[Az-Geocaching] Magellan Cache Hunt

[Marc]

Not to blow the wind out of the sails, but Magellan is getting lots out 
of this. They have press all over the US and abroad. I'm sure the 
marketing gurus os Magellan would not host anything with this type of 
magnitude unless they felt they got alot out of it. What their motives 
are and what the goal is, we may not ever know. In any case, they have 
promoted this sport and branded their name. Will someone go out and 
purchase a Magellan because of it today? That is a good question. 
However, they may be looking for future business and that I think they 
have accomplished if nothing else. Most will support companies in the 
future that are dedicated to their customers. New customers will follow.

As far as not bringing anyone in to the sport with this, I again have to 
disagree. We may have found it without the coordinates, assuming that it 
was really there when we looked over the area. Even at that, with the 
last hint, we would have found it hands down. No GPS required! We were 
with two new teams. One of which has only cached twice before this. The 
THREE of us hunted. The THREE of us found. I'm sure that the two new 
teams are not only hooked, but will add much to our local caching.

I don't think it is fair to slam those we don't know and what their 
motives are. Who is to say what someone gets out of it except for that 
one. I think most would agree that there are far too many reasons out 
there to say why anyone of us cache or why we cache the way we do. As 
for this type of cache, it is what we like and thrive on.  There area a 
lot of caches in Arizona, and a large number in areas that you could 
ride your bike to to get the joy out of two hobbies (aka sports) at 
one.  I wouldnt give up on geocaching just because your opinion of how 
this cache was done isn't sitting well with you.  Get on the Internet, 
and starting looking for one that intrigues you.   The great thing about 
this 'hobby' is that there's enough variety in caching, you can find the 
ones you like.

These are my opinions and not necessarily the expressed opinions of 
anyone else.

William Noll wrote:

>I posted the following 'Note' on the MagellanGPS website, and thought it
>should be shared here...
>
>    Just curious... I'm wondering what the real point of all this was. Sure,
>someone gained a new GPS or trip, and several earned hats, but what did
>Magellan gain? Did any of you run out and buy new GPS units? Probably not.
>Their press release says this is a chance to get the family outdoors
>together for fun, but how many NEW geocachers did they create? It seems to
>me most who arrived Friday night were hardcore, experienced, serious cachers
>out to get the FTF. Any NEW cachers out there?
>    Was the overall contest fair? Not exactly. Considering that there was
>much anticipation and curiosity in the various hints, the cache site was
>only a few blocks from houses in an upscale part of town. Since the final
>coordinate release was only a few minutes after the final hint, only persons
>in the area (living or working) had a decent chance at FTF. Certainly NOT
>geocaching skill. The sure method to be FTF was also to use a team method -
>someone monitoring a computer at home or mobile device, and calling in the
>coords to another team on a cellular. Did that increase the sporting chances
>of new cachers? How many out there not in the East Valley just turned off to
>this whole contest?
>    Did the cache location encourage you to buy the latest Magellan
>handheld? Like I said, what did Magellan gain? I don't think much. There are
>many ways to make it more competive and fair. Was liability an issue? If
>they put it on Humphrey's Peak, and someone has an accident, could Magellan
>be liable? Is that why they are in easy-to-manage geographies? Magellan
>won't do this again, if there is nothing for them to gain. You may gain a
>hat, but if they don't get direct-sales from this game, it won't happen
>again. Just a thought. Comments?
>
>(BTW, while my cache count is low, I've used GPS since 1996 (anybody
>remember the glory days of 5-channel parallel receivers?) and currently own
>three with a Garmin VISTA as my latest (love the Topo map downloads!)
>
>William Noll
>
>
>
>
>
>  
>
>>No, I did not log into the site, why bother? I couldn't go for it
>>anyway. But any details would be greatly appreciated. Elect your best
>>story teller, or more than one for a variety...I'm sure there are a
>>few of us who are curious and want to cache vicariously and hear all
>>the story!
>>Thanks
>>Trisha "Lightning"
>>Prescott
>>
>>PS if anybody tells me this is off-topic.....I'll....grrrrr.....never
>>mind.
>>    
>>
>
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