Jump to content

Help Buying a PDA


Recommended Posts

Can anyone please help we would like to buy a PDA to go paperless caching but we have no idea what to get.

 

It does appear that to have a built in GPSr is a real advantage and it would be great if it could do auto routing that could all be setup before we left home. But we don't want to spend a silly amount of money although we don't mind around £200 max.

 

Once we have one what else would we then need to get (we have memory map) to help us go paperless and is it worth going paperless?

 

Thanks in advance

Link to comment

You have opened up a big can of worms here. Palm or Pocket PC? Cachemate/GPXSonar? With GPS or without? Auto routing seperate or not?

 

You will get many differing answers.

 

I try to go paperless because I cannot be asked to keep printing out all the cache pages. However, there are some cons about going paperless in my view.

  1. No easy way of noting answers to the multis etc. Pen and notebook still best method HOWEVER with the introduction of a PPC program called multicalc, that is changing.
  2. Rain.
  3. Battery life can be a problem.

I use an iPAQ 5550 with TOM TOM, MultiCalc and GPXSonar. If you're a Premium member, (I didn't check before responding) you'll have access to GPX files which are fantastic. I have separate files for the caches according to distance away from my home co-ords. Makes the files smaller an easier to handle.

My GPS also has autorouting now. So I get to where I'm going on road via TOM TOM and MM4 (footpaths etc) and then use the GPS to take me OFF ROAD to the cache site.

 

The PDA then gives me the cache info I need as well as pictures - if I remember - using SyncSpoiler. I make notes of nos. obtained, the order I do caches, and where I dropped TB's etc. IF I REMEMBER!

 

So my preference is PPC over Palm. The pro for Palm is cost. Can be a lot cheaper.

 

This probably will be of no use to you in any way shape or form. The decision will be yours.

Link to comment

Just for my ten penneth, I use a Handspring Visor Edge which can be obtained for about £15.00 on eBay. Its black nd white, no jazzy graphics, but the battery lasts about 8 weeks! I use cachemate on the Palm which costs $8 (US) and as the pound is very strong it works out at about £4.50. A bargain! This works great for me.

Link to comment

MultiCalc is a nifty little program some cacher wrote to enable you to "do the maths" in multis. i.e. when given something like:

NorthAB (R-F)(F*T).(D-W+X)(P/Q)M

West 000 (K-L)V.(Z-Y*(J+C))(N*3)(H-Q+W)

 

You just enter the values for the letters, copy & paste the formulae (taken from GPX file on your PDA) and push the button. Hey Presto - co-ordinates without making calculation errors.

 

Very handy.

Link to comment

MultiCalc is a nifty little program some cacher wrote to enable you to "do the maths" in multis. i.e. when given something like:

NorthAB (R-F)(F*T).(D-W+X)(P/Q)M

West 000 (K-L)V.(Z-Y*(J+C))(N*3)(H-Q+W)

 

You just enter the values for the letters, copy & paste the formulae (taken from GPX file on your PDA) and push the button. Hey Presto - co-ordinates without making calculation errors.

 

Very handy.

 

Now that contains one of the oddities of calculations you sometimes see on cache pages

 

(D-W+X) which calculation do you do first ?

 

D-W or W+X ?? (D-W)+X) or (D-(W+X) both can and do give completely different results.

Sorry to go OT but it's one of those thing's that annoys me.

Link to comment

Now that contains one of the oddities of calculations you sometimes see on cache pages

 

(D-W+X) which calculation do you do first ?

 

D-W or W+X ?? (D-W)+X) or (D-(W+X) both can and do give completely different results.

Sorry to go OT but it's one of those thing's that annoys me.

 

Brackets 1st then left to right.

 

(D-W)+X =D-W+X

 

D-(W+X) =D-W-X

 

What school did you go to. :laughing:

Link to comment

Edited to say you can usually sort these kind of things out with a bit of plotting on Memory Map but do tend to find they generally just read from left to right unless brackets indicate otherwise.

 

Back to the OP, we've been equally happy with our old Palm Tungsten E2 and our new Mio P550. The latter wins out (not by that much) as we can run TT on it and do not need to worry about a seperate TT Go unit. I also like the inbuilt wireless as it's very handy for checking emails on the fly.

Edited by The Bolas Heathens
Link to comment

MultiCalc is a nifty little program some cacher wrote to enable you to "do the maths" in multis. i.e. when given something like:

NorthAB (R-F)(F*T).(D-W+X)(P/Q)M

West 000 (K-L)V.(Z-Y*(J+C))(N*3)(H-Q+W)

 

You just enter the values for the letters, copy & paste the formulae (taken from GPX file on your PDA) and push the button. Hey Presto - co-ordinates without making calculation errors.

 

Very handy.

 

Now that contains one of the oddities of calculations you sometimes see on cache pages

 

(D-W+X) which calculation do you do first ?

 

D-W or W+X ?? (D-W)+X) or (D-(W+X) both can and do give completely different results.

Sorry to go OT but it's one of those thing's that annoys me.

 

When I was at school I had the acronym BODMAS drilled into me by my maths teacher. That stands for:

Brackets - Order - Divide - Multiply - Add - Subtract.

 

Order is the only item that is not obvious but relates to raising a number to a power. Amazing that I can still remember this after 40 odd years and still use it on an almost daily basis.

Link to comment

Now that contains one of the oddities of calculations you sometimes see on cache pages

 

(D-W+X) which calculation do you do first ?

 

D-W or W+X ?? (D-W)+X) or (D-(W+X) both can and do give completely different results.

Sorry to go OT but it's one of those thing's that annoys me.

 

Brackets 1st then left to right.

 

(D-W)+X =D-W+X

 

D-(W+X) =D-W-X

 

What school did you go to. :laughing:

 

One where separate sums were put in separate brackets obviously :laughing: old computer programs HAD to be done that way, modern day excel is a bit cleverer. :laughing:

 

unfortunately not all cache sums are done that way :laughing:

 

dont carry memory map in the car so cant do plotting on the go other than on an OS map

Link to comment
Where can one download Multicalc please (oh and not the sophisticated curve fitting or the calculus one... :(

 

:(

 

Jon

This is the Original Post etc if anyone else is interested.

 

Multicalc

 

Oss!

 

I use something very similar on my Palm, called 'Coordinate Calculator v1.3' but for the life of me, I can't recall where I got it from :unsure:

Link to comment
Where can one download Multicalc please (oh and not the sophisticated curve fitting or the calculus one... :(

 

:(

 

Jon

This is the Original Post etc if anyone else is interested.

 

Multicalc

 

Oss!

 

I use something very similar on my Palm, called 'Coordinate Calculator v1.3' but for the life of me, I can't recall where I got it from :unsure:

Reading the thread I quoted above, I recall their was some word of a Palm version being concocted by someone.

 

FWIW. Oss!

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...