GPS/Geocaching (NF)

[ehg]

Apparently people are using there GPS for more than searching lakes or finding road directions, they are also playing

search games finding hidden items then logging the co-ordinates on GPS for others to locate items.

 

Personally i don't have a GPS since i have my fishing spots and can read a map, but this 'treasure hunting' looks like a fun hike with a goal for the quest.

 

My questions are: does anyone do this here? What is the cheapest GPS you can buy for this?

 

Thinking my young daughter would enjoy this.

She was so enthusiastic after finding this item hidden in park by our house.

 

 

 

It was actually quite well hidden! I signed and dated the paper inside and put it back for real geocachers to find.

Edited May 5, 2009 by ehg

[Fang]

We've been doing this for a couple of years now. My 2 kids like it as well. I use an old Garmin GPS12 and it seems to do an OK job.

 

Love the hide and seek features on the geocaching site. Easy to see the caches around our house with the Google map feature.

 

Not sure if its me or my cheap GPS though but we do run into a few time a year where I know I'm way off base. Was trying to find a cache in Oakville a few weeks ago and my GPS said it was hidden on the side of a bluff cliff. Would have needed a rope, winch and a billy goat to get me down there.

 

gets us out of the house in the summer and adds a bit of fun to routine outings. Hate trying to find micro caches though. Like the bigger easier to find ones.

 

There's a great series of Go caches across the city. Check them out

[danc]

I played with it a couple of years ago. It's fun and it gets you out of the house. I even hid my own cache once. It was found a couple of times before it disappeared. You don't need a fancy GPS for this, but accuracy helps.

[Whopper]

My brother-in-law and nephew does this and they have a lot of fun. They been doing it for a few years now

Electronic hide and go seek

[Terry]

lots of people do it, I tried it's fun

it helps to have a good gps, the older one could be off by 150 ft and that can make it hard to find it

[gdelongchamp]

Two of my kids partake in a geocache on the ski hills here in Sudbury every year. It's sponsored by Ramako and a local Subway. Great prizes and a lot of fun. However it is very tough competition as these kids can really move through the bush and up and down hills and valleys tracking the caches down. It use to be a nice family outing but the little tykes along with the adults kind of get left in the dust now that the older teens are ripping up and down the hills and trails.

[SylvanOwner]

Just like the others have already said; great excuse to get outside with something more than an idle stroll in mind - kids love it. There are tons of caches all over the place. Check out this website, http://www.geocaching.com/, it will tell you everything you need to know.

 

As far a GPS units go, there is a gradient of course in accuracy as well as features. This one here in the classifieds, http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30886, is about as basic and cheap as it gets and will do the job for you.

 

GPS accuracy is influenced by the number of satelites that are being picked up and the quality of the signal. The number of satelites varies by how many are available to you, i.e. are above the horizon in any given direction, or how many your unit is able to pick up. There are simply days or times of days where there aren't a lot of satelites available, this can result in poor accuracy and people believing their GPS is crap when that in fact may not be the case. Newer units are 12 channel (or more) meaning that the unit can pick up as many as 12 satelites at a time which would be great for accuracy but there is almost never that many available. The quality of the signal is affected by environmental conditions; heavy tree canopy, tall buildings, chain link fences, electrical storms, etc. and will impact accuracy.

 

Try borrowing someones unit, GPS that is.... , and giving it a try before you invest.

 

Dan

[Big Cliff]

My son and I started one years ago up near Noelville, it was called Northern Lights, we had so much fun monitoring the finds on it but I haven't heard anything about it for about a year now and had sort of forgotten about it until I saw this post. If I get a chance I will try to check it out this summer and see if it still exists.

[ehg]

This geocaching is very interesting as i look more at it. Went on Geocaching.com and found out you can find hidden

cache everywhere, especially many to be found in Toronto. Just need a GPS and computer to find waypoints.

Seems that all the replies are positive!

 

Big Cliff sought some information on your 'northern lights' and saw you put object in location on April 15th, 2001.

It was last reported on September 18th, 2008. That's a long history!

 

Gonna get a suitable GPS and try out this with my daughter

[Stern Rules]

I started last summer and am hooked. I use a Garmin Nuvi 200 and it's not bad to use. An etrex might be better and a bit cheaper. I got mine for $169 on sale at CT last year.

[xeon]

The newer garmin mapping handhelds (colorado and oregon series) have something called "paperless geocaching" where you just download the cooridnates and geocache information right onto your gps. Its all set out in a very nice interface. You can also use a topo map to get your UTM or Northing/Easting Coordinates and just do it like that. If your really into it though, I would suggest a gps that has the "paperless geocaching" option.

 

As for the cheapest gps you would need, anything that displays your current coordinates really, and something that has a goto option where the thing will direct you to the point.

 

Also as far as accuracy goes, unless you drop $10,000 on a unit where you can have inch presision, your going to be getting 5-15ft accuracy most of the time with newer units. A decent unit to start off with would be the Garmin GPSMAP60 series, but if you think this is the thing for you a colorado 300 or oregon 200 would be what you'd want. Then ofcourse theres a whole bunch of other brands like delorne, lowrance and magalin. Whatever your budget.

[Big Cliff]

Thanks ehg!

[mikeymikey]

I use my Garmin 60CSx.

But it is better to use one of the handheld mapping GPS units.

it's lot of fun if you do enjoy hiking, biking, etc...

Treasure hunting

 

The reason I say mapping handheld is good is because you can log your track and you can geotag your photos aswell and share with people on Google Maps too.

 

I can't remember who it was but there was some else in this forum that is/was really into it.

 

Search for geochaching and you'll sure to find that info/person too.

 

Oh yeah,,, you'll be shocked at how many caches are located within the city too.

Edited May 6, 2009 by mikeymikey

[ehg]

Thanks for further info on this activity. Looks like a edumacational thing to do with the kids.

Live in downtown Toronto so many opportunities to find cache.

 

I can't remember who it was but there was some else in this forum that is/was really into it.

 

Search for geochaching and you'll sure to find that info/person too.

 

Oh yeah,,, you'll be shocked at how many caches are located within the city too.

 

Did a search for geocaching on this website and somehow missed those threads in past.. Very informative.

[bbog]

We've been doing this for several years in and around fishing seasons!!

[ehg]

Went and bought Garmin nuvi GPS for car, has feature 'where i am at' which accurately gives lat/long co-ordinates and bought small screen for portability. Tried it out yesterday and found a cache but way to many people around for log in or retrieval.

 

 

We've been doing this for several years in and around fishing seasons!!

I've been aware of this for years but didn't think of trying until accidentally found an item.

 

BBG i tried spot at Casa Loma and 'tollkeepers cottage' but way too many people around,

Don't really have the vision to find yet but will keep trying.

Looked at logs and you are all over this stuff!

[danc]

Just a heads up for those with the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx and GPSMAP 76CSx units, among others, that there's a firmware update available for them as of March, 2009.

 

For the list of units with updates, click HERE

[smith532]

If you have an IPhone, you can download an app called MotionX-GPS for $9.99 (US). The website (www.motionx.com) highlights that the app was designed with geocaching in mind. I can't wait to try it out when I head up to the Sioux area to track fishing hotspots.