Units that support paperless geocaching?

[wagersb]

Hello. We have geocached a little during recent years with our Garmin Etrex Legend unit. To do this, I have manually entered the coordinates into the unit and printed off the computer the information that people wrote about finding the cache, hints, etc. and carried this stack of paper with us for each search. We have met people searching for the same caches as we were who had GPS units that contained all the information from the web site about the cache, therefore saving them from carrying around this stack of paper. We are considering buying a new GPS unit and are having trouble figuring out just what it is we are looking for in order to get this paperless capabilities. Is there some "buzzword" we should be looking for when we look at units to determine if they support this paperless method of geocaching? Are there any affordable GPS units that have this ability? Thanks for any guidance you can give!

[+burtsbodgers]

Hi

There are several unit that allow "paperless" caching, my personal recommendation would be the Garmin Oregon which is what i use and consider to be the easiest to use. However different cachers will recomend different GPSr's.

Over here in the UK we dont tend to see the DeLormes, which on your side of the pond seem to be popular.

I would recommend that you have a look at Starbrands thread on comparing units Here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...comparing+units

This is a very well thought out test IMO

[+StarBrand]

Units that support paperless right out of the box (that I know of):

 

Lowrance Endura Series - starts at $160 for the Out&back and up to $400 or so for the Sierra.

 

Garmin Colorado, Oregon, Dakota and Nuvi 500 Series. Starts at around $210 for an Oregon 200 and up to $420 for an Oregon 550T.

 

Delorme PN Series - technically includes the PN20 but that is considered somewhat older now. PN30 and PN40 - $179 to $230

 

The Garmin unis are generally regarded as the easiest to learn and use. The Delorme units come with nice mapping in the box. Lowrance has some of the best in-unit Geocaching features.

[+burtsbodgers]

Speak of the devil

[+Chrysalides]

The least expensive method would be to get a cheap PDA (like a Palm M500 series) and run CacheMate on it. But after doing it for a year, I broke down and bought an Oregon 300.

[NordicMan]

Just to put ALL the cards on the table, technically there are also quite a few smartphones on the market that support fully paperless Geocaching as well. The iPhone is probably the most popular currently, and Groundspeak has made quite a nice app for it. However most people (wisely) prefer to use an honest-to-goodness "outdoor rated" GPSr like any of the ones StarBrand mentioned..

 

But I DO like to mention the smartphone alternative just so you know it's also a choice

[+cestos73859]

I have to echo StarBrands thought on the Lowrance Endura's. I had an iPhone and tried geocaching with it before buying a dedicated, waterproof GPS. The Geocaching app is great but the iPhone GPS had me wandering around in circles.

 

Have the Endura Out&Back now and it works great for paperless caching. It didn't come with a data cable to transfer files from my computer but I already had a mini-USB cable from my camera so no real problems there.

[+SilentWolf]

Absolutely love my Oregon 300

[+BusterBev]

I've got an Oregon 400T and I'm very happy with it. It seems sturdily built, and is very easy to use. It really is wonderful to have all the descriptions, hints and previous logs at our fingertips when we're out in the bush. I know I'm spoiled to have started out with such a nice unit. It seems to be very accurate as well, which as a newbie, I really appreciate!

[+Hearty Soles]

Absolutely love my Oregon 300

DITTO to that-really love my Oregon!!!!!!!!

[+weaser51]

I too hate the waste/inconvenience of printing off papers when using my Garmin Etrex and can't yet afford to upgrade my GPS. I use my iphone w/ Groundspeak app to supplement my GPS. GREAT app and affordable price. Find my Garmin to be more accurate for finds, but the app is quick and easy to use for all that "supplemental" info that I still find so helpful. Only drawbacks are the quick drain of the iphone battery when using it for long days and in cold weather the need to remove your gloves to navigate the touch screen device. And I like geocaching in the winter. A car charger would solve the battery drain problem but not the cold, frigid hands during the february finds.

[+chachi44089]

I like the Lawrance out and back..Accurate,affordable has features of higher end units.color screen,decent base map,touch screen and buttons for gloved or no gloves.And paperless cacheing.simple to use.good battery life.Just need to buy a cheap usb cord,i use the one for my mp3 player.Also good internal memory"32 mb "and a slot for micro-sd card up to 32 gigs.You can even view pics on it.Good "bang for buck'gps.

[+rambrush]

Delorme series both the pn 20 & 40 are paperless cost less than others plus it comes with maps. try that with Garmin.

[+StarBrand]

..... try that with Garmin.

Ok - lots of FREE maps at www.gpsfiledepot.com

[+sapboiler]

love my oregon 450t

[+The Yinnies]

I love my 2 Delorme PN-40's. They come with everything you need. If you were to look at Garmin I would go with the Oregon 450 or the Dakota 20. Very nice units and 3-axis compass.

[+chachi44089]

I guess it matters what "affordable"means to you,the Delorme 40,and oregon 450 are pricey.If paperless is your goal there are many cheaper ones that are very good for the price.My budget was 200and I feel i got alot for my money with the Lowrance outand back.Very nice features for the money,the garmins didnt offer near the options for the same cash.

[+rambrush]

But you can pick up the 20 pretty reasonable several who had the 20 switched to the 40.

 

I guess it matters what "affordable"means to you,the Delorme 40,and oregon 450 are pricey.If paperless is your goal there are many cheaper ones that are very good for the price.My budget was 200and I feel i got alot for my money with the Lowrance outand back.Very nice features for the money,the garmins didnt offer near the options for the same cash.

[+chachi44089]

True enough rambrush.After much research my first choice was the delorme 20.But they were sold out everywhere i looked.Must me a popular choice.

[+cestos73859]

I like the Lawrance out and back...Also good internal memory"32 mb "and a slot for micro-sd card up to 32 gigs.You can even view pics on it.Good "bang for buck'gps.

 

chachi,

 

what else is filling up memory on your Out&Back? Mine has 192MB of onboard memory on the GPS instead of 32 like you mentioned. I don't even use a microSD card most of the time but then I don't keep but one pocket query on it at a time.

 

Curious if you have any trails or pictures stored on your GPS too. That would use up memory too.

[+chachi44089]

cestos,

I think i looked at so many gps units that i forgot the specs on mine..lol..sorry.I looked at the packaging and the manual for mine and i cant find the amount of on-board mem.I even checked the web site.

When i hook it to my pc and right click and select properties,it says i have 510 mb of free space.I have nothing on the gps eccept about 20 cache filed .loc

I just baught this gps 5 days ago.Does this mean it has 500 mb. of on-board mem?I will try and fill it with stuff to see.

Thanx for pointing out my error.I dont want to mislead anyone.

[+rambrush]

True enough rambrush.After much research my first choice was the delorme 20.But they were sold out everywhere i looked.Must me a popular choice.

 

Did you check efly and CL?

[+briansnat]

True enough rambrush.After much research my first choice was the delorme 20.But they were sold out everywhere i looked.Must me a popular choice.

 

They are also sold out on DeLorme's website which makes me think it might be discontinued.

[+sledgehampster]

Purely speculation on my part but with the announcement of the PN-60 the 20 may indeed be a Legacy unit (to borrow Magellan's term).

 

I have a PN-40 that I bought Christmas day from Amazon.com and so far I really like it. I had a Magellan Map 330, then a Meridian Gold followed by a MeriColor. All those were good units in their day but the 40 with 2.7 software seems to be the cat's meow.

 

The only thing I have noticed missing is Projection but how many times does one really use that feature.

 

The opinions shared above are those of an aging, graying hampster. Take them for what you wish, email me if you wish to talk more in depth.

[+BCSasquatch]

Since Magellan seems to be a dirty word around here and I like to swear, let me rise up and represent ....yo.

 

I use a Magellan Triton 400 and it works great for paperless caching.

 

However .... Right out of the box it needs a Firmware update in order to get all of the menu options that are in the manual, and I also needed to purchase a high-detail western Canada topo map for it as I do a lot of back country travel and the base map is useless once you leave the pavement. In fact even on the pavement it seems useless. I use the topo map exclusively and it comes with all the POIs etc as well as the topo features.

 

Once the firmware was updated though and the topo map installed, it works almost flawlessly and is very accurate.

 

It has many different options for map datums (very handy) and has fields for almost all of the information contained in a GPX file from GC.com - the only thing I can see that is missing is the cache size which can be manually entered into one of the description fields if really needed.

 

My only gripe really is the preloaded POIs... I cannot seem to dump them. I really don't need to know where every dentist is. I use it for 2 purposes - back country travel and geocaching. Neither requires a dentist visit. I can hide them, but they always exist in the unit which sucks up storage space. I have the topo loaded onto a SD card which lives in the unit full time. It also allows for image and sound files which can be associated with any geocache or waypoint.

 

For the price and the results though, I would not hesitate to get another. Sure it may be a pain to set it up initially, (and it really isn't that bad), but the fact that it is a few hundred dollars less than a primo unit and does the same things in the same way, I think it's a strong option.

 

There is one feature I wish it did have though, and that is the ability to download GPX directly from GC.com. Right now I have to download the file, import into Vantage Point, and then send it to my GPSr. Again, the results are the same with 2 extra steps.

 

Any way that's my .02

[+currykev]

The answer is easy.

It seems that for most of us in the UK...we have just one word.

Garmin. Oregon.

 

Oh well 2 words then.

[+cestos73859]

The answer is easy.

It seems that for most of us in the UK...we have just one word.

Garmin. Oregon.

 

Oh well 2 words then.

 

That's sad. You need the DeLorme and the Lowrance units over there. Wonder why they aren't available?