Geocaching.

mrmac

Over the Summer (?), I picked up an interest in geocaching, and I was wondering if there are many Boardsies that do this?

I've had fairly good success just using a Garmin Nuvi sat nav, but thinking of trading up for one of the dedicated hand held units, either a Vista Hcx or an Oregon 400. Does anyone have any experience of these?

TIA.

mukki

hello MRMac


neaver heard of geo caching but gave it a google and have signed up, i know some of the spots on the site, and have a idea of a few great places.

Tallon

Thanks Mrmac for starting this thread.
Was going to ask the same Question but wasnt sure. Would deffo love a dedicated one though instead of the aul PSP / Palm treo

mukki - Glad to have you aboard

mrmac

I'm using a Garmin Nuvi 250W car sat nav, which is great!
It's possible to go "paperless" with it, by transferring the Geocache info onto the sat nav, co-ords, hints and logs! Very handy.
If you keep the things plugged in when in the car, you should get about 2 hours from the battery when out searching.

mrmac

Bit the bullet, going for a Garmin Oregon 400T!
Did a trade/deal with a mate-of-a-mate in Cork. My TomTom 720 plus a few bob!
I very happy with the deal - just have to wait for the yoke to arrive - then figure out how it works!

mrmac

WoooHoooo!
Garmin 400T just arrived! Figured out how to turn it on, but have an afternoon planned to figure out the rest!

Anyone out there got one of these? Any advice on how best to set it up?

Tallon

I'm really thinking about buying one of these, A bit expensive but this is the cheapest I could find

http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/Garmin_Oregon_400t_Outdoor_Handheld_GPS_system-Europe_Recreational_Map_/index.html

mrmac

That's the one. Looks great!
I'll let you know how I get on with it.

monkeyfudge

Got into this recently as well.

I have a Garmin 60CSx.

mrmac

Wow - that make three of us!

Great reviews for the 60Csx, supposed to be the most accurate of the lot! Only for the fact I got a good deal on the Oregon 400, I'd probably have waited to have the money for one of those.

Having said that, I was getting on just grand with the Nuvi, so long as it had a decent hint, and wasn't a blasted micro!

Hopefully, this yoke will help me get a bit closer.

monkeyfudge

It's not the most user friendly of devices... but once you get the hang of it then it's pretty neat.

Compass needs to be recalibrated a lot though.

Tallon

monkeyfudge wrote: »

It's not the most user friendly of devices... but once you get the hang of it then it's pretty neat.

Compass needs to be recalibrated a lot though.

Sounds a bit like my missus

jessconr

I do a bit of geocaching myself with my N95 8gb. Its a great excuse to get outdoors. Some of the places where the geocaches are hidden are situated in some great scenery

mrmac

I was at a cache called "Humbled Before The Giants", which up at the base of some HUGE wind turbines! Went up and stood underneath one. Freaky, but very cool!

It's great the way people put so much effort into getting you to visit these fantastic locations. I'm completely hooked!

ISOT

jessconr wrote: »

I do a bit of geocaching myself with my N95 8gb. Its a great excuse to get outdoors. Some of the places where the geocaches are hidden are situated in some great scenery

Hi, just a quick question on above, what application do you run on the N95 8GB for geocaching ?
Is it : http://www.geocachenavigator.com/Home/tabid/196/Default.aspx

it seems that this was free but now you have to pay 30 euro at the ovi store but when you chose the nokia N95 8GB it says device not supported.

Thanks.

jessconr

yeah i used that navigator untill they decided to introduce a fee which i think is a disgrace. i now use a program called "locify" which isnt half a good

ISOT

jessconr wrote: »

yeah i used that navigator untill they decided to introduce a fee which i think is a disgrace. i now use a program called "locify" which isnt half a good

Thanks for getting back, it looks like you could upgrade for 15 euro or start afresh for 30, shame that it is not for free anymore.

MunsterCycling

Been doing it for a while now, great locations and scenery

mrmac

Munster has escaped my "smilies" so far!
The closest caches I found where in Kilkenny, but I hope to get a holiday down your way next year.

I've managed to bag 60+ at this stage, and reckon I'm nearly ready to start planting a few. I did a geocache last week, in The Phoenix Park, that was a night-time cache using reflectors to light a trail to the cache. I thought it was a great idea, even if it did look highly odd wandering around the trees with a torch, at 10pm!

Any of ye thinking of going to GC1X75V?

Tabnabs

Anyone with the iPhone can put it to good use, there's even a few app's to get you going. You can then post a msg on here to brag about how well you're doing

Tallon

mrmac wrote: »

Any of ye thinking of going to GC1X75V?

I might go to that! Are you going?

mrmac

Dyflin wrote: »

Anyone with the iPhone can put it to good use, there's even a few app's to get you going. You can then post a msg on here to brag about how well you're doing

I've heards good reports about the iPhone apps. The damn thing is getting very tempting, even if I prefer my phones to be simple!
Also heard very good reports about using the Blackberry Storm, with cacheberry sw.

Tallon wrote: »

I might go to that! Are you going?

Hope to get to this, but if not, then def. the Sunday & Monday events.
All depends on some RL things happening soon. I know for sure by the weekend.

The event is being staged by The Windsockers, devious creator of the 1798 cache! Be nice to meet the guy, he's done a lot of great work for geocaching in the country.

TarfHead

We went from knowing nothing about geocaching to having clocked up 42 over the 'Summer'. The first one I did was using a low-spec (route 66 Mini) satnav along a beach. She then bought a Garmin Geko 201. Not the most stylish or versatile of devices, but it has served us well and cost (refurb) less than €100 .

It has brought us to all sorts of locations and gained a load of knowledge about places that we've lived near for years but never had a clue about the rich history. The night that many of our contemporaries were watching the new season of X-Factor, we were scrambling around a pitch black cave in Howth, looking for a dark rock.

In Roscommon in July, the kids and I went into a dark wood with inadequate torches to retrieve a cache. We decided to turn back when their imaginations about what might be in the darkness got too much for them.

In Donegal in August she managed to clamber near the edge of a dramatic rock gully to retrieve a cache - something she wouldn't have dreamt of doing for any other reason.

monkeyfudge

It really is all far more exciting than it has any right to be.

I'm off to Spain next week... going to go searching over there.

Jackobyte

I kinda got into in the summer of '08 but there were very few caches around my area then so I never forked out for a GPS. I found 2 with google maps cause I didn't have a sat-nav... Still don't.:(

The local cachers hang out here.

mrmac

monkeyfudge wrote: »

It really is all far more exciting than it has any right to be.

I'm off to Spain next week... going to go searching over there.

Really jealous!
Best of luck, and let us know how you get on?

Lotsafish

LOVE the caching, got into it last summer - bit of a lull over winter and now back into it Should be hiding my own cache very soon. Exciting stuff