Be the First to Find (FTF) Geocaches!

In this short video I explain how to be the first to find (FTF) new caches. I walk you through how to set up Instant Email notifications on the Geocaching website so you'll be instantly notified every time there is a new cache published in your area, allowing you the opportunity to jump on it and be the first to find =)

10 Responses to “Be the First to Find (FTF) Geocaches!”

1. KK7X Says:
   July 2nd, 2010 at 8:07 pm

   I have found several FTF using this feature. One 25 minutes after it was posted!

2. serf050505 Says:
   July 2nd, 2010 at 8:29 pm

   I have been using this feature for quite some time and forgot how I set it up. Thank you for making this video because I have several friends that are new to geocaching and I used your video to show them how to set up their notifications. They are so excited, and waiting for the first new published cache to be posted in their area (they live in different states than I do).
   Great job on the video, it clearly instructs newbies on how to do this!

3. totallygomer Says:
   July 3rd, 2010 at 1:33 pm

   Great explanation on how to set these up. I have been using this feature for new cache notifications for almost as long as I have been caching (about a year and half). I signed up for premium membership about a month after I started and found out about this by just clicking around on all the new links.

   I take this one step further and get it sent directly to my phone and I don’t need web service get them. I get notifications sent to me as a text message. I still have to look it up on the site, but I know about the cache instantly. To do this, you will need to find out from your cell service provider how to email-to-text. It is usaully a pretty simple address. For example, I have Verizon Wireless and I have all my notifications sent to (10 digit phone number)@vtext.com. It’s that simple.

   This has allowed me to get a huge jump on the competition, which is very intense in my area. I have over 135 FTF’s in just 1 1/2 years. My personal best in one day is 11 FTF’s all one morning (I’m an early riser) before work. The 2TFs were more than 30 minutes later. This is typical for my FTF hunts, thanks to a true “instant notification”.

   That’s just how I do it.

   Thanks for the good stuff, Josh

4. 2lingPa Says:
   July 5th, 2010 at 6:34 pm

   Hi Josh, and Totallygomer

   Thanks for sharing this one, its appreciated. I have seen the feature but never paid much attention to it, until I saw this one in combination with using a text2sms service. Took a while to dig that up on the site of my provider but it works like a charm. Already received three notifications of caches and events that I normally would have spotted one or two days later.

   thnx

5. Team Looney Tunez Says:
   July 6th, 2010 at 6:25 pm

   Thanks Josh for the info. A fellow Cacher showed the alert feature to me and it is not widely known. It will help others very much and this may help also.

   I also do not have a “smart phone”. As totallygomer mentions above, I set the alerts up to email my phone as a text message (Verizon it is 10-Digit-Phone-Number@vtext.com). However the full message is truncated. I only get enough of the message for the Name and GC code of the cache. Not very helpful if you are away from your computer, have your GPSr and no coordinates.

   I found this site to fill in the gaps and it works great! http://coord.info/textmark.aspx

   I followed the simple 7 step instructions and now…

   If I text “GEOC ?GCabc123″ to 41411, I get the coordinates for cache GCabc123.

   If I text “GEOC !GCabc123″ to 41411, I get the hint for the cache.

   To simply things even more, I made a contact in my phone called GEOC with the number 41411. That jogs my memory to use the GEOC command in text message.

   Hope this helps.

6. BUCKtown'ers2010 Says:
   July 7th, 2010 at 2:09 pm

   WOW! Thanks for the insite. I am new to geocaching (March 2010) and have always wondered how people get the FTF so quick. Now I know! Thanks and keep up the good work. We appreciate you.

7. BUCKtown'ers2010 Says:
   July 7th, 2010 at 2:11 pm

   ……but FYI….you have to be a premium member to access this notification page. : )

8. pigtales Says:
   July 13th, 2010 at 1:27 pm

   Good info. Never used this yet, but will. Still was able to get about 14 FTF’s with just pocket queries. Need to go caching more, took too much time off. Thanks.

9. koriloeb Says:
   August 1st, 2010 at 1:24 am

   I love the internet, this was exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks for publishing this!!

10. Pauline Says:
    August 24th, 2010 at 11:04 pm

    We have been caching over a yr and the ftf still eludes us

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