Looking for faster paperless unit

[+Bus36]

I am currently using a palmIIIxe and using cachemate. The problem is when I go to load everything up about 6MB worth of data it is taking a long time to download it to the unit and then cachemate has to do its stuff. Is there a faster way to do this? Or is there a faster unit at a reasonable price. I think now it is taking about 45 min to an hour to put on 6500 caches. I like to keep a large amount of caches up to date since I never know where I am going to end up. Thanks for the help.

[+geognerd]

I love my IIIxe, but I do agree that it is pokey during uploads and I only upload 500 caches. I think the two issues are the serial connection and the 16MHz processor in it. If you get something with a USB connection or a faster processor, I bet you would see faster uploads.

 

For those here who are more tech minded, what would you say is more at fault for the slow upload process on the IIIxe? The serial connection or the processor?

Edited April 3, 2007 by geognerd

[+Timpat]

I recently upgraded from my trusty Palm IIIxe 8MB (serial connection) to a Palm M125 8MB (USB) and it is MUCH faster to load a big file of caches. I'd have to say it's due to the USB vs. the unit in my case. I got my M125 on eBay for $15. I love it.

[+Miragee]

I am currently using a palmIIIxe and using cachemate. The problem is when I go to load everything up about 6MB worth of data it is taking a long time to download it to the unit and then cachemate has to do its stuff. Is there a faster way to do this? Or is there a faster unit at a reasonable price. I think now it is taking about 45 min to an hour to put on 6500 caches. I like to keep a large amount of caches up to date since I never know where I am going to end up. Thanks for the help.

Wheeuu . . . 6500 caches! Wow! I thought my area was "cache-rich."

 

I agree with others that upgrading to a Palm, like my Palm M500 with the USB connection, would speed things up, but that's a lot of caches.

 

Which program do you use to filter the caches and send the information to your Palm?

 

If you use GSAK, you could load all those caches once, then after getting new PQs, you could do a filter for the "New Caches" and "Last Change Date" and only load those into the existing Cachemate database/databases. That will be a much smaller number of caches to load, and you'll still have all the information.

[+Ellteejak]

I am currently using a palmIIIxe and using cachemate. The problem is when I go to load everything up about 6MB worth of data it is taking a long time to download it to the unit and then cachemate has to do its stuff. Is there a faster way to do this? Or is there a faster unit at a reasonable price. I think now it is taking about 45 min to an hour to put on 6500 caches. I like to keep a large amount of caches up to date since I never know where I am going to end up. Thanks for the help.

 

1) read my discussion about optimal fast upload of data to PDA. I just started talking about this issue. If you use GSAK you can select just the top 100 caches near a specific ZIPCODE to upload to a CACHEMATE file for sync to your PDA. This should speed things up significantly for the transfer, and also for the working on your PDA.

 

2) also get the application called BACKUPMAN for your PDA with a SD memory card. Anytime the PDA dies, you just startup BACKUPMAN to restore the data from the SD card, and you are back in business. Of course you need to get a PDA with a SD memery slot.

[+Bus36]

I am currently using a palmIIIxe and using cachemate. The problem is when I go to load everything up about 6MB worth of data it is taking a long time to download it to the unit and then cachemate has to do its stuff. Is there a faster way to do this? Or is there a faster unit at a reasonable price. I think now it is taking about 45 min to an hour to put on 6500 caches. I like to keep a large amount of caches up to date since I never know where I am going to end up. Thanks for the help.

Wheeuu . . . 6500 caches! Wow! I thought my area was "cache-rich."

 

I agree with others that upgrading to a Palm, like my Palm M500 with the USB connection, would speed things up, but that's a lot of caches.

 

Which program do you use to filter the caches and send the information to your Palm?

 

If you use GSAK, you could load all those caches once, then after getting new PQs, you could do a filter for the "New Caches" and "Last Change Date" and only load those into the existing Cachemate database/databases. That will be a much smaller number of caches to load, and you'll still have all the information.

I do use GSAK and that trick should work. 6500 caches is of course 150-200 mile radius around pittsburgh. I like to have everything ready just in case. Maybe a little bit over the top but all well. What would you do to get rid of the caches already on your palm that are inactive or archived??

[+Miragee]

In GSAK, you need to do a "Last .gpx Update" filter to return the "stale" caches in your database, those that have either been Archived or Disabled.

 

Depending on how many are in that list, you can just use that list and go to your Palm, find the caches by name, and Delete them one by one. That might take less time that Deleting all 6500 caches from your Palm and reloading them from a "fresh" GSAK database.

 

After you do that filter, you need to Delete them from GSAK. If you do the "Last Update .gpx" filter everytime you have gotten new PQs that populate your database, you should keep that data "relatively" fresh.

[+NightPilot]

For that many, what you need is a Tungsten T3. It can be found on ebay, but it's not cheap - $150-$200 for most. It has the fastest processor of any Palm at 400MHz, and IMHO it's the best all-around model Palm has produced. I've so far refused to upgrade my old one to any newer model, because it does everything I need, and more. I transfer files via the SD card, and I can import 2500 caches into Cachemate in a few seconds.