Ain't Technology Grand?

It's been interesting to note how things have change over the last couple of years.  When I first started geocaching, I'd download locations of caches onto my GPS, make some notes on a piece of paper (because I can't be stuffed paying $30 a year just for the ability to see the same info direct on my GPS screen), and away I'd go.  It worked well, and if I was in a fix, I could bring up the website on my phone to get extra info or read previous log entries.

That's all changed now, seeing as any half way decent smart phone now has a GPS built into to, along with  a web browser, essentially everything you need to get going with geocaching.  There are even iPhone apps that will grab the cache info off the web, or from an email account, and show you on a map where to go.  Yet even with all this technology at my fingertips, I still find myself reaching for my GPS first, and using the iPhone as a backup device.

See, the thing is, even though the iPhone has the GPS built into it, it's still not as good as my nearly 3 year old Garmin GPS.  As an experiment, I gave my phone to Mrs Lemon while we were out caching, and I took the GPS.  In theory, we should both have ended up going the same way, and ending up at the same point.  Of course, that's just the theory, in practice I ended up at the cache, while the phone had Mrs Lemon quite some distance off course.

So, even though the technology's there on the phone, I don't think it's quite at the stage where it's going to replace a dedicated GPS unit, especially as my GPS is waterproof, and the phone's not.  Still, it's a welcome addition, as I can log finds as I make them, and not have to do all the logging once I'm home at the end of the day.  It's also dead handy for impromptu caching outings, as I've discovered.

In the past, if I wanted to grab a cache I needed to have my GPS with me, and a way of getting the co-ordinates onto it.  Now, should I feel like grabbing a cache, all I have to do is fire up the appropriate app on my phone, and away I go.  Even though the phone isn't as accurate as my GPS, it's still good enough to get me within a few metres.  Reading the cache hints and previous logs are normally enough to find the cache after that.

The other great thing about the phone apps is that it's a cheap way for people to get into caching.  Assuming that they already have a GPS enabled phone, for less than $30 they can be caching.  Beats forking out over $100 for a GPS they may or may not end up using.

So, the phone's definitely a permanent part of my caching toolbox, but it won't be displacing the GPS anytime soon...