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Newbie PDA User - what software?


buffmeister

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Hi all

 

Just started this geocaching lark and looking for advice as to what s/w to put on my PDA.

 

I have an IPAQ 4150 and a recently purchased bluetooth GPS receiver. I have looked at 'GPS Tuner', 'Trackypro' and others on various websites and am no nearer making any decisions as to what to get as all the packages seem to do roughly the same thing, (to my uninformed eye anyway) :D

 

Any advice from PDA users out there would be much appreciated. I am after simplicity of use with the ability to possibly use google maps as I gain experience and/or cope with gpx files.

 

regards

buffmeister

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Unfortunatly, there isn't anything out there to meet what you're looking for. At best, you can get programs that show lists of caches, and navigate you to them via distance/direction. I've so far not found anything that integraded caches with moving map software that actually gets you to the cache consistantly, especially if it's off-road.

 

I'm looking for the exact same thing myself, and I'm sorry to have to report a total lack of success =\

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Unfortunatly, there isn't anything out there to meet what you're looking for. At best, you can get programs that show lists of caches, and navigate you to them via distance/direction. I've so far not found anything that integraded caches with moving map software that actually gets you to the cache consistantly, especially if it's off-road.

 

I'm looking for the exact same thing myself, and I'm sorry to have to report a total lack of success =\

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There is one person in these Forums who successfully uses a PDA for Geocaching, and frequently recommends them, but I don't remember what programs he uses. For listing the caches, Cachemate for the PPC or GPXSonar come highly-recommended.

 

Since PDAs are fragile, and possibly not up to the rigors of Geocaching, and they are expensive to replace, I don't know if you really want to go in that direction. I have Cachemate on my Palm M500, but I have a hand-held, durable, waterproof Garmin Vista HCx for locating the caches and for auto-routing to the cache locations.

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There is one person in these Forums who successfully uses a PDA for Geocaching, and frequently recommends them.../quote]

 

That may be me.

 

I use a GPS/PDA combo on almost a daily basis. I not only use it for geocaching but for work.

Backcountry Navigator is the GPS mapping program I have and it is a great program. Unfortunately it is not designed for for use outside the US. It utilizes the United States USGS topo and aerial maps from terraserver as a background image.

 

I believe GPS Tuner (and Tracky) will allow any image to be used as a background (including Google Earth). There is a "calibration" process however that I found somewhat cumbersome and that is the major reason I choose Backcountry Navigator.

 

A program called Memory Map which gets good reviews may do what you want. It has a lot of functions but is more expensive.

Edited by rlridgeway
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Hi all

 

Just started this geocaching lark and looking for advice as to what s/w to put on my PDA.

 

I have an IPAQ 4150 and a recently purchased bluetooth GPS receiver. I have looked at 'GPS Tuner', 'Trackypro' and others on various websites and am no nearer making any decisions as to what to get as all the packages seem to do roughly the same thing, (to my uninformed eye anyway) :)

 

Any advice from PDA users out there would be much appreciated. I am after simplicity of use with the ability to possibly use google maps as I gain experience and/or cope with gpx files.

 

regards

buffmeister

 

There are many options for PDA geocaching software, most come as shareware so don't rush to buy one but try a few and find one that works for you. Here's a good place to start:

http://www.pocketpcmag.com/awards/category...PS%20Geocaching

 

For field use buy some sort of ruggedized case that offers at least water repellancy, make sure you check that the unit has mobile recharge capability, either a external battery pack, high capacity battery and or car adapter because all PDA's are power hungry little things.

 

I'm not familiar with your PDA but if you have WiFi & the WM2003 SE or WM5 OS you can actually use Google Maps

(@ http://www.google.ca/gmm/index.html?utm_so...m_campaign=gmm), you need a phone modem or a Wifi Connection to update the maps however but when you do it's very impressive to use, you have street maps and satellite maps along with movable GPS tracking.

 

I use a Toshiba e830 Pocket PC with a Globalsat Compact Flash GPS ( Model BC-337) card and a 4-AA Battery extender (using 4- 2500 mAh, 1.2 volt rechargeable NIMH batteries which gives us about 15 hours of steady use) all contained in an Otterbox 3600 case (waterproof, dustproof & drop- proof outdoor case). My wife uses a Dell X50 Pocket PC with the same accessories. For software we both use Beeline GPS software ( @ http://www.visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/ ) on the PDA's and GSAK ( @ http://gsak.net/ ) on the PC's. Just export the caches from Geocache.com using pocket query into GSAK and GSAK exports to an SD card for the PDA. (Beeline uses the .gpx format & places caches directly on the mapping screen). When you want to read the cache information just click the cache icon on the screen and pocket IE opens with the almost exact Geocache.com cache page including hints and last visit information. Beeline also has a GoTo function which can guide you on the map screen with icon tracking , audio alarms and screen alarms or you can switch to a compass screen that guides you by direction and distance. For road maps we use MS Pocket Streets with cache stick pins GC coordinates exported from GSAK on a map made from MS Streets & Trips 2006.

 

Hope that helps.

 

ty

Edited by Team Yarber
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