For more than 20 years Randy and I have belonged to the a local club that hosts a road rally twice a year For those of you who do not know, a road rally is similar to a scavenger hunt. In a road rally however, we drive between multiple points solving puzzles, in order to arrive at our final destination..
Magellan eXplorist GC received.
One day a couple of months ago I was scanning the internet looking for a similar but easier challenge for our grandchildren, when I came across geocaching. People all over the world have hidden small caches with little prizes inside. Then on the geocaching website they list the coordinates and sometimes give clues. I was surprised to see how many were hidden within a ten mile radius of our small town.
The next time our granddaughters were over, I took my iPad and off we went hunting. While walking with my iPad and using the coordinates we could get to the general vicinity, but would spend a long time trying to find the cache. I knew there had to be a better way to do this.
That’s why I was excited about the Magellan eXplorist GC. It was simple to set up even for computer illiterates like Randy and myself. Once it is set up it takes just seconds, to download the geocaches
I was surprised to learn that it not only lists the coordinates but also lists the clues and the date the geocache was last found. In fact most of everything about the cache found on the geocaching website is downloaded to the Magellan.
As soon as it was set to go, Randy and I were on our way. We went back to places that we could not find the caches earlier and were very pleased to discover how much easier to locate them with the Magellan eXplorist GC.
In fact it got us within ten feet of the caches. Because it is a handheld device it’s not as cumbersome to use in the woods as my iPad. It is rugged, waterproof and submersible, which is good to know since grandchildren get caught up in the thrill of the hunt and tend to get a little careless. It is also a bright green color, which should make it easy to find if we set it down while searching.
To make it a true adventure, you can set it up to compete with your friends by setting “time to find.” This makes it a true competition.
We love how easy it is to use. It comes preloaded with 999 of the most popular geocaches and you can download up to 10,000 geocaches!
One of the side benefits of using the eXplorist is the exploring itself. You never know what you will find. We have lived in our town for 25 years and never knew their was a small, old cemetery just a couple of miles from our house.
The only warning I have is to dress appropriately for your exploration since many of the caches are in wooded areas. Be aware of ticks and poison oak & ivy. We prepare accordingly each time we go out and in doing so it reduces any worries about these obstacles. We’ve enjoyed using the Magellan eXplorist GC that we look forward to see where it will take us.
What about you? Have you ever tried geocaching?
We’ve never tried geocaching, but it looks so much fun! What a great product to help with those adventures!
We’ve never tried geocaching but friends of our rave about it and keep telling us we should jump in on the fun!
I’ve heard of GC’ing but never done it myself. But you’ve made it sound so much fun, I may ask my hubby to join me in a try with this Magellan!
I LOVE the concept of geocaching and hope my kids might be into it when they get older. This gadget definitely looks like it makes the hunt a bit easier! :)
That sounds like so much fun! I still need to learn a lot about geocaching, but it sounds like a lot of fun!
Ahh yes, I used to go geocaching in college. Fun memories!
I’ve been hearing a lot about geocaching – it sounds like a lot of fun! I enjoyed hearing about the road rallies, too.
I’ve never done geocaching but it sounds like such a fun adventure!
I have never tried, but it sounds like it would be a lot of family fun.
I so want to try geocaching!! It’s on my family bucket list for this summer.
I’ve always wanted to try it but never have. I think my son is about old enough to try it now though!
My family has device and it is awesome! We have had so much fun geocaching.
We’ve gone geocaching, but it’s been a while! I think our boys would LOVE it though! I should really start doing geo caches again!
This looks a great GPS, we have really advanced in tech.
Wow!! That’s amazing! Our friends have been doing this a lot lately – sending this post their way!
could totally use this awesome device! thanks for the great post!
Fun gadget and road rally? So cool!
This definitely sounds like a fun gadget!! I wonder if there are any caches in my town…
I had no idea you could do so much with these handheld GPS devices. My kids would have a blast going “hunting”, and I’d feel better about knowing where we were headed and being able to get back to our starting place.
I have thought it would be a lot of fun to start geocaching with the kids. This Magellan would be perfect for us! I love how portable and easy to use it is!
This would be something my son and his friends would love to do. They love these types of adventures. How fun to find new things in your area each time you go out. Thaks for the review!
I’ve never done it but my daughter did it over the holiday weekend. She LOVES doing it!
I have a friend who has been geocaching for years! This would be a great gift for her!
this would be great for our trip to California!
I have never tried geocaching but I have always wanted too. It looks like a lot of fun.
I have never gone geocaching but have always wanted to and I think my son would totally love it!
This is totally awesome! I am going to look into this for my husband! Right up his alley!
That is really cool! I definitely need a GPS unit, I would get lost without one!
We’ve done geocaching and it was a lot of fun. I was skeptical at first thinking that it would be hard, but it was easy and we had a blast.
We need a GPS – always using the phones. I’ll have to look into this one.
this looks like so much fun for a family activity- anywhere you go- love the portable size, too
No I never tried it, I signed up once…but never went. Now I am rethinking this….lol
Very neat that you can set it to compete. I’ve actually been dying to try geocaching and have it on our summer bucket list. Thanks for the review.
Oh, I would love this! I get lost so easily.
We love geocaching! We have a ton in our area and it is a great way to get the kids excited about being outside!
I’ve never gone geocaching but it seems like a lot of fun! I can see how this GPS would make it much easier!
I have not tried it, but it looks like so much fun! I know my nephew would just flip over this. This gadget is just too cool!!!
I’ve never tried geocaching but have wanted to! This looks like a great device!