Apishere Geomate Jr. Geocaching GPS First-Hand Product Review

For families with children, the popular outdoor treasure hunting past-time known as geocaching is a great opportunity to spend quality time together. However, in order to geocache successfully, you need to purchase a GPS unit. The Geomate Jr. by Apisphere is a fun, inexpensive device to get you started on this exciting family activity!

Our family recently received the Geomate Jr. as a gift. Retailing for about $69.95 from major retailers such as REI and Amazon, this portable GPS unit comes in a bold green and blue color scheme with a black lanyard.

How Does the Apisphere Geomate Jr. Work?

When you go geocaching, you are looking for small treasure containers hidden outdoors. You may stumble across these hidden containers while hiking or traveling, but it is unlikely. To find the hidden caches, you need a GPS to direct you to the exact location. Unlike many GPS units, the Geomate Jr. comes pre-loaded with approximately 250,000 caches in the United States. With other GPS units, you may need to look up caches online in advance to determine which treasures you want to hunt for on a particular day. The Geomate Jr. allows you to be more flexible and spontaneous.

You can also purchase an optional Geomate Jr. Update Kit for about $24.95. This kit connects your unit with your computer to download the latest registered geocaches via a website. This optional unit will give you geocache locations in other countries including Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Did the Apisphere Geomate Jr. Perform in Real Conditions?

Yes! We took our Geomate Jr. out on a short family hike in an urban forest park with miles of trails. We figured there must be a few geocaches hidden along the trails! The unit showed us the closest 20 or so geocaches to our current location. We found two geocaches in our hour-long hike with relative ease. The Geomate Jr. is accurate to within about 3 meters so you will come very close to the cache. The fun part (especially for the kids) is then finding the hidden treasure.

We found the first cache hidden under a small pile of leaves in a small hollow where two tree trunks had grown together. This cache contained the obligatory log book and just a couple of small items, and our kids had fun reading about when the cache started and how many people have found it.

The second cache was more exciting as it was larger. We found it at a base of a tree with a small piece of bark covering it. We read through the log book and found some interesting plastic toys to trade inside including army men and a strange looking bird. Definitely consider taking several small trinkets to use as trade items as well as a backup pen or pencil to make your entry in the log book. In some caches, the pencil is either missing or broken.

The unit is simple enough for older children to operate. For younger children, you will need to assist them. The unit is durable and can stand up to some abuse in the field.

Apishere Geomate Jr. Features

This unit operates on 3 AAA batteries which are not included. Be sure to carry extra batteries with you during your geocaching adventures! The listed battery time is 12 hours. Total carrying weight is just over 3 ounces with a screen size of 1.2 x 1.2 inches.

The easy-to-read display tells you how many feet the nearest cache is located and in which direction. You can mark caches that you have visited, and you can mark a home or starting location.

This is not a GPS unit for the power-user. Rather, it is a great starter device for family-oriented geocaching. Based on our field use, we can highly recommend the Apisphere Geomate Jr. Geocaching GPS as a reliable, inexpensive, and easy-to-use device to get your family outside, moving, and enjoying the great outdoors!