Tools of The Trade

TOTTs.  You know, all that geo-retrieval crap you pack with you to make the Geocaching find in those “tricky” spots.  Everyone else’s bag seems to be a lot more loaded up than mine these days, a fact for which I both regret and am thankful, simultaneously.  I like to bike or hike to caches, so that bit about carrying around 20 pounds of gear just isn’t me- but am I missing something?  Am I making the find more difficult/impossible?  What could I improve on, folks?

I’ll show you mine if you show me yours, or at least tell me what I am missing…

All I carry Geocaching in my tool bag besides the GPS, phone and pen nowadays is:

1. A Leatherman or short knife
2. A strong magnet
3. Some string
4. A compass
5. A flashlight

That’s it.  I’ve heard about mirrors and  seen someone pull out hemostats for a nano cache, but never used them myself.  How often do you need this sort of thing and what was the most complicated “needs a tool” cache you ever ran across?  Oh- and what’s in your Geocaching tool bag?