Geomate- Geocaching for Kids Review and GIVEAWAY

We are so excited to be participating in the A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 with Jess from My Silly Monkeys.  We have lined up an amazing sponsor for you:

I am sure by now you have heard about the world wide craze of Geocaching- an outdoor adventure of treasure hunting!! With GPS coordinates as your guide, geocachers around the world can find hidden treasures(Geocaches) everywhere!  

A quick fact: As of June 6, 2010, there were 1,092,192 active geocaches worldwide, in over 100 countries, and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.(According to AbsolutelyGPS.com)

Geocaches can be found everywhere- but wondering what you are looking for? They come in all different sizes from small film containers to large metal containers- and will have a wide assortment of trinkets. Every box has a log book inside soo your family can see how many people have found this box and where they all come from. Once you find the box, you take the trinket of your choice and replace it with something of yours. Watch the Geocaching in a nutshell video to see kids in action!

Adults have formed groups around the world- to help each other out on the Geocaching hunt! You can use any handheld GPS, but that can become very NOT child friendly! That's where Geomate JR. steps in!

The Geomate Jr. comes preloaded with 250,000 geocaches around the great 50 states! Super light weight and extremely durable! With the push of a button, the Geomate will lead you to the treasure! Treasure can be hidden behind bushes, under rocks, or in a tree but will NEVER be buried. People are clever so you have to think out of the box sometimes. You will not find every treasure you set out to find, some will have been found by non-geocachers or set out of place by the weather. My kids had a positive attitude and said "Let's move along to the next treasure box"!

The Geomate is easy to use with only 2 buttons! Once you have read and understand the instructions, you can begin your adventure. The Geomate Jr. will show you on the display the size of the geocache, the level of difficulty and the terrain level. At this point, we typically only set out for larger easier to find trinkets as I am not about to go wilderness hiking pregnant :) When you turn the Geomate on it will first try to locate your GPS location, and then it will allow you to scroll through the 20 nearest geocaches. There may be many more than 20 near you, however Geomate is strict on the geocaches to make your first time enjoyable! Follow the arrow to your destination!

Their "first" geocache!

As a homeschool mom, this device opens up sooo many possibilities! You can find geobugs and coins- each one has a code where you can see online all the places it has traveled! My kids are mapping out the places their coin has been- with hopes it will make it all the way to Germany! Through our hunting of over 50 caches we have learned about different types of terrain and habitats. They have learned about safety, weather, and many unique facts through the things they find! Quite often geocache boxes will have maps for state parks etc. My kids love looking them up online and finding out all their is to know! Their is as much learning in Geocaching as you want!

While on our adventure in cities we had never ventured, we found it very helpful to look up the geocache by it's code (which can be seen on the Geomate Jr.) on the Geocache website or on our geocaching phone app. It gave us a more general picture at location and gave clues. While the Geomate will lead you there, sometimes these clues are great for harder hunts! We keep our Geomate Jr. in the car so no matter where we are we can go on an impromptu treasure hunt(I keep a treasure loot bag in the car too)! You can't get that from any regular GPS~

Geomate Jr. now sells an update kit to allow you to connect with Geomate and get the latest and greatest caches. You can also personalize your Geomate Jr. setting with the new update kit and download international geocaches for your vacation!  This is definitely on my must have list! The kids are roaring to go find more! The hunt never gets old and is always great family fun!

Got questions? Feel free to ask me or email their awesome customer service!

BUY IT: You can purchase the Geomate Jr. from many retailers including Target and Amazon for around $69.99. Click here for a complete listing of retailers.

WIN IT: Now that you know about this incredible new adventure- you want one! HGF is giving one reader a Geomate Jr. of their own!

*You must be a HGF reader to participate*

ENTER BELOW THROUGH RAFFLECOPTER!!  {AFTER YOU ENTER, VISIT THE REST OF THE PARTICIPANTS AND ENTER THEIR GIVEAWAY'S TOO!}

Good luck everyone! U.S only!!! Giveaway will run until August 21st at 11:59PM! We will use Rafflecopter to pick a winner {Rafflecopter uses Random.org} We will email the winner and announce it here on the blog. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be announced. 


DISCLAIMER: I was not paid for this post. I was given a product to review, and I have provided my own honest opinion. Thank you, Geomate Jr. for allowing us to review your products and for the awesome giveaway.  Please see the Rafflecopter form for additional disclosures.  You can view our PR policies here.
We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.