KI4AOA

Hummm, I don't think that they are shunning the iPhone. It looks too me that they are shunning prety much anything or anybody that touches their data. It probably has something to do with them owning the data you gave them. HOLD ON!! I just had a brain storm!!! Maybe they feel that they are missing out on the money. The Trimble Geocache Navigator is commercial, right? I would only imagine that there is a profit sharing thing going on between Trimble and Groundspeak. It would be nice to hear an offical comment from Groundspeak on this. Thinking about it, it has to be a money thing.

I am one who has fell into the FTF game. There was one cacher who got nearly every FTF around. What makes it fun is when there are several people going after it. It is also sad when a cache sits unfound for 2 or 3 days. That being said, don't forget it is just a game! It's not life or death, and the "stats" only have lasting value if they are earned with integrity. This isn't an issue only with geocaching, you'll find it everywhere you look. Take a deep breath. It will be ok. It is not the end.

The reason I am requesting offline capabilities is that ATT has poor coverage in many of the places I geocache. I understand it would be more complicated to do offline maps. The most important features would be offline cache data, and simple on the fly PQ integration. I like to be able to spontaneously geocache. Right now it takes a little planning since most mobile browsers that I have tried balk on the PQ generation page. I will be coming from the Windows Mobile world. I have juggled between GeoScout, Cachemate, and Smache for the past 3 years. Currently I use my pda/phone and the above apps to get the cache listings, and use my Garmin gpsmap60 to actually hunt the cache. Since switching over to a mac, I would LOVE to see a mac-like app for geocaching. i.e. Something that just works. something that is EASY and just WORKS!

My starter wish list: 1. Offline cache data 2. Compass with sun/moon indication 3. Offline maps - googlemaps -- both map and satellite views. 4. Easy PQ import from email 5. Easy PQ creation (i.e. one tap and auto setup a pq for caches 2 miles from current lat/long) 6. Ability to send logs to geocaching.com

Lynchburg, Virginia 1 mile: 10 5 miles: 90 10 miles: 121 25 miles: 197 50 miles: 632

I use GeoScout with my htc titan (the manfacturers name for the device you have). The developer is active and fixes issues that arise. If you haven't already done so, check into updating it to the newest rom to enable the built-in-gps. Marlin

Are you referring to GSAK? A .gpx is a file that contains more cache information than a .loc file. The ability to download a gpx file is part of the premium membership.

There's an entire thread dedicated to WAAS and the Explorist. In short, if WAAS is that important to you, you can update your Explorist 500 to the European firmware Ver 2.57 and you'll get your WAAS back. Unfortunately the newer models were incompatible with the EU firmware. Something about harware changes with the unit. Both of the ones I had were the newer model. They had "Canada 310" and something like RoHS on them.

Why I hated my explorist 210 and 500: Searching for waas sats that don't exist. I informed my b-i-l about this and he tested turning waas off -- he said that after turning it off his batteries last forever now! (with the same gps accuracy as before).

I am going to go out on a limb and say the magellan explorist series. Please don't flame me! Unless you get a really really good deal. To me the waas issue is the biggest reason.

Not sure the exact reason for the OP's question. However, not everyone has dispensable income for a pricey gps for geocaching. I personally think that one could get by with a tomtom and the offroad navigator for caching till money could be saved for a better gps. Sometimes we have to use somewhat undesirable tools till we can get the nicer ones. I personally wouldn't recommend that model for caching, but if it is a choice between using the tomtom or not caching, I would choose the tomtom!

I bought one for my wife and have used it for routing me on the highway to get to the caches, as others have suggested. This has been brought up before on the forums. I would recommend the following site for the offroad navigator: http://www.webazar.org/tomtom/offroad.php?lang=uk I am using their "suntime" plugin. It is a shame that functionality was left out on our tomtom one. Good luck. It seems that the tomtom has a really sensitive gps receiver.

looks like it also works for firefox. I have been using the communicator plugin from garmin, which looks like this uses to actually interface with the gps. That works with the "send to gps" button on each cache listing. This looks like neat way to avoid pocket queries. However it looks limited to the search options, i.e. filtering out finds, etc.

I'm on alltel, using the same phone as the mogul. Currently I am using an array of software. Each has its pros and cons. These programs can interface to a gps and navigate via the mogul: Geoscout from woodpecker software I use this the most. There is a slight learning curve though. Smache I used to use this until discovering geoscout. I really like certain features of ot still though. Sprint is apparently officially unlocking the built-in gps chip in the mogul soon. I am using a "leaked" version of the gps rom. Time will tell how well it works for geocaching. Right now it seems to not be very suitable, except for static location, or highway navigation. Other than those. I usually use the wap version of the geocaching website. I find it very handy.

I would love the ability to create and run a pq from the wap geocaching site. I use my windows mobile pda for paperless caching and have to resort to "less than friendly" methods to do caching on the fly. The ability to create a PQ on the wap site seems like a logical thing. It appears to me that the regular site uses stuff that is incompatible to the mobile browser in PQ creation. I did some searching on the forums and didn't see any posts on this, if it has be brought up before, my apologies. Thanks! Marlin

My local walmart has the magellan explorist 210 for $119.96 and the magellan explorist 500LE for $149. Which would be the better choice for the dollar? Color vs. BW, SD card vs. 22 mb, AA vs. AAA. Does the 500LE offer any other advantages than color screen and sd?

Sometimes, I use iguidance on my pda to route my way to the cache while driving. Its only use is for the road portion. The only way that you can enter a non address or poi (which can't be added to), is to enter the lat lon in decimal form. For caching, I then switch over to Either Smache (donation) or Geoscout (~$40). Beeline gps is also quite good. Marlin

"Ginger" My wife says when I go geocaching, I'm going out with ginger, my girlfriend . . . She then rolls her eyes . . . Nicknamed for the british female voice on inav iguidance

I went with option 3. I have a sprint mogul like pda. for software on a windows mobile pda, I highly recommend geoscout. A trial can be found here I have been using a Globalsat bt-359w bluetooth gps receiver, however it recently went silent (which I loved for the past 14 months). I am now in process of purchasing a new bluetooth unit. My only advice in this area is to ask about what version of firmware and chipset that the gps uses, as that dictates the acceptability of its use for geocaching / hiking / jogging. Most bluetooth gps are used for driving navigation, and some have issues with slow speed. I like the fact that with cell coverage, I can with out any prior planning, use the above combination, download nearby caches, log the find, all without a pc.

I am / was in the market for a bluetooth gps receiver as well, After many hours of searching and reading on the internet this is what I have gathered: From what I have read in the above links, and other posts on forums the newer versions of the mtk chipset are really good. Last week I purchased a sirfstar3 oncourse edition 3 bt gps, to replace my dead globalstar bt-359w. I was expecting that I could disable the static navigation (as I did on the bt-359) but it would not accept the programming change. It was TOTALLY useless under 5 mph. Older versions of the mtk chipset had issues: " . . .low speed tracking, not to be confused with SiRF's Static Navigation setting, fixed starting with FW1.92, now performs on par with SiRFstarIII and Skytraq, see this comparison). . ." see link for more info If you can get one of the newer version mtk chipsets you "should" be happy. I have not found any actual geocaching reviews of these gps's, however I did find this interesting review concerning the mtk chipset see link for more info I ended up getting the Qstarz bt-g1000 (an iblue 747 look alike) based on a recommendation here. I expect to receive the qstarz bt-q1000 tomorrow, and will post my findings. Again, I don't think that it has alot to do with the manufacturer or model bt receiver as much as it has to do with the chipset, version of the firmware, and size of the internal antenna. Marlin