Geocaching?

fergalr

bada-bing wrote: »

aw this sounds fun! would prefer if you didnt need a GPS though!

I'm sure you don't actually need one- just plot the coordinates on a map, and off you go- navigate to it the traditional way, if you feel so inclined.

foolelle

i knew buying a gps was a good idea, found my first today on sandymount strand not too far from my house so didnt take very long.
that said, i did spend 2 hours in sandymount green lookin for one, was very funny, it was around lunch time so the park was quite busy with sambo munchers watchin me lookin confused one minute, excited the next and clambering up trees shortly after. never found it in the end, quite annoying for such a small park. anyone with any clues to it can pm me id love to find it. Good activity though would totally endorse it.
Happy Hunting

PadraigL

We are in to it. Even done it in France and Italy on hols.... Great way to see places that you would never dream of going to..

foolelle

PadraigL wrote: »

We are in to it. Even done it in France and Italy on hols.... Great way to see places that you would never dream of going to..

yeah i see from the geocaching website that some people travel all over the world hunting caches, ive only gotten into it since i bought a garmin gps system and it has an app on it. its good fun though keeps me active when i dont have full days to get out on the hills. Started my hunting yesterday (wednesday) and found my 5th this evening, its a little addictive me thinks. any caches around dublin you'd recommend?

Qualitymark

Sordini wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good cache in wicklow?
Just starting out

On geocaching.com you can enter longitude-latitude coordinates and it'll find all the registered caches within something like 100km of them.

I entered 53.335627,-6.331977 (the point from which Packie, a collie puppy, went missing two days ago - see Animals and Pet Issues forum http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055413146&page=37, or search for Packie on the boards.ie front page) and got loads and loads.

(If you want to find longitude-latitude coordinates, go to Google Maps and find the point you want, then drag the page in so it's easy to centre it, double-click on that point, save the web address to a text editing app, look for the term +Ireland&ll= and copy the coordinates which are listed between there and &spn)

For example, I got those coordinates, for a road in Inchicore, from this link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Inchicore+Aluminium,+Dublin,+Ireland&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=37.546691,89.824219&ie=UTF8&hq=Inchicore+Aluminium,&hnear=Dublin,+Ireland&ll=53.335627,-6.331977&spn=0.001339,0.004023&z=17

By the way, I tried to register on the geocaching.com site and it won't let me - the site appears to have been hacked; pressing the Register link just gets you into the forum front page. (That's the Groundspeak forums I'm talking about.)

Qualitymark

Another by-the-way - there's a bunch of geocaching apps for the iPhone, including one by Groundspeak.

Qualitymark

Walked today in the Phoenix Park, and had my first try at finding a geocached item. Failed abysmally. I searched up and along all the stone walls of the steps mentioned, near the smaller of the two spires, but nope.

exaisle

Can anybody recommend a decent GPS for this? Obviously something not too heavy ;-)

Qualitymark

exaisle wrote: »

Can anybody recommend a decent GPS for this? Obviously something not too heavy ;-)

iPhone?

(Mind you, the maps on both iPhone and TomTom are nothing like as good as the Ordnance Survey maps - for an example look at the maps of Dublin Port.)

exaisle

Im considering a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX.

Anybody got any views/reviews on that particular item?

Chris_5339762

Got one, fantastic bit of kit. Would recommend it. I'd perhaps get the model down, the 60CS version. AFAIK the only difference is that the 60CS does not have a built in pressure guage to measure height. It uses GPS info to determine your height which isnt quite as accurate. On the plus side, it'll show you your height in a plane, wheras the 60CSX will not - the pressure sensor will report the height that the cabin is pressurised to.

But yeah, I love the 60CSX. Get one if you can find it cheap enough.

monkeyfudge

I have the 60CSX as well.

Lovely little device and very rugged.

Find I have to re-calibrate the compass quite a bit though.

Alun

You should get a good price on it now as there is a new model to replace it just announced, the GPSMAP 62. See http://gpstracklog.com/2010/06/garmin-gpsmap-62-62s-and-62st-announced.html.

exaisle

That was quick! Thanks for the input so far.

I'm kinda happy to be one pace behind the cutting edge of technology, so I'm probably going to plump for the CSX version. I'm not that terribly bothered by the height I am in a plane but in certain circumstances one's correct altitude can be useful.

Any recommendations as to where the best price can be found? Let's keep it within Ireland or the UK....dont want to end up with a basemap of the south china sea....

E.

coolmoose

really interested in getting started in geocaching myself, have done a lot of reading on it...must bite the bullet soon and buy a GPS. looking at the 60CSX myself.

edit: i'm looking at the satmap active 10 with osi/osni 1:50k bundle too...anyone use one of these?

ScottStorm

exaisle wrote: »

That was quick! Thanks for the input so far.

I'm kinda happy to be one pace behind the cutting edge of technology, so I'm probably going to plump for the CSX version. I'm not that terribly bothered by the height I am in a plane but in certain circumstances one's correct altitude can be useful.

Any recommendations as to where the best price can be found? Let's keep it within Ireland or the UK....dont want to end up with a basemap of the south china sea....

E.

I got the 60cx from the us through ebay a few years ago, it came with an american basemap but the irish one is useless anyway. I think you will have to look around online as most of the stores only carry either the etrex series (which is great and worth considering) or the car sat navs.

exaisle

ScottStorm wrote: »

I got the 60cx from the us through ebay a few years ago, it came with an american basemap but the irish one is useless anyway. I think you will have to look around online as most of the stores only carry either the etrex series (which is great and worth considering) or the car sat navs.

Thanks Scott. I've invested in the 60CX from a certain online retailer (originally known for selling books). Now all I need is some decent maps.....

By the way...has anybody downloaded free maps from emerald-island.eu?

E

foolelle

exaisle wrote: »

By the way...has anybody downloaded free maps from emerald-island.eu?

E

yeah they work great on my Oregon, would recommend them

foolelle

Just wondering are any geocachers out there using the paid for service on geocaching.com? I can obviously see the list of extras you get when you pay but any feedback on if its actually worth it or not??

Cheers

RTT

Hi guys. I bought a garmin etrex h. Its fairly basic but has allowed me to find lots of caches and abroad too. Saw them on pixmania for €69. I paid close to €100 afew years back. I don't bother signing up for the premium, I just jot down the co-ordinates and enter them into my gps myself and away I go. Good fun for all the family and my dog loves it too!! You'd bbe surprised at how many caches you may walk past every day and not even know they are there!