Finding the first one

[Raichu7]

I've never done this before but it sounds fun. Only problem is I don't have a smartphone and my satnav is only for cars. I tried printing out a map but I couldn't find anything. Do I need a smartphone for this?

[+JohnCNA]

I've never done this before but it sounds fun. Only problem is I don't have a smartphone and my satnav is only for cars. I tried printing out a map but I couldn't find anything. Do I need a smartphone for this?

 

It's often possible to enter coordinates into your automobile SatNav and use it for geocaching. All three of my Garmin Nuvi's have allowed entering coordinates and then will navigate you to the cache. I assume other models will allow that, also. That's how I found my first couple caches until I knew I wanted to invest more into the sport.

 

Using an auto nav unit for geocaching has some significant drawbacks and limitations, but it can be done, if your unit allows manually entering waypoint coordinates. If it's a Garmin, it probably does.

[+niraD]

Smartphones work. Dedicated handheld GPS units (designed for hiking, hunting, fishing, and similar outdoor uses) work. But as JohnCNA indicated, GPS units designed for car navigation can work too.

 

In addition to needing to be able to enter coordinates for waypoints, you also need to be able to switch them into "walking" or "off road" mode, so they don't try to stick to the roadways.

 

Another option is to go geocaching without GPS. Here's a blog entry about that:

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2011/12/geocaching-com-presents-geocaching-without-gps/

[+NanCycle]

I've never done this before but it sounds fun. Only problem is I don't have a smartphone and my satnav is only for cars. I tried printing out a map but I couldn't find anything. Do I need a smartphone for this?

 

You definitely do not need a smartphone. A handheld GPS receiver would be very helpful and they can often be found secondhand for a reasonable price--about what 2-3 months of a smartphone service would cost. You might check at pawn shops.

[+TriciaG]

The first 8 or 10 we found were by borrowing the in-laws' car GPS. It did not have any cool features to go off-road or to enter coords. Instead, all we had were coords of our current location. The conversations went something like this:

 

"We need to go about 0.100 north."

"Which way is north?"

"Umm, I think it's that way. [walking] No, wait. The other way. [backtrack] OK, now we need to go a bit more west."

"Which way is west?"

"To the left. Oh, no - now we are going more south. Further north!"

It was truly an adventure!

[+noncentric]

As niraD mentioned, it is possible to find some caches without carrying a GPS device. The ease of doing this depends on where you're going, of course.

 

You could look at the cache location on the website's maps, or copy-paste the coordinates into Google Maps and check out the area using Satellite and/or Street View. This can provide a good idea of where you should look when you arrive at the hiding spot. This might be easier in a small park or an urban area, although a cache hidden in an urban area might be more difficult for a beginning geocacher to find because it's camouflaged so well. In urban areas, caches need to be hidden better than average in order to avoid being found by regular passersby.

 

Good luck!

[+justintim1999]

I've never done this before but it sounds fun. Only problem is I don't have a smartphone and my satnav is only for cars. I tried printing out a map but I couldn't find anything. Do I need a smartphone for this?

 

It's often possible to enter coordinates into your automobile SatNav and use it for geocaching. All three of my Garmin Nuvi's have allowed entering coordinates and then will navigate you to the cache. I assume other models will allow that, also. That's how I found my first couple caches until I knew I wanted to invest more into the sport.

 

Using an auto nav unit for geocaching has some significant drawbacks and limitations, but it can be done, if your unit allows manually entering waypoint coordinates. If it's a Garmin, it probably does.

 

Yes. I found my first 656 caches with my Garmin Nuvi before I broke down and purchased an Oregon. The Nuvi wasn't the most accurate but using it did teach me one thing. When at ground zero, put the gps away and start looking.