Betty and I finally decided to get out and see if we could find a geocache or two. We had to pick Michelle up at 1pm so at 12:30 we headed over to this cache.
It was in a park with lots and lots of Mugles around. We walked around and couldn’t find it. It was getting close to time to get Shell so we had to leave without success.
After we picked up Shell we decided we would look for one more and then go home. I knew one was near a Del Taco just down the street from us so I pulled in and located this one on my iPhone. I walked over to a pole and there it was sitting in a little niche on the pole. Success!
I think we’ll try it again next week and spend a bit more time but for our first try it quite satisfying.
I think the iPhone with one of the apps is plenty good enough to find any cache. Does anyone have a recommendation?
I have the ($9.99) geocaching app on my iPhone and have been extremely pleased with it. The demo app wasn’t that great, but the full app is. It’s all I use now. If you had an extra $400-500 lying around, you could look into a geocaching GPS like Richard has, but I haven’t found the need for it for just weekend caching around town where I can get good cell phone service.
I found a cache this morning near my hotel in Anaheim before I headed home.
Comment by Donna — Wednesday March 17, 2010 @ 6:50 pm
Why doesn’t the iPhone app work if you are not in cell range? Is it because it has to connect to the Geocaching Website?
What does Richard’s do that makes it better?
I have an old Garmin GPS III+ which still works. I wonder if that would be ok to use? I can upload waypoints to it so maybe it would work.
Comment by Don — Thursday March 18, 2010 @ 7:56 am
The iPhone connects to the geocaching website and downloads the cache map, plus all the information on each cache (description, logs, etc.). Richard’s does that too, through the satellites, and he can log his caches from his GPS. (I suspect I can too, but it’s easy for me to wait until I get home and do them all at once.) Dale brought me a (used) GPS to use for geocaching when he came for Christmas, which I have to enter the caches before leaving home. One big advantage though, is battery life. My Garmin Nuvi runs out of “gas” in a couple hours, but the geocaching GPS will run for days, and I carry extra AA batteries with me in my geocaching bag.
Comment by Donna — Thursday March 18, 2010 @ 7:31 pm
Aren’t you going to log your DNF on the first cache?
Comment by Donna — Friday March 19, 2010 @ 5:52 pm
I actually plan to go back there this weekend and look again. We had to leave early to pick up Michelle and not because we gave up.
Comment by Don — Friday March 19, 2010 @ 6:46 pm
We went back on Sunday and found it.
Comment by Don — Tuesday March 23, 2010 @ 8:37 am
The old Garmin you have will work just great. Some of the newer GPS are too complicated. The one I gave Donna was actually made with geocaching in mind, but I never found it as easy to use as my old Magellin. Coordinates are hard to enter and the color screen is harder to see in the bright sunlight.
Comment by Dale — Wednesday March 24, 2010 @ 5:21 pm