Going paperless.

[+Fotocacher]

From what I’ve been reading and researching I am interested in going with a PDA. There are A LOT of them for sale on Ebay for dirt cheap (which is nice) I don’t want it for anything else.

 

Question: what do I need…I have found that Palm seems to be the way to go, but what if it’s OLD, will GSAK still run on it? How much memory is sufficient? This is what I am interested in…any thoughts?

- Palm Z22

- Palm M500

- Palm 515

- Palm M130

- Palm M105

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks….

[+Miragee]

I have both a Palm m500, which I have had for several years, and an m515. I like both of those because they are easy to see in bright sunlight. The Z22 is hard to see in bright sunlight, so I don't recommend that one. The m105 and m130 might only connect with the Serial Port, and if that is true, I don't recommend those. Getting a PDA that connects with USB is much less problematic.

 

I use Cachemate on my PDAs and GSAK on my PC. I have a 256 MB card for the Palm so I can have lots and lots of caches on it. I also made sure to get a hard case for the Palm to protect it from the dangers it might encounter during "caching adventures."

[+Fotocacher]

Does Cachmate have the information about the Caches? Hints, logs etc...? ( I assume so)

[+ventura_kids]

Yes, gsak exports the gpx file with all the data.

Cachemate allows a simple format to work with on the Palm.

[+Kealia]

Yes it does. Depending on how many caches you want to put on your PDA you shouldn't additional memory either. I know Miragee keeps all of Southern California on hers.

 

I've got a Palm m515 as well and love it.

I don't use Cachemate, I use Plucker and iSilo because they give you the full HTML pages instead of the text pages you get with Cachemate. It comes down to personal preference.

[+Fotocacher]

THANKS everyone!!!

[+Fotocacher]

Do you need the Cradle to charge the Palm M500...? Or does it act like any new device and charge via the USB cable?

[cliff_hanger]

Does Cachmate have the information about the Caches? Hints, logs etc...? ( I assume so)

 

Yes. I'd get a cheap, USB Palm based PDA with an SD card slot and a hard case to protect it. Currently, I have a M515 after sitting on my Palm IIIxe.

 

And here are some links that might help.

 

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Paperless_Caching

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=...te_%28PalmOS%29

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=GSAK_to_Cachemate

[+CBFlyfisher]

Do you need the Cradle to charge the Palm M500...? Or does it act like any new device and charge via the USB cable?

 

My Palm 505 uses a separate USB cable to charge or the cradle. When I purchased it on eBay the 12 volt adapter to plug into the cradle was missing so the cradle wouldn't charge the battery of the Palm. The separate usb cable wouldn't stay plugged in to the Palm so I was having a difficult time charging the battery. I found a 12 volt transformer to plug into the cradle so I'm fine now.

 

Beware of cables, CD's with software & manuals included or missing. I paid $15 plus shipping but probably would have been better of paying $30 & getting all the stuff. Also, buying it from the original owner might be better as you're likely to get better info about the condition.

 

Good luck.

[+imajeep]

We started paperless with a Palm Z22--$99. Then we shifted to GSAK on a laptop, using the Palm only if we have to hike in to the cache. Now we cache in real time, using mobile broadband, Geocaching.com, and real-time tracking on Google Earth. We shift back to GSAK if we are going to be caching out of cell-phone range, and back to the Palm if we're hiking in to get a cache.

[+VENTUREMAN7/ "A" TEAM"]

Do you need the Cradle to charge the Palm M500...? Or does it act like any new device and charge via the USB cable?

 

My Palm 505 uses a separate USB cable to charge or the cradle. When I purchased it on eBay the 12 volt adapter to plug into the cradle was missing so the cradle wouldn't charge the battery of the Palm. The separate usb cable wouldn't stay plugged in to the Palm so I was having a difficult time charging the battery. I found a 12 volt transformer to plug into the cradle so I'm fine now.

 

Beware of cables, CD's with software & manuals included or missing. I paid $15 plus shipping but probably would have been better of paying $30 & getting all the stuff. Also, buying it from the original owner might be better as you're likely to get better info about the condition.

 

Good luck.

 

CBFlyfisher; Be Careful with a 12Volt Transformer to Charge a M505! The Transformer Needed to Charge an M505 or any other "M Series" Palm is a 5.0 VDC 1.0A . The 12 Volt my work for a Short Time, But WILL Ruin the Charging System, and Most likely the Palm as well!

[Aquakeeper]

Will a Palm I705 and a Palm IIIxe work?

[+CBFlyfisher]

Do you need the Cradle to charge the Palm M500...? Or does it act like any new device and charge via the USB cable?

 

Good luck.

 

CBFlyfisher; Be Careful with a 12Volt Transformer to Charge a M505! The Transformer Needed to Charge an M505 or any other "M Series" Palm is a 5.0 VDC 1.0A . The 12 Volt my work for a Short Time, But WILL Ruin the Charging System, and Most likely the Palm as well!

 

Ventureman, thanks for the warning. I had tried a transformer with 4.5, 6, 7.5 & 9 volt settings without any charge light. When I connected the 12V model the charge light came on & charged the Palm battery.

 

Is the difference that the 12 volt is .75 amp & the lower voltage settings are with 300 mA?

 

I now have the USB cable connector working. Maybe I should try using that to charge & transfer caches?

 

Thanks again

[+Team Black Sheep]

Palm Tungsten E2 has been good to this family.

[+Ry and Ny]

I started with a Palm m125 that I got on Ebay for about $20 shipped. After a while the touch screen stopped working. I moved up to a Dell Axim (Windows Moble 3SE). I prefer the looks and features of Cachemate on the Windows machine, but YMMV.

[+noahs ark]

We are looking for a PDA to use for paperless. Which would be better... Palm OS or Windows Mobile (but not a phone)?

 

Any suggestions?

[+snowshoeNH]

Does Cachmate have the information about the Caches? Hints, logs etc...? ( I assume so)

 

Yes. I'd get a cheap, USB Palm based PDA with an SD card slot and a hard case to protect it. Currently, I have a M515 after sitting on my Palm IIIxe.

 

And here are some links that might help.

 

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Paperless_Caching

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=...te_%28PalmOS%29

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=GSAK_to_Cachemate

 

The links to these wiki pages were a huge help. I'm using GSAK to create/export the PDB file to a Tungsten E that I install Cachemate. Working great. Using the unregistered version for now to test it out but plan to purchase so I can import more than 10 caches. Looking forward to have access to descriptions and hints when I having difficultly locating a cache.