Geocaching accessories - useful or superfluous?

Waders, flashlights, ladders and more as geocaching accessories

There are often heated discussions when it comes to geocaching accessories. We're trying to clarify a little what's available for accessories.

 A hobby with little start-up capital

When I personally came across Groundspeak and the hobby of geocaching in 2009, I was told at the first event that it was a great hobby, it was very healthy because you were in the great outdoors. And it's very cheap, since you don't need any equipment other than the (then yellow ETrex) device. I'll have a lot of fun. The second assumption is still true today, but the first

I could already refute that statement with the second piece of climbing equipment, the (felt) 87th flashlight and the 12th headlamp. Our cacher backpack has a higher value than our car - and there was also something with the kilometers, the travel prices, etc. etc. The statement that this hobby does not cost any money puts a smile on the face of every experienced geocacher. Today we want to take a closer look at some of these possible pieces of equipment under the topic of geocaching accessories!

Power for GPS device and smartphone

We already reported on the advantages and disadvantages of GPS devices and smartphones in one of our previous articles.

When it comes to geocaching equipment and supplies, we are more concerned with the uptime and performance of the equipment. Here you quickly reach the limits of the devices, even if you don't stay in the desert or on the mountain for days. A battery pack is simply part of the equipment today...

Geocaching Accessory: Ladder

A good telescopic ladder has brought many a geocacher a T5. For geocachers, who usually have to carry the ladder with them a bit, it is particularly important that it is light and can be pushed together. These ladders are on the market today for everyone, but the trade has also discovered geocaching. Some discounters also sell the well-known aluminum ladders twice a year in their range. You should make sure that these aluminum ladders are available in different sizes. The size of 3.20 m is sometimes just a few centimeters too short for geocaching - and that's annoying.

In addition to the aluminum material, the telescopic nature of the ladder is also important for geocachers. This can be easily pushed together and can therefore be carried more easily than conventional household ladders.

Geocaching Supplies: Waders     

These – mostly – green trousers, which are waterproof and firmly attached to so-called rubber boots, were previously only known from fishing equipment. So it happens that this article can also be obtained from a fishing supplies shop. You can now order them from many places. Today, she often helps geocachers log caches in the water. It is a geocaching accessory that you acquire over the course of the caching time and can use from time to time. The pants usually go up to the chest and are worn over normal clothing.

 Flashlight & Co.

When a cacher strolls through a mega-event, they're guaranteed to find more than one stall selling flashlights and headlamps. Night caches are becoming increasingly popular. That means you can really only solve the cache at night. Of course, this requires particularly good lighting. You often have a flashlight first, then buy a new, better lamp. And then you find out about an even better one... There are no upper limits (also in terms of price). Led Lenser and Fenix are also well-known brands in geocaching.

In addition to the battery performance, the indication of the lumens is particularly important for the flashlight. Almost the strength of the lamp.

Bei den Taschenlampen und Stirnlampen sollte man für Geocaching auch die UV-Lampe erwähnen. Es gibt durchaus Caches, die ihr Geheimnis nur unter diesem besonderen Licht verraten. Wir haben den Test mit der UV-App vom Handy gemacht – das kann funktionieren, muss aber nicht. Hängt von der Umgebungshelligkeit und von der Deckkraft des genutzten UV-Stiftes ab. Also lieber doch noch eine UV-Lampe eingepackt. Die teureren Ausgaben lassen sich fokusieren, was durchaus von Vorteil sein kann.

Pen, mirror, tweezers, magnet – small things in the pocket

Some cacher backpacks don't need to shy away from comparison with a women's handbag. A lot of material accumulates here over time. Pens, mirrors, tweezers and magnets are particularly popular. Mirrors and magnets often come with a telescope extension. In the size of a pen you have two important helpers with you. Magnets are also available without this rod extension, on a hook or on a cord. The tweezers, on the other hand, are not a special cacher tool, but are always very useful, e.g. if a logbook does not want to appear voluntarily from the cache container. It is becoming increasingly common to find tweezers on the multi-tool, which – as the name suggests – combines many functions, mostly in combination with a pocket knife. That makes it a bit difficult again, because multi-tools are not exactly squeamish when it comes to hand luggage at airports. They have to go! Better to put it in your suitcase - if you've checked one in. Or just an extra pair of tweezers.

With the geocaching accessory pen, one could say that it would be worth an extra article... There are the advocates of mini pencils from a well-known furniture chain, who also like to be hidden in the cache. Or the high-end ballpoint pen that writes overhead, in water, simply anywhere. If you tend to lend your pen or leave it lying around from time to time - a normal ballpoint pen will usually do the trick!

Rubber stamp

After you have decorated the first geocaching logbooks with a pen and your nickname, you will immediately notice colorful little pictures or stamps. There are ready-made stickers, either from travel groups or from individual cachers. And there are stamps with a small symbol that indicate one or the other preference of the cacher in question. In the meantime, one or the other shop has specialized in stamps for geocachers. Stickers can also be ordered cheaply over the Internet, as can the stamps. If you want to save shipping costs and are visiting a Mega anyway, you can usually get a bargain there.

Last but not least

Zusammenfassend kann man sagen, dass die Liste des Geocaching-Zubehörs fast endlos sein kann. Wir könnten die Liste fortsetzen mit Greifer, Fernglas, Trackable, rope ladder, rubber dinghy, climbing equipment and much more. Here it depends on the geocacher's wallet on the one hand, but also on taste and personal preferences. You can do everything, but you don't have to do everything... This report can only give a first glimpse.

Groundspeak has a nice tool for geocachers on their website called Attributes. If you read the listing and go by the attributes, you should spot fancy tools.