Asisphere Geomate.jr

Geocaching.com describes it as “family-friendly” and a great introductory tool for “casual geocaching”. I suppose it would be. It does have some limitations, so check out the links below to find out more.

• Geocaching.com – Geomate.Jr
• Rei.com – Geomate.Jr – Incase you really want to add to those rewards points!

Update:

• CNET Product Review

If you have or have used a Geomate.jr, please tell me what you think of it in the comments section.

Swisscard Lite from Victorinox

This little tool fits nicely into your shirt pocket or into your GPS case clipped to your belt. I don’t recommend putting it in the back pocket of your jeans unless you are sure, you won’t be finding that you have “unexpectedly” sat down. It is lightweight plastic and will crack, if not break, under shall we say… “duress”.

This handy little gadget includes:

• Letter opener (blade)
• Scissors
• Straight pin
• Pressurized ball point pen
• Tweezers
• Magnifying glass
• Screwdriver 3mm
• Screwdriver 5mm
• Phillips screwdriver #00-0
• Phillips screwdriver #1-2
• LED mini light – Ruler (cm)

If you have ever been sitting at home in your pj’s and received a text from geocaching.com that a new cache was just published not more that two miles from you house and that FTF bug bites, you can imagine how handy this little gadget is. Sitting right there in you GPSr case are all the basics you need to sign that “nano” (Caches published near me are inevitably nanos. Especially if it is after dark.) and get that FTF! Now I do have to tell you that the LED isn’t all that bright. So if the area your going to is not well lit you should still bring a flashlight, but it is bright enough to sign the log by. The tweezers are perfect for getting the log from the nano without damage or frustration. They also work well on slivers obtained during the search and here is where the straight pin can come in really handy! The only time I have ever used the screwdrivers was to tighten up my glasses and for that they worked just fine. Speaking of glasses… Having a magnifying glass handy when I run into a cache with a lot of geocoins is very useful. Some of those numbers are pretty darn small.

Now, the letter opener. It says letter opener and it means letter opener. This is not a Swiss Army knife blade. I will cut thru lightweight plastic, but it is not sharp enough to be considered a knife in my book. Howerver, airport security and security guards at government buildings, think that it is. Bear this in mind and just don’t take it with you.

For those of you interested in a more robust version of this type of card, there is the“Tool Logic CC1SB Credit Card Companion”.

It comes with ten features:

Tool Logic CC1SB

• 2 in. serrated knife
• can/bottle opener
• screwdriver
• awl
• compass
• 8 x power lens
• tweezer
• toothpick
• in./cm rulers
• flat screwdriver

I’ve never used this one. If you have please, leave a comment below and let us know what you think of it as a geocaching tool.