As I kid, I used to love it when my mom set up “treasure hunts” for me: she’d give me a note that said “Go to the mailbox,” and from there, I’d find a note that said “Go to the refrigerator” then “Go to the washing machine,” ultimately leading me to a “treasure.” I’ve created these hunts for my kids, and sometimes they are more elaborate with puzzle clues (in rhyme!) for birthday parties.
So, it’s no wonder my family has fallen in love with geocaching, where GPS coordinates and digital maps, not handwritten notes, lead us to treasure. While anyone with a GPS unit — that is, a handheld device with Global Positioning Service — can geocache, I highly, highly recommend the Magellan eXplorist GC, which is solely dedicated to geocaching adventures.
Everything you ever wanted to know about geocaching can be found at Geocaching.com. But, in brief, geocachers all over the world have hidden boxes (Tupperware, ammo boxes or other weatherproof containers), recorded their GPS coordinates and listed the “hides” on the Geocaching.com website. Users who want to find caches in their area — or on their travels — can search for hidden caches via address, zip code, city or country, and then enter those coordinates into a GPS device to help lead them to the “treasure.” Caches are hidden in urban locations, as well as remote spots that require a hike.
Traditional caches have little trinkets in them — stickers, bouncy balls, seashells, etc. — and if you take a small item, you are expected to leave a small item. Some caches just have noebooks and pens (logbooks) in them. Some caches are teeny, tiny nano-caches, that are no bigger than a thimble, that only contained a small rolled-up log; these are BYOP (bring your own pen) caches, which are typically described as such on Geocaching.com.
I love the Magellan eXplorist GC because it’s built for beginners like me. When I browse Geocaching.com and I find a cache I’d like to seek, I simply click “Send to GPS” while my device is linked to my laptop via USB cord. All of the caches have names, usually punny or otherwise clever ones (geocachers are a funny bunch!), so I’ll search for its name, hit “Go” and my eXplorist will tell me how far I am from the cache.
The eXplorist comes pre-loaded with popular caches, but the closest pre-loaded one was in Utah (I live in Colorado). So, I had to download a bunch of local ones to test out. I’ve been downloading them from home one at a time before heading out to geocache, but I think I’ll download all the hundreds of geocaches in my valley (a 40-mile stretch) so that my family and I can “geocache on the fly” whenever we’re looking for a last-minute afternoon or weekend adventure.
Success! A cache in an ammo box about 10 miles from our home.
Again, the Magellan eXplorist GC helped make this geocaching novice grow utterly obsessed with the activity within a matter of two weeks. The maps on the handheld device are easy to read (and accurate), even in bright sunlight. It’s very clear when we’re moving correctly towards a cache, or away from it: the arrow turns green when we’re on course! The battery, time and satellite signal are clearly displayed; it uses two AA batteries that should work for 18 hours. With the touch of a couple buttons I can display on the map all nearby caches that are stored in the device. I like clicking “Found” (which is accompanied by a smiley face!) when we’ve had a successful day geocaching. The device is totally waterproof (though I wouldn’t intentionally submerge it in water).
There are dozens of features on my Magellan eXplorist GC that I haven’t even delved into yet, like it can deliver a trip summary — with amount of time it took to search and distance traveled — and I can see my “breadcrumbs” (where I’ve been) on the map screen. I like that I can create my own waypoints — which I did when devising my daughter’s recent birthday party geocaching adventure. Out in our yard, I hid little gifts for her and her guests, recording the location of each hidden item. For each location, I gave it one of the girl’s names, so every girl could find her own treasure. It was a big hit!
The Magellan eXplorist GC’s GPS coordinates have proven quite accurate in our limited caching experiences. Magellan says it can offer three- to five-meter accuracy, and I’d agree that we found our caches within four yards of “ground zero” – or where the GPS was telling us the cache was exactly located.
We’ll take our Magellan eXplorist on all future family vacations and weekend camping trips. I love the idea of this family activity that encourages exploration in the outdoors.
The Magellan eXplorist GC retails for $149.99 on the Magellan website. Check prices at REI and I’ve seen it discounted at Amazon.com.
Shopping around? Another great option for Geocaching GPS units is XGPS150 by Dual.
