Geocaching help please

hi Michelle
get hold of Dave Jones
dave@davejones.com.au
he,s a geocaching nut .an a good mate
cheers mechpete

Hello Michelle

No expert but on my Android phone I have GeoBeagle and also C:geo. I cant comment on which is better or worse as rarely use them (tend to use "proper" GPS). I am not 100% sure but I think with both you need to be a (premium?) member of geocaching.com so you can enter user name and get downloads when out and about - both have function to download caches in your current vicinity..obviously requires phone reception/data download.

There are different levels of membership at geocaching.com and again I don't know if free membership gives you enough privileges to get comprehensive cache listing....I suppose you will have to try and see (unless some here can help).

ON my PC I use GSAK which is basically a cache management program..it also has connectivity to geocaching.com (requires paid membership for full functions) and you can enter in coords and get download of closest caches - handy (then upload to GPS) . I am not sure if you can transfer these to phone and then access but maybe you can? You can export in many formats. (GSAK is made by WA guy!!)

You may wish to sign onto the Geocaching Australia Forum . If you ask your question there you may (will) get a better answer.

Hope this heads you in the right direction.

Cheers
Greg

Michelle we are keen cachers and think its a great way to discover new places. I have to recommend that for a small outlay, you can't beat actually buying a GPS. They are really reasonable in price now and give you everything. You'll be able to download everything from web in batches etc and search by areas where you know you are going. Plus you then know that you are covered for areas where there is no phone reception. Also one thing to check is that you are using the geocache site and not the .au version, which in our opinion was rubbish.
Once you use the geocache site you can search via name/postcode and name area. Any questions or need for demo, please get in touch. I live local.

Hi Michelle,
Personally I have found it too hard using a phone for geocaching and prefer to use GSAK geocache program on the computer and transfer geocache information to my Garmin Gps.
You need to be a premium member of geocache.com to download more than one cache at a time, as a premium member you can also do area searches and search along a route you intend to travel with the ability to set set distace away from that route. You are also able to download the caches as GPX file which gives you a lot more information such as notes and hints.
Before I became a premium member I use to download the caches one at a time, put them into GSAK then copy paste the additional information, slow and painful. Now it is just a matter of using Geocaching.com.access in GSAK set a centre point and radius from there and GSAK downloads all caches automatically.
I can then 'Send Waypoints' to my Gps from within GSAK, its an easy matter then to search for nearby caches from within the Gps. It is possible to record the find on the Gps, transfer that info into GSAK and upload to geocache.com.
Hope that was of some help

Chris

OK, so sounds like I'm being a numpty by wanting to do this without using a GPS, however I was expecting that an App might call the phone's inbuilt GPS and therefore would still work without phone service?? I think we still have an old handheld Garmin lying about but was hoping to bypass using it - but it sounds like you've all been down this path and are telling me its a dead end.

It's a shame I need to jump into buy premium membership (how much ?) without knowing if its really going to be something we'll use much. We never have much spare time on a trip to go off on wild goose chases, but just thought it might be a bit of a spur of the moment thing if I can know ahead of time there is something near a lunch spot, camp etc - give the kids something to do for a while etc.

Some really detailed responses here so I'll have to followup your advice too - thanks everyone.

I prefer to use a dedicated GPS but you can certainly use a GPS enabled android device for Geocaching.

c.geo can download many hundreds (thousands) of nearby of Geocaches without being a premium member.

Tested working perfectly here on my $80 android phone and acer 10.1" tablet with phone disabled (airplane mode) and 800+ offline downloaded geocaches.

I do not have premium membership at geocachingdotcom.

Hi Michelle,

For zoomable map:

Go to geocaching.com.au

Click on caches tab, then view all.

Click the dropdown menu - select Australia, and then Western Australia?

Click on the Googlemaps link. Ignore the Z teardrops, they are Trig Points. The geocaches are the T teardrops.

Hope that helps.
Cheers
Alan

I love geocaching and it's a great way to break up a long road trip.

I've tried the android apps and not been overly impressed. I've also found that my phone struggles sometimes to get a good GPS signal out bush. It also quickly drains the battery - so if we're out walking for the day without the ability to charge the phone, this system doesn't work.

A proper GPS works brilliantly, but expensive if you're not doing this a lot.

From experience, I've found that if you're looking for caches not much off a road, you can put the GPS co-ordinates into your car GPS if you have one eg. Tom Tom. Works better than the phone.

i dont think your mobile will work if you dont have phone coverage.
you could print out a map to where the caches are hidden

but a cheap handheld gpsr will always work anywhere

Hi Michelle : My suggestion is to research the area / place you want to go on windows PC log in ,down load cache location direct to gps but not app, you will get a lot of info there inc email up dates etc aswel the cache locations with a good map to work with , I find this a good way to go , then go back to your androids app to find the cache your looking for .I don't think i could say that one was better than the other to actually find the cache , more to do with your ability . but as other have said a proper GPS maybe a better way to go ?
re ... Geocaching website is confusing and hard to use ... agree but like anything the more you use it the better it becomes . good luck .

Hi Michelle,

I've been Geocaching for about 6 years. For the first 5 years I used my GPSR to find all my caches and it worked fine. About a year ago I got a new Andriod phone and thought I would try it out for caching. I down loaded the free C:GEO app and since then I havn't used any thing else. C:GEO on my phone does every thing my GPSR ever did. The only draw back is, as someone else mentioned, battery life. If you plan on going on an 8 hour hike, picking up a dozen caches on the way, then you will probably run out of battery. However, I have mine plugged into the ute as we drive and stop at the odd cache as we go past, or even park and go for a 5 km walk to get to one and have no battery problems with this usage.

When in mobile coverage, C:GEO uses Google maps and with the push of a button, it will show you all the caches around you. When you select a cache , the app will tell you how far away it is and in what direction. You can even use Google Navagator via the App to guide you to the cache. Easy as. Once you have found the cache, you can also log your find throught the App.

When you are out of mobile coverage, you can't use Google maps, but you can down load a free offline map (the App tells you where to get it) and this can be used instead. This map can also be used instead of Google maps if you wish.

To get the most out of the App, it's best to be a Premium member ($30 yr I think). As a Premium member you can down load "Pocket queries" of different areas or routes that you are going to visit and store all the caches in those areas on your phone. Once you get the hang of it, this process is no harder then loading a track file and a few way points into Oziexplorer.
After using my phone and C:GEO for about a year I wouldn't go back to a GPSR.
Hope this helps