starting out w/paperless

[gargoyle725]

ok I just picked up a palm3x used.where do I start?I am brand new to geocaching .I am not yet a premium member ,I want to see if we like it first. will the pda help me if not a premium member.

what software do I need?

Edited July 15, 2007 by gargoyle725

[+imajeep]

A Premium membership makes paperless caching a lot easier. Here's what we do: We find a dozen or so caches we want to hunt and bookmark them (premium feature). Then we generate a 'pocket query' with the details on all bookmarked caches (another premium feature). That gets sent to us attached to an email from gc.com, as a zipped GPX file. We use a program called CacheMate to convert the GPX file to Palm format. So, at this point, we have for each cache we bookmarked: The description, the hint, and the five previous logs.

 

Next we open the GPX in Google Earth (free) , which gives us aerial photos of the cache sites. We zoom in on each cache to get the detail we need, then we save the screen images to JPG files. We use a program called Splash Photo to convert the pictures to Palm format. So now we have aerial photos to go along with the cache information.

 

We sync our Palm (Z22) to our PC, which transfers everything to the Palm. The Palm has a version of CacheMate for viewing cache information, and a version of Splash Photo for viewing the aerials.

 

Now, what am I forgetting? Oh, yeah, we use Easy GPS to download the GPX waypoint info to our GPSr. Can't forget that! (Actually did, once. Ms. Imajeep smacked me upside the head... ).

 

Ours isn't the only way to do it. A lot of people swear by GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife), a program that creates an maintains a local database of caches on your PC. I suspect you'll be seeing a lot about that in other replies to your message.

 

Hope that helps!

Edited July 15, 2007 by imajeep

[+Miragee]

To really get the most out of your PDA, you must become a Premium Member. You can start with just $3.00 for one month to make sure, but trust me, you are going to love pocket queries. You create Pocket Queries from a link on your My Account page. There is a variety of software available, but many people find GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) to be invaluable.

 

For your Palm, Cachemate just can't be beat. It costs $8.00 to register, but that is a real bargain for what Cachemate can do. It gives you the cache description, a "page" with the hint, a "page" with Past Logs, and a "page" where you can record your experience at the cache.

 

When you set up your first Pocket Queries, these are some checkmarks to check in one part of the form:

 

 

Good luck!