Rocker-Mtl

Hi all ! Can anyone help me in finding some caches to do with the kids along the route without going to far off highway , from canada to st petes beach florida (using toll roads) so i would say starting after washington appreciate any help , i have to use the GC codes to load them in pocket pc Thanks All

Hello Geobain Sorry i did not respond right away, had to pick up my mother at the airport , just back from a 5 week trip visiting south korea and china . I saw your screen shots and not sure why that is happening , but just before repling to this , i have written a short email to the maker of geoscout inviting him to take a look into this , i have had a few issues in the begining with the program but they were all related to faults in my hp ppc ! issues that the owner helped me resolve , even though they were not issues that were caused by the program . Hopefully he will look in to this soon , so you can test drive the program properly, the biggest asset of geoscout is the simplicity to the user , even my 6 year old is using it, lots of good programs out there but none are simple or they are not complete , this is why i chose this program after having tried and i own many of the 5 star rated programs Alain

Hi Well i am at a lost on that one then, win 2003 or wm5 ? and are you installing to memory card ? thats what i did to both of my ppc's and how much ram do you have? are you getting an error message or just crashing ? I know some of the older versions had bugs, the new version is 1.3.0 and is not on the other sites yet, could be the problem Alain

HI For anyone that wishes to use geoscout , you must have microsoft net compact framework 2.0 , this is a free upgrade, not having this will crash the program, also for the bt users in most cases you do not check the use bluetooth check box. And No i don't have any interests in geoscout , except using it for geocaching ! Alain

Actually, I have spent nearly $200 on this setup so far and I think I am going to wait to get a case. I may try to homebrew something using foam and a ziplock bag or maybe a lock&lock container. Basically the case they are selling is a watertight case with a screen saver in front of the touch screen. I should be able to make that for the short term. I got my Bluetooth receiver today along with the various dongles I bought to test it on the PC with. It seems to work, but I can't give it much of a test. If I take it outside at all, the bluetooth just does not seem to maintain a connection with my desktop. So I can't even get a signal from out side of the normal wandering of the coordinates. So I will have to wait until next week when I get the Zire 72 before I can really test this setup. I still don't really know what I will use for software. Possibly Mapopolis if the info I found is accurate. Hi I guess you could try that, the case is actually similuar to a locknlook , also if you saw on the pocketsolutions site theres a silicon bag they sell , i got 2 like that last year at walmart for camping and its the same company! You could try to find one at walmart i paid something like 4 bucks on sale, i bought that to protect our cell phones etc. for the beach and its perfectly water tight. Alain

I checked with Otterbox and found that they *do* sell replacement screens in a three pack along with several of the seals for the box, all for $13, IIRC. The basic unit does not come with any extra screens. Pocket Solutions seems to be selling the Otterbox products at the same price. I'm not sure why I would buy from them rather than from Otterbox directly. But I have time to ruminate on this since my units won't be here until next week. Thanks for all the info! Hi Yes i saw that only after i posted i figured you would check the otterbox site Glad if it helped , and by the way i saw that there are to models available for your unit , the other one is more expensive but lokks interesting ! Alain

Thanks for the pointer. I had not found this company and their products appear to be good and at a decent price. They don't even try to rip off on shipping like so many eBay sellers do. They have a waterproof case for the Zire 72 I bought. Is the plastic screen replaceable? I would think this would get scratched up with use and needs to be replaced from time to time. Also, can these cases be used with car mounts? They offer a powered car mount, but they don't say if the waterproof case can be used with it. In fact, they don't realy say it is even powered, they just show various cords coming from it. How do you use your PDA in its case? Hi Again Heres the answer i got from pocket solutions Hello Alain, the soft membrane is removable, however we do not sell replacements, and I am not sure Otterbox does either, You can check with www.otterbox.com. We do not have a mount for this case. Thanks for your continuing support! -Anna ____________ Anna Cederman Customer Support Manager Pocket Solutions, Inc. www.PocketSolutions.com and the link to some other interesting cases for pda,gps, laptops etc. Hope this helps a few http://www.otterbox.com/ Alain

Thanks for the pointer. I had not found this company and their products appear to be good and at a decent price. They don't even try to rip off on shipping like so many eBay sellers do. They have a waterproof case for the Zire 72 I bought. Is the plastic screen replaceable? I would think this would get scratched up with use and needs to be replaced from time to time. Also, can these cases be used with car mounts? They offer a powered car mount, but they don't say if the waterproof case can be used with it. In fact, they don't realy say it is even powered, they just show various cords coming from it. How do you use your PDA in its case? Hi I wish i could answer that question , i have not received mine yet , i had put a hold on ordering , because i thought i might upgrade my unit, but changed my mind , but i have met a fellow with one and he said that he had no problems and he had it for at least 6 months, i know you can access the card slots , power slot, etc. , i did not see a car mount for this case on that website but i know some are adaptable sizes the squeeze clamp type , but make sure you check the specs, as for using it in the case the plastic screen of the case is touching the pda's , i even tested handwriting with phatpad and it worked ! but its not the same feel , as for the rest no problem for selecting and operating programs , even the bluetooth is not hindered, and we actually submerged the unit underwater! this is the case i choose so be careful to make sure the one your looking at is the same before atempting that ! I will e-mail the company and see if the screen is replaceable , to late i ordered mine but , i still want to know. and about your questions about the topo maps , i see a few up there that will surely answer your question, really some nice people on these posts !! Alain

Hi ALL of You People ! Answer for tossedsalad theres a website that sells case that are completly waterproof and you can still work with it in the case this is the one i ordered http://www.thepocketsolution.com/PSI-6154.html im trying to answer a few of the people that posted as for our friend the forester , Yes i agree that the topo maps are more precise , elevation etc, but in my case the program i use has each map automaticaly downloaded with each cache , up to date it has been okay, but im sure if i was in heavy terrain it would be different !!!! I will have to look into that and see if its possible to use with my exisiting program , i know that we can get out of almost any situation with are gps and softwares whatever they may be but they sure will never beat topo maps, Thanks for bring up that subject , i will for sure check it out ! Because i will be out in heavy forests this summer , maybe not geocaching but camping and thats were it will help me more then regular maps that have no presicion and bearings, elevation , correct me if im wrong anybody ! Alain

Hi ! I have used pocket querries only 1 time and transfered the files onto my sd card and then from geoscout imported all the files it worked , but i prefer downloading by postal code max 100 at a time , works perfect for me and it now in version 1.3.0 has travel bugs tab , and you have the last logs and can update the logs anytime, has the maps download from the site all at the same time, lots of features that the trial version does not have, the only issue i have with it is theres no back track unless your good enough to follow a little line, apart from that no complaints , everything is done in 1 operation and no you don't have to download 1 at a time, hope this helps , any questions go ahead and email me, i think to really appreate the easy operation of this program is to try it , version 1.3.0 not the one offered on some sites, i do not know how well it works on phones but on pda's its perfect Alain

Hello ! Welcome to the new fun and exciting sport of geocaching , i too am new but i thought i might make a few suggestions Get a small packsac , gloves, small first aid kit, bug repellant , a small journal for notes, a digital camera if you have one, great souvenirs when you look back at them,plastic bags, bottled water, extra batteries for your gps (you d'ont want to end up with a dead gps in the woods, happened to me) a long pair of pants if your bag can handel it in case of heavy brush, evidently your cell phone, a walking stick is handy on uneven terrain and also good to scare off a critter(lol) naturaly without harming it , also good to poke around before sticking your hand in a hole or crevace, flashlight,small poncho in case of rain , a big plastic garbage bag can do the trick to if your stuck in a downpour, never go by yourself and try to let someone know where your going just in case, im sure theres a lot im forgetting or d'ont know , there are lots of experienced people in these forums that can help ! Welcome to the family and happy geocaching ! Lets know of your experiences ! and almost forgot Practicce safe Geocaching , please read articule Rocker-Mtl

Hi Ledranier I too have tried many programs , backcountry has many good features probably the most any program for ppc users but i myself found it a little difficult for what i wanted to use it for , if i knew someone that could show me , i probably would try it again, maybe even buy it , right now im using geoscout 1.3.0 and it works fine for me ,except as you say there is no real way to find your way back , the tracer shows a line but its impossible to find your way back using that , i have e-mailed that question to the company, seems its an enhancement , could be that they will implement it , since i still see it on there list , but i do not know if and when it will be done, as far as im concerned its an important feature that should be in the program , my suggestion is that you write to the company and ask them too , since a lot of the programs do have this feature! Let me know if you get an answer Thanks Alain

Hello I have no problem with it at all , i have 1.3.0 installed on ipaq 2490 with bluetooth gps , i have a few of the other versions if it can help you in the meantime , as for getting an answer i have been answered almost immediatly each time , so if you need a prior version till you get your answer e-mail me , i have at least 6 or more upgrades and complete versions i kept in case i had a problem , let me know if i can help you Alain

[/size][/color]UPDATE Hello all! I promised to let you know the difference between my sons magellan 500 i bought for him and my hp ppc and globalsat bt=338 did 4 caches to compare them , well my ppc surpassed the magellan 500 in each case ! I am pretty surprised by this , while the ppc led to a few feet the magellan was not far maybe a 4 to 6 foot difference , did like the alarm , the compass was slow reacting but precise compared to my very nervous compass on my ppc. Might change the unit for a higher priced garmin or magellan if its faster and has more features like to hear some comments and or suggestions Thanks to All

Thanks guys for the information , seems a tad complicated for me I will wait a bit and try this Thanks Again

Hello lspence5 Thanks for answering , my bt came with a little leather belt pouch and even under my big winter jacket it has worked fine. As i mention some where up there , i got a magellan 500 for 1 of my son's and have not yet tried it out , soon though because he's in a hurry ! LOL , gonna test his against mine and hope they are close, will post it when its done Alain PS There really a lot of nice people in Geo Community its nice to see that in this day and time !!

Hello CrazyOn2Wheels ! Thanks for contributing with your post I personally have no problems with the way im set up hp ppc hx-2490 bt-338 bluetooth , and the program im using Geoscout , have others too , but i do not understand the wm5 at all used to have an older ppc win 2003 i think ? that one got stolen but i never had an issue with it , so i will take you up on your offer to e-mail concerning wm5 since i have seen many people with problems on the web so i too may help someone if i understand it properly, which i do not ! Secondly i would like to hear from any and all of you geocachers comments in accuracy , i seem to be the only one getting a 1 to 4 foot hits , okay i don not have a high smount of caching since im new but i am curious am i lucky ? do i have a good matched equipement ? I looked around a quite a bit and did not see mentions of being so close, really appreciate comments on that for me and others too !

Hi lspence5 Glad you posted ! I This is the first confirmation i have about the accuracy of the ppc , i to have beeline, also gpstuner5 but i prefer beeline to gpstuner but my favorite for now is geoscout, Do Please Post again with your comments and experiences with your Treo and any programs you try , guess i won't need to run out and buy a gps to test the accuracy although i will soon for my son , who's only 7 and loved the experience ! Alain After a week of geocaching, I have quit using my Garmin completely. I tried using Geoscout on my TREO 700W, but had trouble with the program shutting down. Also, my TREO gives me low memory errors when I try to zoom in on maps. For now I will stick with BeeLine. Hello Again lspence5 Glad to hear from you So tell us why you stopped using your garmin completly ? apart from the paperless issue , are you getting better average using your ppc ? Like to hear from you about that and anybody else that would like to share with us their experiences and opinions , good or bad , the thing is to share information to better ourselfs and i really appreciate everyone that has done that Alain

Hello J-Way Thanks for posting, i too have beeline , i do like it but as you said its just base , although i did my first caches with beeline and was straight on , now i use geoscout 2.11 on my ppc with a bluetooth receiver , it is very complete and always being updated , i just wanted to say that today i got a magellan 500 for my son who's 5 and loves the sport , he actually got me to do the first one , today i did 6 caches and my average belive it or not was 3 to 4 foot from each cache one actually came to 1 foot ! Hope to have time this weekend to do a comparism with the magellan 500 against my ppc. can't wait to try it and see! Thanks again for posting and please give us updates on how your doing , it benifits all of us , me too Alain

Hello Thankyou for the very good information !!!! How about presion , we got a few answers on gpsr/pocket pc being just as presie as a regular gps, how about you ? have you tested versus regular gps ? That would sure help a few of us ! Thank you Alain

Hi Nathan I am not sure about that one , i know my unit does not support port sharing , so i use only one program , i went and checked issue tracker , and i was still not clear about your question ? are you trying to run both gps programs at the same time? I know that every time i sent an e-mail with a question that i have been answered each time and i did ask quite a few when i started using the program. The only time i got such an error message was when i had put a check mark in the use bluetooth in the com port section of the program ,in my unit i use bluetooth com 8 and do not check the (use bluetooth) and works fine , keep me posted on your issue Thanks Alain

Hello I was searching to find an answer to your question (linux) but i see that one of the members (clan_Barron) found an answer for you Happy Geocaching

Hello Alain, I'll have to try geoscout... thanks for the tip. This is the set-up I started with, so I've been paperless from the start. Thanks, Nathan Hello Nathan Your very welcome ! Let us know with an update as you go ! If you have trouble finding the new version e-mail me , i know its not on all the sites yet Thanks Alain

Hello NateDawgCC Thankyou for sharing with us your setup (equipement and programs used) seems pretty good with a 10 foot accuracy. I was not aware that a regular gps could be used like that, you might want to look for a water proof case i am ording one for my ipaq from www.thepocketsolution.com , very good price . have you tried geoscout ? theres a new version 1.2.9 pretty well covers all geocaching needs in one program, i see that you are not new to geocaching , how long have you been paperless ? Thanks again for your post im sure it will help some one , i personally am learning a lot from all of you geocachers posting ? Alain

Hello bosmatj Thanks for your contribution to this post , what programs are you running for geocaching? And i am still wondering about the possible difference in precision between a compact flash gps and a bluetooth unit ? I know JBDragon is supposed to give us some news too on how his new ppc and compact flash gps is working out in the field soon, he is not a new comer to geocaching and still has his regular gps , personaly i have only done 6 hunts for the moment because of very cold temperatures and 2 pretty big snow storms , in the 6 hunts i have been accurate to about 3 to 10 feet ,(was i just lucky?) i really can not base much on that yet , until i have a chance to do a cache with a seasoned geocacher using a regular gps plus mine to really see ! With the comments so far it looks promising ! Also i might buy a compact flash gps to see the difference in my mind i would tend to think the compact flash would be faster responding , but i do not know.