What's the cheapest GPS thingy I can use for that Geocaching malarky?

[SoupDragon]

Because it looks fun but I don't have the right equipment.

yes we found 2 that could have been done just on local knowledge and the posts on the website left by those who had already found it. the photos can also help.

how old are your dc?

Apparently it based on the 'base map' ie the basic map that is preloaded onto the gadget. So then further maps are added on as you require them, including points of interest. Ours had a very very basic european map loaded on, then we brought an add on which was detailed for europe, but the GPS couldn't load the whole thing, so have to decide which area to load onto prior to use.

Hope that helps alittle

9 & 7 (and 2.7 but we'll ignore her for the purposes of this )

It does king of plus3. It was Internationasl (cheapest option ) and Atlantic (EU) and I don't understand why "international" is cheaper or what difference it makes

ours seems to say atlantic when we switch it on, but it is 5 yrs old....Dh has just reliably informed me that we have done nearly 100 caches..!

But what does international/atlantic mean? [wail] I know nothing, I am ignorant and I have done No caches [sob]

we tried to do one today but couldn't find it, even with our new gps

and

i have no idea about atlantic doo-dah

Soupy we've done two without needing a map. If you are doing urban ones you can quite often tell from the map, the encrypted clue and the posts.

We seem to live in the epi-centre of caches as there are loads local to us. DS (nearly 7) is positively beside himself. He and I actually went out in the wet, mud and cold this afternoon to cycle about 2 miles away and have a good dig round the muddy undergrowth with a stick to look for a 35mm film cannister. Bonkers but great fun!

(We didn't find it - too many nettles!)

LOL! I bet you wouldn't have gone out in the wet otherwise

Aunty, that doesn't fill me with any kind of confidence!

it was a weird one; feel convinced we were in the right place but loads of peopel gave only found this one on 2nd or 3rd visist as they said they were "looking too hard at first"

we too were foraging around in the rain and the mud; without geocaching there wiould have been at home getting bored.

Hi, Amanda's other half here!

We really love geocaching, we've found 25 now! It's a fantastic way of getting the kids out in the country, our two DDs (6&4) call it 'Treasure Hunting'. I get the 6 year old to decode the encrypted hints as a 'code' - so it combines Maths, English, Geography, Nature and Exrecise...It's also a good way of getting shot of all your cheap plastic giveaway toys etc.[]We've got a basic Garmin ETrex (c£100 iirc). Not sure about all the loading of co-ordinates straight into the machine, I'm not techie at all (not all men are you know!)

What we do is....

Each cache on the website has TWO sets of co-ordinates, the GPS ones eg 51 11 234N 001 87 878W and the National OS Grid ones eg 61345 51234. If you have an Ordnance Survey Map of your area 1:25000 (green or Orange) is best but 1:50000 (Pink) will suffice then you can work out from the OS grid roughly where the cache is, so you can get pretty close from that.

Then go into the machine and go to 'Mark Waypoints' (you can do this anywhere) and it will create a new waypoint with the GPS co-ords of where you are; then edit this waypoint to the co-ords of the cache; then select Goto and it points you to the cache!

Oh dear I've made that sound really complex -it isn't really; we just use 3 of the commands on the Garmin and paper maps for the rest. Still I'm sure there are easier ways with the pre loaded maps just haven't sussed them!

I'm fascinated by this. How do you start? I have a car sat nav - is that enough? Make it simple for me, please.

Go to www.geocaching.com

Click on 'Getting Started'

(A car sat nav will get you to the nearest road, but the best caches (esp. for kids) are off in the woods and fields. Try it with the car GPS and see waht you find.)

Thanks. Will try it if it ever stops raining!