+paulbarratt Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Hi all you lovely chachers I'm wanting to switch to paperless caching so I know I need a PDA and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a suitable one for me to buy. My caching partner has a Garmin eTrex for the GPS side but can anyone also recommend a PDA with GPS?? Ta very muchly Paul Quote Link to comment
+T F T C Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 You might want to start by looking at the software needed for paperless caching, then see what PDAs they support. I use CacheMate on my Treo 650 - works great. I think that there's a GPS module that can be plugged in, but I already use a Magellan eXplorist 500. Quote Link to comment
+JohnTee Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 Hi Paul, Paperless is great. How much do you want to spend? You can use anything from a Palm M500 to a Handspring Tungsten to latest and greatest Palm. That could cost you anywhere from free for a hand-me-down, to $20 to $3-400. There are also other platforms like the PPC and others. I'm using a Palm Tungsten E2, with Bluetooth, which works great. I use it for a lot of work related tasks too, so that's part of my choice. Given my druthers I would have a Tungsten TX with wireless. You could easily use something like a Palm M500 for paperless; you just wouldn't be able to store the thousands of caches that I keep on my SD Card. You CAN get by without thousands of caches. First, you will want to become a Premium Member ($30) so you can download PQ's (Pocket Queries). For software that I'm familiar with, I can suggest GSAK (about $27) for your PC and CacheMate (about $12) for the Palm. There's a start for you. Cache On! JohnTee Quote Link to comment
+Mojoski Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 (edited) First, you will want to become a Premium Member ($30) so you can download PQ's (Pocket Queries). For software that I'm familiar with, I can suggest GSAK (about $27) for your PC and CacheMate (about $12) for the Palm. I highly recommend this combination as well. Once I tried this paperless system, there really was no going back. Any old Palm device will do. (Mine is a Handspring Visor Prism that has to be at least 6 or 7 years old by now!) That said, look for something reasonably rugged since it will need to go everywhere with you. I also grabbed myself a Visor stylus that had a ballpoint pen built in (along with a few replacement ink cartridges) for signing the cache logs. That way, all I need is my eTrex Vista HCx and my Visor and I have everything I need for some serious geocaching! Good Luck! Let us know if you need more tips! Mojoski! Edited January 15, 2008 by Mojoski Quote Link to comment
Wintertime Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 My caching partner has a Garmin eTrex for the GPS side but can anyone also recommend a PDA with GPS?? Okay, I'll admit to not staying up to date on geocaching devices. Are there PDAs that also have GPS capability? Patty (hoping--but not with much confidence--that Steve Jobs will have good news on that subject tomorrow morning ) Quote Link to comment
+Miragee Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 My caching partner has a Garmin eTrex for the GPS side but can anyone also recommend a PDA with GPS?? Okay, I'll admit to not staying up to date on geocaching devices. Are there PDAs that also have GPS capability? Patty (hoping--but not with much confidence--that Steve Jobs will have good news on that subject tomorrow morning ) The Garmin iQue has GPS in a PDA. You can also purchase cards to put in other PDAs. The big disadvantage to this is the fragility of the PDA, its lack of weatherproof-ness, and its limited battery life compared to a hand-held GPS unit. Quote Link to comment
+TeamHoopz Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 I'm very new to geocaching, and am not fully aware of what's out there, but here's what I use: Geocaching.com with Premium Membership GSAK on my computer GPXSonar and TomTom Navigator on my HTC TyTn II The tytn2 is a windows mobile PDA (it's actually my work phone). It has a fair sized screen, slideout/tilt keypad, touch screen with stylus, and a very good GPS receiver all built in (it knocks the socks off of my Garmin). Also comes with wireless and bluetooth as standard (well, mine does anyway). Before getting my premium account, GSAK and GPXSonar, I would waste 30 odd sheets of paper on a caching day. Now I just take a small notebook (or scrap of paper) for multicaches/puzzle caches that need me to take notes while I'm out. I could just type them in the phone, but it's not so good if the weather's bad. The only drawback with the device is that it wouldn't survive a dunk in a river - seems to handle light rain OK though Quote Link to comment
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