UK Mobile Phone for Geocaching

[+chizu]

assuming the question is no more difficult than in the title, I've just got myself a shiny new Nokia N82 with Geocache Navigator installed. Worked a treat on a webcam cache the other day, and could log in and take the webcam pic ourselves from the phone! GPS signal seems even better than our Legend.

 

Mr Chizu

[+La Fifi]

I have used my Nokia N95 with the Navigator thingy. Its fine, takes ages to lock in and accuracy is not brilliant, but if you find yourself away from home with a spare moment, and a decent hint, it does the job.

[GerritS]

As some may know I am a N95 Cacher and have used t for all my Cache finds to date.

 

Have posted before about other free software avaialble to comliment Geocache Navigator.

 

Now the question is what Caching phone do I go to next? My contract is up (On Orange) and my phone bills are big enough I can have almost any phone!

 

What would you recomend?

 

Was thinking somthing like:

MWG Zinc II (SirfIII Chip) or E-TEN Glofiish DX900

 

ANything else avaiable on Orange?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

So in answer to first question its the only way I go Caching...

 

GerritS

[+tiggersabout]

I use a nokia 6110 navigator with viewranger and SmartGPX, that's for previously loaded caches, but on the hop I use Geocache Navigator, by trimble. With viewranger it imports the GPX file and puts a dot where the cache is and all you have to do is line up the circle with a cross in it (you at your location) with the dot (cache) and you are right on it. I've had many FTF using this.

 

My husband jokes that all I need to go caching is my phone and a pen!

 

The thing with trimble is it uses your data connection, but if that is part of your package then it's great. Saying that I have a 500mb bundle with vodafone and I have only ever got to 20mb in a month.

 

Hubby still won't cache without his 76CXS in his pocket though!

Edited August 19, 2008 by tiggersabout

[+Team Sieni]

I have used my Nokia N95 with the Navigator thingy. Its fine, takes ages to lock in and accuracy is not brilliant, but if you find yourself away from home with a spare moment, and a decent hint, it does the job.

I updated the OS on my N95 (on Orange) and it now uses Assisted GPS (goes over a GPRS data link to get the almanacs rather than downloading them from the satellites). It has now changed from taking 10 minutes to get a lock to seconds.

 

I lurve my N95

 

PS - to the OP - it's worth doing a quick forum search as there have been one or two threads on this recently (I mean that helpfully, not in a pompous forum police manner )

Edited August 19, 2008 by Team Sieni

[Farney]

I updated the OS on my N95 (on Orange) and it now uses Assisted GPS (goes over a GPRS data link to get the almanacs rather than downloading them from the satellites). It has now changed from taking 10 minutes to get a lock to seconds.

 

I lurve my N95

 

I recently bought a new N95 8Gig so that I could start caching, it uses both GPS & assisted GPS and using nokia maps it found my location within seconds & kept track of it superbly as I moved around... I have a feeling I'm gonna enjoy this!

[+SparksandCo]

Just be warned about leaving your N95 in "dual mode" (3G and GSM) when you are in an area without good 3G coverage. You can watch the power bars disappear from the display very rapidly. Switching this to just GSM does increase battery life but I'm not sure if it doesn't kill the assisted gps as well. Mine certainly seems to take an age to lock-on without 3G enabled.

 

There are good tweaks to increase the battery life here (it's not as easy as carrying an extra set of AA's ):

 

http://www.gersbo.dk/2007/05/nine-tweaks-t...ife-by-328.html

[+Team Sieni]

There are good tweaks to increase the battery life here (it's not as easy as carrying an extra set of AA's ):

 

http://www.gersbo.dk/2007/05/nine-tweaks-t...ife-by-328.html

Thanks for that, it's really interesting. I do most of those things, but didn't know about the 3G one. I'm in and around London most of the time so I'd guess the 3G coverage is good anyway, but I'll bear it in mind on my travels.

 

Here's tweak #10. Buy a spare Nokia BL-5F battery and keep it charged up and with you all the time! (that is nearly as easy as carrying an extra set of AAs

 

Edited to add ... or whatever battery is applicable to your phone, mine's a BL-5F but other models may differ. And don't buy a generic non-branded battery. It may well work but the saving probably isn't worth the risk. You hear horror stories.

 

Another edit to add ... Tweak #11. Buy a nice Nokia branded leather case. They're not expensive. Actually this tweak reduces reduce battery life it stops the rather dodgy battery cover from coming off and the battery falling out. A fallen out battery lasts a lot longer!

Edited August 20, 2008 by Team Sieni

[+DickyS]

Hi,

 

I've just upgraded from my Nokia E61i to a shiny new Nokia E71, with its built-in AGPS as well as a whole host of other goodies. The location lock is quick to establish and the accuracy seems really good. Highly recommended.

 

Cheers,

DickyS

[+Dark_Faerie]

I use T-mobile's MDA Vario III with Beeline GPS. O2 and Orange have the same phone under another name. Accuracy seems good, can download loc/gpx files straight to phone, Beeline still works fully after the 30 day demo and doesn't need a phone signal (tried with the sim card out last week). If you download gpx files you can view the cache page offline.

You can also do the new Wherigo caches (see www.Wherigo.com). Plus being a pocket pc there's loads of free games.

[+KlustaDuk]

I hear constant arguments among my techie work colleagues on this subject, and although I don't own one myself, the majority current consensus appears to be the:

 

HTC Touch Diamond

 

Powerful, fairly slimline and light, loads of memory and supports GPS & A-GPS.

 

Who knows if they are right!

 

[+JollyJax]

Just upgraded to a Nokia 6650 flip and am starting to explore the GPS therein .. so far seems impressive with the Assisted GPS its slick too ... not sure that it will take over from my trusty Cx but getting all the page info and cache logs on the fly is a definite advantage to me. New caches actually appear on it seemlessly so it could have an advantage for FTF-hounds on the move []

[+tumpties]

We have a Nokia E61 or other on 3 and use that to run Geocache Navigator. Have found it great for picking up caches on the hop.

 

have you been forced to pay and update yet? i could use some pointers!

 

[davnig]

Hi,

 

I've just upgraded from my Nokia E61i to a shiny new Nokia E71, with its built-in AGPS as well as a whole host of other goodies. The location lock is quick to establish and the accuracy seems really good. Highly recommended.

 

Cheers,

DickyS

 

We are thinking of going for one of these next with Mr CHC having it and me keeping the E61. What mappin do you have with it?

 

Also using an E71 with navigator, great little gadget. I have nokia maps and you can also install google maps on it (even has street view!).

 

Haven't got any OS mapping on yet but someone has mentioned viewranger on other threads so might well check that out soon.

Edited September 3, 2009 by davnig

[davnig]

We have a Nokia E61 or other on 3 and use that to run Geocache Navigator. Have found it great for picking up caches on the hop.

 

have you been forced to pay and update yet? i could use some pointers!

 

 

Apparently it wil stop on sep 12 (add date but there you go). I have upgraded and paid, only extra functionality seems to be ability to save cache lists

[+grand-moff]

I use a sony ericsson c905 with geocache navigator, I downloaded the Nokia software and I have used this for all my 70 finds without a hitch, and like someone else I too got the message saying I needed to upgrade by the 12th. So I duly paid up but I got an error message saying that my phone wasn't supported as I was using the Nokia software. After this happened I phoned Trimble Outdoors and asked why this should be so, as even though I have a sony the software has worked fantastic to date. Their reply was that it should be fine as their system shows my phone number having paid up to the upgrade and that I will be covered after the 12th. Now all I have to do is wait and see, hope he was right as I'm going away soon and want to do some caching on my hols.

[+Cushie Butterfield]

I used my iPhone 3Gs for caching the first time yesterday in a spur of the moment hunt. It's the first time I have used the geocaching application and after learning from the forum how to add waypoints we were off and searching.

I managed 3 caches, worked out the clues for another then the phone battery went dead. I'm not really in a position to complain as I ddn't look to see how much juice it had before I started.

I don't think it would replace my Garmin for a planned day of caching but it was great while it was alive!

I have just invested in a booster battery to avoid it happening again