Wednesday, June 15, 2011

June 15, 2011 - Geocoin Review: "Cache at Night"

Howdy-do!

I'd like to tell you a little about a new Geocoin that I recently acquired. What's a Geocoin, you say? Well if you've clicked the links that I provided in the word "Geocoin" or if you are a geocacher you already know. For those of you non-clicking non-caching people that are still reading, here's the short version of it:


There are these things collectively called "Trackables" that some people put inside geocaches for other people to find and move to a new cache. When you find a Trackable item you log the find using a unique tracking code that is written on the Trackable itself. A record of your activity is stored in your profile on geocaching.com. You can embellish your log with additional details or your experience during the hunt and pictures, just like you can with the online log for the geocache itself.


Now, Trackables are divided into two main categories: Travel Bugs and Geocoins. Travel Bugs resemble a military dog-tag and generally look the same. Sometimes folks will attach things to the chain that runs through the Travel Bug dog-tag and sometimes they will attach the dog-tag itself to an item and release that, but the shape and size of the thing is usually the same as is the icon that is pictured on your profile- a bug-shaped barcode looking design that is also present on the tag itself.

Geocoins are everything Travel Bugs are but come in a near-infinite range of sizes, shapes and icons. Most are designed by other geocachers. There have been fully functional sextants, multi-piece puzzles and stained-glass pieces of art. 


The coin that I'd like to show you today is more of a more traditional design in that it is very "coin-looking" but also has some other rather cool features. 


This is the front side of the "Cache at Night" Geocoin available from cacheatnight.com. As you can tell by the name of the coin and the website, the focus here is on Geocaching in the dark of night. The artwork on the "heads" side features a very Scooby-Doo-esque spooky tree complete with owl silhouette and a cresent moon hovering in the night sky above. At the base of the tree is the classic ammo can container, a favorite choice of geocachers world-wide. On the trunk of the tree is a white dot that represents a "fire tack" that is often used to guide cachers who seek special night-only geocaches with their reflective surface. The words "Grab A Light and Cache at Night" flank the two sides of the tree.




On the "tails" side of the coin is a flashlight surrounded by some cartoony eyes, again like you'd see on Scooby-Doo or around Halloween. The spot-light from the flashlight is focused on the coin's unique tracking number (which I have edited out in this picture.) At top is the required "Trackable at Geocaching.com" that you can expect to see on every Geocoin.






Now here's the cool part. The two images below were taken after shining the light on my cellphone on them for a few seconds. I used about a 3 second shutter and the aperture open to 3.4 but I have not cranked the color up in Photoshop or anything like that. I'd say these represent well what they really look like in the dark. The shine off the "tails" side is particularly bright due to the amount of phosphorescent material. 




Of all the details on the coin, the eyes on the back look really great when they glow.


The coin has a really nice heft to it. It's about the size and weight of two silver dollars stacked on top of each other, maybe slightly heavier. You can see the webpage for my coin and the icon for it by going here.

2 comments:

  1. Awesome GeoCoin and Review!

    So far I only have two coins both from events I have attended. 10/10/10 and WWFM VIII.

    It's coins like this that make me want to collect other coins than the event ones.

    Cheers,
    DB

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  2. Very interesting. Maybe I shoudl try my hand at this geo-catching as I like to say. Do they have geo-catching in France?

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