Bought It Because Of Caching

3.3k · June 13, 2004

I recently purchased a mountain bike for $550. This purchase can be directly attributed to caching.

Six months ago I was perfectly content being a roadie; I had 2 road bikes and no interest whatsoever hitting the trails. But then, you see, I get involved in this new sport/hobby and made the mountain bike purchase for those long off road hides.

This got me thinking what purchase(s), other than GPS devices and associated accessories, have been made by fellow cachers that would not have been made other than for their geocaching activities.

Who can beat my "frivolous" purchase?

38.2k · June 13, 2004

Approximately 100 ammo and decon boxes :huh:

2.2k · June 13, 2004

Ok lets see...

Garmin Etrex Vista: $275

laptop computer: $2000

DC/AC power inverter for the car: $50

a years worth of swag: $500

Then theres other things such as gas, meals while caching, bottled water, hiking shoes, caching bag, supplies to make and maintain my own caches, TB tags, etc etc etc.

Who said this sport was free :huh:

7.2k · June 13, 2004

Besides a pallet of 7.62mm ammo cans and a double handful of other containers in different sizes from sub micros up to 105mm howitzer tubes?

How about a PDA? Okay, sundry caching gear.

Various swag, backpacks, two GPSs, comfortable shoes for longer hikes, various hiking and camping gear. Again, various sundry caching gear.

How about a 1997 Seedoo GTX jetski specifically to grab those hydros? Only once has this item been used for something other than caching or testing a repair/upgrade.

Not that we've done it yet, but my next vehicle purchase will be influenced by its ability to take us caching. But then again, I'm not sure that would count because it's not purely for caching. OTOH, depending what we get it might only be used on the weekends to go caching. This is only a "gonna do" item.

Another "gonna do" is a trip to Nepal which we wouldn't have considered if it hadn't been for our participation in this sport.

2.2k · June 13, 2004

Besides a pallet of 7.62mm ammo cans and a double handful of other containers in different sizes from sub micros up to 105mm howitzer tubes?

How about a PDA? Okay, sundry caching gear.

Various swag, backpacks, two GPSs, comfortable shoes for longer hikes, various hiking and camping gear. Again, various sundry caching gear.

How about a 1997 Seedoo GTX jetski specifically to grab those hydros? Only once has this item been used for something other than caching or testing a repair/upgrade.

Not that we've done it yet, but my next vehicle purchase will be influenced by its ability to take us caching. But then again, I'm not sure that would count because it's not purely for caching. OTOH, depending what we get it might only be used on the weekends to go caching. This is only a "gonna do" item.

Another "gonna do" is a trip to Nepal which we wouldn't have considered if it hadn't been for our participation in this sport.

You win.

1.6k · June 13, 2004

Magellan Sportrak - $200

6 Ammo Cans - $20

Assortment of Tupperware - $40

Trade Items Since I've Started Caching Approx. 6 months ago - $50

Miscellaneous Groundspeak Gear - $50

Topo Software for GPS - $70

Holster and Car Mounting Brackets for GPSr - $50

Palm for Paperless Caching - $200

Used 1996 Jeep Cherokee - $2800

Laptop - $1500

Street Atlas Mapping Software for Laptop - $50

AC/DC Power Inverter for Laptop in Car -$40

I'm probably forgetting some stuff, but the grand total works out to be: $5070 plus travel and meal expenses..

The purchases of the PDA, Jeep, and Laptop, were not bought primarily for geocaching, but the decisions to buy were heavily weighted by geocaching...

I've also signifigantly upgraded most of my camping, hiking and bicycling gear, mostly related to geocaching... But I don't want to even figure that out, probably in the $300 range...

Edited June 13, 2004 by TeamK-9

2k · June 13, 2004

I've been known to buy Happy Meals for the toys.

1.6k · June 13, 2004

I've been known to buy Happy Meals for the toys.

Me too, but I did that way before I started caching. :lol:

June 13, 2004

Errrr, trading up to a MeriGold, have additional backpack, water reservoir with straw thingie, dog backpack, trekking pole (Stansport Odyssey from Target), shoes, ammo cans and other caching stuff.

June 13, 2004

That list would include an ebay Palm Vx and another backup ebay Palm Vx. Recommend this unit and don't pay over $40 before shipping!

1.8k · June 13, 2004

Garmin eTrex - $100

Garmin eTrex Legend - $150

Garmin GPSMAP60CS - $500

25 ammo cans - $100

Other cache containers - $150

Palm - $150

Decent mountain bike - $450

Mapping & topo software - $150

Laptop - $2200

Shoes, backpacks, & other trail gear - $200

Brand new full-size truck - $35000

:lol: :lol: :lol:

June 13, 2004

The interesting part for me is that all of the gear needed to help find caches is stuff that I already have. All of it serves other purposes as well, especially the laptop, GPS, PDA, bike, compass, pack gear...

And I don't consider the cost of gas to be a factor either, since I would be driving to do other things anyway if it wasn't for caching. The real side benifit to caching is that I can combine with other outdoor pursuits that I do, such as hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, travel, and so on. While I'm there, I look up a cache that's nearby.

June 13, 2004

Garmin Legend: $160.00 (which I sold to a friend when I upgraded)

Garmin 60cs: $419.00

Palm Tungsten E: $150.00

Cache containers: $100.00

Trade items and cache stock items: $150.00

Sig items: $45.00 for 100

Mapsource City Select: $129.00

Gas for the car: I have no idea how much I have spent! :lol:

Getting into a great hobby and making a lot of friends: PRICELESS! :lol: :lol:

Edited June 13, 2004 by Imajika

3.3k · June 13, 2004

I recently purchased a mountain bike for $550. This purchase can be directly attributed to caching.
Six months ago I was perfectly content being a roadie; I had 2 road bikes and no interest whatsoever hitting the trails. But then, you see, I get involved in this new sport/hobby and made the mountain bike purchase for those long off road hides.

This got me thinking what purchase(s), other than GPS devices and associated accessories, have been made by fellow cachers that would not have been made other than for their geocaching activities.

Who can beat my "frivolous" purchase?

£6,500 for a car that does twice the miles per gallon of my previous car.

A new iPAQ.

June 14, 2004

Garmin Legend $200

Garmin Yellow $70

Garmin Map60CS $410

Ammo Cans and containers $60

Items for caches $100

Cables and mounts for GPSrs $105

New Jeep $9,000

June 14, 2004

I think you guys are all nuts! (teehee) :lol: :lol: I don't want to add up everything cause I will probably pass out! :lol:

2k · June 14, 2004

... oh yeah, I spent $2.00 at a local auction house for a box of garbage because it included a huge wad of lanyards for racing pit credentials and some Lego toy sets that an Indy car team was passing around.

1.5k · June 14, 2004

Garmin Rino 120 - $200

Garmin V - $400

Mapsource Topo - $115

Delorme Topo - $75

Cache Swag - $200

Ammo Boxes - $100

Ford Ranger 4x4 - $22,000

Gas! - No clue but over 20,000 miles on the truck so far!

1.5k · June 14, 2004

Magellan Pioneer - FREE (got me started)

Garming GPS III - FREE (Dad never used it)

Garmin eTrex Vista - $250 (paid for by eBaying the previous two)

-neoprene case - $15

-windshield mount - $26

-bike mount - $15

-AC adapter - $10

ammo cans ($10 - get the rest for free)

Garmin GPSmap 60C - $369

-winshield mount - $26

-AC adapter - $20

TB dogtags - $12 (only have 2 out)

misc. cache containers - ~$50-75

1994 Jeep Wrangler YJ - traded vehicles with my Dad at HIS offering - FREE

Old Man Emu 2.5" suspension lift (going on in August ) - $1049

set of 4 Eagle 058 15x8 alloy wheels - $350

extra Eagle 058 for the spare - ~$75

set of 5 Interco trXus 32" M/T tires - $530

Camelbak M.U.L.E. - $55

hiking boots - ?

various repairs from caching trip damage (mainly tires), gas, drinks/snacks, permits for restricted areas...lots more. But in the grand scheme of things, well worth it.

1.5k · June 14, 2004

Gas! - No clue but over 20,000 miles on the truck so far!

Being very loose with estimates, I put your truck at 19mpg by averaging the 17/21 the 4.0L v6 gets. Your estimated fuel costs so far should hover at a little over $2050 based on 20k mileage. :lol:

2.4k · June 14, 2004

In addition to the things a lot of other people have listed (two GPSr's, packs, hiking shoes, ammo boxes, trading items, travel bugs, miscellaneous gadgets, etc.), we've made two other purchases:

(1) Memberships to the Sudbury Valley Trustees and the Trustees of Resvervations (conservation groups in Massachusetts). We've gone caching in several spots owned or managed by these organizations, which led to us reading about them; we decided that we appreciated what they were doing, and are now supporting them.

(2) A cell phone. Arg. As part of our hermit-crabbishness, we had resisted getting one for years, but finally broke down and got one since one of us often goes caching alone. As part of being dragged kicking and screaming into it, though, we got a pre-paid, no-bills / no-calling-plan type of phone. And we haven't given out the number to anyone.

5.3k · June 14, 2004

all the items listed below were purchase for geocaching

Magellan Meridan w/ Handlebar mount and windshield moutn

Magellan Sportrack map

Magellan Sportrack color ( for use as a back up)

Pocket PC

Cable to connect Pocket PC to GPS

Lap top computer for road trips

Titanium hiking sticks-Leki

Map Send topo

Map Send Streets and destinations

Map send direct route

National geographic TOPO Ca. and Ha.

National geographic Back roads

Microsoft street and trips

4mp digital cacmera to photograph Virtuals

Compass

Next purchase will be one of the following for longer road trips

MB SLK 320

BMW 330i

Crossfire

Acura TL

ect.

2k · June 14, 2004

An ammo box

A new pair of hiking shoes

A compass

20 Smurfs to use as Travel Bugs.

June 17, 2004

So far I have purchased nothing except some cache swag just for caching. I bought my platinum for other purposes and discovered GeoCaching while googling around the internet for GPS pages in general.

I have already most of the gear that people seem to use caching from before. I do a lot of outdoor activities so caching is just a new thing to do in the great outdoors for me.

Beyond TB tags and swag, I'll let you know if I find myself needing caching specific gear.

1.3k · June 17, 2004

1. NY/NJ Trail Conference maps.

2. A few ammo cans.

3, Travel bug tags.

I already had everything else before I started geocaching. I had a GPS receiver, mapping software and map books for many counties around here. The second and third GPS receivers are probably due to geocaching though. :unsure:

Edited June 17, 2004 by stayfloopy

June 29, 2004

Garmin Etrex Vista: $275
laptop computer: $2000

DC/AC power inverter for the car: $50

a years worth of swag: $500

Participating in the greatest pastime on the PLANET:

Priceless.

3.9k · June 29, 2004

Jeep Wrangler

Blackberry PDA

Countless ammo cans, Lock 'n Lock containers and rubbermaid containers

June 29, 2004

Do you guys go caching? Or shopping?

June 29, 2004

I will pick up items to cache with at garage sales :bad: 5cents for a whole bag of army men, sure!!

1.5k · June 29, 2004

Hmmm... :bad:

GPS... $250

New PDA... $400 (not just for 'caching, but had a lot to do with it)

New Hiking boots... $100

Walking staff.... $90

Swag... $???

June 30, 2004

Geocaching Is not really not the money pit you think it is. here is my caching list.

Garmin eTrex $100

My old College book bag $40

Palm IIIc $90 (on Ebay)

First Aid Kit $10

FRS Radio $40

Back up GPS $100

Over the road GPS $100 (hooks to palm IIIc, has street maps)

Assorted pack items $20

Groundspeek swag $50

Used Boat with electric motor $100

Boat regestration $7.50 (yearly)

That view by the cache in a place 5 miles from home I never knew about. Priceless

My other hobby

1993 Mazda Miata in bone stock condition $6000 (people love to tinker with these)

Driving Helment $100

Magnetic numbers $150 (per set I need 2 sets)

Extra rims $400

Special racing tires $800 (these can't be used on the street, every spring)

Race mount and balance for tires $100 (Every spring)

Trailer for tires $150

Trailer regestration $60 (by yearly)

Special 4 wheel Alignment $100 (every spring)

AutoX $20 (per event, I do 15 a year)

Road rally $60 (per event I do 4 a year)

That first place AutoX Glass, and those Rally trophys. Priceless!

A lot of these items are cross over items, like the car. Geocaching is a sport, I use a sports car. I sometimes map race tracks with my GPS. I use the trailer for camping, I use the boat for other stuff too. Look at it from my point of view, Geocaching is super cheep!

1.4k · June 30, 2004

Compared to other hobbies I've gone overboard on:

Scuba, Climbing, Shooting sports, Poker

I'd say I'm getting off cheap with caching.

June 30, 2004

Being very loose with estimates, I put your truck at 19mpg by averaging the 17/21 the 4.0L v6 gets. Your estimated fuel costs so far should hover at a little over $2050 based on 20k mileage.

HA! My 3.0L 4x4 Ranger averages 17.5mpg, don't believe the figures and add a couple of hundred dollars to your estimate.

Being new to the hobby I haven't had to use the 4x4 option to get to any caches yet but I'm looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, compared to the cost of restoring and running my 1965 MGB and the train layout in the basement my $275 so far geocaching hobby is refreshingly dirt cheap ($275 includes the GPSr, mapping software and car adapter).

Edited June 30, 2004 by Pen-mawr

June 30, 2004

A lot of these items are cross over items, like the car. Geocaching is a sport, I use a sports car.

I hate to admit it but the fact is that my Jeep is a better geocaching vehicle than my M3. Overall, anyway.

Hmmmm, but now you have me thinking, which usually leads to trouble... "Honey, I need a set of R-compounds and new BBS wheels to go geocaching in the M3." Could it work?... Nah. Never happen.

Geocaching is about my... let's see... Maybe my 7th most expensive hobby, or less? It way down on the list, although it benefits at different times from most of the others.

March 7, 2006

Went on a couple of caches in Idaho with my brother on vacation, got hooked, that was 3 weeks ago, have spent well over 1000 dollars in 3 weeks getting everything I need, but I have been a smart shopper and got most on ebay for killer prices, got my garmin 60cs brand new in box with shipping for $250, it is now fun going to the dollar store and places like that with my girlfriend LOL. sorry I missed ya chuy when you came to cache at my house.

March 7, 2006

dynamite for opening stumps,large bolders,and hollow logs.

chainsaw for ones that can't be reached in trees.

and a backhoe for those really deep ones.

I'm currently in negoations with the navy for a mimi nucular submarine for those underwater caches.

March 7, 2006

I'm surprised nobody has written . . .

"Divorce - half of everything I own . . . " :laughing:

JohnTee

March 7, 2006

I'm really new at this so my list is short.

Garmin 60cs

Last night--2001 4runner.

back pack lights swag..yada..yada..yada..

But I AINT' smokin!!!!! :laughing:

3.9k · March 8, 2006

Aside from the GPS, a cheap ($65 new) spare GPS, trade items and travel costs, the expenditures have included:

extra rock climbing gear, including extra slings and carabiners
etriers (sling climbing ladders)
grappling hooks
alpine hooks
waterproof headlamp
waterproof flashlights
extra portable radiation monitors
extra Tyvek protective bunny suits
transparent waterproof underwater cases
and many other odd items

March 8, 2006

I spent $6.00 on 12 hide-a-keys yesterday at Wally World!

2.6k · March 8, 2006

I spent $6.00 on 12 hide-a-keys yesterday at Wally World!

The hide akeys are not waterproof, go to sporting goods and get the orange match holders they are waterproof much better

March 8, 2006

Lets see:

Ammo cans: $30

Garmin Etrex Legend: $180

Garmin Etrex Legend: $130

Garmin Etreix Legend: $100

Magellan: $300

Garmin maps: $130

Expert GPS: $40 (?)

Mapopolis: $15

Pick-up truck: $4000

Tupperware: $20

Tharagleb coins: $600

Geocoins: $700

Swag: $100

March 8, 2006

Haven't done it yet... but saddle bags for my dogs are in the near future.

March 8, 2006

I went the other way. I started with a $2000 mountain bike (to become my aerobic exercise) THEN discovered caching. But since I started geocaching, I bought two GPS's (A foretrex for roughly $200 and a CSx for about $490), a paperless capable Treo 700w ($400). Not to mention the dozen or so ammo cans ($3 each + shipping), software packages for my laptop (backcountry navigator $30, CoPilot live $300, Google Earth subscription, etc.)

Bad news is that I've got my 6 year old hooked on it--and he can't 2 wheel bike yet. So all my recent caches had to be kid-walking friendly...

March 10, 2006

So far, not too bad- a Mag Sporttrack Map (170), Hiking boots for all five kids, Mom and Dad (???), second hand backpacks, and swag. I'm investing in a digital camera this month, and I really want a palm to try paperless. Right now our time spent caching is very limited (based on the kid's attention span, endurance, and our work schedules) but I am really looking forward to this season! All in all, it is very hard to justify to hubby the things I wat to get when we have only done 29 caches and are broke!

March 10, 2006

Two brand new lower Inguinal Hernia repairs $5000.00+ interest.

:rolleyes: One Anesthesiologist $500.00.

:smile: One Dr. to repair those $1000.00.

:mad: The joy of being able to finally, just about, maybe, hopefully, not feel any more nerves or muscle twinges from the two three inch scars in my lower abdomen 1 year & 9 months later.= Priceless.

20.7k · March 10, 2006

£6,500 for a car that does twice the miles per gallon of my previous car.

How about $35,000 for a vehicle that gets half the mileage of the previous car?

March 11, 2006

I see two definite classes of people while reading this thread: Those that brag about how MUCH they've spent and those that brag about how LITTLE spent. I guess I know where I fall.. good grief, I've spent less on geocaching then some have spent on PDA's! $590?? One nasty fall and it's OVER!

£6,500 for a car that does twice the miles per gallon of my previous car.

How about $35,000 for a vehicle that gets half the mileage of the previous car?

March 11, 2006

Lets see:

Ammo cans: $30

Garmin Etrex Legend: $180

Garmin Etrex Legend: $130

Garmin Etreix Legend: $100

Magellan: $300

Garmin maps: $130

Expert GPS: $40 (?)

Mapopolis: $15

Pick-up truck: $4000

Tupperware: $20

Tharagleb coins: $600

Geocoins: $700

Swag: $100

oops! forgot my digital camera $200 :wub:

March 11, 2006

Does the hiring of a Tibetan Sherpa to lead me to caches count?

Bought It Because Of Caching

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