. Its also quite easy to keep your PDA updated with the newest information. So that you don't go to a cache that was recently archived or reported as missing. A lot of cachers will load everything within a 100 miles on their pda and can be ready to cache whenever they get an opportunity.

[+Melrose Plant]

Before I started using my PDA, I always just found an area and printed out one of those geocaching.com maps which show the cache icons. That way, I could see several caches on just one sheet of paper. Then I would make handwritten notes on this sheet if I thought it needed it. This does not work particularly well for certain types of multi-caches or puzzle caches, though. For those, I still print it out on paper if there's a lot of ciphering to do. Print two-sided to save paper!

 

Also, you've pretty much got to know where you're going with this method. It doesn't work for spur-of-the-moment caching trips.

[+PeachyPA]

My technique is to print the cache page (without logs) on one side of the paper and the Topozone map (or other map) on the other side. I just bought a used Palm on eBay and have yet to become comfortable enough with it to download anything. But I will, as that is why I bought it in the first place.

[+Z_Statman]

Great info, thanks to all!

[+IVxIV]

IMO using Cachemate is waaaaaay nicer than printing pages. For one I can download hundreds of cache sites into Cachemate & using the search feature I can add some spontinaety to a caching day, versus pre-planning a specific series of caches before leaving home & having just them printed out.

[+SBPhishy]

I gotta agree with IVxIV. Using a PDA is SO MUCH BETTER than using paper. It keeps everything organized, and easy to find. I was going crazy before using a PDA, spending an hour or more, printing all the caches pages for a trip. Not to mention the insane paper and ink usage. The PDA I use is an OLD Palm III. It only has 2 internal megs of space, and can EASILY hold 1000 cache pages. They are 30 dollars on ebay. If you really want to do it, you can find an old cheap PDA. It's VERY worth it.

[+BuckyD]

I tried the print-cache-pages-and-juggle-them-around in my cache bag. Invariably you haven't printed off cache pages for an area that you happen to find yourself in. Then I bought a used Palm IIIc ($60) and Cachemate ($7) and I'll never go back! I can't recommend it enough! It took me 2 months of caching by paper to figure out that I wanted more info more spontaneously... I'm sure I'm making my money back in saving-a-tree points just in the 2 months since going paperless!

[+Mauison]

About three weeks ago I went on a two hour hike to find six caches using printed out caches pages. I found it quite cumbersome, trying to figure out which page went with which cache on my GPSr and so on. So I bought a Palm Zire off of ebay for $42 shipped. It is SO much easier now. I bought Cachemate, and since I'm a premium member I ran a pocket query of the closest 500 caches near my home. I uploaded them onto my PDA with Cachemate, after converting them with CMConvert, and now when I'm driving around town, I can check my GPSr to see if there's anything close. I can then check the cache info on my PDA, instead of lugging paper cache pages all over the place.

Edited April 20, 2004 by Mauison

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

The PDA sounds like the way to go. My buddy has one and it's pretty cool. Until it screws up. I'm still tempted though.