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We are currently considering purchasing a basic (cheap) PDA so that we can do paperless geocaching. However we are not technically minded and would appreciate any help you can give us - ie which is the best PDA to use, how easy are they to use, where did you purchase yours etc!

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We are currently considering purchasing a basic (cheap) PDA so that we can do paperless geocaching. However we are not technically minded and would appreciate any help you can give us - ie which is the best PDA to use, how easy are they to use, where did you purchase yours etc!

 

I use a Hewlett Packard RX3715 (Sadly no longer made).

 

You can get a wide range of HP PDA's the best thing is they use Windows Mobile Operating Systems and integrate very well with Windows on the PC. Most of the time it's a simple case of click and drag a file from your desktop to the PDA (Mobile Device).

 

There is a huge range of downloadable software and freeware. I wouldn't bother with the types with integrated phones they tend to be a bit of a faff.

 

This will take you to the HP ipaq choice website http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF...1679-21679.html

 

Which shows the current range available. The prices shown can be found cheaper on the internet stores.

 

You use a stylus with touch screen which can be fiddly if your not used to it. I find it best to create spreadsheets/documents etc. on the PC and download them to the PDA (the download is normally automatic as soon as you connet the PDA to it's cradle or USB cable)

 

Instructions are usually pretty clear with written manuals and online help.

 

Adobe also provide a free version of Acrobat for PDA's so you can copy acrobat files to the PDA for viewing.

 

If you take the PDA Geocaching I'd get a protective case and screen protectors as they don't like mud/dirt/rocks/water

Edited by Rebble
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I use an Acer N35 which was available from Ebuyer on line and Comet across the counter. I've added BeelineGPS, GPXsonic and Fugawi maps which give me a fairly broad coverage. I had afriend who used Navman Pin 570 which seemed very similar.

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... what he said!

 

Basically there are two main groups of pdas - based on the OS (operating system) they use. These are:

1) PocketPC - based on Windows mobile

- more powerful

- colour screen

- can play video and audio

- more expensive

- often has builtin wifi + bluetooth (internet connectability)

 

2) Palm - use PalmOS

- usually black and white - more expensive models are colour screen

- simpler to use (allegedly)

- usually come with less memory

- cheaper (usually)

 

It all comes down to what you want out of it. If you just want to use it for caching and possibly for calendar and contacts, then people will tell you to use a Palm. They're cheap - off eBay - are available second hand - and therefore it doesn't matter so much if you drop it!

Personally I use an HP Ipaq h2210. But I use it for a lot more than Geocaching - I can surf the web, view contacts, calendar, movies and listen to MP3s.

I'd go into your nearest PC World and have a play with a few of them. But DON'T buy it from there! Type the model number into Froogle and find an internet supplier.

 

Hope that helps!

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"I wouldn't bother with the types with integrated phones they tend to be a bit of a faff."

 

...I beg to differ! I use a HP Ipaq 6340 which is a PPC phone. I find it totally invaluable and it consolidates all the things you need into a single unit. The phone side of things was the least problematically of the whole device - slip in the sim card, turn it one - it's a phone!

 

The Ipaq comes with the phone fully unlocked so it takes any sim. I regularly use it in the car with TomTom 5 doing the car routing thing with a Bluetooth GPS unit. At the same time, I use a Bluetooth earpiece to have my phone available while driving.

 

The company with whom I recently started provided me with a company phone - I swapped the sims over, diverted my personal phone (sim card now in the company Nokia) to the Ipaq (now with the company phone sim) so that when I have my personal phone switched off - when on company time - I still get all my calls.

 

The greatest advantage of using a PPC phone is that you have all your contact information available in the box completely synchorised with Outlook 2003. Phone no, address, email - whatever. Make a change in PPC or Outlook, it immediately updates the other when they connect.

 

The Task List is an absolute boon too.

 

Since I can touch-type, I also have a folding Bluetooth keyboard. With this beauty, I can actually keep up with the children when texting - and irritate them by using proper English and full punctuation! I can also start working up a document in any idle moment - or send emails - or... you get the picture.

 

Dead useful software onboard includes: Tomtom5 (with POI-Warner for "Safety Camera" alerts and Cache locations), Memory-Map (again with cache locations) Word, Excel, Listpro, RMR Expenses, GPS Sonar (with cache details), Roboform (with all your personal details - encoded) and, for the quieter times, Scrabble and a few books and music files.

 

I have now started carting a load of heavily compressed films around on a spare memory card. It ain't brilliant but, when you want to while away some time, it provides a great diversion using earphones - or even the BT earpiece.

 

It was a cheap black & white Palm IIIxe that got me into using a PDA for paperless caching, I found the organiser functions so useful, I ended up going the whole hog. The only time I will hang up my Ipaq is to buy a better one...

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Ive got a Windows Mobile 5 based PDA/phone, a T-Mobile MDA Vario. It's a compromise to cut down the number of bits of kit I have to carry, and the compromise shows. It's the first phone I've had that actually needed re-booting (by removing and replacing the battery) from time to time. The only other kit-count-reduction compromise I could have tried was a PDA/GPSr, and none of those seem to be even half-way weather-resistant.

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We are currently considering purchasing a basic (cheap) PDA so that we can do paperless geocaching. However we are not technically minded and would appreciate any help you can give us - ie which is the best PDA to use, how easy are they to use, where did you purchase yours etc!

 

Recommend you go for a Palm, any of the following series upwards will do (III, V, VII, Vx)

 

Best place to get a bargain is ebay where you can pick on up for around £10 or if you don't fancy using ebay then a Palm IIIxe can be picked up from ebuyer.com for £28.47 (inc P+P)

ebuyer

 

The only software you need to think about for the palm to get you started is something like Cachemate

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I use a MDA EXEC and it is awesome, doubles up as a phone and very cheap, cost me £150 plus £30 per month (which I would have sent on a phone anyway).

I have memory map running on it plus mobipocket and gpx sonar and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

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I would also recommend a Palm, somthing like a IIIx if you want a cheap PDA to start. Although if you are planning to load several hundred caches onto Cachemate you might find the loading and sorting a bit slow.

 

Lisa

 

I use a Handspring Visor (palm clone) it has a USB connection, loading into cachemate is a lot faster.

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I would also recommend a Palm, somthing like a IIIx if you want a cheap PDA to start. Although if you are planning to load several hundred caches onto Cachemate you might find the loading and sorting a bit slow.

 

Lisa

 

I use a Handspring Visor (palm clone) it has a USB connection, loading into cachemate is a lot faster.

 

Oh I didn't mean that, I meant the step (after hotsync) in cachemate where it asks to you to select a database to put the caches into. I've got a LifeDrive now - the processor is so much faster and it goes like s**t off a shiny shovel now! :laughing:

 

Lisa

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