Pda's With Gps

[Team Sleepy Beagle]

We have a garmin gps and would like to buy a PDA, palm, etc. to use in conjunction with the gps. We are looking for a way to download the info from the geocache website for a cache site, then be able to search through them and use the GPS to find the site. We currently download waypoints and coordinates in the GPS and print out the cache page for each site we plan on visiting that day. Any ideas or suggestions where to start?

THanks!

[+Kai Team]

We have a garmin gps and would like to buy a PDA, palm, etc. to use in conjunction with the gps. We are looking for a way to download the info from the geocache website for a cache site, then be able to search through them and use the GPS to find the site. We currently download waypoints and coordinates in the GPS and print out the cache page for each site we plan on visiting that day. Any ideas or suggestions where to start?

THanks!

 

Two excellent and relatively inexpensive software programs that will do what you want (and more):

 

Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) (click here) installs on your PC and allows you to manage the waypoints you download from geocaching.com. $20

 

Cachemate (click here) installs on your Palm PDA and downloads all of the information from GSAK so you can read it on the Palm. $8 (There's also a Pocket PC version).

 

To get the benefit of either or both, you'll want to become a Premium Member of Geocaching.com (click here). $3 per month or $30 per year. This allows you to download GPX files (as opposed to LOC files). The GPX files have almost all of the information that appears on the cache page. Premium Membership also allows you to set up Pocket Queries, which will email 500 caches to you, ready for use in GSAK and download to Cachemate!

Edited April 1, 2006 by Kai Team

[+briansnat]

Cachemate is the way to go. GSAK is nice, but not a necessity. A premium membership is VERY helpful, but also not necessary.

[+usmc0369]

I just got a Palm 105 off E-bay for 17.00 (9 for the palm and 6 for the s&h). I how use it with windows XP, GSAK, CacheMate and a Meridian Gold. PDA makes a world of differance.

[+Stumpy75]

I just went paperless today(about 3 hours ago...). Had an older Palm IIIxe that was almost given to me, so I downloaded GSAK and Cachemate and was up and running in about an hour. I'm still playing with both programs, but I do have the full cache descriptions on the PDA, which is the thing I really wanted.

 

I have a Garmin 76C, and have been using Garmin's software(City Select) to upload waypoints to the GPSr. I'm still deciding if I want to just continue that or use GSAK for uploading to both. GSAK uses 8 character names(all my GPSr will take), while the Garmin software uploads the waypoint number. Probably take a few caching trips to figure out which I like best.

 

I was looking on e-bay for a PDA before this one turned up, and the prices there are pretty cheap. You don't need one with all the bells and whistles if all you are going to do is load up the cache pages to it.

 

I'm sure my paper usage is going to go WAY down now!

[+zedd10]

I fully agree with Kai Team. I use GSAK on my PC and Cachemate on my palm. Once you learn how to use GSAK it will be indispensible. It's not hard, just different You can also export all of the information (based on the filter that you define) from GSAK into Cachemate to be sync'd to your palm. Export it and sync. That's all you need to do. Cachemate then shows you all of the same information that is on the web site. Note: this assumes that you are a premium member and can download in the gpx format. I doubt, but am not sure, that you get all of this with the loc files.

 

One note on palm pilots: consider what you will be using the palm for. I use mine for work and in general to keep track of my day to day BS. For this I use a Palm Tungsten T3 which has a color screen. It works great indoors and deep shade but is very hard to read in sunlight. Since you typically GX in sunlight it isn't the greatest situation but still is workable. Some of the non color units have a screen that shows up great in the sunlight. I had a Handspring Deluxe with a screen like this. Something like this would be great. So it depends on what you plan to use it for.

[+PDOP's]

I have a Garmin 76C, and have been using Garmin's software(City Select) to upload waypoints to the GPSr. I'm still deciding if I want to just continue that or use GSAK for uploading to both. GSAK uses 8 character names(all my GPSr will take), while the Garmin software uploads the waypoint number. Probably take a few caching trips to figure out which I like best.

 

GSAK gives you a lot of flexibility with waypoints names. Have a look at Special Tags (click here) which allow you to customize waypoint names in many ways. Also GSAK can do the same with the "Comment Field" for waypoints in your 76C ( I own one too) which can hold 30 characters.

[+Miragee]

For Premium Members, Pocket Queries are fantastic. The ability to get up to 500 caches in one file, is great, but after you get all those caches, you need some way to filter, slice, and dice them. I use GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife).

 

For "Paperless" caching, Cachemate works really well on in inexpensive Palm. I have a Palm M500 and its monochrome screen can be easily seen, even in bright sunlight.

 

Here is a rudimentary GSAK tutorial in case you decide to use that incredibly versatile and powerful program.

[+gof1]

My first day paperless. How the heck did I do without it?!

I am using GSAK and cachemate, works great.

I have a palm Z22 with a color screen. Not much trouble in the sun as

I am wide enough to turn my back to the sun and see the screen.

If any one is thinking about going paperless I say do it!

[+Lasagna]

I have a Garmin 76C, and have been using Garmin's software(City Select) to upload waypoints to the GPSr. I'm still deciding if I want to just continue that or use GSAK for uploading to both. GSAK uses 8 character names(all my GPSr will take), while the Garmin software uploads the waypoint number. Probably take a few caching trips to figure out which I like best.

 

GSAK gives you a lot of flexibility with waypoints names. Have a look at Special Tags (click here) which allow you to customize waypoint names in many ways. Also GSAK can do the same with the "Comment Field" for waypoints in your 76C ( I own one too) which can hold 30 characters.

 

Yes ... definitely check out the special tags feature in GSAK. I use this to tune my waypoint names and description info that is downloaded into my GPS. For instance, I've changed the waypoint length to 10 (which is what the Garmin max is, not 8) and use the following settings:

 

Waypoint name: %smart

Max characters: 10

Waypoint description: %drop2 %con1%typ1%dif1a%ter1a %last4 %by

 

This gives me a 10 character smart name for the waypoint (usually enough to equate to the real cache title without needing to consult my PDA). The description field on the waypoint then contains the last four digits of the waypoint GC code from GC.com, a four character string representing the container type, cache type, difficulty, and terrain, the last four logs (nice to known if people have been having trouble finding it), and if space permits the person who hid it (you get to know the hide styles of local cachers after a while).

 

For example, my cache: Stop and Smell the Chocolate (GCRDVY) gets sent to my PDA as "StopandSme" and has a decription of "RDVY MTA1 FFFF Lasagna"

 

RDVY = GCRDVY

MTA1 = Micro, Traditional, 1.5 difficulty, 1 terrain

FFFF = Last four logs were "found it"

Lasagna = Me

[+Blue Bomb]

After being paperless for a month or so I WAS thinking about how much simpler it was than carrying a binder full of print outs. That was until last Sunday, when I got in the car and sat down with my PDA in my back pocket. It survived, but did a hard reset. Now I was left 90 minutes driving from home with a GPS full of waypoints, but no description, no hints, and no information on size or type as I had traditionals, multis AND puzzle caches loaded.

 

Anyway, I use a combination of Pocket Queries (WELL worth the $30 per year), GSAK (which I really need to register one of these days) and Cachemate, which is the best $8 I have ever spent.

 

Next toy will be a used laptop with a wireless network card and car power adapter. If the PDA ever does a hard reset again, I can just reload off the laptop.

[Clan Riffster]

Premium Membership at geocaching .com, $30.

GSAK, $20.

CacheMate, $8.

Garmin Ique 3600 PDA, $400.

Garmin map60CSx, $500.

 

Being able to load 500 caches into both the PDA & the GPSr in less than 5 minutes, Priceless.

[+TFTC]

I have no idea how well one of these might work for geocaching, but I like where they are heading (phone, internet, camera/video, gpsr, cachemate in one device):

 

HP iPAQ hw6940 Mobile Messenger

 

 

Now that there's a windows version of cachemate, it's something to consider. It would be nice if it had one of those new SiRF chips.

 

I currently use a Treo and a 60cs and it's a great combination but it is still two devices to juggle.

[+Centex Trekker]

I have no idea how well one of these might work for geocaching, but I like where they are heading (phone, internet, camera/video, gpsr, cachemate in one device):

 

HP iPAQ hw6940 Mobile Messenger

 

 

Now that there's a windows version of cachemate, it's something to consider. It would be nice if it had one of those new SiRF chips.

 

I currently use a Treo and a 60cs and it's a great combination but it is still two devices to juggle.

 

That's why they makes pockets.