Gps cost?

[Moemar87]

have been looking into getting a gps for geocaching for awhile now, nothing fancy. Was wondering if it costs just as much or at all to use a gps like it does using the app now? ($5.99 for 1 month or $30 for a year.) Thank you

[+Windstorm+]

have been looking into getting a gps for geocaching for awhile now, nothing fancy. Was wondering if it costs just as much or at all to use a gps like it does using the app now? ($5.99 for 1 month or $30 for a year.) Thank you

My very limited understanding of the app is that it's free, so you are paying $6/month or $30/year for a Premium Membership? I almost exclusively use a GPSr for geocaching and the options I see on the website for Premium Membership are $10 for 3 months or $30/year.

 

The Premium Membership should be tied to your username, so if you already bought it through the app, you should be able to use it on the website until the membership expires. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I know it works the other way around. I bought my membership through the website and had no problem logging onto the app.

 

Of course, you can use a GPSr with a Basic (free) Membership, but if you've been using the app, I assume you'd want to have the ability to download the text from the cache page (plus hints and recent logs) to your GPSr instead of just the coordinates like you'd get with a Basic Membership. Also, with a Basic Membership I think you have to download each cache individually, which would be a pain if you want to find a lot of caches in one day.

[+cerberus1]

By cache types, it looks like you may have been a premium member at one time, or had the "classic" app.

 

I'd say if you want to find more than traditional 1.5/1.5 caches, pay for the years premium membership so you get full function of the app.

 

You may outgrow a "nothing fancy" GPSr in short time, and a decent, modern GPSr isn't cheap, so if you're still interested after a couple months, you have some time to review GPSrs to shoot your hard-earned bucks on.

 

Some of the newer GPSRs cover most of a cache page, but you'll still need a PM (for now) to get all that info on it, while pocket queries and GSAK require a PM too.

 

Gotta tell you though, we've found most our caches using (now) outdated GPSrs, entering caches manually (while putting notes in a notebook), have never used GSAK, with only two (or three maybe) pocket queries ever used.

We remain PMs to kinda pay back the site for improvements to the hobby, and to help keep basic functions free to new members.

[+briansnat]

You can get an inexpensive GPS such as a Garmin eTrex 10 and use the website for free. Before smart phones came along that is the way most people geocached. If you want advanced features, such as the abilty to download a lot of caches at once to your GPS, then you would need a premium membership

[+coman123]

The etrex series is good, but don't get the 10, look at the Etrex 20.

Big advantage is a GPS works with out cell signal or data.

And can be used in the rain