Considering Paperless...advice On Pda

[+Bear Paughs]

I am considering going paperless sooner than I thought I would. (I knew I eventually would, but $ is an issue.) I currently have a Geko 201, the PC interface cable, and (in a day or two) an RS232 to USB adapter. I've been reading some of the how-to's on paperless and understand that a good setup would include premium membership, cachemate, and GSAK. (Correct me if I'm wrong, or if these won't work with my Geko 201.)

 

Now onto PDA's, it seems there is a preference for those with Palm OS vs. Pocket PCs. Some of the advantages are that they're easy and can be found relatively cheaply. Also, that a minimum of 8MB is ideal. I've found two possibilities that I'd like some input on from the experts here.

 

Option 1 -- IBM Workpad C500 (says it is identical to Palm M500 -- likely just a rebranded for IBM product.) Found this eBay auction for $39 plus S&H with a 7 day return policy:

 

IBM Workpad C500 eBay Listing

 

Option 2 -- PalmOne Zire 21. You can buy a reconditioned previously used one from the Palm factory outlet site for $49.99 with 30 day return policy. Described as "Blemished" which can mean either open box or previously purchased unit that may have some small scratches, but all working components are tested by PalmOne and replaced as necessary. Defects are supposed to be cosmetic only, or not cosmetic at all but perhaps missing components from the open box.

 

These seem like good options for me, at least for the shortterm. Can anyone provide any input on using these models for paperless geocaching? Or am I way off base here? Should I be considering other models, or will either of these do the job? Your input is sincerely appreciated.

[+Uncle T K]

Go with the Zire 21 Monocrome & 8 Meg of memory it will work great.

 

I have a Zire 31 (Color - 16 Meg) and I purchased a used Zire M150 (Monochrome & 2 meg) to cache because the monochrome is easyer to read in bright sunlight.

[+LthrWrk]

The zire 31 is great. 16 mb, Goto Palmone.com. Checkout the Outlet or Factory Store. I got my zire for under $80. with the free upgrade to mp3 a huge bargain. The zire 21 is discontinued with the small difference in price among a consideration. Add documents to go and a couple other addins and is a terriffic tool for under $100. Color, ability to read/transfer documents, double the memory, SD card slot, and you can view webpages. If there is one negative... difficult to read in bright sunshine still sorting out which color scheme is easiest to read outside.

[+Bear Paughs]

Thanks for your replies. I actually saw a new (not reconditioned) Zire 21 on eBay this morning and placed a bid. Reserve wasn't met, but the owner offered just sent me a second chance offer for a few dollars less than I actually bid. So I grabbed it at $51.00 and should be here within 2-3 days. I probably would have missed the second chance offer if I hadn't seen your replies. So now I got one, and it's brand new still in package, not the blemished one from the factory outlet! The people on these forums are so helpful, it's outstanding.

[+Spyderweb]

Congrat's on the purchase. I have the same setup and enjoy it. The only tiny problem I have so far is that the Zire 21 does not have a backlight. So at night as I'm loading new cache pages into Cachemate (from GSAK) I have to turn on a light so I can see what I'm doing. However, I've never had any problems seeing the display while outside (I don't cache in the dark), so overall it's been great.

[+Bear Paughs]

Thanks for letting me know about the lack of backlight, Spyderweb. Good to know!

 

I'm so excited for this to be delivered! I don't know what I'm going to do with myself until it gets here!

[+Spyderweb]

One more thing - you'll probably want to invest in a case and screen protectors. I went to the local retailers, and Radio Shack was by far the cheapest. The store I went to had much of their PDA related stuff on clearance. I got the screen protectors for about a buck, some extras stylus for a buck or two, and if I remember the case was about $5.

[+Bear Paughs]

I'll head this advice. I've never owned any kind of PDA, so all the suggestions given to me are very welcome!

 

I love new toys!

[+Spyderweb]

Sorry, thought of (I hope) one last thing. Make sure you update the Palm Desktop software (which runs on the PC). I used the software that shipped with the unit, and it appeared to lock up on a regular basis when downloading the cache waypoints into Cachemate (either that or it was so slow I gave up). I downloaded and installed the latest appropriate software from the Palm website, and it has not failed when downloading since then.