DO i need a GPS to find Caches?

[BIGVIBES]

So my friends and I have just started Geocaching, we have gone out to look for one cache using her phone to find it, but her phone didn't work with the app so after a while we just gave up looking. Do you need a GPS or a phone to find Caches? Will we be able to find any without using a GPS?

 

Thanks!

-BV

[+WRASTRO]

I suspect more people are finding caches these days using their phones with an app than those using a dedicated GPS. I have a nice GPS, but I have been using my phone the past few years since it is one less thing to be toting about. I do take the GPS if it will be a long day on trails. Battery life is far superior with the GPS.

[+Chrysalides]

I've found a few just by looking at the location on Google Maps, then driving there. This usually works best with urban hides, especially those with good hints. There are a few people that hang out in the forums that found a bunch without using a dedicated GPS receiver or a phone, so it is definitely possible.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Do you really need a GPSr or a phone and app? No, you don't. There is no requirement to use a device to FIND a geocache -- there is one to PLACE a geocache, though. Even then, some don't use one... but that is another matter altogether.

 

Besides that, the phone (app) or a GPSr doesn't "find" anything. It only takes you to the vicinity of the cache. You still must hunt it up.

 

Let's look at the reality of the situation. You didn't find it with one. Not using such a device certainly isn't going to make it any easier. There are a number of geocachers that don't use anything except a map and their noodle, but they have a bit of experience.

 

The reality is that not having experience, either in geocaching OR the use of the device (apparently) is your biggest problem right now.

Not finding a cache is not your problem. We all do it -- with 10 finds under our belt, 500 or 1,000. It happens. If somebody tells you they find them all, they are... well, fibbing.

Sure, it happens more when you start out... but then, did you catch the ball the first time it was thrown to you? Eventually you learned how to do it. Same thing.

 

Do you actually know what a cache looks like? I do, but then too, there have been times that I have looked at and even held one in my hands and STILL didn't know it was a geocache. They can be smaller than a pencil eraser or bigger than a 55-gallon drum and not look like either one of those things. Remember -- they are hidden so that passers-by, in general, don't notice them. Sometimes they are hidden or camouflaged extremely well. Usually just hidden, though.

 

Starting out, look for medium to large-sized caches, or at least a small one. The cache page indicates the size. Don't go shooting for micro caches just yet. Find some others, first... just to get the hang of it, then attack the micros.

[+Walts Hunting]

We have a guy NoGPS who has quite an interesting. You ought to go read some of his logs.

[+Chief301]

How exactly do you mean that "the phone didn't work with the app"? Some details describing exactly what you did to search for the cache (including make/model of phone and WHICH app you are using....there are several) would help us to maybe offer some suggestions.

[Alvater]

I started without any mobile device. Now I have a smartphone. And I am not sure that finding caches is easier with an electric device than with a map. But I am also lucky because my country has published free online maps containing information about terrain and cache descriptions have straight links to that map.

 

Sometimes the map has been even more accurate than my phone. And sometimes it has lured me 10 meter too north and sometimes it is difficult to compare the terrain to the map. I learned to make good notes what I saw on the map when I had been like hundreds of meters in the wrong direction after reading my bad map notes in the wrong way. But many times I have also walked to the X on my map and found myself standing right at the cache. Especially in urban areas.

 

So when I started caching with the phone I noticed that it is not that easy. I miss details in my environment and follow the dot on the screen instead of my common sense. The dot makes me go in circles and frustrates me and I switch to map on the phone ditching the caching app. When I use map I have to read the terrain and I learn of my environment. When I follow the dot I am blind.

 

One thing to remember is that I go find one or two caches every now and then. Someone who wants to make 100 finds in a month instead of two years would probably not be happy using my earlier slow look at the map - make notes - go find method.

[+cerberus1]

I started without any mobile device. Now I have a smartphone...

Thank you for that very different perspective.

 

My other 2/3rds would disagree, but I kinda feel the same.

[+GeoLog81]

It's hardly possible to find any cache in outdoors without GPS, with those rare exceptions where the hiding place is very characteristic. If cache is hidden for example under stone near the tree about 30m from the path, well, the number of possible matches if you can estimate your coordinates with CA 50m (with printed tourist maps) is immense. And it requires from you to manually draw the cache location on tourist map, because those from GC are simply useless in outdoor (too less details).

 

However, city caching is another idea, since even on GC maps, you see exactly on which street it is placed, is it near street crossing etc. So using only map and hint, it is quite possible to find the caches, where the hiding is not too finesse.

[+cerberus1]

There's a cacher a few Counties away from me who currently has over 7,000 finds, many using just a map and compass.

There's a GC video of him somewhere, can't find it.

[+cerberus1]

Found it.

[+niraD]

It's hardly possible to find any cache in outdoors without GPS, with those rare exceptions where the hiding place is very characteristic. If cache is hidden for example under stone near the tree about 30m from the path, well, the number of possible matches if you can estimate your coordinates with CA 50m (with printed tourist maps) is immense. And it requires from you to manually draw the cache location on tourist map, because those from GC are simply useless in outdoor (too less details).

I wouldn't know. I've found hundreds of caches without using GPS, but I never used printed tourist maps. And I did find caches in wooded areas, wetlands, and other undeveloped areas.

 

And Ed Scott has found even more, as shown in the video that cerberus1 linked to.

[+MtnMutt-ProDuckShins]

Hey Wrastro....

 

We could tell them some stories about our adventures out Caching but they couldn't go Caching because they would be LAUGHING too hard to get anything accomplished.

 

How about the unpublished cache attached to my car and no one used a GPSR to find it?

[+GeoLog81]

I wouldn't know. I've found hundreds of caches without using GPS, but I never used printed tourist maps. And I did find caches in wooded areas, wetlands, and other undeveloped areas.

 

And Ed Scott has found even more, as shown in the video that cerberus1 linked to.

 

How did you did that? Did you use other detailed maps with GPS coordinates? Or it was azimuth with compass?

 

I know advanced orienteerers can azimuth hundreds of meters precisely, but I've got error about 10-20 m by 100 m azimuth, which is likely too less to find a geocache. You'd need to be very advanced orienteerer to use that technique effectively.

[+niraD]

I wouldn't know. I've found hundreds of caches without using GPS, but I never used printed tourist maps. And I did find caches in wooded areas, wetlands, and other undeveloped areas.

 

And Ed Scott has found even more, as shown in the video that cerberus1 linked to.

How did you did that?

There is a detailed explanation in the video that cerberus1 linked to, but most of the time, I used Google Maps (especially the satellite images). For urban/suburban caches, there is often a very visible landmark at GZ that is clearly visible in the image, and easily identified in the field. For undeveloped areas, the visible landmarks may be a bit more subtle, and they may not be right at GZ, so you have to do a little more work. And for a number of caches (including some multi-caches), I determined a distance and bearing, and then paced that off the way I would when doing a compass course.

[+GeoLog81]

Hmmm if you use Google Maps to display the exact spot of the cache, I'd call it using GPS But yeah, there are people who are good at that play. We get local orienteering competitions in Warsaw, where the maps are often google maps, where you must find the location basing on fragments of satelite view. I haven't thought about it. But it seems expensive. Either you intensively use satelite view on smartphone (why not activate GPS then?) or you print it, but print costs will be much over the cost of GPS device.

 

So what's the reason for not using GPS? Is it to make search more challenging?

[+niraD]

But it seems expensive. Either you intensively use satelite view on smartphone (why not activate GPS then?) or you print it, but print costs will be much over the cost of GPS device.

Back then, iPhones didn't exist. I did occasionally use my Palm PDA to take notes (distances from visible landmarks, that sort of thing). I never printed anything. I still don't, except sometimes when I introduce newbies to geocaching. It's a lot easier to hand them a printed copy of the cache descriptions than to teach them how to fiddle with yet another electronic device.

 

So what's the reason for not using GPS? Is it to make search more challenging?

I think Ed Scott does it for fun. I did it because I wanted to go geocaching, and didn't own a GPSr. I was good enough at it that I didn't see a need to get a GPSr until I went on a road trip with friends, during which I wouldn't have ready access to a computer.

[+cerberus1]

But it seems expensive. Either you intensively use satelite view on smartphone (why not activate GPS then?) or you print it, but print costs will be much over the cost of GPS device.

Back then, iPhones didn't exist. I did occasionally use my Palm PDA to take notes (distances from visible landmarks, that sort of thing). I never printed anything. I still don't, except sometimes when I introduce newbies to geocaching. It's a lot easier to hand them a printed copy of the cache descriptions than to teach them how to fiddle with yet another electronic device.

Never forgot how much fun it was with CJ's blackberry and Trimble.

She begged me for another GPSr at the time. Changed a bit after her first iPhone.

Yeah, folks starting many years later really don't understand...

When we started, locals thought we were all teched-up with our blue legends.

[Alvater]

I never printed anything. I do not have a printer. I put a paper on my computer screen and drew the roads, paths, houses, water, contours, and other things through it (there is a map for me to use with these details but that is only in my country) and marked the X where the cache was. I might also check the satellite view to get information about vegetation and such. I often have scrap paper lying around so that is free or cheap. Earlier I tried to hurry and left out details I thought unimportant. Usually I was proven wrong and had to fill in my map notes and return later to the cache site. Then I went to the general area, compared my map to the terrain and looked for the correct paths and other landmarks. Sometimes I counted my steps to estimate how far I was. Areas with little landmarks were tough though and areas where I had to guess which shapes around me were large enough to be written on maps.

 

I did ask myself often why I am here without GPS... But I usually returned to that my notes were not good enough and I needed to learn more about the area before I went searching.

 

Planning to go in urban areas, I could use Google street view and take notice of possible hiding places.

 

I have only cached for three years and smartphones have been around all the time but I did not have one until last summer. So I was left with computer and notes.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Using a GPS makes the hunt a lot easier. Without it you won't know where to go to. If you know the area it is in then you might be able to search around and find it. I suggest getting a GSP. Have fun searching! :D

Orienteering works fine. It's been used far longer than GPSr units have existed.

Sort of like Columbus finding the New World the second time.

[+edscott]

GPS-less caching is much more difficult in my area now. All the Google satellite images in Southeastern PA are summer photos with the leaves out. The ground is no longer visible in wooded areas. Someone way up the thread mentioned Orienteering. Yes, I've been doing that since the early 80s which gives me a great advantage in off trail navigation. The technique for caching is to find a feature on the map that you are sure you can find on the ground. Go to that spot then do a simple compass bearing and pace to GZ. With good aerial photos that are properly interpreted, that last pace and compass part will not be very long... I try to keep it under 500 feet. Micros have also changed the game a lot. I carry a GPS almost all the time now and resort to using it when necessary.

[+Tassie_Boy]

It's hardly possible to find any cache in outdoors without GPS, with those rare exceptions where the hiding place is very characteristic. If cache is hidden for example under stone near the tree about 30m from the path, well, the number of possible matches if you can estimate your coordinates with CA 50m (with printed tourist maps) is immense. And it requires from you to manually draw the cache location on tourist map, because those from GC are simply useless in outdoor (too less details).

 

However, city caching is another idea, since even on GC maps, you see exactly on which street it is placed, is it near street crossing etc. So using only map and hint, it is quite possible to find the caches, where the hiding is not too finesse.

 

Of suggest if you are geocaching this way you are hardly using a crappy map from the tourist info center. For anything even a little into the bush i reckon it'd be worth spending the ten bucks on a good topographic map.

[Smurf357]

Hi there,

 

Just wanted to add my experience so far, might be helpful. I just recently found my to GCing( 5 finds to date) first 4 I found by glaring at map on website for 5-10 min then just relying on my photographic( by photographic I mean a fuzzy out of focus thumbprint type of photograph ) memory to get me to general location, then I wander around looking at places I might have set a cache. Generally this more or less works. Not exactly a crowning example of efficiency but I enjoy the wandering lol...only one did I use my phone app, and I needed that as I somehow got north and south confused....haven't gone hunting any higher difficulty ones though....anywho short answer: no you don't need anything, but get whatever makes it more enjoyable for you.

 

Happy hunting and hope your days just smurfy