Should you say whether your bearings are true or magnetic?

Post by **caughtatwork** » 27 January 06 10:16 pm

When you come across a cache that expects you to walk a number of meters in a direction do you expect that the direction should be given a true or magnetic?

I've lost count of the number of caches that I've tried (and eventually succeeded at) where there is no indication of whether the direction is true or magnetic.

So, I thought I'd ask to see whether it actually matters much and whether or not you should drop a note to the cache owner asking to update the page with a true or magnetic reference.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 27 January 06 10:35 pm

never thought about this but it does make sense.

if your talking about something 10m away i don't think it makes a difference but if your talking about something a 100m or more away then i think it may become important in that case yes i think it should be indicated.

i guess the standard should be magnetic, because those cachers with a hand held compass only get magnetic where a GPS user often has the option of either two.

Geodes · Post by **Geodes** » 27 January 06 10:58 pm

A typical difference between true and magnetic of 10&deg will result in nearly 18m difference at 100m - I think the answer here should be obvious

embi · Post by **embi** » 27 January 06 11:00 pm

Depends.... is it a true cache or a magnetic micro??

SNIFTER · Post by **SNIFTER** » 27 January 06 11:58 pm

Just why do you need to mention if it is north south east or west. This is caching not map reading . In thought that using a gps was the way to find things. If I wanted to use a compass I would have stayed in the scouts.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 28 January 06 12:07 am

SNIFTER wrote:Just why do you need to mention if it is north south east or west. This is caching not map reading . In thought that using a gps was the way to find things. If I wanted to use a compass I would have stayed in the scouts.

just the first example that came to mind
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... 4d49c92c38

although it is listed as a Traditional

i'm planning a mystery cache in which you may require some map and compass reading skills

xf king · Post by **xf king** » 28 January 06 2:24 am

I think it would be a good idea to stay with a magnetic reference, as on the rarest of occasions I have used a old compass to follow a bearing when I had very bad reception... A compass follows the magnetic reference and so should anything else based upon a bearing

TeamAstro · Post by **TeamAstro** » 28 January 06 11:01 am

You must. Depends if you want it to be found or not. You may not need to state it if you say, using a compass, take a bearing...

Look at my VECTOR cache. Could you find that without that info? See the pic associated with the gun on the page!

clear skies, Astro.

SNIFTER · Post by **SNIFTER** » 28 January 06 11:30 am

'i'm planning a mystery cache in which you may require some map and compass reading skills'

You can bet we won't do it.

The Coffee's · Post by **The Coffee's** » 28 January 06 12:24 pm

As a rule of thumb if a magnetic compass is required it is M....... North

, and base any caches that require compass to be Magnetic North. However the difference will be revealed shortly

Papa Bear_Left · Post by **Papa Bear_Left** » 28 January 06 1:55 pm

SNIFTER wrote:Just why do you need to mention if it is north south east or west. This is caching not map reading . In thought that using a gps was the way to find things. If I wanted to use a compass I would have stayed in the scouts.

I wonder if one of you clever programmer chappies could come up with some sort of macro that would insert a "But that's not geocaching; _real_ geocaching is following the arrow to where the box is hidden under the bush or rock!" post whenever a thread came up that mentioned any of the keywords "mystery", "puzzle", "compass", etc.

It'd save Snifter a lot of typing...

SNIFTER · Post by **SNIFTER** » 28 January 06 2:47 pm

Thanks Bear.

Love it.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 28 January 06 3:00 pm

SNIFTER wrote: This is caching not map reading . In thought that using a gps was the way to find things.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... ?wp=GCD35D

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... ?wp=GCC715

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... ?wp=GCC92F

The last one is even listed as a Traditional

SNIFTER · Post by **SNIFTER** » 28 January 06 3:53 pm

Sorry to tell you but at no time did we use a compass for those caches nor did we say use a compass. We use a GPS.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 28 January 06 6:50 pm

SNIFTER wrote:Sorry to tell you but at no time did we use a compass for those caches nor did we say use a compass. We use a GPS.

did i say compass

yet it is a form of map reading and the GPS doesn't help much in getting to the first WP

i'll end it there,