I going for caches since 2008 and I am at (only) 399 by today. I do not have the time to go more often. I have looked to GSAK and think, this tool can do great things, but it will take a lot of time to get "worked in". It's also kind of difficult, because there is no german language pack, (I life in Germany, you know). So, the tool of my choice is Vantage Point, that gives me everything, I need.
I do have PQs running twice a week for my homezone, but I do not update my GPS regularly. Only every 2 or 3 weeks. I do have a PQ with only the new Caches from the past week, that I do copy twice a week.
Going for geocaches is some kind of addiction. But I prefer the T5 caches. I would have the skills for most of the T5 caches, since I have rope climbing gear 😛 , I have been a professional diver for 8 years :silly: and have the education for a driving instructor for boats 😛 .
So the D1/T1 micro traditional cache is mostly going directly to my ignore list. B)
Since I can remember to all of the past 399 Caches, I do not load them to my GPS.

minnesotan wrote:

Hey everyone. I'm very new to geocaching and am still getting the hang of my Explorist GC. So far so good though! I can say that my fiance and I are hooked!

I'd like to hear someone's thoughts on how long to keep the cache files on my explorist.

So here are my questions. Feel free to answer all or some. No pressure. Just a newbie trying to learn here.

- Do you clear out your loaded caches frequently?
- I just learned how to upload pocket queries yesterday. How do I not include the photos?
- Do you not load the caches you've already found? (part of me would like to see a big swath of yellow smileys) :cheer:
- So far I've been using Vantage Point with no issues. Would GSAK be easier for a new cacher?
- Does the feeling of addiction fade? 🙂 Just kidding. As I mentioned... we're hooked.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Welcome to the forum,

To answer your questions, most of which you asked is preference. Personally I do clear and reload my GPSrs almost every time I go out, because I want the newest logs and for everything to be as up to date as possible. I hate looking for a cache that was disabled two days ago! As far as loading your finds, well I used to load them, however, once I reach 100+ finds I found that it was taking up to much my the resources on my old GPS and it begins to become a problem on the Geocache list when you’ve found 90%+ of the caches in the area. Also, once you get to 1000+ finds it is just a waste of time and GPS resources to continue to deal with them. As far as GSAK or VP, I use both and both can be great tools, but again it is preference. GSAK is great for sorting and eliminating caches that haven’t been found in a while, however, if you’re like me and you’re going after caches that require ATV’s, Dirt Bikes or a 4x4, I love the Satellite overlays and 3D TOPO maps in VP for making routes that save time, effort and probably my life – when I’m able to lay out routes before going out after the caches!
As far as the addiction to Geocaching – no, it just gets worse! As a pastor I’m having wondering if I need to start a Geocaching Addicts class here at the church and be the first to enroll, but I’m at 3000+ finds and I’m ready to go out caching if you want to give me call 🙂

David