Geocaching Tools
Take a geo-location system, add an Internet directory of hiding spots, and voila! A 21st century treasure hunt! One T-shirt slogan calls it "using multi-billion dollar military hardware to find Tupperware in the woods." Geocaching began in 2000 when an Oregonian stashed a container in the woods, posted its latitude and longitude on the Internet, and other GPS users went out and found it. Now there are nearly 900,000 geocaches hidden worldwide, and hundreds of thousands of cachers, ranging from the curious to fanatics. The hobby is a fun additional activity for those roaming the outdoors on foot, bike, 4-wheeler or horse. There are at least as many urban caches as park hides, so it's also become a hidden virtual layer to the cityscape, unsuspected by passing muggles who are not into the game. And it's a great family activity - kids love 'treasure hunting' and trading for the toys and trinkets found in many caches. Geocaching is also an open game, extendable (within limits) by its players to add things like gnarly logic puzzles that must be solved to reveal a cache location, or objects whose worldwide movements among caches are tracked online.
Geocaching.com
There are a few other geocache directory sites, but Geocaching.com is the original and by far the largest. Free to register and play the game; $30/yr for paid membership enables more powerful search and personalization options.
Find a geocache
The game can be played with any geo-location technology. Some urban cachers rely solely on Google Maps, printing out aerial photos of hide locations. Entry-level consumer GPS units or geo-location add-ons for smart phones are available in the $100 price range. Those who become serious about the hobby will want a GPS unit with these qualities:
* Ability to keep a satellite lock in poor signal conditions -- from urban canyons to redwood canyons
* Rock solid firmware -- there's nothing worse than having to reboot the unit in the middle of a hunt.
* Good ergonomics and user interface
* Durability -- tough enough to take a beating in the field
* Easy computer interface -- for downloading and uploading cache coordinates, logs and descriptions
Although they're not the latest products in the company's line, the Garmin 60Cx and 60CSx are the workhorse GPS receivers of hard core geocachers. (The only difference between the two models is a compass and altimeter independent of the global positioning system featured on the 60 csx.) These models score on all the points above, coming short only on the computer interface, as they don't mount as a drive on your computer desktop. However, they have USB interfaces and are well-supported by paperless caching applications on both the Windows and OS X platforms.
Hide a geocache
After finding a few dozen geocaches, most players will think of a nearby place that needs a cache and want to hide their own. There are some common-sense rules for placing and registering new hides on Geocaching.com, including keeping off property where the public isn't welcome, not using a container that can be mistaken for a bomb, and labeling the geocache as such. Most geocaches are made from recycled or repurposed containers and camouflage, and many cachers pride themselves on creative reuse of materials in their hides. One essential quality of a geocache is remaining watertight through years of handling and tough climate. Two types of containers that are resistant against both weather and other geocachers are military surplus ammunition cans, and Lock&Lock-type plastic storage boxes.
Small 30-caliber or large 50-caliber military surplus ammunition cans work well. (When reusing ex-military containers, always sand off or paint over the military markings, which can be quite alarming to those not expecting to find a box of rifle ammo or grenades in their local park!)
Lock&Lock-type storage boxes are available as a pre-labeled set, or you can get an assortment of sizes to camouflage yourself.
Simple cache camouflage can be amazingly effective for hiding your cache from those in and out of the game, particularly in park hides. Camo tapes and paints designed for use by hunters are readily available, and one roll or spray can will cover many caches.
Geocaching.com
Free-$30/yr
Garmin GPS Navigators
60Cx, $258 from Amazon
60CSx , $293 from Amazon
Ammunition cans
$8-$17
Available from MidwayUSA
Triple-Cache Container Set
$15
Available from Groundspeak.com
Lock & Lock Polypropylene 20 Piece Set
$30
Available from Amazon
Camo Duct Tape
$6
Available from Amazon
Hunter's Specialties Camo Spray Paint Kit
$15
Available from Cabela's
Favorite (15)
dingo
From what I can gather, this post describes what, a game or hobby of some kind?
How about an entry for "How to get into mountain biking" too?
Things used for games and hobbies aren't tools.
Therefore, not a cool tool.
a dingo ate your sense of politeness
Your criteria for what is a tool is severly lacking. Try buying a dictionary - a great tool by itself.
Most if not all games and hobbies have specific tools associated with them. Hunting, Fishing, Biking, Hiking, Camping, Crafting, etc. I was looking to start this hobby and was not sure of the right GPS to pick up - or if my existing smartphone would handle geocaching software. I also have a bunch of those old ammo cans from old projects - great reuse idea. Very Cool Tools.
A faithful but relaxed reader
Fellow readers:
May I suggest that we all agree NOT to appoint ourselves the judge of "Cool Tool or Not Cool Tool?"
I am so tired of reading people's opinions of of the review as opposed to their constructive/additive opinions about the content. It takes (quite literally) about 5 seconds to figure out if a post is of no interest to you. I takes at least 15 to type "not a cool tool," do a Captcha, etc. Save yourself some time, and skip to the next entry rather than limiting others' fun and increasing their inhibitions with your criticism.
Let's leave it to the editors to decide what qualifies to be on the site. We can form our own opinions about what we each deem to be cool. If a post gets zero (constructive/additive) comments, the editors of the site will certainly note that for future reference when selecting future posts.
And thank you to everyone who takes the time to tell the rest of us about tools they find cool.
dingo
I guess I was more objecting to the post being entitled "Geocaching Tools" talking about how to get started playing some game instead of "Durable storage" telling me about ammo cans and Lock&Lock containers (both of which I have and use). This post was more games and less tools.
The review of the Park Tool multitool says "You can use this to work on your bike (1 sentence)" and proceeds to talk about the tool. This review says "Here's how to geocache! (long explanation)" and then "by the way, here are some tools for it (1-2 sentences each)".
dingo
You know what, I'm just being cranky this morning - 22 hour jetlag. Forget I said anything. :)
George Cochrane
AS CT'S RESIDENT LUDDITE, I DEMAND A FULL REFUND UNTIL YOU STOP COVERING STUFF WITH CHIPS AND JUNK IN IT AND RETURN TO OBSIDIAN KNIFE-KNAPPING AND HIDE-TANNING TOOLS *EXCLUSIVELY*.
...AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THAT "FIRE" JUNK. IF YAHWEH HAD INTENDED US TO BE WARM, HE WOULDN'T SIC THE ICE MONSTERS ON US SO OFTEN.
SINCERELY,
GUH T. ARRGH
PS, SORRY ABOUT THE SHOUTING, I USED MY CAPS LOCK KEY TO KNAP AN OBSIDIAN KNIFE THIS MORNING, AND IT BROKE CLEAN OFF. JUST GOES TO SHOW, THEY DON'T MAKE TOOLS LIKE THEY USED TO. UNG.
tudza
I fail to see the thrill in this particular hobby.
Finding a hidden transmitter with radio direction finding equipment you built yourself, now that's fun.
Herrner
In Germany, "petlings" are quite popular as cache-containers - they are kind of of blanks for PET-Bottles and very sturdy. I don't know the english term for it, but they are very cheap and look like this:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:PETling.jpg
nearestexit
There is also an iPhone app that links up with the Geocaching.com database and also helps you to navigate to the listings. Haven't tried it with my 3Gs, but my wife has the 3G and it works great with it.
Mike Everett-Lane
Herner, petlings are usually called "preforms" in English. You can pick them up as "tube vaults" at County Comm http://countycomm.com/tubevault.htm or as "baby soda bottles" at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/1367 Very strong, waterproof, and yes I've used one to hide a geocache! (Have these been covered yet on CT?)
nearestexit, there's also a Blackberry app called CacheBerry that does nearly the same thing: http://www.cacheberry.com/ Worth the $15 if your phone has a GPS.
Prateek Jain
I can easily recommend ANY Finale music product. If you purchase the full version, and have the correct input device, It will record exactly what you play and convert it into workable sheet music.
Kelt
One cool tool for Geocaching is the "Geocaching Swiss Army Knife" software. Basically a database on steroids, performing searches of downloaded geocache information in a multitude of ways, including radially from a known start point, with reference to description, difficulty to hide, or last time the geocache was found, to name a few. I will integrate with your smartphone, your GPSr and your email client, providing automation and simplifying many of the mundane tasks associated with the sport.
Freeware with a nag, then pay for it.
http://www.gsak.net/