Blackberry or new handheld GPS

[+TopShelfRob]

Hello, like a previous poster I was really into Geocaching about two years ago and my GPS died, so now after some time away from it I was thinking of getting back into it and I am faced with either getting a new handheld GPS like maybe a Lowrance Endura Outback Touch-Screen Handheld GPS Receiver, however I just completed my 2-year commitment with T-Mobile, and I can upgrade to a Blackberry 8900, and thought that might be the way to go instead.

 

So I guess I'm asking those of you who made your decision about whether to go with either a hand-held GPS or a Blackberry/smart phone/paperless caching type of thing, and have been doing it one way or the other, are you glad with which one you chose or would you go with the other...

 

Rob

[Andronicus]

Well a smartphone is very nice for geocaching. Not only is it paperless, but cableless. It is super easy to spontaniously cache. Personaly, I would see if I could get a windows mobile phone with GPS. There is much better freeware software for windows mobile.

 

Check into the gps chipset before selecting a phone though. Most phones don't have super chipsets (no WAAS).

[+user13371]

Check into the gps chipset before selecting a phone though. Most phones don't have super chipsets (no WAAS).

You don't need WAAS for caching or most urban activities. Pinpoint accuracy is useful for some things but doesn't matter much in Geocaching.

 

To answer the OP directly:

 

If you're going to be spending a lot of time on the field, and are concerned about battery life and ruggedness of the device, get a dedicated GPS.

 

If you're more of a commuter, urban spur-of-the-moment type of cacher, get a smartphone.

 

If you are both - get both.

 

I own an iPhone 3G and a DeLorme PN-40 -- and find opportunity to use both. Right tool for the job...

[+akela_jamie]

like lee_rimar I have both.

 

I have a Blackberry 8900 with Cacheberry installed. After trying cacheberry for just 3 days of the 30 day trial period I happily paid the registration fee.

 

My hand held is a trusty Garmin GPSMAP60C. I have cached with a lot of friends and have always found it gets me closer to the cache than my friends other units (Not trying to slag any manufacutors here, usually the difference is a couple of feet)

 

I cache with my scouts, so I actually have 7 GPS units now, (most are simple Etrex that I allow the scouts to use) if you count the Blackberry. Of course the real beauty of using the blackberry and geocaching software like cacheberry is that it is paperless, and I can call up all the information I need for any cache I am looking for from the database. I can even log into Geocaching.com and log my finds on the spot.

 

Good luck

Jamie