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new to geo caching


legassickfamily

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Hello

 

We are new to Geo Caching, today we did our first geo cache and my son who is nearly 6 loved it. We spend alot of time outdoors, so now we plan on taking up geo caching on our outdoor time. Just have a question I do not have a GPS machine, but i do have a iphone and was wondering if i can use this for the locations? Also any other advice etc for us would be great.

 

thanks

 

:rolleyes:

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Welcome to the game! I don't have time to get into a lot of advice but others on here have some great canned advice I am sure they will put up. Mainly, stick to the larger and easier caches first. Kids seem to really like the larger caches that may have "goodies" or "treasure" in them. On a side note, and not a big deal, the game is "geocaching" vs. "geo caching".

 

Hope you have as much fun with it as we have had!

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Welcome!

 

You can cache with the phone.

But. Be aware the battery life is VERY short!

And. Phones don't bounce too well if dropped!

 

Groundspeak do two apps.

A Free trial app, which shows the 3 nearest* traditional caches suitable for beginners.

And a paid for app which will show all the nearest caches of any type.

 

*Not necessarily the 3 nearest, they may be further away, but are considered 'Beginner' caches!

 

Edit. IF you've Found a cache LOG it! :D

Edited by Bear and Ragged
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The iPhone will work fine. However, some of the older ones do not have very accuriate GPSs (iPhone3 and earlyer, maybe also the early iPhone4). See the links in my signature for some tips on improving your phones performance in the field.

 

Edit to add: If after finding a bunch of caches, you decide to hide one, make sure you understand how to get accuriate coordinates from the moddle of phone you have. They are a little trickyer than a handheld GPS.

Edited by Andronicus
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Also any other advice etc for us would be great.
A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small small.gif size, regular regular.gif size, and large large.gif size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro micro.gif size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars stars2.gif. Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.) And it is often best to start with traditional 2.gif caches, which will be at the published coordinates. Multi-caches 3.gif or mystery/puzzle caches 8.gif or other cache types can require more work just to figure out where the container is located.

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10ft). That applies both to your device, and to the cache owner’s device, so you may find the container 5-6m (16-20ft) from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate. Once you get within that distance of ground zero, put your device away and look around for places where a container could be hidden.

 

Where would you hide something? Do you notice anything unusual? Is anything too new, too old, too organized (e.g., UPS: an Unnatural Pile of Sticks/Stones), too symmetrical, not quite the right color or shape, etc.? Don’t look only on the ground; the cache may be knee-level, waist-level, eye-level, or overhead. How might the container be secured in place? With magnets? With a hook? With string? With fishing line? With something else? Does anything move when you touch it? (Be careful when touching things though.)

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums.

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Also any other advice etc for us would be great.
A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small small.gif size, regular regular.gif size, and large large.gif size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro micro.gif size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars stars2.gif. Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.) And it is often best to start with traditional 2.gif caches, which will be at the published coordinates. Multi-caches 3.gif or mystery/puzzle caches 8.gif or other cache types can require more work just to figure out where the container is located.

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10ft). That applies both to your device, and to the cache owner’s device, so you may find the container 5-6m (16-20ft) from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate. Once you get within that distance of ground zero, put your device away and look around for places where a container could be hidden.

 

Where would you hide something? Do you notice anything unusual? Is anything too new, too old, too organized (e.g., UPS: an Unnatural Pile of Sticks/Stones), too symmetrical, not quite the right color or shape, etc.? Don’t look only on the ground; the cache may be knee-level, waist-level, eye-level, or overhead. How might the container be secured in place? With magnets? With a hook? With string? With fishing line? With something else? Does anything move when you touch it? (Be careful when touching things though.)

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums.

 

This must be the most repeated post on these forums

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This must be the most repeated post on these forums

 

Only because variations of "I can't find any caches / I don't know what I'm doing. Help!" are the most asked question in these forums.

 

A close second would be "How do I input coordinates in the App when doing a Multi?" ?

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Hello

 

We are new to Geo Caching, today we did our first geo cache and my son who is nearly 6 loved it. We spend alot of time outdoors, so now we plan on taking up geo caching on our outdoor time. Just have a question I do not have a GPS machine, but i do have a iphone and was wondering if i can use this for the locations? Also any other advice etc for us would be great.

 

thanks

 

:rolleyes:

 

There's tons of helpful information to be found in the Help Center:

 

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php

 

Finding a Geocache

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=25

 

Apps

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=12

 

Be very aware of the differences between the Free Intro App, the Paid (Pro) App, and Premium Membership:

 

2.2. What is the difference between the Geocaching Intro app for iPhone, the Pro app, and Geocaching Premium?

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=514

 

1.15. iPhone app Feature Comparison

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=442

 

 

B.

Edited by Pup Patrol
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Also any other advice etc for us would be great.
A common recommendation for beginners is to stick with small small.gif size, regular regular.gif size, and large large.gif size caches. Until you're more experienced, avoid micro micro.gif size caches, some of which are smaller than most beginners can imagine (sometimes called "nanos"). Save those for later, after you have some experience.

 

Also, stick with caches that have a difficulty rating of no more than 2 stars stars2.gif. Save the more difficult ones for later. You may also want to choose caches with easy terrain ratings. (The difficulty rating tells you how hard it is to find the cache once you get there. The terrain rating tells you how hard it is to get there.) And it is often best to start with traditional 2.gif caches, which will be at the published coordinates. Multi-caches 3.gif or mystery/puzzle caches 8.gif or other cache types can require more work just to figure out where the container is located.

 

Under ideal conditions, a consumer GPSr will be accurate to about 3m (10ft). That applies both to your device, and to the cache owner’s device, so you may find the container 5-6m (16-20ft) from ground zero under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions, both GPSr readings can be much less accurate. Once you get within that distance of ground zero, put your device away and look around for places where a container could be hidden.

 

Where would you hide something? Do you notice anything unusual? Is anything too new, too old, too organized (e.g., UPS: an Unnatural Pile of Sticks/Stones), too symmetrical, not quite the right color or shape, etc.? Don’t look only on the ground; the cache may be knee-level, waist-level, eye-level, or overhead. How might the container be secured in place? With magnets? With a hook? With string? With fishing line? With something else? Does anything move when you touch it? (Be careful when touching things though.)

 

Go ahead and read the cache's additional hints (if provided), and read the past logs and look at any photos in the cache's image gallery. They may help you understand what you're looking for, and how/where it may be hidden. It may also help to look at some of the cache containers available online. For example, check out the cache containers sold by Groundspeak. Also, take a look at the Pictures - Cool Cache Containers (CCC's) thread in the forums.

 

This must be the most repeated post on these forums

 

This is the Getting Started forum, after all.

 

And niraD's excellent post should have been made a sticky here a long time ago. If nothing else, then it would be quick and easy to link to it.

 

 

B.

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So my first point would be to either invest in a premium membership (you will receive ALL of the nearby traditional caches on the app, not just the "recommended" ones), purchase the full Geocaching App (10 dollars I believe?) or invest in GPS.

 

Of those options, I would recommend purchasing the full Geocaching app first. You would have access to ALL nearby caches (except for those designated Premium Member Only, a fairly small percentage in most areas). As you gain experience you will know when it is time to upgrade to Premium or purchase a GPS, but for now you can have tons of fun Geocaching with the app.

 

IMPORTANT: Do NOT try to "upgrade" from the free app from within the app...go to the app store. The "upgrade" option is to subscribe to Premium membership, NOT to purchase the full app. They are two separate purchases.

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So my first point would be to either invest in a premium membership (you will receive ALL of the nearby traditional caches on the app, not just the "recommended" ones), purchase the full Geocaching App (10 dollars I believe?) or invest in GPS.

 

Of those options, I would recommend purchasing the full Geocaching app first. You would have access to ALL nearby caches (except for those designated Premium Member Only, a fairly small percentage in most areas). As you gain experience you will know when it is time to upgrade to Premium or purchase a GPS, but for now you can have tons of fun Geocaching with the app.

 

IMPORTANT: Do NOT try to "upgrade" from the free app from within the app...go to the app store. The "upgrade" option is to subscribe to Premium membership, NOT to purchase the full app. They are two separate purchases.

 

+1

 

In this case the least expensive option will give you the best advantage. You can always consider the other options at a later time.

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