[bossdog]

I just set up my first cache. One of the things inside is a loonie - lol. How do you get a travel bug to start off with?

[Blue_Nose]

Was home for the weekend and went out with my dad, who got a new GPS for Christmas and just got into the geocaching for practice using it. We found three around our place, and only one of them (the one in the tree stump below) gave us a lot of trouble!

[ziggy]

Too cool.I'm going to set up my garmin 60 for that if I can ever figure it out.
60 pages in the owners manual.

[Blue_Nose]

For Christmas this year I gave my dad a bunch of geocaching gear - backpack, a custom stamp for marking logbooks, and two MEC containers with waterproof logbooks, etc so we can set up some of our own caches this summer.

Geocaching is the perfect way to figure out how to use your GPS, ziggy - that's exactly how my folks got into it. They bought one to use for kayaking and did a few geocaches to get comfortable with it.

[ziggy]

Blue_Nose Blue_Nose:

For Christmas this year I gave my dad a bunch of geocaching gear - backpack, a custom stamp for marking logbooks, and two MEC containers with waterproof logbooks, etc so we can set up some of our own caches this summer.

Geocaching is the perfect way to figure out how to use your GPS, ziggy - that's exactly how my folks got into it. They bought one to use for kayaking and did a few geocaches to get comfortable with it.

I had a magellan but it wasnt set up like this one,it has geocaching on its menu.I have to set this one all up again as Im over 600 miles from where it was first initialised.

It does look like fun,looking forward to seeing whats close around me.

[hurley_108]

I used to be really into geocaching, but then I had a kid and my available time changed a lot. I still have a couple of caches active in Edmonton. I particularly like the puzzle caches. My username is the same there as here, so you can check out my caches if you like. BN, you might like the puzzles I set up.

[Blue_Nose]

You can find out where they in your location here

[wildrosegirl]

I just read all of this and I have to say - this looks like fun.

I have no need for a GPS, but it might be a fun hobby.

Any recommendations for a decent, but relatively cheap unit?

[Blue_Nose]

proudcanukchick, if you have a MEC store nearby, I suggest going there and asking them... otherwise any good outdoor outfitting-type store would probably have them as well.

I think your best bet is a Garmin, though Magellan is the other reputable brand name for consumer-level handheld GPS.

The cheaper they are, the less resolution you get, which means you might end up spending a lot more searching the general area your unit points you to.

That being said, the searching is most of the fun, and pretty much all the locations I've been to are in the woods, where the GPS is screwy anyway.

[wildrosegirl]

Blue_Nose Blue_Nose:

proudcanukchick, if you have a MEC store nearby, I suggest going there and asking them... otherwise any good outdoor outfitting-type store would probably have them as well.

I think your best bet is a Garmin, though Magellan is the other reputable brand name for consumer-level handheld GPS.

No MEC store, but thanks for the tip. I'll definitely check it out.

Would be a fun activity to do with the family.

[hurley_108]

Blue_Nose Blue_Nose:

proudcanukchick, if you have a MEC store nearby, I suggest going there and asking them... otherwise any good outdoor outfitting-type store would probably have them as well.

I think your best bet is a Garmin, though Magellan is the other reputable brand name for consumer-level handheld GPS.

The cheaper they are, the less resolution you get, which means you might end up spending a lot more searching the general area your unit points you to.

That being said, the searching is most of the fun, and pretty much all the locations I've been to are in the woods, where the GPS is screwy anyway.

Near as I can tell, there's really ony one dichotomy in terms of how accurate the units are, and that's whether or not they use a "high sensetivity" chip. I've got a high-sensetivity Garmin 60CSx, and my wife has a non high-sensetivity Venture Cx. The difference is that I get a good signal under trees and she doesn't. Mine also gets a lock faster, but once they both have a lock, and if you're relatively in the open, they're both just as good as each other. Garmin has some low-cost, high-sensetivity units now, though, that look really good. This one is as basic as they come, but it's high-sensetivity and as cheap as they come. Many people have done a lot of caching with its predecessor which didn't have high-sensetivity. I'm not as familiar with the Magellans.

[wildrosegirl]

hurley_108 hurley_108:

Blue_Nose Blue_Nose:

proudcanukchick, if you have a MEC store nearby, I suggest going there and asking them... otherwise any good outdoor outfitting-type store would probably have them as well.

I think your best bet is a Garmin, though Magellan is the other reputable brand name for consumer-level handheld GPS.

The cheaper they are, the less resolution you get, which means you might end up spending a lot more searching the general area your unit points you to.

That being said, the searching is most of the fun, and pretty much all the locations I've been to are in the woods, where the GPS is screwy anyway.

Near as I can tell, there's really ony one dichotomy in terms of how accurate the units are, and that's whether or not they use a "high sensetivity" chip. I've got a high-sensetivity Garmin 60CSx, and my wife has a non high-sensetivity Venture Cx. The difference is that I get a good signal under trees and she doesn't. Mine also gets a lock faster, but once they both have a lock, and if you're relatively in the open, they're both just as good as each other. Garmin has some low-cost, high-sensetivity units now, though, that look really good. This one is as basic as they come, but it's high-sensetivity and as cheap as they come. Many people have done a lot of caching with its predecessor which didn't have high-sensetivity. I'm not as familiar with the Magellans.

Thanks, Hurley!
That's really helpful. You just saved me hours of researching!

I'll definitely look into this. I think it would be a lot of fun.

[Blue_Nose]

Here's something that might interest the geocachers around here: Canada's very first Geocache!.

..which just happens to be about 40 minutes away, so I couldn't resist making this my very first offical log under my own username (as Blue_Nose, of course).