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Paperless Caching


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Try this:

 

Paperless Caching Info

 

FYI, I picked up my Palm m105 off ebay over a year ago for $15 and it's loaded with well over 1000 caches right now with no problems.

 

Edit: realized that Cybret only discusses Plucker, so here's another tutorial involving Cachemate:

 

Paperless Tutorial #2

 

Boy, I sure do miss that search function!

Edited by KoosKoos
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so to summarize:

Palm 100 series ~$20

GSAK (Geocaching swiss army knife) to manage your cache database and your .gpx files on your WINDOW$ computer - $20

Cachemate to hold the cache data (hints, description, log, etc.) on your palm - $8

 

$48, you got $2 to spare on a happy meal... <_<

 

GSAK + Cachemate - the best $28 you'll ever spend!

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Best place to buy a suitable Palm is eBay. I recommend getting the cheapest one you can because it's going to get abused, so you want to be able to consider it disposable. We use a IIIxe that we snagged for $16. Works fine for geocaching. We dropped it in a pond once. Fished it out and let it dry for a few days, then it worked fine. But I'm sure glad it wasn't a $200 unit that we did that to.

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Cachemate to hold the cache data (hints, description, log, etc.) on your palm - $8

 

GSAK + Cachemate - the best $28 you'll ever spend!

I have GSAK but what is Cachemate

Cachemate is the application that runs on the palm. It's a database to track the caches, show their descriptions, logs, etc. (this is a VERY simplified explanation).

 

Think of it as GSAK lite running on your palm and you'll carry it into the field with you.

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Cachemate is the application that runs on the palm. It's a database to track the caches, show their descriptions, logs, etc. (this is a VERY simplified explanation).

 

Think of it as GSAK lite running on your palm and you'll carry it into the field with you.

 

does this come with the palm or do u have to download it into the palm....sorry for all the ?? but I am very new to all this & really appreciate all the help THANKS

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does cachemate show information from a loc file or must you use gpx files to get all the info of a cache...only started this sport and not quite ready to spend even more money on membership just to get gpx files sent to me but am very interested in paperless.

thanks for any help

Without a Premium Membership you are going to struggle going paperless. Premium+GSAK+CacheMate (if Palm) and you can really take off. Load a thousand pages from scratch in a couple of minutes. Don't forget that you also have the benefit of loading those same 1000 caches onto your GPS for no additional $.

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Just another way to go....

I use Mobibooks to read the cache pages which I download from Geocaching with my premium membership (well worth the $$).

I don't use GSAK (though it's a great program for downloading caches to the GPS)or any other program.

Mobi is free so all u need to buy is the PDA.

Granted Mobi is a bit of a memory hog but if all u use the pda for is caching u will have plenty of room.

 

Just remember, if u trip and have the GPS in one hand and the PDA in the other, ure nose gets bashed! (true story) :huh:

Edited by Crusso
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Having recently learned of GSAK I was interested in checking it out, too. When I finally found the link to the site I was pleased to note that you can download GSAK and play with it for something like 2-3 weeks before you get a nag screen. I am completely in love with GSAK after the first week and I actually shelled out the $20.00 registration fee after only three days - it's that good.

 

Additionally, GSAK has great customer service. Clyde's real speedy on emailing and he's got his own message board now that is loaded with some super smart people that will answer your questions quickly and completely without making you feel like you're and idiot for asking something.

 

Good luck either way,

Sassy

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are there sample gpx files to try to see if premium is way to go prior to laying out more dough??? Not looking for freebies here but am on a tight budget, already have a pda from years ago

I started out with the $3.00 per month membership and soon figured out the Premium Membership was very worth it once I learned about Pocket Queries and how useful they are.

 

With a PQ, you can get 500 caches in just the sort of configuration you want. For instance, if you don't want to look at any parking lot micros, you can filter out all the 1/1 caches. If you cannot do Puzzles and don't even want to look at them, you can filter them out. :huh: If you are going somewhere, you can get PQs for the other area/areas with 500 caches in each of them.

 

Coupled with Cachemate on my older Palm M500, and GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) on my PC, I am set.

 

Even if the site goes down for a few hours (it has happened), I have plenty of information in GSAK on my computer so I can filter the data and go caching in whichever direction I feel like going. :(

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are there sample gpx files to try to see if premium is way to go prior to laying out more dough??? Not looking for freebies here but am on a tight budget, already have a pda from years ago

You have to be a premium member to get the gpx files. If you want to know what gpx files will do for you, it's easy to describe...

 

With GSAK, Cachemate, and gpx files with your PDA, you get all the text info that's on the cache page. It is definitely worth the expense if you want to do more than a little geocaching.

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I got to agree with everyone here who recommends Premium Membership (even if you go with the $3/month option instead of $30/year), GSAK and either CacheMate/GPSSonar. You get the posting description, hints, and the last four logs (gives you an idea if the cache is missing, changes in cache site, etc.), very handy if you have the same habit I have: load 75-100 cache's into the GPSr from the area I feel like driving to and then decide which ones to try when I get there.

Best expenditure I've made since buying a GPSr.

 

Greg Hall

the Georgia Austringer

The Hall Clan

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