Airmapper

1. GPS For Geocaching, any newer Lowrance handheld. (Mine is older but I'd like a new one.) 2. Paperless Device and Software Palm M125, with Plucker, and Sunrise XP to send the HTML cache database to it. 3. Software for downloading Waypoints GSAK, does it all. 4. Maps Google Earth for detailed advance planning. However I usually use MapPoint 2006 for previewing the caches in an area. (Essentially the same as Streets and Trips.)

I still have a full head of hair cause I went for the Premium Membeship. If not I'd pulled it all out by now. I usually do this: I have a saved list of PQ's I run, and when I want to go caching I go in and request one be sent for the area I'm headed. I load that into GSAK, which will do all the translations, and with some clicking buttons I'll have the data sent to my GPS, PDA, and Laptops mapping software. After that I'm ready. The GPS has fresh data, the PDA has the complete cache page ad hints, and if I'm packing my laptop I can look at the map on screen, or find wireless internet and log the finds while I'm stopped somewhere.

There was a forum but I'm afraid it didn't really take off. (Sorry ) Here is a link to that Click I think there is another site with Pilot friendly caches near airports, but I don't have that link.

IBL

In the Off topic forums virtual stock game I had 15 shares @ 20.00. I've made 47.85% gain on that by itself.

Well, since you are "smack dab in the middle of WA" and, "From: Wenatchee, WA" and, ".....2.5 hours from the Lily pad" once I've found that danged lily pad, I'll have you triangulated... You forgot that I'm also 2 miles from a fire station. This sounds like a Puzzle cache.

The file you download is an EXE I believe, and runs as an installer, doing everything needed. You would have the SD card in the reader as you run it if I recall correctly. There should have been instructions on the page you downloaded it from. I'd follow those closely. Updates are good, and sometimes will even add new features to the unit. I updated my unit several times and was happy with the results.

Oops.....

Just to be crystal clear: that is a ONE TIME charge for CacheMate, Not a Monthly charge. Or you could not get it at all. Sunrise XP & Plucker will handle GSAK HTML exports nicely, and the only program you need to pay for is GSAK, but you'll probably need it anyway for Cachemate. But then again I'm a tightwad.

They will adapt their products to meet the market demand. Speaking of which: GPS Leader Garmin May Be Headed In Cell Phone Direction

I see you found KTAG, welcome. Things are a bit slow there lately, so feel free to speak up.

Not that I know of. The serial cable is mostly for sending NMEA data, like for a computer mapping program and a Laptop. I've hooked up my unit before and had it feed a map program to give me driving directions on a Laptop in the seat. A little more advanced use might be using that data to feed a boat or aircrafts navigation equipment or even the autopilot.

To get to the new waypoint screen, you press the ENT/save key for a moment, then select "Entered Pos." That will give you a field to enter your coordinates into. I'd probably go nuts if I had to hand enter more than a few coords. There is some info on my site that might get you started using .loc files to send caches to your unit. Link: Lowrance Users Geocaching Guide

I thought this was interesting. Here is a Yahoo percentage of change chart of the 3 companies mentioned stocks. I believe the jump on Monday is in response to the buyout. Both Nokia (BLUE) and Garmin (RED) go down, and SiRF (GREEN) goes up. (Related or not I don't know?)

I've been playing a virtual stock game online, and have around 280 shares in GRMN. The change hasn't updated yet but I lost a lot of my play money I'm sure. EDIT: It just updated, I lost over $3,000, and I had 300 shares. Their stocks have dropped around 10%

Geocaching: Priceless.

Were is the original post? Forum glitch I guess?

I'm in no hurry to upgrade based on what I've read. I'd rather just wait till I get a new unit before upgrading my mapping.

I use a Palm m125. I done like you and asked several people on this forum what they thought, and between all the recommendations, that model came up several times. I got it for several features it had: Monochrome screen (can see it in sunlight) USB cradle instead of serial. Backlight (for night caching) Uses standard AAA batteries I can get and change away from power sources. Has 8MB internal memory & has a SD card slot. With a 512 MB card has no lack of storage space. I think it works really well, and I would get one all over again. I loaded the card up with lots of free Palm programs and I use it for tons of things aside from caching.

Have a look at Lowrance units and pricing, you may be able to find a unit and maps for that price range. Don't count on road auto routing though, but they have good antennas and are as feature packed for the price.

About 15 or so. I have to see people a few times before I really know them. I hate it when some friendly cacher comes up at an event and says: "Hey Airmapper!" and I draw a blank on not only their handle but real name as well. At events, I usually get called by my handle, but if it's the group of cachers I know better my real name is used. A few cachers call me "Mapper" and I don't mind that.

I'd reccomend the Lowrance Expedition C over the Hunt C. A Lowrance rep once showed them to me side by side and the screen is a lot better on the Expedition. The price difference is small, and if you really need to Camo the unit I'm sure you could find a case for it.

I use a Palm m125 with Vista. So far everything works, but there are a few features of the software end that won't work quite right. You won't waste your money on an old Palm with Vista as your OS, you will be able to use it with the newest version of Palm Desktop. There may be a few issues that pop up, but there should be a way around them. Pretty much any Palm would work, but I would recommend getting one with USB connectivity, like the m500 or a m125. Serial ports are on the way out fast and using converters sometimes turns into a problem of it's own.

How does the Garmin handle "Auto-routing" on the water? If I want to go from point a to b but follow the channel markers because of the deeper water will it automatically follow the channel like a road or just go from point a to b in a straight line? Another question about the maps for the Lowrance. Is the Mapcreate 7 (#95-61) or NauticPath USA Marine Electronic Chart (#108-129) have much the same detail and have they both been updated fairly recently with new data? Garmin Auto-routing only gives you directions over the road, I don't believe any handheld GPS offers it for the water, but that would be nice I suppose. I should have said road, looking back my post made it seem it was over the water, sorry I got your hopes up. As for the new Lowrance mapping, I'm still using MapCreate 6.3, and have never used any Marine mapping. The version I do have is very detailed, but in places like cities it gets off sometimes on roads as they are changed more often. As for lake shores and rivers, MC 6.3 is pretty good, and 7 should be the same. As far as land detail goes, I believe it all mapping comes from the same source regardless of brand, so all will be about the same.

Are you interested in Auto-routing? (The GPS automatically calculates a route for you with turn-by-turn directions.) Garmin does this, while Lowrance does not offer it with their handheld units. If this isn't important to you, then the Lowrance may be a cheaper solution, as in general they are priced lower than Garmin's. As for which is better, both will do what you want and probably do it well, you just have to find which features you like and what the cost will be by the time you add in mapping.