Geocaching is a technology-based activity. Whilst it is possible to navigate to a geocache using a map and compass, it is easier to use a GPS device. Otherwise, if you are a bit off with your navigation and accuracy, you could be searching under many, many rocks and up many, many trees before you finally stumble across the geocache. When we started geocaching several years ago, we bought a Garmin eTrex GPS but unfortunately, on getting it out recently, we were dismayed to discover the batteries had leaked and the device no longer turned on. OK, our bad. I know you’re supposed to take batteries out of devices that you aren’t using but in our defence, when we last put the GPS away, we didn’t know it would be the last time in years! It was expensive so I am a bit irritated. After a bit of a clean and some fresh batteries, the GPS turned on briefly but then died again. So, what to do now…we have a Travel Bug to drop off but no GPS to navigate us to a geocache.
We have been considering our options… Option 1: buy a new GPS. Definitely the easiest but also the most expensive option – upwards of £100. Option 2: figure out how to use my smartphone as a GPS. I looked at a lot of free apps but the ones that direct you to a location require a postcode, not map co-ordinates (which is what you are given for the location of the geocache). Other apps tell you what map co-ordinates you are at, not how to get to one. I could pay to use the Premium features of the Geocaching app, which will surely direct us to the geocache we want, but my main concern with Option 2 is how well my phone will work in more remote locations. I’ve struggled to get a conclusive answer on whether mobile phones will give you a proper GPS signal, even if you don’t have a phone or 3G/4G connection. After all, I’m always reading that you shouldn’t rely on your mobile phone for navigation on the mountains and if they were reliable for this purpose, why would £100+ GPS devices continue to exist? And if mobiles can be used as a GPS, can mine (which is a bottom end model)? Option 3: figure out how to input the co-ordinates of a geocache into our Geonaute GPS watch, which is actually designed for runners who want to track their distance travelled, speed and other stats. You can programme in a route but we have only ever done so by plotting rough points on a map, not by inputting specific co-ordinates. We opted for Option 3 in the first instance. Option 1 is too expensive without at least trying the other options first and I am worried about discovering Option 2 doesn’t work once we’re out and it’s too late to do anything else. Unfortunately, after hours of trying, we haven’t managed to upload co-ordinates to the GPS watch. It accepts a gpx file, which we created online using OS Maps, but the file that we generated appears not to work and we can’t work out if the problem lies with its creation in OS Maps or with the GPS watch not being able to read it properly. We are new to OS Maps so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we are doing something wrong. On the other hand, the reason the GPS watch was so cheap when we bought it is that it was an end-of-line return, so perhaps it’s broken. Either way, we are not quite sure what to do and still have no solution to our need to find a geocache while we are in the Brecon Beacons. Option 4, which we might have to resort to, is to retreat back to the good old map and compass…
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