Sue and Bernie

I'd like a look too, thank you.

Don't forget that the Palm software completely backs up the contents of the PDA. I am assuming that the Palm VX desktop works the same as for my old Palm IIIxe. When I got hold of an enhanced Palm IIIxe (with a smart media slot fitted), I simply cloned it. I hot-synced the "old", out-going Palm then hot-synched to the "new" empty Palm. The new Palm was identical to the one it was replacing in terms of the installation. I then hard-reset the "old" Palm, installed the Palm software on Sue's PC and hot-synced her Outlook to the Palm.

The car routing thing is becoming an ordinary car thing now. It is without a doubt a most useful bit of kit, not only for the obvious conveniences, but just for the family strife it eliminates! I do still carry road maps in the car jic - but I haven't looked at one in years. Having a postcode search facility in TomTom is superb - just whack it in and off you go - (remembering that it is just a fancy computer programmed by people)! Used it recently to travel from Norfolk to a lodge in the Cairgorms - it was hidden down a gravel track in the back of beyond - but the box took us to the door without once looking at a map. ...and the supreme accolade - when my son visits, he asks to borrow the GPS instead of the car!

...and no doubt you do your washing with a rock in a mountain stream and drive a Robin Reliant! (Teasing) We started with a yellow as well, went right up the eTrex range to a Vista C. As well as that, we have a StreetPilot 2610 with a 1 GB card and I have an Ipaq (+ BT GPS) that does everything except make tea! We too could have stayed with a yellow but, for cycling, having road maps visible was superb - and once you start down that road, there's no stopping... Why 3 GPS? The Vista is used for cycling and caching, the Ipaq lives with me (Bernie) cos its my phone, car-director, "safety" camera alerter, organiser, games machine, mp3 player, book reader... blah, blah,blah, and the StreetPilot gets Sue about when I'm away and when we go abroad. Yeah! I know, you could all do that lot with some string, sticks cardboard and sticky-backed plastic! As an aside, and I know I've mentioned before, if you own any Garmin units that came with City Navigator or City Select, you can use the second "unlock" available with this software to install it in the Vista C. This will give you full auto-routing.

My old Palm IIIve (B&W, predates the M500), works fine with XP. I have moved on to a pocket PC for my Organiser and caching needs but the Palm still acts as a back up for Outlook ... and for the day the PPC dies! My palm does have exclusive use of a serial port now that all my Garmin bits have moved on to USB. Before then, I just used to hot-swap the various cables and palm cradle as required from a serial extension lead. Just checked my hot sync settings - all for serial comm ports so cannot shed any light if your Palm has a USB connection. Did your software installation ask you to install a "conduit" to enable the Palm to connect to Outlook?

Try the programme first - it is not that easy to use. I have a registered copy of GPS Gate (GG) - I took it off my PPC because it was almost as much trouble as the thing I was using it to fix! If you have TT already installed and use the quick and dirty "method 1" to install GG, GG will constantly fire up TT. When you try to look at Memory-Map (MM), up comes TT again,... and again... and again! Reset the PPC to restore nomality. Method 2 requires you to check a registry setting prior to installing TT. You "restore" this registry setting after TT has butchered it about. Then you can use GG to act as the go-between, feeding data to TT, MM and other programmes (depending which version of GG you registered. I will try method 2 next time my PPC decides to zero itself...

Thanks for that, it does confirm what I've found. Deals with phones are better value that those without - go figure! ...as they say over the pond. The best sim-only deal I've found so far is from BT via www.mobileshop.com. 150 mins x-network + 50 text - cost £27 month. BT discount the first 3 months, mobile shop rebates the rest! Basically - it's free for a year... on a 12 month contract! How do they make money at this??? I had to get them to email me back to confirm the details because I just could not believe what I read. Now I am just waiting to get into my 30 PAC period to start so I can begin the transfer my present number...

Wooops ! I meant to mean that I don't need to use the PPC for routing me while driving - TT takes care of that - I don't have the 2 connected in any way. Sorry for the confusion. civilised The Vista C only has a mini USB connector. I believe (from other forums) that this means you cannot utilise the NMEA output i.e. you cannot connect it up via a serial link to other bits of kit. Civilised, I presume you are using TomTom in a standalone unit rather than the XDA? We actually own a Vista C (caching and walking), StreetPilot 2610 (car - Sue mainly) and latterly I (Bernie) picked up a HP Ipaq with BT GPS that runs TT3 and the full "safety" camera setup (that Sue, being a respectable lady driver, doesn't need). To do the postion thing on your XDA, you do need something to feed the data into the box. Any old BT GPS unit will do the job just dandy, dozens on eBay to choose from.

Er! When you're using TT, what is feeding position data to your XDA? I ask because I use a HP Ipaq 6340 with a bluetooth GPS - this BT GPS unit feeds data to both these programmes as required via a single comm port (with only one of the programmes running at a time).

I currently use an Orange PAYG sim in my PPC. Works fine but the tariff for out-going calls is harsh. My current "main" mobile contract with 3 is coming to an end so I'm looking for an "ordinary" 2/2.5 G sim only deal with around 200 cross-network minutes to fit into the PPC so that the PPC can be promoted to my No 1 mobile. I've looked round the bazaars and found myself bewildered by the permutations offered - nobody believes in transparency in their offerings! Rather than list the morass of details, I though some others who may have already trodden this path can shed some light on the subject. Has anyone found the killer, sim-only, anytime package that is ideal for the PPC equipped cacher?

I too have been very well served by Garmin. When the cable of the power/speaker unit that feeds my StreetPilot 3 was damaged, I phoned up to see about getting it repaired. No problems contacting them at all. "Don't bother, we'll send you another one" - and they did - for free! Impressed? I was...

...as a still serving member, I have to balance this statement somewhat because it does not tally with my experience. In the RAF, the Tornado aircrew were each issued with a personal Garmin portable commercial unit during Gulf War 1 - just in case they had to walk home. Naturally, I cannot speak for the other two services (except to confirm they must be very-easy-to-operate units)....

...that's like asking "what car should I buy"? People who bought Garmins will naturally advocate their own personal choices and vice versa. Like cars, each model has a specific set of features and, until you use one, you will not find out the little snags and benefits of each implementation. I would advise you to try and borrow one from a friendly local cacher (attend an event perhaps) to take it for a "test drive".

Maybe time to change "&" to "and" ...You live and learn! Just changed ours - we had no messages there but don't want to be put in the awkward position that HH found himself dropped in.

Dear Old Labour! I wondered how long it would take for their ingrained tax-and-spend philosophy to break through. It did take a long time but now it's here with a vengeance. Do you remember when Golden Brown got caught using two different inflation indicies, a low one to work out an increase in pensions, a higher one for raising more tax from the rest of us. ...and now they've jailed an ex-Vicar! He wouldn't pay more tax than the percentage rise in his pension. What a government! They really want to balance their books by taking food from the mouths of pensioners. ...and then some prat pays £70,000 for a rock to put in a hospital foyer! With regard to the fuel tax, Golden Brown is no doubt delighting in the extra tax he will reap across the board... Let's emigrate!

Thanks for your comments Dave, but you will see that I encourage buyers to pay by electronic transfer - it's free for both parties and far more secure for the seller (since the payment cannot be recalled/disputed). I'm not sure where my postage fees went! I use "Auction Tamer" to do the admin - obviously it didn't! You are correct about my Paypal levy - I was thinking of the £1.95 I was charged on a recent sale, it was for a £50 transfer. I will amend my posts immediately. Thanks again... B

If anyone is interested, my Palm kit is up on eBay. Paperless caching and excellent organisation of your life at a minimal cost!!! There's the PDA itself (updated to OS 4.1), a Palm folding keyboard, a rigid mini-keyboard and a spare cradle. Search for "Palm IIIxe" and you'll find them - I will not be posting links here on this site. All up seperately so you can "upgrade" your setup as required. I'll be sorry to see this old friend go...

If some-one is looking for a Palm for paperless caching, we will be putting one of ours one eBay tomorrow (Sun 11 Sep 05). We will also be selling seperately: A Palm folding keyboard (absolutely must-have item that accesses all the Palm functions) and enables you to type stuff in as fast as with a normal PC. A rigid mini-keyboard (Bernie used this at work) A spare cradle (used with the mini-keyboard) Bernie's gone PPC! Originally started with the Palm for Cachemate, found it so, so useful as a PDA that I've ended up spending a small fortune on a PPC, BT keyboard, BT GPS, BT earpiece and mounts for the cars. The Palm is a fantastically useful bit of kit - the PPC is too with bells on. Whichever way you go, you do wonder how you managed without one! Once you've got used to having all your data to hand, personal stuff like names and addresses, PINs (encryped of course) along with the little diversions (Scrabble, Backgammon et al), the ability to type up a document anywhere then beam it to the PC for finishing off... the list is endless. and of course, this is Gadget-Mans' idea of heaven! Eventually, having the programmes like Word etc in your pocket just meant that I ended up rolling all my things - Car routing, phone, caching, organisation all into a single lump. Brilliant stuff...

Sensitive! Moi! Don't make Sue laugh! Made me smile... I really don't care a fig one way or the other personally - I am merely pointing out that some are being a bit offhand with their casual comments about something that may be some little darling's pride and joy and some doting parent's delight. A bit unnecessary I think...

A friend of mine makes up calling cards with his young children for them to leave at the caches they find. I find some of the rather negative comments from some long-standing members of high regard rather surprising... please remember there are youngsters playing this family game - stating you would choose to use their little efforts to scrape odure from your shoes is hardly the spirit!... ...as always, please think about it before you press the "send" button.

Stuey, Thanks for the input but I had tried that before I humbled myself on the forum. However, you are on the right track as it turns out... ...this evening, installing another programme caused my Ipaq to fall over big style! ...and the "restore" function that worked wonderfully last time this happened - wouldn't! It's just as much fun manually restoring a PPC as doing a proper PC - it isn't fun at all! The one good thing is that on re-installing MM Pocket Navigator, the overlay data now transfers like it should. Obviously the MM people didn't think that people would move programmes about in the PPC or re-install elsewhere and haven't put in a way to alter this setting. Now you know...

...actually, MM does tell you where it's sending the data, there's a dialogue box shown while the actual transfer is taking place - that's how I know where they're going! ...and that's what I want to alter. I think it was set the first time I sent the PDA Nav programme to the Ipaq but I cannot find where this information was stored on the main PC!

A question for all the more experienced Ipaq users... I have been using MM successfully with my Ipaq 6340. No problem with transferring the actual maps but when I want to "Export Data to PDA..." and send all the flags, icons and stuff to show them on the maps, the main programme on my PC insists on sending the data to the Ipaq file store (IFS) in a seperate folder! I actually now have the Pocket Nav installed in the main memory but even when I tried installing the prog to the IFS, the same thing happened. I have to manually transfer the mmo file into the installation folder to be able to see the icons. Where do I find (and change) the darned setting that determines where MM exports the overlay data to? ...or perhaps I should surrender to MM and transfer all the Ipaq installation files into the folder that the data export function insists on using?

The biggest advantage of the Vista over the Legend, colour version or mono, is the 24 MB of internal memory in the same piece of kit. If you ever decide to by a Garmin autorouting GPS unit (one that comes with City Select or City Navigator software), the autorouting software can also be used with the colour versions to obtain proper full autorouting. The size of your internal memory will be important in this case because there is more data for a given map area in the CS and CN software packages. For example, we own a Streetpilot 2610 and a Vista C. We use CN V7 that came with the SP, to load data into both. The SP, with a 1GB compact flash card, holds the whole of the UK, France and Spain along with a healthy chunk of the LH side of Germany. Brilliant for driving in Europe. The Vista C, with only 24 MB holds all of East Anglia, the NE part of London and a couple of bits round Brighton. Quite enough for the pushbikes and caching. The Legend C - would struggle...

SP, ...you should've got yourself one of them there 2 Litre plastic hip flasks full of cola, available in all leading stores... ...and fix them lights!