New MDA Vario III!

[+Primitive Person]

Well, I've finally laid my hands on an MDA Vario III, and very nice it is too. However, I don't quite know how to pimp it up into the Ultimate Caching Machine. Any advice?

 

I'd been using GPXSonar on my old PDA, and I loaded it onto the MDA, but I can't see any way of integrating it with the built-in GPS. Is this possible, or should I just try something else? What's the best thing that lets me load in the results of a pocket query, and then get the machine to sort them by distance using the built-in GPS?

 

Also, what navigation software do I need? Will Memory Map do the job on its own?

 

Any help really appreciated!

 

Lee

[+Black Pig & the Piglets]

I don't quite know how to pimp it up into the Ultimate Caching Machine. Any advice?

 

1 Premium Membership

2 GSAK

3 Memory Map

4 Tomtom

5 Lordelphs loverrrly icons

 

Happy caching

[+rutson]

I'd add Cachemate too :-)

[+Primitive Person]

I don't quite know how to pimp it up into the Ultimate Caching Machine. Any advice?

 

1 Premium Membership

2 GSAK

3 Memory Map

4 Tomtom

5 Lordelphs loverrrly icons

 

Happy caching

 

Thanks! I've just got a nice big memory card for it, so I'll start loading everything up. I've got Memory Map already, which I'm really looking forward to using with the built-in GPS. At the moment, I use it just on my PC, and import data from my Geko 201 to show where I've been. Will the MDA sync this data with the PC?

 

I've heard a lot about GSAK, I must investigate.

 

I think I'll keep the Geko 201 in active service for the time being, as it's top-notch for long battery life, and the MDA seems weak on this front, like a lot of HTC products.

 

Lee

[+Custheyder]

Hi

 

I use Memory Map with Cachemate and enhanced with Lordelph's Icons on my Mio P550. Found it a pain to get an auto link from MM to cachemate and do all the icon stuff using the scripts available. Okay, I just couldn;t get my head round it, so I wrote something to take a pocket query and create a CSV file that does it all for me when I load it into MM.

 

GPXtoMM <- linky thingy.

 

Have fun going paperless!

 

Cust.

[+Primitive Person]

I'd add Cachemate too :-)

 

Where's the best place to get this? I could only find a Palm version when I Googled around for it.

 

Lee

[+Primitive Person]

Hi

 

I use Memory Map with Cachemate and enhanced with Lordelph's Icons on my Mio P550. Found it a pain to get an auto link from MM to cachemate and do all the icon stuff using the scripts available. Okay, I just couldn;t get my head round it, so I wrote something to take a pocket query and create a CSV file that does it all for me when I load it into MM.

 

GPXtoMM <- linky thingy.

 

Have fun going paperless!

 

Cust.

 

Oooh, that all looks good.

 

Paperless isn't new to me, as I had an old XDA IIs that I used as a non-connected PDA ('cos the phone was dodgy). I was using GPXSonar, but it doesn't seem to interface with the GPS. I'll try out all that stuff when I get home later.

 

Lee

[+Black Pig & the Piglets]

GSAK is one of those very rare items of software that I dont object to paying for. At the current exchange rate it costs about a tenner & is worth every penny. If you are using MMap it will generate offline html cache pages for you to refer to "in the field" it will also generate Tomtom OV2 poi files. Download the free trial version from here GSAK

 

DaveH

[+Custheyder]

PPC version of CachMate Click Me

 

I'm working on generating offline Web Pages from GPXtoMM..... just because I can and not to compete with GSAK, which is a brilliant product for converting anything to everything.

 

Cust.

[+Dark_Faerie]

I use Bee line GPS with my Vario II, Had trouble with GPXSonar.

 

Can't remember where I downloaded it from now, sorry. I know I read about it in one of the technical forums. After the 30 day trial runs out you just get a reminder that it's run out every so often when using it.

 

Karen

[+Primitive Person]

Thanks everyone for all the pointers. I've installed a lot of this stuff, and it's taking a bit of getting used to - I shan't be retiring my Geko 201 just yet!

 

I've cracked getting GSAK output into Memory Map, and onto the Vario III. However, Memory Map on the PDA seems a little limited. It seems to be able to show me where I am, where I've been and where the caches are, but I can't work out how to tell it where I want to go, and get direction and distance info. Am I missing something very obvious here?

 

Bee Line works well for navigation to a cache, it seems, and it produces lovely stats etc. - but doesn't have the maps. I guess a combination of MM and Bee Line could work well? Also, how do you change the zoom on the Bee Line map screen?

 

Finally - CacheMate is doing my head in a little. It gets the GPX fix nicely, but how do you tell it to sort caches into order based on distance, and tell you that distance on the screen? I much prefer the GPXSonar user interface, which seems much simpler and more obvious, but it won't automatically pick up GPS data, and I still have to tap it in manually. Any workarounds?

 

Thanks

 

Lee

[+Dark_Faerie]

 

Bee Line works well for navigation to a cache, it seems, and it produces lovely stats etc. - but doesn't have the maps. I guess a combination of MM and Bee Line could work well? Also, how do you change the zoom on the Bee Line map screen?

 

Use the scroll wheel on the side to zoom, took me ages to accidentally find this out! Can't get along with cache mate at all, not tried downloading MM yet.

 

Karen

[Izzy and the Lizard King]

 

Finally - CacheMate is doing my head in a little. It gets the GPX fix nicely, but how do you tell it to sort caches into order based on distance, and tell you that distance on the screen?

 

By just tapping the header at the top of a column e.g. Wpt, Name or Distance. It will sort the caches into an ascending/descending order for whichever heading you tap.

[+Primitive Person]

 

Finally - CacheMate is doing my head in a little. It gets the GPX fix nicely, but how do you tell it to sort caches into order based on distance, and tell you that distance on the screen?

 

By just tapping the header at the top of a column e.g. Wpt, Name or Distance. It will sort the caches into an ascending/descending order for whichever heading you tap.

 

OK. It doesn't show a Distance column like GPXSonar though, which to me is vitally important, so CacheMate doesn't strike me as particularly good thus far.

 

Lee

[+Primitive Person]

 

Use the scroll wheel on the side to zoom, took me ages to accidentally find this out! Can't get along with cache mate at all, not tried downloading MM yet.

 

Karen

 

Aha! Works a treat, thanks for that. Any more Bee Line tips and tricks? It looks like a nice piece of software, and I'm looking forward to trying the more complex things it does.

 

Lee

[Izzy and the Lizard King]

 

OK. It doesn't show a Distance column like GPXSonar though, which to me is vitally important, so CacheMate doesn't strike me as particularly good thus far.

 

Lee

 

At the bottom left of screen tap List then from the menu tap Edit Columns you are then given the choice of which columns you wish to display.

 

P

[+scottpa100]

 

OK. It doesn't show a Distance column like GPXSonar though, which to me is vitally important, so CacheMate doesn't strike me as particularly good thus far.

 

Lee

 

You're right, it doesn't. But your Cachemate can tell you which caches are nearest to you. Say you've completed a cache, and one of the menu options is to calculate the nearest caches. (I can't lay my hand on my PDA at the moment to run through this). Once Cachemate has calculated the nearest caches, it also tells you how far as the crow flies they are. On my old Palm PDA, it takes a good minute or so calculate this - but I'm assuming that people with the jazzy pocketPC ones should be able to calculate it much faster.

[+Black Pig & the Piglets]

Thanks everyone for all the pointers. I've installed a lot of this stuff, and it's taking a bit of getting used to - I shan't be retiring my Geko 201 just yet!

 

I've cracked getting GSAK output into Memory Map, and onto the Vario III. However, Memory Map on the PDA seems a little limited. It seems to be able to show me where I am, where I've been and where the caches are, but I can't work out how to tell it where I want to go, and get direction and distance info. Am I missing something very obvious here?

 

Thanks

 

Lee

 

Tap & hold a waypoint on the main screen in MMap on your pda. It should open a drop down menu, select "goto WP" You should then get 2 boxex open up on your screen, a direction pointer & a data box. You can select what data is shown in the data box. I just have bearing & distance. The boxes can be resized & moved to where you want them displayed.

[+Primitive Person]

 

At the bottom left of screen tap List then from the menu tap Edit Columns you are then given the choice of which columns you wish to display.

 

P

 

Aha! Perfect. I've now got it configured just how I want. Thanks for the help!

 

Lee

[+Primitive Person]

 

Tap & hold a waypoint on the main screen in MMap on your pda. It should open a drop down menu, select "goto WP" You should then get 2 boxex open up on your screen, a direction pointer & a data box. You can select what data is shown in the data box. I just have bearing & distance. The boxes can be resized & moved to where you want them displayed.

 

Hurrah! Thanks to all you helpful people who are pointing out the stuff I'm too thick to spot for myself. I really am getting up to speed with it all now, so thanks.