+biglillynn Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 ok ok, I'm a newbie to geocaching. I don't even have a GPSr yet, they seem so expensive. I've been using Google maps to find locations. Since I'm starting out, why not go paperless though. I found an old Palm m100 that I plan on installing Cachemate on. I think I can handle that all on my own. I need help on the following... 1. Is there an inexpensive GPS serial unit that can be attached to the Palm M100? This would be my GPSr. I tried doing searches online and found a few, but wasn't too sure if they were compatible with my palm. And was looking to see if anyone had any first hand experience with one. And inexpensive means ~$50 or less (I could get a GPSr for ~$100) Is that all I would need? 2. I'm in the process of looking for a new phone... Does the new or old Iphone, the Sprint Instinct, or the Verizon Dare have the capabilities of a GPSr (as in can I input waypoints, not just adresses). I played with the Verizon Dare and i don't think you can input waypoints with the VZ Navigator service. I haven't played with any other phones. And i did see the GeocacheNavigator on the geocahing home page, but those phones are poo if I'm gonna buy a new phone anyway (No offense to anyone who has those phones, I'm sure they work great). I believe that's it, I feel like I'm forgetting something. So it's either a handheld GPSr, a Palm m100 with a GPS add-on, a phone with geocaching capabilities, or Google Maps. Are there any other possibilities on a budget? Thanks in advance! Happy hunting! Quote Link to comment
+Belfrypotters Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Hi, and welcome! Unfortunately I can't answer your question, but I'll bump it up to the top so maybe someone else will tackle this. Quote Link to comment
+Airmapper Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Welcome to caching. I'd recommend you get a dedicated handheld GPS unit. You will save yourself a lot of technical issues in the long run. You should be able to get one around $100 or less, but occasionally I've found excellent older units go for less than $100, that have some more advanced features you wouldn't get with a brand new basic unit. On option 1: If you have a knack for or enjoy configuring and rigging this stuff up, I think it can work, but unless you are looking for something that is not going to be easy to set up I'd advise against it. Also in the long run I'd estimate you will spend more money and time rigging up alternative GPS solutions than getting a basic unit to begin with. Not to mention a PDA/ GPS rig is going to be fairly fragile, and easily damaged when caching off the beaten trail. The Palm M100 is a great Paperless caching device for holding the cache page info. It is on the low end as far as old PDA's go, but it can hold a lot of cache information. Using it as a GPS may be a little iffy, I do know it probably has one of the slower processors, so performance might not be great, but I've never tried it. On option 2: I'm not familiar with cell phone units, I don't think I would like one personally, but I don't know enough to say. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment
+PDOP's Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 1. Is there an inexpensive GPS serial unit that can be attached to the Palm M100? This would be my GPSr. I tried doing searches online and found a few, but wasn't too sure if they were compatible with my palm. And was looking to see if anyone had any first hand experience with one. And inexpensive means ~$50 or less (I could get a GPSr for ~$100) Is that all I would need? I'd also recommend you go for the GPSr for ~$100 and use the PDA for paperless caching. The m100 was the first PDA I used with my GPS and for geocaching. I found that while it's possible to use the PDA with a GPS the tangle of cables necessary makes it unwieldy to carry around. Also the combination is not waterproof or durable. Palm PDA & Garmin GPS Quote Link to comment
+biglillynn Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 Thanks to both! I have installed Cachemate on my palm, pretty easy. And now with more experience with some hard to find caches, I couldn't even imagine having the Palm with some long cord to a gps. It'll prob get caught on a tree limb or something. I did do a bit more looking around and found a Etrex (the yellow one) on Craigslist for $70. And still am looking into options for the phone route. Gonna hit up some stores this weekend. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment
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