Which PDA

[+CrazyL200]

I know this has been discussed before, but with technology moving faster than most of us can keep up, I thought I'd ask again.

 

Which PDA ???

 

Must be able to run a 4GB card, or even 2 !!!

Must have a decent size screen.

Must have blue tooth and wireless.

 

I run Tomtom and MemoryMap on my current PDA, with GPSGate to split the bluetooth signal to navigate (not just for caching!!!) and cache anywhere, so a lot of MemoryMap needs to be loaded at once, otherwise I'm loading parts of it too frequently while on the road. TomTom also needs to be used in Europe.

I use the PDA as it should be - a pc / organiser in my pocket - for various other personal and business uses.

 

2 questions

 

1) Which one, if money were no object.

2) Which one if a budget of say £250 ish

(Not including the cost of the card(s).

[+melmur]

Value for money - p350 (around £170)

If you want BT & WIFI built in - p550 (around £230)

If you want one with phone built in, including GPRS for internet in the field - A701 (around £370)

 

All the above are made by Mio and have built in Sirf III GPS chipsets, which I have no affiliation to apart from I think they make the best value all round PDAs, with more stuff in the box than I have ever seen from any other manufacturer. I have owned a Mio 168, then a p350, and now an A701. In between the 350 & 701, I had a top of the range Dell Axim x51v which went back on Ebay within 6 days.

 

The only downsides you have are the screen on the A701 is not the biggest, but I use Tomtom & MM on it quite happily & the obvious battery life problem with integrated devices. With an extended 3000mAh battery in my A701 though, I can get around 7-8hrs of constant GPS use with the screen active. Mio's support is not brilliant either, but I have never needed to use them.

 

Or.............you could do what most people on here seem to be happy with and get one of those retro Palm thingys off Ebay for a tenner. Horses for courses. I think if a lot of folks saw MM running on a PDA with a built in GPS & custom icons linked directly into Cachemate, they would consider upgrading.

 

Edit to add....

 

All these devices run WM5, which has the added benefit of non-volatile memory. So if your battery goes flat, you no longer lose everything. I am assuming you have a 2003 device as you mention GPS Gate, which is also not needed on WM5.

Edited September 12, 2006 by melmur

[+CrazyL200]

I'm currently using an Ipaq 5550 with PPC 2003 and a Pretec bluetooth datalogger GPSr. I'd like to upgrade to something faster and with more memory to aid speed as well as storage capacity.

The datalogger is used for recording and storing trip records. (Not only for caching, but for business and hoilday use for future reference).

 

I like the sound of the 550 as a straight forward upgrade / replacement, but also like the idea of the A701, which would also do away with the need for a 'phone and, at times, the laptop (with 3G/GPRS datacard) for internet connections on extended trips.

 

Don't think I'll bother with a Palm somehow !!

Edited September 12, 2006 by CrazyL200

[+Moote]

Acer do some nice PDAs for around £250

 

Only consider getting a 4GB card if you are prepared to buy fast cards x133 or above, from a good source these cost ~£150 at present, from reputable sources.

 

Careful buying cards on eBay they are not always what they appear (I never buy any memory off eBay)

 

But if you want the 80110ck5 then move to an Origami PC like the Samsung Q1 and put the PDA to bed. (~£800)

Edited September 12, 2006 by Moote

[+melmur]

If you want more info on the A701, take a look at our forums here. There is a whole world of information on there, and as far as I remember out of our ~1800 members only one has said they regret buying one (and that was because he doesn't really know how to use it). That speaks volumes as people generally only register to post when they have a problem with their device.

 

The A701 does however have a competitor in the Eten G500, it is pretty similar spec but I have no experience with it, so can't advise either way. I went for the A701 instead as I had owned Mio devices before and the G500 is slightly bigger and uglier in my opinion.

 

As for SD cards, I personally buy mine off Ebay as I can't afford to pay ~£150, and I am currently using a 150x 2GB OEM card which cost me £21 and works fine. You can also get a 150x 4GB OEM card off Ebay for £34.50 off the same seller I got mine from. He has 85,500 positive feedback so I think he's fairly trustworthy!

 

Please note that although the spec of the A701 says 2GB max, it does work with 4GB cards as per the numerous reports on the above forum.

 

One thing I forgot to mention - as the A701 has a built in camera (albeit not the world's best) I have had a developer write an app for me that can easily stamp your lat/long onto a picture, or any .jpg file you want. You get something like this, with the notes you can add below the data...

 

http://stevemurfin.com/junk/geostamp.jpg

Edited September 12, 2006 by melmur

[+qichina]

Can I put in a word for the Fujitsu N560: GPS,Wi-fi,Bluetooth etc ? (c.£300+)

 

I have a 520 in the same series (same as 560 but no bluetooth) and it's excellent.

 

http://www.clove.co.uk/viewProduct.aspx?Pr...0E-E6684105CC49

[+Moote]

As for SD cards, I personally buy mine off Ebay as I can't afford to pay ~£150, and I am currently using a 150x 2GB OEM card which cost me £21 and works fine. You can also get a 150x 4GB OEM card off Ebay for £34.50 off the same seller I got mine from. He has 85,500 positive feedback so I think he's fairly trustworthy!http://stevemurfin.com/junk/geostamp.jpg

eBay themselves have allowed this and many other Guides about fake Storage cards Fake SD Cards (eBay Article).

 

Also I know 3 people who have bought off different suppliers and been delivered a dodo.

 

Remember a lot of sales on eBay are Buyer Beware.

 

Fast cards are a must in modern PDAs, you can have the fastest processor, but if you have a bottleneck in the storage area, then there will be a greater number of system hangs and cashes, and that 655MHz processor might as well be a 200MHz processor. (That would mean in teams of speed you might as well stick with your iPaq 5550)

 

And on the subject of that, you could get a memory expasion jacket for your iPaq and use 4 & 8GB Compact Flash with it

 

I have spent 6 years in IT, trialing portable devices and testing them for heavy use in a business environment. Beware of PDA / Phone combinations, these tend to be generally a compromised lower specification, also if you phone breaks what do you have to look up phone numbers, usually the PDA goes with it as well, so you loose your contact backup source. They are like the music centre of the PDA world.

Edited September 13, 2006 by Moote

[+Birders]

Don't touch IPAQ, which we unfortunately have. Our son's Mio is totally brilliant.

[+CrazyL200]

As for SD cards, I personally buy mine off Ebay as I can't afford to pay ~£150, and I am currently using a 150x 2GB OEM card which cost me £21 and works fine. You can also get a 150x 4GB OEM card off Ebay for £34.50 off the same seller I got mine from. He has 85,500 positive feedback so I think he's fairly trustworthy!http://stevemurfin.com/junk/geostamp.jpg

eBay themselves have allowed this and many other Guides about fake Storage cards Fake SD Cards (eBay Article).

 

Also I know 3 people who have bought off different suppliers and been delivered a dodo.

 

Remember a lot of sales on eBay are Buyer Beware.

 

Fast cards are a must in modern PDAs, you can have the fastest processor, but if you have a bottleneck in the storage area, then there will be a greater number of system hangs and cashes, and that 655MHz processor might as well be a 200MHz processor. (That would mean in teams of speed you might as well stick with your iPaq 5550)

 

And on the subject of that, you could get a memory expasion jacket for your iPaq and use 4 & 8GB Compact Flash with it

 

I have spent 6 years in IT, trialing portable devices and testing them for heavy use in a business environment. Beware of PDA / Phone combinations, these tend to be generally a compromised lower specification, also if you phone breaks what do you have to look up phone numbers, usually the PDA goes with it as well, so you loose your contact backup source. They are like the music centre of the PDA world.

 

Must admit, I've had a few cards off sellers on Ebay, but I always check their history and only buy from UK sellers normally. I once bought a X150 2GB SD card from a seller in Hong Kong and it turned out to be fine, both in terms of reliability and speed, maybe I was lucky.

 

Also agree with the "one bit of kit for one job" way of thinking ... a 'phone is a 'phone, I'll use a camera for pictures, so I guess, the PDA is a PDA and I'll use the 'phone to call people. As you say, compromise usually happens when one item tries to do two jobs.

 

Any more suggestions for which PDA to get ??

[+CrazyL200]

Don't touch IPAQ, which we unfortunately have. Our son's Mio is totally brilliant.

 

My current Ipaq 5550 has been totaly reliable and useable for the last year (I bought it second hand !!!!)

[+The HERB5]

Don't think I'll bother with a Palm somehow !!

 

As you've had no reply to this, does it mean the Palm users have actually seen sense at last !!!

 

PS I'm an IpaQ man me'self....

[+The Bolas Heathens]

Slightly off topic but the answer is absolutely not.

 

I have a Palm Tungsten E2 (nothing retro about it - full colour screen, tons of memory, 512Mb SD card, bluetooth etc etc) and it does everything we need and more for caching. I can't think of a single thing I've needed to do that it cannot do and now that Fugawi allows you to plot waypoints etc etc in the field my every wish in a handheld is fulfilled.

 

I've dropped it I don't know how many times and it still works every bit as good as the day I bought it - I'd not be so sure I could do this with one of the more fragile looking PPC's.

 

Note: I would not use a handheld outside of caching so cannot comment on some of the other uses for PDA's that some people might want.

 

I'm happy with my Palm, others like PPC's - it's all about personal choice and that's a good thing

 

Don't think I'll bother with a Palm somehow !!

 

As you've had no reply to this, does it mean the Palm users have actually seen sense at last !!!

 

PS I'm an IpaQ man me'self....

Edited September 13, 2006 by The Bolas Heathens

[+The Mars Bars]

Take a look at the Ipaq HX4700... (Combined with a Globalsat BT-338 Bluetooth GPSr).

 

Ive had mine for nearly 12 months and I can't praise it enough.

 

Use it for Memory Map, TomTom, GPX Sonar (when abroad) Surfing t'internet and emai via WiFi and GPRS connecting to my mobile using Bluetooth.

 

I'd never spend my own money on a combined PDA/Phone for 3 good reasons:-

 

1) I get upgrade on my phone every year through my work.

 

2) Why put all your eggs in one basket? if my phone packs in I can still use my PDA and vice versa.

 

3) For the same reason that I chose a separate Bluetooth GPSr instead of a single combined unit- Each device is powered off it's own battery rather than all draining a single battery.

 

Imagine someone from work constantly phoning you and draining your power that you despeately need to find a cache and your indicator is down to one bar and flashing!!!!!!!!!

 

Nice big bright screen far superior to any other screen I have seen on other PDA's.

Memory map looks great on it ..

 

633mhz processor.

 

Not plastic, it has a magnesium alloy (metal) body and has suffered a couple of drops without any problems.

 

1 x SD slot, 1 X CF slot....so expansion is not a problem....I am running a 1 GB SD and a 2GB CF at present.

 

I am sure Happy Humphrey will back me up on this one, it is a superb piece of kit.

 

Not a cheap option mind at just over £300.

 

Cheers

Dave

[+Pharisee]

Don't think I'll bother with a Palm somehow !!

 

As you've had no reply to this, does it mean the Palm users have actually seen sense at last !!!

 

PS I'm an IpaQ man me'self....

 

I'm perfectly happy with my Garmin iQue 3600. (Palm PDA + GPSr) With a 512Mb SD card and City Navigator, it does everything I need. I use CacheMate with a full UK database and it'll sort all 11,000+ caches into distance order in about two minutes.

 

[edit... 13,018 caches in 1min 15 seconds]

Edited September 13, 2006 by Pharisee

[+CrazyL200]

If you want more info on the A701, take a look at our forums here. There is a whole world of information on there, and as far as I remember out of our ~1800 members only one has said they regret buying one (and that was because he doesn't really know how to use it). That speaks volumes as people generally only register to post when they have a problem with their device.

 

Reading the forum, TT5 (TT6 ??) isn't compatable with WM5. There's a few bundle deals about that include Mio Maps. How does Mio Maps compare with the likes of TT for coverage and detail? I'd guess also, they don't use OV2 files, which could be a problem for me.

[+The Mars Bars]

If you want more info on the A701, take a look at our forums here. There is a whole world of information on there, and as far as I remember out of our ~1800 members only one has said they regret buying one (and that was because he doesn't really know how to use it). That speaks volumes as people generally only register to post when they have a problem with their device.

 

Reading the forum, TT5 (TT6 ??) isn't compatable with WM5. There's a few bundle deals about that include Mio Maps. How does Mio Maps compare with the likes of TT for coverage and detail? I'd guess also, they don't use OV2 files, which could be a problem for me.

 

I have a mate (non-cacher) who bought the top Mio PDA with built in GPSr bundled with Miomap satnav software. He has so far been unable to get it to run alongside Memory Map.

 

He has installed GPSGate etc. and re-inatalled numerous times and has now given up on it!

 

MM works fine so he's happy (ish)

 

I had similar probs when I first installed TT5 but after a re-install from scratch all seems OK.

Secret with TT5 was to install GPSGate first then MM and TT5 last so that TT couldn't get first dibs on the com port if anyone is interested. However even this was unsuccessful with Miomap.

 

Cheers

Dave

[+CrazyL200]

If you want more info on the A701, take a look at our forums here. There is a whole world of information on there, and as far as I remember out of our ~1800 members only one has said they regret buying one (and that was because he doesn't really know how to use it). That speaks volumes as people generally only register to post when they have a problem with their device.

 

Reading the forum, TT5 (TT6 ??) isn't compatable with WM5. There's a few bundle deals about that include Mio Maps. How does Mio Maps compare with the likes of TT for coverage and detail? I'd guess also, they don't use OV2 files, which could be a problem for me.

 

Just found part of the answer, TT5.2xx is compatable with WM5, so I guess 6 is too.

[+stora]

If you want more info on the A701, take a look at our forums here. There is a whole world of information on there, and as far as I remember out of our ~1800 members only one has said they regret buying one (and that was because he doesn't really know how to use it). That speaks volumes as people generally only register to post when they have a problem with their device.

 

Reading the forum, TT5 (TT6 ??) isn't compatable with WM5. There's a few bundle deals about that include Mio Maps. How does Mio Maps compare with the likes of TT for coverage and detail? I'd guess also, they don't use OV2 files, which could be a problem for me.

[+Moote]

Don't touch IPAQ, which we unfortunately have. Our son's Mio is totally brilliant.

As someone who owns both a MIO and iPaq, I can say the iPaq knocks spots off the MIO; try running TomTom, Memory Map, and a 78MB Cachemate Database on a MIO and it dies, the iPaq does it very well. My iPaq is 4 years old (5550), I can hold all the UK in 1:50000 Memory Map (12 Maps), a copy of TomTom, and the Cachemate DB and I refuse to change it, after all it does everything I need, and I do also have the unltimate Paperless Caching machine in my car in the form of an Origami PC.

 

Had a thought about what you need, and my 2p worth is HP iPaq hx2790 Pocket PC at around £300. You can't beat iPaq for quality, Onboard memory available to the processor, and support.

Edited September 13, 2006 by Moote

[+The Mars Bars]

HP iPaq hx2790 Pocket PC

 

Just had a look at it Milton, it looks like the bees knees to me.

 

My HX4700 has been discontinued but the spec on this model is very similar..

 

Main point being it has the same spec screen.

 

You won't be dissapointed Crazy L'.

 

If I was in the market for a replacement this would be the one for me.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Sheards]

Another hx4700 user here - If you can find one they are a fantastic piece of kit - I have owned palm devices (Palm III and IV) and several Toshiba PPC's and the 4700 knocks the spots off all of them.

 

Iain

[+CrazyL200]

Don't touch IPAQ, which we unfortunately have. Our son's Mio is totally brilliant.

As someone who owns both a MIO and iPaq, I can say the iPaq knocks spots off the MIO; try running TomTom, Memory Map, and a 78MB Cachemate Database on a MIO and it dies, the iPaq does it very well. My iPaq is 4 years old (5550), I can hold all the UK in 1:50000 Memory Map (12 Maps), a copy of TomTom, and the Cachemate DB and I refuse to change it, after all it does everything I need, and I do also have the unltimate Paperless Caching machine in my car in the form of an Origami PC.

 

Had a thought about what you need, and my 2p worth is HP iPaq hx2790 Pocket PC at around £300. You can't beat iPaq for quality, Onboard memory available to the processor, and support.

 

Presumably you're using a large SD card to get the whole of the UK Memory Map on ??

Must say, my 5550 has been totaly reliable, just getting slow now, maybe it's just time to put a larger card in and keep going

Edited September 13, 2006 by CrazyL200

[Hugh Janus]

I've never had any problems with my iPaq 4150. Lovely bit of kit.

[+Alboy]

I use my Dell Axim X50v with MM, TT5.21, GPS gate etc.

I don't need cachemate, just export HTML files from GSAK and load them on. MM can click through to the relevant html cache page. I also use Beeline when placing caches as it has averaging feature.

 

The screen is beautiful, good brightness, sensible size. Only downside is battery life but you can bulk up on a bigger battery or do as I do and rig up a recharger from 4 rechargeable AA batteries.

[+melmur]

As someone who owns both a MIO and iPaq, I can say the iPaq knocks spots off the MIO; try running TomTom, Memory Map, and a 78MB Cachemate Database on a MIO and it dies

Which Mio are we talking about here? I suspect a 168? Your 5550 has more RAM, but a slower processor than the A701, so I would expect a similar sort of benchmark from the two devices. I regularly run tomtom, MM, gpsdash & cachemate concurrently without any dramas on the a701. The only problem is a bit of GPS lag when they are all reading the NMEA data at once.

 

@ Alboy, why do you need GPS gate with the x50v? isn't that a WM5 device? WM5 can manage GPS connections without 3rd party software.

 

@ CrazyL200, if you already have the 5550 and are going to upgrade to another PDA with the same features, then I would just keep what you have and just go for the bigger card. All you will benefit is a slight increase in speed anyway. I would only consider upgrading when yours no longer runs what you need it to or you want extra features such as built in GPS, phone or whatever.

 

I would certainly consider a £40 4GB card off Ebay before splashing out £150 on one though. Maybe I could sell you one of the £40 ones for £100 and guarantee it will work for you removing the risk & saving you £50? You want to buy one too Moote?

 

RE: Tomtom. You need Tomtom 5.21 or above for WM5 as you discovered. So Tomtom 6 also works and has the whole of Europe on one map. Some people prefer Miomap, but I prefer Tomtom for it's full UK postcodes and amount of custom hacks & addons available.

[+Alboy]

Melmur, I could upgrade but I have no issues with WM2003SE and I think some of the programs I have would hang in WM5!

[+melmur]

My mistake, I thought the x50v was already WM5, was getting it mixed up with the x51v.

[+Moote]

MelMur, you just need to look at the screen clarity of an iPaq compared to a MIO, the display is far superior being, 3.5" transflective TFT QVGA, 64K colours.

 

Now it appears CrazyL200 is looking for a quality device so flooding him with budget PDAs ain't going to help.

 

CrazyL200, I can use my expansion jacket with a 4 or 8GB CF Card for full UK 1:50000 mapping, but rarely do as I use the Origami to hold all my maps (all 27GB of em)

 

It was inevitable that the Palm brigade were going to have a say, well now the PPC boys have Cachemate, just use your Palms in darkened rooms, they are the calculator of the PDA world.

[+The Bolas Heathens]

zzzzzzz - wake me up when you have finished Milton

 

I could not care less whether someone else uses a PPC or Palm - I use a Palm and am happy with it - others use a PPC and are equally happy. The world would be a very dull place if we were all the same.

 

Now, back to the OP....

 

It was inevitable that the Palm brigade were going to have a say, well now the PPC boys have Cachemate, just use your Palms in darkened rooms, they are the calculator of the PDA world.

Edited September 13, 2006 by The Bolas Heathens

[+Moote]

I have a Palm Tungsten E2 (nothing retro about it - full colour screen, tons of memory, 512Mb SD card, bluetooth etc etc) and it does everything we need and more for caching. I can't think of a single thing I've needed to do that it cannot do and now that Fugawi allows you to plot waypoints etc etc in the field my every wish in a handheld is fulfilled.

So can you tap a Fugawi cache icon and open the relevant Cachemate record, just like MM on the PPC can?

I've dropped it I don't know how many times and it still works every bit as good as the day I bought it - I'd not be so sure I could do this with one of the more fragile looking PPC's.

I have dropped several PPCs and they have never broken. But I have seen both Palms and PPC which have. Its a lottery I guess.

Note: I would not use a handheld outside of caching so cannot comment on some of the other uses for PDA's that some people might want.

I use them in business, they compare favourably really

I'm happy with my Palm, others like PPC's - it's all about personal choice and that's a good thing

All the Palm users who have used my PPC, with its caching specific features have soon conceded that the Palm can't even reach the abilities of the PPC

[+The Bolas Heathens]

Very good Milton - I still don't care if someone uses a Palm or PPC and am not about to justify my choice of a Palm.

 

How about we get this thread back on topic as debating Palm vs PPC never gets anyone anywhere as it's all down to what you need it for and personal tastes.

[+Moote]

zzzzzzz - wake me up when you have finished Milton

 

I could not care less whether someone else uses a PPC or Palm - I use a Palm and am happy with it - others use a PPC and are equally happy. The world would be a very dull place if we were all the same.

 

Now, back to the OP....

 

It was inevitable that the Palm brigade were going to have a say, well now the PPC boys have Cachemate, just use your Palms in darkened rooms, they are the calculator of the PDA world.

zzzzzzz - wake me up when you have finished John

 

I think it was you who made out the Palm to be something special, it in noway compares to the PPC, that is from someone who regally advises business on mobile computing. If you require simple functions, then Palm is OK, if you require power aplications, then it is the PPC path. Which reminds me; I was playing with a WM5 Palm the other week, I guess not all Palms are what they say.

[+The Bolas Heathens]

I think you are mistaken...not me - I don't need to justify anything to anyone

 

You can try and twist my words all you like but it really does not matter as it's nothing to do with the OP.

 

I think it was you who made out the Palm to be something special

[+Moote]

Very good Milton - I still don't care if someone uses a Palm or PPC and am not about to justify my choice of a Palm.

 

How about we get this thread back on topic as debating Palm vs PPC never gets anyone anywhere as it's all down to what you need it for and personal tastes.

This is totally on topic, it is giving pitfalls of the Palm; linking Cache waypoint Icons in MM with the Cachemate record is an essential tool, If I decide to do a BIG numbers run, it is the only way to work, even on my lazy days I just look at the next nearest, it makes paperless caching work properly.

[+SUp3rFM & Cruella]

Let me tell you a nice and funny story. About two months ago, a guy from my work cleaned up his office and threw away an Ipaq 3870, with the craddled, everything. The battery went dead and HP/Compaq wouldn't support the replacement, so he got rid of it.

 

I picked it up (yes, I know it's wrong to mess in the garbage) and started googling... The unit worked fine on the craddled but the second I disconnected from power it went off. I ran across several solutions and finally found one with an happy ending.

 

I bought an OEM battery from ebay (with 1600mah) for $16. Took me 5 minutes to install it and now it's working like a charm! Yes, I got an almost brand new PDA for $16.

 

The PDA had almost no use, and that's why the battery went dead.

 

So, we're now powered by a Ipaq 3870, with already Pocket PC 2003 installed!

 

We're using several GPX from our Pocket Queries, plusg GPX Sonar and Spoiler Sync (for the images). It's just what we need. Ah, it has bluetooth just in case we buy one BT GPS.

 

I've seen pdas like this one costing only $50 or less.

 

After PPC2003 was installed, I tested sucessfully an 2gb SD Card.

[+melmur]

Very good Milton - I still don't care if someone uses a Palm or PPC and am not about to justify my choice of a Palm.

Surely you did that in your last post?

How about we get this thread back on topic as debating Palm vs PPC never gets anyone anywhere as it's all down to what you need it for and personal tastes.

It is on topic. The original poster wanted opinions on "Which PDA ???". Both PPCs and Palms are Personal Digital Assistants, so I think healthy discussion like this helps people to decide which way to go. Everyone has a favourite device, so this is the place to recommend it to us! So long as we don't get upset when people don't agree, like you said - personal tastes.

[+The Bolas Heathens]

I give up - I really don't care.

[+melmur]

That's a shame, I was hoping a Palm user would convince us they were still camparable with the PPCs. I know very little about them apart from the old monochrome LCD ones of the late 80s.

[+The Bolas Heathens]

Ok - last comment.

 

Palms are clearly not comparable with some of the higher end PPC's. I don't think anyone is questioning that.

 

I don't use anything other than Cachemate, Fugawi (full UK 1:50,000 maps) and CacheNav (as a backup to my normal GPS) on the Palm so do not need a very expensive feature packed PDA as it would be a waste of money and I'd only scratch the surface of what it could do.

 

I have a TomTom Go 910 so don't need TT on a PDA and to be honest would rather have a seperate dedicated unit for finding my way to the parking location.

 

My Palm was not cheap but comparing it to the prices of PPC's it is very reasonable .

 

The only thing I can see that a PPC does over a Palm for my caching is to be able to tap an icon in a map and bring up a cache page in Cachemate. Whilst this is a nice idea, it's not something I need or desire. I can do my caching perfectly well without this and our method of working works well for us.

 

Before anyone tried to suggest I'm justifying my use of a Palm, I'm not . I'm just trying to say not everyone needs a high spec PDA to go caching. For other non-caching uses, maybe they do but that's not something that would be of use to me, or I suggest, a lot of other cachers.

 

I still think the Palm vs PPC is off topic as anyone can see the OP is clearly looking for a PPC and not a Palm as they are clearly used to using a set of PPC programs and I doubt very much they would be looking to change that drastically. Ok, if Palm had a super-dooper, ultra fast PPC killer then maybe they might think about it but it's not going to happen.

 

That's a shame, I was hoping a Palm user would convince us they were still camparable with the PPCs. I know very little about them apart from the old monochrome LCD ones of the late 80s.

Edited September 13, 2006 by The Bolas Heathens

[+melmur]

@ Moote, I agree the transflective screens are far superior to the transmissive affair on the A701. I still replaced my x51v with it though and would never go back. I just love having it all in one device. I never did get a CF GPS to work on the Dell either.

 

I also agree that roolku's GSAK export script with MM/Cachemate is the dog's nads.

[+CrazyL200]

I asked "Which PDA" with a basic set of criteria.

But to be a bit more specific :

Tomtom5.2xx - likely to be changed to 6 soon. Used for UK and European navigaton

Memeory Map 2004 - likely to be upgraded to V5 soon. Used for detailed close range navigation.

GPXSonar

Portable PC power / file transfers etc.... so storage space and processing power is important, irrespective of MemoryMap's hungry attitude.

 

Shame it's degraded into this, think I'll lock the topic if it continues.

I've been away from the PC for an hour or so and just spent too long reading an arguement and slanging match.

 

I was hoping for some good advice / experience. Which, to be fair, there has been. But, please, keep it to just that, not slanging each others preferences.

 

So far I'm heading towards either a Mio P550 or Ipaq hx2790. Or maybe just keep the 5550 and shove a 4GB sd card in it until it stops working alltogether. And yes, I'm listening to the Palm users too, even if I did make a "not me" type of comment earlier on.

 

I feel one of the problems with my current 5550 is possibly processing speed degradation as large GPX or MMO files can take for ever to open or even hang the process.

 

The advantage of built in GPS is obvious, although there's bound to be a trade off in terms of battery life.

 

Don't want built in 'phone or camera (I've already got one of each that does what it says on the box !!).

 

Wifi and bluetooth are important needs. It would be nice to be able to get on line in the field, but with bluetooth that's possible via the 'phone, or with Wifi whenever there's a signal. Failing that, it's get the laptop out and use the datacard, but if there's a signal for my datacard, there's also one for the 'phone as they're both on the same network (there's a surprise !!).

 

Thanks for all the good advice so far. Keep it coming.

[+Moote]

 

I feel one of the problems with my current 5550 is possibly processing speed degradation as large GPX or MMO files can take for ever to open or even hang the process.

 

Try the PPC version of Cachemate, it is a proper SQL Database in the back end, unlike GPXSonar which renders is data from a flat un-indexed file. Cost £5, and it has great plugins for free, like the TomTom POI Export - saves getting the lappy outt on the road.

 

It is FAST in use, no VERY VERY FAST, I had 12000 caches loaded, and you could search that in seconds for any cache in the UK, looks and feels like GPXSonar, but uses better technology

[markandlynn]

At the price you are willing to pay i would say go PPC.

Now if you want to go paperless for an outlay of £25 then a palm is the way to go.

£5 cachemate

£8 GSAK

£12 palm VX

plus

£13 premium membersip

When cachemate was a palm only application it swung the balance by quite a lot but now its on PPC.

NB

I use a palm Vx (two in fact)

[+stora]

I asked "Which PDA" with a basic set of criteria.

But to be a bit more specific :

Tomtom5.2xx - likely to be changed to 6 soon. Used for UK and European navigaton

Memeory Map 2004 - likely to be upgraded to V5 soon. Used for detailed close range navigation.

GPXSonar

Portable PC power / file transfers etc.... so storage space and processing power is important, irrespective of MemoryMap's hungry attitude.

 

Shame it's degraded into this, think I'll lock the topic if it continues.

I've been away from the PC for an hour or so and just spent too long reading an arguement and slanging match.

 

I was hoping for some good advice / experience. Which, to be fair, there has been. But, please, keep it to just that, not slanging each others preferences.

 

So far I'm heading towards either a Mio P550 or Ipaq hx2790. Or maybe just keep the 5550 and shove a 4GB sd card in it until it stops working alltogether. And yes, I'm listening to the Palm users too, even if I did make a "not me" type of comment earlier on.

 

I feel one of the problems with my current 5550 is possibly processing speed degradation as large GPX or MMO files can take for ever to open or even hang the process.

 

The advantage of built in GPS is obvious, although there's bound to be a trade off in terms of battery life.

 

Don't want built in 'phone or camera (I've already got one of each that does what it says on the box !!).

 

Wifi and bluetooth are important needs. It would be nice to be able to get on line in the field, but with bluetooth that's possible via the 'phone, or with Wifi whenever there's a signal. Failing that, it's get the laptop out and use the datacard, but if there's a signal for my datacard, there's also one for the 'phone as they're both on the same network (there's a surprise !!).

 

Thanks for all the good advice so far. Keep it coming.

 

 

Hi

 

I have a p550 running MM5, Cachmate and MioMap 2.

 

I have no complaints about this budget PPC.

 

I've not set them up to share the gps at the same time, but seeing others have tried and failed it looks like I'll have to get my a** into gear and have a go at it

 

PM me for a demo I'm not that far away from you.

Edited September 13, 2006 by stora

[+stora]

One thing I would like to add is that the Mio p550 comes with the car kit and leads included in the price. I can charge mine up from the USB at home. I have the Mio connected to the car cigarette power while I'm driving or charge it up at work using the normal travel charger. All in all its good value for the price.

[+CrazyL200]

 

I feel one of the problems with my current 5550 is possibly processing speed degradation as large GPX or MMO files can take for ever to open or even hang the process.

 

Try the PPC version of Cachemate, it is a proper SQL Database in the back end, unlike GPXSonar which renders is data from a flat un-indexed file. Cost £5, and it has great plugins for free, like the TomTom POI Export - saves getting the lappy outt on the road.

 

It is FAST in use, no VERY VERY FAST, I had 12000 caches loaded, and you could search that in seconds for any cache in the UK, looks and feels like GPXSonar, but uses better technology

 

Just loaded Cachemate - like it, why haven't I tried that before ???

[+melmur]

I thought that when I first tried it. I always thought GPX Sonar was better and looked prettier until I got to over 500 caches, then it slowed to a crawl. Cachemate knocks the spots off it as you would expect with an SQL database.

 

@ stora - there are 2 different ports your GPS will work on, a software one and a hardware one. The hardware one can't be shared and is usually COM2 or HW_COM or GPS_COM. With the software port (usually COM4 on Sirf III Mio devices) you can connect many apps to it. However, some apps can't wake up this port. Tomtom, Cachenav and Miomap are guilty of this, so if you want to share apps such as these on software port with MM, or similar, you need to open the port first with an app that can do it. MM can, so run that first.

 

There's more info here:

 

http://www.fourpages.co.uk/mioA701/viewtopic.php?t=330

 

It's relevant to the A701, but your device works in the same way, but the port numbers may differ.

[+Moote]

Just loaded Cachemate - like it, why haven't I tried that before ???

All you need now is the Memory Map Icons that open up the cachemate cache page Yes, tap the Icon and there is the cache details in full

[+Urban Fox]

Asus MyPal A636

I did quite a bit of research on this, and this seemed perfect for me. Built in Sirf Star III, brilliant battery life, Decent performance. Picked it up for about £260. Doesn't come with Tom Tom or anything so you have to obtain a copy of this.

[+Archer4]

Been using a iPAQ 2790 with a TomTom receiver- not had it long but seems like the canines attributes compared to the 3630 I'd been using

Doesn't seem to be widely advertised but there are 2 versions - one with 256Mb total and the other with 384Mb total (HP part numbers FA677B and FA678T but a lot of retailers seem to have their details muddled up (I think the FA678T is AKA the 2790b unlike the FA677B - good choices ) I believe the #ABU after the part number indicates that it is a UK model rather than an import

I run MM2004 off a 2Gb CF card. I spent ages trying (clumsily I suspect) to get WM5 to run MM 2004 and TT Navigator 5 together then tried GPS Gate and it ran out of the box so haven't been back to try via WM5 again (MM + the TT receiver needed the sIRF III fix from the MM support pages (thanks again team )

Not impossible to make it hang but rare once it is going. Has needed a soft reset sometimes if the On button doesn't wake it up. I've seen it alluded to on some forums but haven't bothered pursuing the fix.

Haven't tried cachemate - but I suspect I may be soon