Cachemate is very slooooooow

[chromos]

I'm very very disapointed with Cachemate for pocket pc. After fresh installation I imported one gpx file with 1900 waypoints in it. It takes more than 27 minutes! What is it!? Who programmed it? Some child?? Smittyware must knows about this, that's why they offer a trial with 10 waypoints limitation. Very frustrating! And deleting ALL records, i.e. clearing whole database, takes more then 12 minutes!!! That's the end! Btw. importing of the same gpx file into BeelineGPS takes only one minute. (sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language)

 

iPAQ with 400MHz processor and 35MB available RAM.

[+storm180]

I'm very very disapointed with Cachemate for pocket pc. After fresh installation I imported one gpx file with 1900 waypoints in it. It takes more than 27 minutes! What is it!? Who programmed it? Some child?? Smittyware must knows about this, that's why they offer a trial with 10 waypoints limitation. Very frustrating! And deleting ALL records, i.e. clearing whole database, takes more then 12 minutes!!! That's the end! Btw. importing of the same gpx file into BeelineGPS takes only one minute. (sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language)

 

iPAQ with 400MHz processor and 35MB available RAM.

 

This is normal for cachemate and always has been. Since it has to create a brand new database to import all the gpx info I would expect it to take a long time. I have an ipaq 2795 and for 2000 way points it took about 12 minutes and took only 5 minutes to delete the database.

 

I do wish they could optimize the process. Have you upgraded to the latest edition because they have come up with quite a few updates this year.

[chromos]

Ok, engine must to strip all html tags etc. while importing waypoints and it takes some time (but no a half hour!). By contrast, clearing whole database would be instant process (deleting the database, creating a new). And why is empty database still 6MB big? I don't get it...

[+CelticDave]

I have the smartphone version that I just started using. It is very very slow. At first when I initially loaded a GPX file it was slow and then if I replaced the it with a new one and imported it again it was much faster. Now it makes no difference, it takes forever to import. Is there any way to use GSAK to import them into Cachemate on the Smartphone? I half hour per GPX file is a pretty long time.

[+Klemmer]

Huh. Very strange. I've been using various Palm OS versions of Cachemate for years, and load huge benchmark files (over 8,000 in one case), it takes maybe a couple minutes. Under a minute for smaller files. Very acceptable.

 

Ohhhh.... just remembered: are you loading to an expansion card, or the main memory? Loading to an expansion card is waaaayy faster. Loading to the main memory in the Palm was a lot slower. No idea why.

[Wintertime]

Huh. Very strange. I've been using various Palm OS versions of Cachemate for years, and load huge benchmark files (over 8,000 in one case), it takes maybe a couple minutes. Under a minute for smaller files. Very acceptable.

The type of PDA can make a big difference. The speed you mentioned is what I experienced when I was using a Palm Zire71. When that started acting up and I ran over to Palm one day to get a cheap Z22 as a replacement (till I can decide what to do on a longterm basis), I discovered that Cachemate is taking much longer to manipulate my benchmark database of a few thousand items. For example, it can take a few minutes to switch between sorting by PID and sorting by Designation.

 

Ohhhh.... just remembered: are you loading to an expansion card, or the main memory? Loading to an expansion card is waaaayy faster. Loading to the main memory in the Palm was a lot slower. No idea why.

For what it's worth, I don't use the expansion card capability on the Zire71. I got the above-mentioned speeds just by using Cachemate with internal storage.

 

Patty

[+Maeglin]

There is a tool that does some preprocessing of GPX files on a computer before moving them to the PDA... it's called CMConvertWM. Also, if you're usng CacheMate on a memory card on Windows Mobile, it's going to be slower because of the inherent nature of flash memory (it's always relatively slow writing to it).

 

Never mind the fact that, if you're having problems with huge databases, you can always break them up first...

Edited June 20, 2008 by Maeglin

[+northernpenguin]

Don't confuse Cachemate PalmOS with Cachemate Windows Mobile. They are completely different products, different code base and different database technologies.

 

Cachemate WM imports GPX files directly, Cachemate PalmOS does not. The heavy lifting for the PalmOS version is done on the computer, while the WM version is processing the XML on the device itself.

 

Database operations in general suck on WM devices - the horsepower just isn't there for quickly processing 1900 geocaches quickly. If in doubt, fire up GSAK on a Pentium III - 350 with 128MB RAM, load 1900 caches and measure the performance. As far as I'm aware, Smittyware chose SQLite for the back end db and it is way faster than the built in db routines offered by Microsoft.

 

The earlier advice I saw about keeping the database on the SD card is very unwise. You'll see a marked performance increase if you keep the Cachemate databases on the internal or the built-in storage. The program author warned against using the SD card back when the product was very new, and my experience is that he was correct.

 

The nice thing about Cachemate over products like GPX Sonar is that you get hit with the performance penalty once, instead of every time you load the program. I had 6500 caches in my Cachemate database at one point.

 

One recommendation for you to speed up the import - make sure your device is connected to external power during the import, as the processor will 'step up' it's performance if it is not trying to save battery life. Also note if you have a newer WM5 or WM6 device, you want to let Activesync or Windows Mobile Device Centre finish it's sync before starting a high demand program like a database import.

[+northernpenguin]

Ok, engine must to strip all html tags etc. while importing waypoints and it takes some time (but no a half hour!). By contrast, clearing whole database would be instant process (deleting the database, creating a new). And why is empty database still 6MB big? I don't get it...

 

If I want to delete a database, I tend to go to the cachemate/databases folder and delete the file itself. Usually after I've copied it to a folder on my desktop pc in case there is a log I forgot to keep.

[+northernpenguin]

I have the smartphone version that I just started using. It is very very slow. At first when I initially loaded a GPX file it was slow and then if I replaced the it with a new one and imported it again it was much faster. Now it makes no difference, it takes forever to import. Is there any way to use GSAK to import them into Cachemate on the Smartphone? I half hour per GPX file is a pretty long time.

 

Watch out for the number of log entries you are exporting from GSAK, and if you are updating the existing caches in your Cachemate database - that takes way longer than just importing and overwriting. If you choose the update option, then cachemate has to add a compare to the import, in addition to the other processing.

[chromos]

Thank you for your advice, but you did't understand me. I also wrotte that BeelineGPS is almost 30x faster then cachemate, so that xml parser in cachemate is very badly optimized.

[+northernpenguin]

Thank you for your advice, but you did't understand me. I also wrotte that BeelineGPS is almost 30x faster then cachemate, so that xml parser in cachemate is very badly optimized.

 

I don't use BeelineGPS - does it show the (previous finders) log entries for the caches?

[chromos]

Yes. I used the same gpx file for both (BeeLineGPS and Cachemate). Every waypoint contains full listing and 5 logs in it.

Edited June 20, 2008 by chromos

[+Dryphter]

I haven't tried Cachemate for WM yet. I use GPX Sonar which is a bit slow to load the zipped GPX file, but works great after that. GPXView is another one to try - plus it's free.

 

Beeline is good too. I have recently been trying out GeoScout as well.

[+sli23sli]

I use Cachemate on a Dell Axim 51v and loading caches is very fast. I have a database for each group of caches for various parts of cities or various areas I travel to. I load the unzipped pocket queries directly to the Axim internal memory in a cache folder and then import it into a new database I've created in cachemate. I then delete the pocket query in the internal memory folder. I usually upload a 100 caches at a time - up to 500 but never tried 1900. I have over a thousand caches total in 10 or so databases. What I like about cachemate is its database structure and database management. Maybe the higher number of waypoints would slow it down but it only takes 20 secs or so to upload 100 caches with all of the cache descriptions etc. into a database. Smittyware monitors the forums I think and may be able to explain the slowness you are experiencing. They have been very responsive to my inquaries. Sli23sli

 

 

I'm very very disapointed with Cachemate for pocket pc. After fresh installation I imported one gpx file with 1900 waypoints in it. It takes more than 27 minutes! What is it!? Who programmed it? Some child?? Smittyware must knows about this, that's why they offer a trial with 10 waypoints limitation. Very frustrating! And deleting ALL records, i.e. clearing whole database, takes more then 12 minutes!!! That's the end! Btw. importing of the same gpx file into BeelineGPS takes only one minute. (sorry for my bad english, it isn't my native language)

 

iPAQ with 400MHz processor and 35MB available RAM.

[+maurycy]

I have CacheMate loaded onto my Palm TX with about 2700 caches. It takes about 30-45 seconds to search/sort thru the results if I select "Find nearby" caches based on GPS coordinates. Other than that, it is fast. So I guess the PDA processor plays big role here.

[+Styk]

I was warned about large databases in cachemate before i started using it on my ipaq 2190. I spolit up my procincial database into areas trying to keep it under a 1000 caches but the nearest one has balloned to about 1700. I think it only takes me about 6 or 7 minutes to import that one gpx file.

[+Klemmer]

northernpemguin:

I hear what you are saying about external SD card memory - I expected it to be slower than internal also. But - loading caches (or benchmarks) into external memory is MUCH faster than into main memory. No idea why. Usage from the SD card is quite acceptable - including very large "databases" (actually a sorted subset - some over 8,000 benchmarks), and a total of over 22,000 benchmarks in the database(s) on the SD card. It works fine. This is Palm OS ver 5.2.1 (not the latest), on a Tungsten E3 with a 1 GB SD card. Everything works together very well. Other programs on board are fine also (music, pics, etc).

[+Maeglin]

Dupe deleted.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Maeglin

[+Maeglin]

I hear what you are saying about external SD card memory - I expected it to be slower than internal also. But - loading caches (or benchmarks) into external memory is MUCH faster than into main memory. No idea why. Usage from the SD card is quite acceptable - including very large "databases" (actually a sorted subset - some over 8,000 benchmarks), and a total of over 22,000 benchmarks in the database(s) on the SD card. It works fine. This is Palm OS ver 5.2.1 (not the latest), on a Tungsten E3 with a 1 GB SD card. Everything works together very well. Other programs on board are fine also (music, pics, etc).

Apples and oranges, as has already been said.