PDA recommendations

[+trailpuppy]

I was wondering if my fellow cachers could recommend a PDA to purchase. My vitals: premium member, Garmin 60 CS, have GSAK, will be purchasing Cachemate. Max budget $150 (or so), looking for a unit that's easy to use and a screen that can be read in sunlight. Hopefully one that also comes with a metal case so I don't break it my first week! Thank you all, I really appreciate the help.

[+PaRacers]

We're VERY happy with a 2nd hand Palm M500. It doesn't have alot of bells and whistles, but it's very suitable for Cachemate. Paid $30 w/hardcase. If it gets lost or broken I fully intend to buy another just like it for caching.

[+GPS Derek]

I currently have a Palm Vx that I got for $15 picked up locally of Ebay. Cought a case for another 10 but after a year the battery started fading very fast. Bought a new battery and replaced it...(not a easy feat) but it has good power and then drops like a rock so I guess it's the unit, not the battery. Found a Z22 on ebay for $40, need to get time to switch all over and get a case. Being new can't tell what it wil be like in sunshine yet.

 

Unless you have a read need for it ther than Geocaching, stay under $50 so if it is lost or damaged... no biggie... just get a replcaement.

[+Miragee]

The Palm M500 is a good one because the screen is easy to read, even in bright sunlight. The Palm M505 or M515 are also good, inexpensive choices, with a bit faster processors.

 

You don't need to spend more than $50.00, including the price of shipping and a hard case, to have an excellent PDA for caching.

[+RRLover]

Palm is offering a $100.00 rebate on the TX

http://www.palm.com/us/products/handhelds/tx/

click on the" buy now", then on the "proceed to

shopping cart"links, price down to $199.00 plus a

free keyboard? Not to shabby if your looking for

brand spankin' new, I didn't see mention of

refurbs.

 

Norm

[+briansnat]

Don't waste money on a new one if you are just going to use it for caching. They really aren't designed for the great outdoors, so you might have yourself an expensive paperweight if it gets rained on, dropped or banged around.

 

I have a M500 and it stays in my pack unless needed. The M500 holds a few thousand cache pages and is fairly readable in sunlight. You can find one used for around $30 on Ebay.

[+trailpuppy]

Thanks to all for responding, my wife got me a Palm Z22 for my birthday last week and I'm quite pleased with it.

[+kurchian]

I am totally new to PDA's. Other than the caching software (Cachemate) do I need any particular PDA software to display cache pages?

[+Haffy]

Nope Cachemate will do it all for you. 8 bux well spent.