Geocaching

[Indiana Jeep]

I just starting looking for some of these around where I live. I was actually surprised at how many are listed in the Anderson area. Just wondering if anyone else on here is a geocacher. If that's even a word lol. Here's a website that explains what geocaching is. http://www.geocaching.com

[4.3LXJ]

That requires a good GPS, which I don't own yet. I guess I am just old school. But I have to confess they would be nice at times.

[Indiana Jeep]

Yep I have a garmin 255w that I got off of Amazon for about $98 bucks. It's refurbished and has a good warranty. I love it so far. I used to have a Cobra gps it was worthless. I got it because it came with maps of all of North America. It did okay until the came out with an update for the software, after that whenever I tried to put in a location or even just a city name I would get a message saying it was not listed on the map. I contacted the company but since they said I would have to ship it to them, at my expense, pay a service fee for them to look at it and then pay for a repair plus return shipping! I had only had it for about a year and the warranty was expired. I figured I would be better off just buying a new one. I also like that you can download different vehicles for it. Found a site with free downloads that has 2 Cherokees, a white 2 door and a red 4 door. There are some better units on the market, but I am very happy with this one.

[4.3LXJ]

If I was going to take the plunge and get one, it would be this one.

http://www.lowrance.us/Products/Automotive/HDS-5-Baja/Specifications/

If I get one for off road use I would want the ability to plot trails as I drove them. Un fortunately they discontinued the Baja model with topographic maps. I am old school and like to use them.

[LostSoul]

I used my iphone when i started. I go with friends and use their gps till i get my own. I just got a droid phone. I have down loaded the apps just haven't tried it yet. LS82 is my name.

[prerunner1982]

I have looked at sites about Geocaching and thought it would be pretty cool.. if there were better land around here to do it in. I would be more interested if I had to take Jeep/Mining/Mountain trails to get to the cache, but we do not have such a thing in the area I live. Most caches around here are in public areas and I have other things to do than wander around town looking under rocks, in bushes, in trees, etc... Would probably end up getting the cops called on me. I don't think the town I live in is beautiful enough to spend much time just wandering around.

[Indiana Jeep]

That gps is sweet! I didn't even think about offroading when I got the garmin. Being able to plot trails would be great, and it would be a whole lot better than mine for the geocaching.

[Indiana Jeep]

http://www.lowrance.us/Products/Auto...pecifications/

WOW I just looked that up on Amazon and it's over 500 bucks!!! Think I'll just stick with my Garmin.

[4.3LXJ]

You get what you pay for. But for me last week end would have been handy. The topog maps I have just cover too much territory to show significant detail. It took me awhile to reconcile the Forest Service maps with mine and to decide just exactly where I was. I have to admit that the GPS would have been nice

[codertimt]

I've done a few geocaches, so I thought I'd throw my opinion out there. I don't think you need a "good" gps for geocaching at all. Any basic unit that shows coordinates will provide what you need. My Dad does alot of geocaching and prefers his ancient Lowrance ifinder...like the original first ever ifinder. He bought a new "nicer" unit a few months ago and ended up returning it because it didn't provide them much more than a color screen and he had better luck geocacheing with the ifinder anyway. Other units will have things that can help you out more and lots of cool features not applicable to geocaching, but to get started a basic unit that gives coordinates and a pencil and paper are all you need.

The thing to keep in mind is that once you get close to the cache, it's a scavenger hunt...examining the location and trying to figure out where the cache might be. The person who placed it and provided coordinates did so with a gps that is only "guaranteed" accurate to within 15m and you're trying to find it with a gps that's only accurate to within 15m...so that's a good deal of area to look through...

What you gain with nicer units are probably better signal(picking up more sats to better fix your position) and possibly a faster clock. Most update once a second which means you have to walk slow when trying to close in on the cache....some update faster...like 4 times a second.

I personally also use my iphone. The geocaching.com iphone app is awesome and just fun/easy to use. It can go out and find the closest caches to my current location and then show me direction there...once I close in I can go to a screen showing the coordinates and a compass(real compass in the 3gs) and vector towards the cache. Hints are a tap away if I get stuck. The actual gps in the iphone isn't the greatest, but it does okay...enough to get me close enough to let my eyeballs do the work...

I'm convinced it's a cold/cool weather pastime though. A month or so ago I went out at lunch looking for a cache I've not managed to find in the past and met a new friend. I decided to try again in October or so...

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_QFsKJezRHFc/S9TgFzHF-HI/AAAAAAAABIY/WqTk4XKpgjU/s400/IMG_0503.JPG

[default83]

i might try this, being a land surveyor i have one some of the best tools/gps software hardware available to the market, so i could get right on it:D

cheating a litte, but ya know. lol

[Indiana Jeep]

It is fun found two here in Anderson, it is kind of like a scavenger hunt.