pauliesg

Thanks guys I appreciate your comments its always good to here hands on reviews from people I will probably get one soon

Thanks everyone It seems ideal to me. Almost too good to be true Has anyone heard of anything negative about it?

Hi I hope someone can help I currently have a Garmin GMAP 60CSx which I have been very happy with. I stopped caching this summer as my girlfriend hurt her ankle. I also got fed up of all the paper and preperation it took me before going out. I looked into getting a PDA and transfering the information from geocache site to gsak to pda but although I understand GSAK is very popular for many, for me in this modern internet age I dont like updating databases and see it as a waste of time, email PQs download then download onto pda etc. Anyway I have returned to this site and see the oregon is a unit that allows you to transfer all the cahe data direct from the geocahe website effictively cutting out the middle man and saving time. Has anyone got one of these and if so could they let me know what they are like. Do they allow you to store all cache details and the logs? How many caches details can you keep on the device? Is the oregon itself any good or at least as good as the 60CSX thanks in advance Paulie

Thanks I already have a decent garmin 60csx but what I really wanted the phone for was quick access to ground speak website information about caches while out in the field. My plan is to find an area I want to cache in at home download the info into my garmin then set out and use the phone for all the info I would usually have had to print. To me this seems so much easier than Pocket queries gsak cachemate etc etc.

I have not been caching this Winter and have decided to start now the weather is getting better I had a look about paperless caching on this forum and was delighted to see there is an alternative to the terribly antiquated Pocket Query Gsak palm or ppc route I have long thought with modern technology as it is there are too many links in this chain, as Groundspeak has all the available info I think email PQs cachemate etc are unneccasary parts in the chain. (Granted unless you like having a good stat analysis programe and time on your hands. Does anyone know if the Nokia N95 is as good as it sounds when paired whith the relevant software? I already have a Decent garmin which I could use aswell, but the thought of being able to go straight from Groundspeak website to portable information holder and wireless is exciting. I really dont have the time to mess about updating the pqs then loading them onto gsak then onto my garmin blah blah time wasting blah. I would hope to choose an area then download direct to garmin before setting out and use the phone once I get out in the field. Or is there anyother way to cut out the GSAK middleman?

I understand what WW means, but the irony of somebody that averages three caches per day and has left his personalised calling card all across the south being annoyed at obsesive cachers, is not lost on me. I find the trouble with the First to Find logs written by FTF sharks/hounds/ whatever, is they rarely comment about the cache itself, they are too busy being smug. The next few logs are usually stories from silver and bronze hounds and how they were beaten, by so and so, etc. Few of them are ever critical of the cache itself, even if it has incorrect difficulty or terrain markings or any other problems. The FTF authors seem unwilling to type anything that belittles their proud achievement. Unfortunately the FTF hounds are not very helpful to anyone who likes reading logs for insight. However everyone is different and I am sure all these sharks love the chase, the monitoring and the competition. I like the walk, the views and the daylight, but each to their own.

Sense thanks. I now have all this set on the GPS unit. I mucked around a bit but have set it to show cache size difficulty and terrain difficulty. For paperless caching without using logs this is great. Now if only Garmin had allowed another 20 character or so space in the note field we would really be laughing, that and another empty page with space for the cache description and 5 previous logs!

Trailgators Please do you know where can I find out how to do that I have GSAK and a garmin gpsmap 60csx thanks paul

Thanks Fraggle Pharisee a while ago you told me of a good PPC set up that had GPS aswell, please could you remind me what it was and do you think it is worth while having a good GPS enabled PPC which also manages waypoints and keeps cache lists to use alongside a dedicated GPS unit thanks Paul

pop up pirate I bought a garmin gpsmap 60csx new from america and topo V2 to go with it about £350 total I have looked at the screen shots of memory map and they look better than my small display on garmin unit. Have I wasted my money when I could just have purchased a decent gps pocket pc and memory map like you? Does the palm work well in tree cover, if it does i might aswell flog my gps and get a mio instead. Or I could keep it as a back up do you run cachemate on the ppc too? thanks Paul

Gsak and Cachemate versus Memory map and Beeline versus GPX sonar Versus any other combination who would win in a fight? Or who would win in competition to find the best or easiest datbase and mobile PDa palm to use?

Keehote I wonder if you could help me with a couple of questions I looked at the beeline site and it seems interesting is beeline a superior mobile database programme to cache mate? it says i need a GPS receiver with NMEA outputi have a garmin gpsmap60csx is this ok? If so would it be true that all I need is a decent pocket PC then download the beeline programme to my PC then download/ transfer it to a pocket pc. Then all I need to learn then is how to work one database (beeline) and have a good portable option of cache waypoint management. rather than two on the other option GSAK and Cachemate I understand GSAK and cachemate are good programmes But I am not really interested in managing stuff at home much mapping, listing etc all I do with gsak is search for caches using the various filters then I log the finds online. If gsak and cachemate on a decent palm is the way to go I might do it but I am starting to confuse myself. I spend too much time procastinating at home what to do and want a simple easy effective portable mobile database and waypoint manager.

I was interested to know if there was any other more simple way than the following for paperless caching. 1 pocket query from internet 2 to GSAK on home PC 3 to Cachemate on portible pc, pocket pc, lap top or palm I was wondering if their was a programme that could manage the data base on a home PC and a portable version. Or if there was a small portable laptop that you could run the progrmme direct from the pocket query on. At present this whole system seems uneccessarily complicated ie updating queries once a week, loading them onto GSAK, then transfering all that onto cache mate. Surely it is possible to cut out the middle man and go straight from the query to the portable device? Thanks for any help I have found this forum to be of great use with friendly advice I purchased the correct GPS after advice on here and I have had help with faulty map software Paul

Thanks everyone for all your help. Jerryo I thought you had the right idea about making sure I wiped every last trace of Garmin from the PC before reloading it However I was too scared to make things worse . So I got in touch with Tech support at garmin, they came back to me after two days, they told me to download an update from their website and try that, however it failed. I did get an error log message this time which I emailed to tech support and they replied the next day. First they said remove programme which I knew how to do but they supplied instructions Then they told me the same method almost word for word that Jerryo did to remove it from the registry, ( I should have done it when J told me four days ago) then they also told me how to clear the temporary files out from the directory. I did all this reloaded it and god bless them it worked. Excellent support I must say and I am grateful to MichaelB at Garmin. Little did I know this was not the end of my self inflicted problems. All I had to do now was re-enter my 25 digit code I got online when I first loaded the programme and registered it. Unfortunately it was scrawled on the back of the CD insert in a style that would shame a dyslexic five year old. My handwriting was poor and it I had written the precious code in a pen, close to running out at 3 in the morning when I first loaded it. My scrawled 25 digit code contained the following; two Z,s that could be 2s two Us that looked like Vs and an S which could have been a five The air turned blue, the dog ran for cover and my PC was lucky to avoid the wall! After half an hour of level 3 puzzle cache code breaking I had not managed it. In despair I tried online to get the code and found if I entered my email address, they simply sent me the code by return. At last I had it and found that two of the letters I had written that appeared as Ls were in fact bloody Cs Thankfully its all fixed now works perfectly, and I solemly swear I will never attempt to run a snide programme on my pc ever again. If any one catches me asking wher to find free unauthorized software to run on a Garmin product, please feel free to shoot me! Thanks again guys for all your suggestions, concern and help Paulie

Thanks everyone I will try some of this tommorow evening and let you know how I get on Thanks again Paul

TFB The mapsource programme is mine I prurchased it, the problem is I downloaded Free software of Britanny maps on my PC, tried to open them with Mapsource and caused map source to stop working. Jerryo and Stuey I have tried system restore but it does not work even though windows xp creates a checkpoint daily. When I do it the computer restarts then says Unable to system restore. I am pretty useless with Pc s but managed to search my C hard drive and found some of the files that are causing the problem however when I try to delete them it says "This file may be in use by another person or programme cannot delete!" So I have tried starting my Pc from a time before I got this dumb programme and also deleting it but neither works. Can anyone help further, I realise I have done wrong getting these snide maps but I am being punished unfairly and am going mad. Thanks for all previous help Paul

Jerry please could you tell me how to do that if it is not too much trouble, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks Paul

I hope somebody can help me. I have Garmin Topo V2 map source loaded on my PC. I am going to Brittany in two weeks and found a web site where some guy had put free topo maps he said you could use with mapsource. I downloaded his maps zipped, then unzipped them. I tried to open it and mapsource came up with error message. "Mapsource is unable to open there is a problem with the registry please reinstall" I did this and then when I got to the part in installation process of enter unlock code it said "there is a problem with the unlock wizard registry please reinstall unlock wizard registry" I have tried deleting every last bit of topo, switching on off and reloading it etc same message every time. I fear I have tried to use illegal software and am being punished or this free software had a virus. I did not realise this was illegal or risky. Please could anyone help me sort this problem out. Thanks for reading Paul

Thanks Pharisee and Fraggle I saw mentions of geo scout and assumed it was a cachemate alternative but can see it is for a PPC It is option 1 or 3 then, I thought it would be handy if there was something compatible with garmin map source v2, seeing as I already bought it but I really dont know if I need another portable map as I already have a nice Garmin GPS with Mapsource on it, I also have a tom tom in the car which I believe I can put waypoints onto as points of interest, and I am just learning how to operate the map programe the gps and GSAK. Pharisee I have looked at the Garmin iQue3600 and am not sure it is another bit of kit that I will probably never use extensively enough as I still havent learnt enough about the other gear and programmes I am still undecided but take your point about speed, I would not like a palm that took ages to flick between the relevant cache data. Can you or anyone else reccomend a palm that will be used solely for running the cachemate programme at a decent speed. Thanks again to everyone for their advice I listen to all of it and It was a great help to me when I first started and got my GPS.

Thanks To summarize I think these are my options 1 A simple palm compatible with cachemate is the way to go to be able to take basic GSAK imported data onto my travels. 2 Go for a more advanced palm and a different programme to cachemate. 3 Spend more and go for a pocket pc and a more advanced cache management programme and also possibly get programmes of cache management that allows map transfer and advanced features?

This may seem a simple question . If I buy a pocket PC which I assume is similar to a normal PC but smaller. Can I simply download the GSAK programme onto it and Can I download my Topo V2 map onto it aswell? If this is the case then I would buy one as that is all I really need.

This topic is similar to a question I wanted to ask I have got a nice Garmin 60scx and mapsource v2 I manage the data in GSAK. I want to go paperless and was going to follow sid and bobs advice and get cache mate and a cheap Palm, I will use it exclusively for geo caching. I dont think I need a PDA with really good maps, but I would like one that holds a lot of cache data logs etc and one from which is easy to transfer gsak data onto via usb. Any suggestions?

Thanks allboy

Thanks Jon I did not manage them all in one day though, it took two separate visits. and I have left Snow White for another day. As I know I will be able to get my girlfriend to go back up box hill as she likes the Restaurant at the top. So if she says I dont fancy caching today I will suggest Snow and she will surely go.

Hello I am a relatively new cacher 20 so far. I am taking my partner Charlotte and her sister 1st timer out tommorow Saturday. To look for Geocaches in Surrey countryside. We will be out from 12 ish till 4ish and I wondered if anyone could suggest a suitable area or trip to do about 4 caches or a couple of multis. I particularly like multis but do not want to attempt anything too difficult as it may put the sister off. We can travel anywhere around the county and to give an idea of what we have enjoyed so far was The snow white series on Box Hill and a couple of level 1-2 multi caches set by badgers4 in the pyford area. Any help with a suggestion for a trip itineray would be most appreciated. Thankyou pauliesg