Saw the limitation of the iPhone app today

[WorcesterDan]

After I dropped the kids of to school and on the way to work, I stopped for a quick find( obsessed me?)

 

It was in some woods but with parking close.

 

The iphone did not work at all in teh woods and thinking of my last finds on the phone I guess I used the maps more than the waypoints if you understand. I have a Garmin forerunner 305 which lets you download waypoints so I am going to give it a go later.

 

Anyway all this is a preamble to that question which no doubt gets asked alot

 

Which GPS should I get?

 

I have looked at the e trex H, which seems to be ronseal( does what it says on the tin;)

is it a false economy starting with a cheaper unit? Or will that do me for a while.

 

thanks again for the warm welcome and answering all my Noob questions

[+Fuchsiamagic]

Whatever you decide on, get one which has a SIRF chip. They work under trees where others won't.

[+rob.marsh]

I am saving for the GPSMAP 60CSX. It has great reviews and most report it works well under cover of tree's.

 

The Garmin Newly Overhauled is about £185 and comes with a one year warranty.

[team tisri]

Whether it's a false economy or not largely depends on what sort of cash you've got to play with. If you have to sell your kids for medical research to afford the 60CSx then it's probably not a false economy to start with a cheap Geko. If your first name is Sheikh then it probably is.

 

You can probaby guess from the above that I use a 60CSx and have done for many years. It lacks a few features the newer units offer but on balance I'm inclined to stick with it rather than upgrade.

 

I met one cacher in the field who upgraded their 60CSx for a Colorado and said they wished they hadn't bothered. I've looked at the Oregon but found it fiddly to navigate and the screen was hard to read, even under the fluorescent light within the store.

 

It would be nice to be able to copy GPX files directly onto my GPS but there's plenty of software about that processes them into things you can put onto an older unit.

 

Don't forget to consider the extra cost of maps, there doesn't seem a lot of point in buying a high-end unit that can support detailed mapping if you're not going to put the maps on it. If you do find yourself working with little signal (or indeed no signal) under heavy tree cover or an urban canyon it can be useful to have the cache icon shown on a map to give you an idea of where to be looking (sometimes even just knowing which side of a river or railway line the cache is placed can save you a lot of time searching)

[+rob.marsh]

Whether it's a false economy or not largely depends on what sort of cash you've got to play with. If you have to sell your kids for medical research to afford the 60CSx then it's probably not a false economy to start with a cheap Geko. If your first name is Sheikh then it probably is.

 

You can probaby guess from the above that I use a 60CSx and have done for many years. It lacks a few features the newer units offer but on balance I'm inclined to stick with it rather than upgrade.

 

I met one cacher in the field who upgraded their 60CSx for a Colorado and said they wished they hadn't bothered. I've looked at the Oregon but found it fiddly to navigate and the screen was hard to read, even under the fluorescent light within the store.

 

It would be nice to be able to copy GPX files directly onto my GPS but there's plenty of software about that processes them into things you can put onto an older unit.

 

Don't forget to consider the extra cost of maps, there doesn't seem a lot of point in buying a high-end unit that can support detailed mapping if you're not going to put the maps on it. If you do find yourself working with little signal (or indeed no signal) under heavy tree cover or an urban canyon it can be useful to have the cache icon shown on a map to give you an idea of where to be looking (sometimes even just knowing which side of a river or railway line the cache is placed can save you a lot of time searching)

 

At risk of stirring up the whole OS vs other maps debate that is an endless raging debate, there is always the Open Street Maps that are a good source of detail.

[+Morton]

If you're used to the iPhone app you may be "spoilt" a little - for example by being able to see full cache descriptions and past logs on your screen. Once you've had that you might be disappointed if you go back to a GPS which doesn't support that. I know that I wouldn't want to go back

 

But, of course, you can always use your iPhone to look at those details, and just use your GPS to navigate. If that's what you're planning to do, then I'd say a cheaper one is fine.

 

Even in that case, you probably want to transfer the waypoints to the GPS in advance. Of course, you can always punch in coordinates by hand - but that becomes tedious quickly! Bear in mind that if you buy a cheap unit, you'll probably have to buy a transfer cable to load waypoints onto it (whereas the more expensive ones will come with one) - that's only a few quid though. You'll most likely also want to sign up for premium membership of gc.com if you don't have it already, to get access to the Pocket Queries which make bulk downloading of waypoints simple.

 

It also depends to an extent on how computer-literate you are. Getting a Pocket Query onto the Oregon (or Colorado, but the majority seem to prefer to Oregon) is straightforward, because it has an "application" specicially designed for geocaching. Getting them onto a cheaper GPS generally requires using a program on your PC and translating from one format to another - which isn't difficult if you know what you're doing, but could be a bit intimidating if you don't.

 

Having said all that, my bottom line - get a cheap one and see whether you're still as enthusiastic in a year or so. By that time, prices of the high-end units will have come down anyway. Such is the march of technology.

 

Cheers

Richard

[+The Blorenges]

The Etrex H is an excellent unit but has one downside I feel. Entering coordinates by hand is a little painful due to how the menu is arranged. So transferring data from a PC is a much better option. But... the Etrex H has a serial interface and needs a special cable - it doesn't come with one. They are not difficult to get but are a few £'s. It also doesn't support any map options. So I personally would suggest going for the Etrex Legend (currently about £130 on Amazon) as this has a standard USB connection for the PC, supports maps (as mentioned earlier, the free Openstreet maps). It is also a much easier unit to use from a menu point of view.

 

Chris (MrB)

[+Jonovich]

The Etrex H is an excellent unit but has one downside I feel. Entering coordinates by hand is a little painful due to how the menu is arranged. So transferring data from a PC is a much better option. But... the Etrex H has a serial interface and needs a special cable - it doesn't come with one. They are not difficult to get but are a few £'s. It also doesn't support any map options. So I personally would suggest going for the Etrex Legend (currently about £130 on Amazon) as this has a standard USB connection for the PC, supports maps (as mentioned earlier, the free Openstreet maps). It is also a much easier unit to use from a menu point of view.

 

Chris (MrB)

 

The newer Garmin Dakota is not a bad deal at Handtec

 

Jon

[+The Blorenges]

The newer Garmin Dakota is not a bad deal at HandtecJon

That's a good price!

 

Chris (MrB)

[+burtsbodgers]

Having seen but never used the iPhone app for caching virtually every GPS is going to be a come down!

with possibly 1 exception..

The Garmin Oregon

These are very good and easy to use for caching but come at a price!

I would try and use what you have for the time being, the combination of your iPhone and edge should work well until you go out of signal that is. But if you can store the cache info on the phone and maps then the edge will still find the sats to get you there.If not then the oregon is the way to go.

[+Happy Humphrey]

Whatever you decide on, get one which has a SIRF chip. They work under trees where others won't.

No! Get one with an "H" chip (HCx for instance). The Sirf chip is too old. I tried a Etrex Legend HCx side-by-side with a 60CSx and the Legend was much more accurate and quick under trees (as well as being more compact).

I know that people tend to recommend the GPSr they use, but I honestly wouldn't change from the Legend. It stores virtually unlimited cache waypoints (including hints and summary details) if you use the POI feature, it's small and fairly light, very robust, displays maps (including the free OSM maps) in colour, and the batteries last ages. And it's not that expensive either.

[+Amberel]

No! Get one with an "H" chip (HCx for instance). The Sirf chip is too old. I tried a Etrex Legend HCx side-by-side with a 60CSx and the Legend was much more accurate and quick under trees (as well as being more compact).

I know that people tend to recommend the GPSr they use, but I honestly wouldn't change from the Legend. It stores virtually unlimited cache waypoints (including hints and summary details) if you use the POI feature, it's small and fairly light, very robust, displays maps (including the free OSM maps) in colour, and the batteries last ages. And it's not that expensive either.

The SiRF chip is still as good as any. Bear in mind that the operation of the whole system is a function of the chip, the antenna, the power supply, etc., so you may see variations between devices using the same chip. I have an eTrex HCx plus several other devices using the SiRF III chip. Some are slightly less good than the HCx but one of them is better than the HCx. I don't actually know what the HCx itself uses.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+The Blorenges]

The Map60 Cx series have a SiRF star III chipset while the Etrex, Legend HCx, Map60CSx and Colorado use one from MediaTek. The Oregon/Dakota use one from ST Micro. The MediaTek and ST Micro are newer chipsets that have a better sensitivity than the SiRF III which means they get a quicker satellite lock and will work slightly better under trees or urban canyons.

 

Does it matter which you get? No not really because on any particular day poor placement of satellites in the sky, atmospheric disturbance, weather and so on will affect the signal. You'll still find caches!

 

Chris (MrB)

[WorcesterDan]

Thanks for all that great advice. When I nipped out at lunch for another local one i used my iPhone to get to roughly the right area then put the cords in my forerunner which took me straight to GZ. So I think I will stick with this set up for now

[+Amberel]

The Oregon/Dakota use one from ST Micro. The MediaTek and ST Micro are newer chipsets that have a better sensitivity than the SiRF III which means they get a quicker satellite lock and will work slightly better under trees or urban canyons.

Newer doesn't automatically mean better - some of the later generation chips focus on minimum cost and pay scant heed to performance.

 

Bearing in mind what I said about other factors such as the antenna being contributors to overall performance, I find it improbable that the chip in the Oregon is better than the SiRF because the performance of my Oregon 550t is significantly worse than any of my SiRF III equipped GPSrs.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+flookbird]

I found mysel in teh exact same predicament recently - I found my first 200 caches with the iPhone but knew it wasn;t that great accuracy wise and was struggling with the battery on longer trips - I was also concerned about the wear and tear on the phone!

 

I was about to get an etrex h on offer at Go Outdoors for £60 but was able to get an etrex Venture HC from ebay for £70 never used!

 

Anyhow, I've been out with it a couple of times - still use the iPhone for descriptions/hint/map if I get stuck - but using the Venture for the main navigation. This means I can find lots of caches without the iPhone battery running down (got 15 with less than 20% of battery used) and have an increased accuracy. I am happy with this combo for now, and waypoints are easy to put straight onto the Venture from the site using the cable that came with it!

[+teamhillside]

This might be a dumb question, but can the iPhone not use an external bluetooth GPS instead of its built in aGPS functionaility? I've got a Sirf chip bluetooth GPSr which I bought on ebay for £10 - it you could pair that with the functionality of the iPhone app surely you'd have the best of both worlds for a very small outlay?

 

Matt

[+Amberel]

This might be a dumb question, but can the iPhone not use an external bluetooth GPS instead of its built in aGPS functionaility? I've got a Sirf chip bluetooth GPSr which I bought on ebay for £10 - it you could pair that with the functionality of the iPhone app surely you'd have the best of both worlds for a very small outlay?

 

Matt

No, the iPhone is deliberately crippled in many, many ways. It's not that it couldn't do it technically, but Apple have imposed many political/commercial restrictions designed to prevent you doing anything that isn't expressly approved and authorised by them.

 

The bluetooth support is exceptionally limited, and it doesn't support GPSr. Furthermore, because it doesn't support a GPSr, all the programs that use a GPSr use the internal GPSr and have no way to select any other.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+The Blorenges]

The iPhone GPS does work pretty well as long as you understand how it works. Without a good GPS signal it will also use the mobile signal to triangulate its position which leads to considerable inaccuracies. Unfortunately the Geocaching app doesn't tell you what sort of signal you have. If you use another GPS app (like MotionX) it does indicate how the GPS is responding.

 

One major downside to the iPhone is the inability to run multiple apps. So whilst you 'may' get a bluetooth GPS receiver to connect you are unlikely to get the Geocaching app to 'see' it.

 

You'll also find the already poor battery life on the phone will suddenly nose dive with bluetooth running!

 

Chris (MrB)

[+teamhillside]

This might be a dumb question, but can the iPhone not use an external bluetooth GPS instead of its built in aGPS functionaility? I've got a Sirf chip bluetooth GPSr which I bought on ebay for £10 - it you could pair that with the functionality of the iPhone app surely you'd have the best of both worlds for a very small outlay?

 

Matt

No, the iPhone is deliberately crippled in many, many ways. It's not that it couldn't do it technically, but Apple have imposed many political/commercial restrictions designed to prevent you doing anything that isn't expressly approved and authorised by them.

 

The bluetooth support is exceptionally limited, and it doesn't support GPSr. Furthermore, because it doesn't support a GPSr, all the programs that use a GPSr use the internal GPSr and have no way to select any other.

 

Rgds, Andy

 

Aw, shame - saw http://www.roqy-bluetooth.net/wp/ but noted that this requires "jailbroken" iPhone.

 

Why do they lock it down so much - opening up blueooth GPS hardly costs Apple any lost revenue, and potentially encourages more people to use it as a "proper" GPSr.

 

Matt

[+Amberel]

The iPhone GPS does work pretty well as long as you understand how it works. Without a good GPS signal it will also use the mobile signal to triangulate its position which leads to considerable inaccuracies. Unfortunately the Geocaching app doesn't tell you what sort of signal you have. If you use another GPS app (like MotionX) it does indicate how the GPS is responding.

Even MotionX is unable to give the sort of information you would expect from any other system, because Apple don't provide that information in their API, and if they don't provide it, there's no other way to get it. E.g. you can't get the number or position of satellites, the signal strength, you don't even get the DoPs. All of this information would be highly useful to the programmer and/or the experienced user.

 

One major downside to the iPhone is the inability to run multiple apps. So whilst you 'may' get a bluetooth GPS receiver to connect you are unlikely to get the Geocaching app to 'see' it.

How do you do that, Chris? My iPhone doesn't have a suitable bluetooth profile for a GPSr.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+The Blorenges]

That was why I said 'may' rather than may.... in other words if you jailbreak the phone you probably can get it to work but I'm not about to do that!

 

The MotionX app does indicate whether it is using the triangulated position or the GPS signal and the strength. So the tests I did with it using the map display showed me it is quite accurate with a clear GPS signal - I did the test in my back garden and it showed the position on my patio - easily within 30 feet. But doing a test indoors it showed me over 1/4 of a mile away - no GPS just the mobile signal.

 

Chris (MrB)

[+Amberel]

Why do they lock it down so much

Ultimately, all the "locking down" is intended to leave no loopholes in their absolute control of what they permit to run on their system. Though I don't know what loophole adding a few more bluetooth profiles would open.

 

It's a very frustrating device to own. Most of the applications works very well indeed, and the user interface is mostly very good. But there are so many things it can't do, or does badly, things that seemed such basic requirements that I never even thought to ask about them before I got it. The jury is still very much out as far as I'm concerned, currently I'm using the iPhone and my ancient Win Mobile phone on alternate weeks to see how I feel in the longer term. But even if I decide on the iPhone, I'll still have to carry the Win Mobile phone will me as well, 1) because it has an infinitely better GPSr, and 2) because there are other things that I need to do that the iPhone just can't do properly, e.g. email attachments.

 

Rgds, Andy

Edited March 19, 2010 by Amberel

[+Amberel]

That was why I said 'may' rather than may.... in other words if you jailbreak the phone you probably can get it to work but I'm not about to do that!

Quite, my understanding is that jailbreaking can introduce as many problems as it solves. But (as has already been said), even if you could pair it, the mainstream applications have no way to select an alternative GPSr anyway.

 

The MotionX app does indicate whether it is using the triangulated position or the GPS signal and the strength. So the tests I did with it using the map display showed me it is quite accurate with a clear GPS signal - I did the test in my back garden and it showed the position on my patio - easily within 30 feet. But doing a test indoors it showed me over 1/4 of a mile away - no GPS just the mobile signal.

The iPhone does work reasonably well with a clear signal. But there is no reason why EVERY GPSr shouldn't work well with a clear signal, the difference between a good one and a bad one is how they cope with an iffy signal, such as under tree cover, reflections in urban canyons, with half the sky obscured, and so on. And that is where my iPhone fails to cope very well at all.

 

BTW, I can see no way in the API for MotionX to determine signal strength. All I can see is horizontal and vertical accuracy, both of which are completely arbitrary and in themselves meaningless numbers - they do NOT tell you how accurate the solution is. The best that can be said is that a solution where the "accuracy" is shown as 50 feet is probably better than a solution where the "accuracy" is shown as 150 feet. Most importantly, no attempt should be made to compare these figures with those produced by any other GPSr.

 

What MotionX can do is inspect the vertical accuracy, because this is positive when a GPSr solution is available, negative when other means are used.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+The Blorenges]

I use the iPhone as a phone and for the data connection, web browsing and email. I played with the geocaching app which is great until you lose the mobile signal then you've had it. MotionX works very well - it saved me in Cairo when my Etrex packed in as I didn't need the data connection to find the caches. I've got the free OS maps loaded on it and they work brilliantly. But none of these apps does what my Oregon (with OS maps) does and it is also pretty robust and waterproof. So I'll keep using that for geocaching.

 

Chris (MrB)

[Neath Worthies]

That was why I said 'may' rather than may.... in other words if you jailbreak the phone you probably can get it to work but I'm not about to do that!

Quite, my understanding is that jailbreaking can introduce as many problems as it solves. But (as has already been said), even if you could pair it, the mainstream applications have no way to select an alternative GPSr anyway.

Just to clarify - i have an iPod touch (the non phone equivalent to the iPhone ) which has the same OS. I have jailbroken it and installed a cpmmercial Blutooth stack (or program) - no names here for fear of advertising

 

So what happens when I turn it on? Well the Bluetooth connects to an external BT GPS unit and i can then run ANY GPS enabled application on the iPod. These include the Groundspeak application, Google maps, Memory Map with OS maps installed. They all work perfectly showing all the GPS features such as current location, direction arrow etc. Of course you can only run one at a time but the BT application works with them all.

[+purple_pineapple]

That was why I said 'may' rather than may.... in other words if you jailbreak the phone you probably can get it to work but I'm not about to do that!

Quite, my understanding is that jailbreaking can introduce as many problems as it solves. But (as has already been said), even if you could pair it, the mainstream applications have no way to select an alternative GPSr anyway.

Just to clarify - i have an iPod touch (the non phone equivalent to the iPhone ) which has the same OS. I have jailbroken it and installed a cpmmercial Blutooth stack (or program) - no names here for fear of advertising

 

So what happens when I turn it on? Well the Bluetooth connects to an external BT GPS unit and i can then run ANY GPS enabled application on the iPod. These include the Groundspeak application, Google maps, Memory Map with OS maps installed. They all work perfectly showing all the GPS features such as current location, direction arrow etc. Of course you can only run one at a time but the BT application works with them all.

 

interesting to know it does work, although its not something I'd consider myself!

 

Something I think worth pointing out (and not a dig at anyone here!) is that you need to consider WHY you're buying the device. I bought an iphone for the same reason as Chris - a new phone with an 'always on' data connection and some fun toys to play with. It was never intended to be a caching device (although it will prove useful for those emergency cache moments)!

 

On the other hand, we also wanted a good quality paperless caching to run alongside my Mio (when I fix it!). So we bought an Oregon. The oregon doesn't pretend to be a phone, and the iphone (IMHO) doesn't really pretend to be a standalone GPSr. People may want an amazing all-in-one unit, but they don't really exist, and how many of you still use an old fashioned calculator on your desk, even though the one on your phone works perfectly well!

 

Sorry for the ramblings, feel better for getting that off my chest!

[+Amberel]

Just to clarify - i have an iPod touch (the non phone equivalent to the iPhone ) which has the same OS. I have jailbroken it and installed a cpmmercial Blutooth stack (or program) - no names here for fear of advertising

 

So what happens when I turn it on? Well the Bluetooth connects to an external BT GPS unit and i can then run ANY GPS enabled application on the iPod. These include the Groundspeak application, Google maps, Memory Map with OS maps installed. They all work perfectly showing all the GPS features such as current location, direction arrow etc. Of course you can only run one at a time but the BT application works with them all.

Many thanks for that information, it may come in handy if I ever decide to jailbreak the phone.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+Amberel]

Something I think worth pointing out (and not a dig at anyone here!) is that you need to consider WHY you're buying the device. I bought an iphone for the same reason as Chris - a new phone with an 'always on' data connection and some fun toys to play with. It was never intended to be a caching device (although it will prove useful for those emergency cache moments)!

I do know why I bought it, and that was because I'm in perpetual pursuit of the perfect all in one phone/PDA/GPSr . I find it annoying that I have to carry more than one device, when there is no technical reason why a single device should not be able to do them all perfectly well.

 

I have no doubt that I shall continue my quest. What GPSr chip does Android use .

 

Rgds, Andy

[+The Blorenges]

<snip>The oregon doesn't pretend to be a phone, and the iphone (IMHO) doesn't really pretend to be a standalone GPSr. People may want an amazing all-in-one unit, but they don't really exist, and how many of you still use an old fashioned calculator on your desk, even though the one on your phone..

The new Oregon 550 has a camera built in so will the next model have a SIM card too?

 

Chris (MrB)

[+dino-irl]

I do know why I bought it, and that was because I'm in perpetual pursuit of the perfect all in one phone/PDA/GPSr . I find it annoying that I have to carry more than one device, when there is no technical reason why a single device should not be able to do them all perfectly well.

 

I have no doubt that I shall continue my quest. What GPSr chip does Android use .

 

Rgds, Andy

Ever tried a Blackberry. I use the Storm and find it great for all 3

 

[+Team Noodles]

<snip>The oregon doesn't pretend to be a phone, and the iphone (IMHO) doesn't really pretend to be a standalone GPSr. People may want an amazing all-in-one unit, but they don't really exist, and how many of you still use an old fashioned calculator on your desk, even though the one on your phone..

The new Oregon 550 has a camera built in so will the next model have a SIM card too?

 

Chris (MrB)

 

next model doesnt even have the cam built in :S

[+Amberel]

Ever tried a Blackberry. I use the Storm and find it great for all 3

No, it's one I've never tried. What GPSr chips do they use, and is there a MemoryMap/CacheMate equivalent?

 

Rgds, Andy

[+dino-irl]

Ever tried a Blackberry. I use the Storm and find it great for all 3

No, it's one I've never tried. What GPSr chips do they use, and is there a MemoryMap/CacheMate equivalent?

 

Rgds, Andy

I've no idea what chip is in use but I find it very accurate, even for placing caches.

 

I run a program called Cacheberry which is excellent and improving all the time. It operates very similar to Cachemate. There is a mapping program out there called TrekBuddy which I've used but isn't just great but the developer of CB is planning to add support for OSM shortly. It does work with Google Maps though if you have a signal.

[+Amberel]

I've no idea what chip is in use but I find it very accurate, even for placing caches.

 

I run a program called Cacheberry which is excellent and improving all the time. It operates very similar to Cachemate. There is a mapping program out there called TrekBuddy which I've used but isn't just great but the developer of CB is planning to add support for OSM shortly. It does work with Google Maps though if you have a signal.

Thanks, I'll maybe check them out. I need to look at all aspects, though - the iPhone taught me not to assume it could do even the basics that I had taken for granted. I'm an exceptionally heavy user - about 9 years ago I took the decision to put everything onto the phone/PDA, and the more I put on it, the more useful it became. But it means any "holes" in the functionality are more a hindrance to me than they might be to most people.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+drsolly]

Did you know that each page that you access on the geocaching.com site, is about 1 megabyte? So, if you access the front page, then a cache, then decrypt the hint, that's about 3 mb. When your "unlimited" data plan is 500 mb/month, that's a big slice, and if you do a few hundred caches per month ...

 

I've raised this as an issue in the "geocaching.com web site" forum.

[redfish907]

Another disadvantage (in my experience) is how inaccurate the iPhone is vs the BB or GPSr -- even in wide open, non-covered areas. We use both the iPhone and Blackberry apps. In my use, side-by-side, the Blackberry (9700 and 8900) always beats the iPhone. While the Blackberry shows its accuracy being 15-20m, it will always get me within range of a find, while the iPhone wants to to take me on a scenic tour nowhere near GZ.

 

However, the iPhone app is better at showing information such as TB inventory/information and instant logging, although I've recently started using the old [http://wap.geocaching.com] on the BB for logging, which is good too. Both apps are good; I just find the iPhone too inaccurate to be worth using -- enjoyably anyway . I often find myself using the BB to find, then logging my finds or TB grabs on the iPhone.

Edited March 20, 2010 by redfish907

[+dino-irl]

Another disadvantage (in my experience) is how inaccurate the iPhone is vs the BB or GPSr -- even in wide open, non-covered areas. We use both the iPhone and Blackberry apps. In my use, side-by-side, the Blackberry (9700 and 8900) always beats the iPhone. While the Blackberry shows its accuracy being 15-20m, it will always get me within range of a find, while the iPhone wants to to take me on a scenic tour nowhere near GZ.

 

However, the iPhone app is better at showing information such as TB inventory/information and instant logging, although I've recently started using the old [http://wap.geocaching.com] on the BB for logging, which is good too. Both apps are good; I just find the iPhone too inaccurate to be worth using -- enjoyably anyway . I often find myself using the BB to find, then logging my finds or TB grabs on the iPhone.

Have you tried Cacheberry?

[+fatblokecaver]

I started with a Garmin Geko and have progressed to an Etrex H.

The Etrex H works for me - yes it is a pain to download cach co ords but the plug in lead to the pc is fine.

It works well under the trees and has never lt me down (only when the cache is not there!!!)

Got my 'H' off fleabay for £50 brand new from the USA - works fine.

 

FBC

[+FantasyRaider]

Have you tried Cacheberry?

 

I first started caching with my blackberry storm using Cacheberry.

 

Although I now use a Colorado 300, I still rely on cacheberry when a new cache comes live while I’m away from the computer.

I download to cacheberry direct from the blackberry email alert, note the co-ords (& hint if needed) from that and manually insert them into my GPS.

 

Cacheberry is a corker! ...... And used more than anything else on my Blackberry phone.

[deskdata]

This might be a dumb question, but can the iPhone not use an external bluetooth GPS instead of its built in aGPS functionaility? I've got a Sirf chip bluetooth GPSr which I bought on ebay for £10 - it you could pair that with the functionality of the iPhone app surely you'd have the best of both worlds for a very small outlay?

 

Matt

No, the iPhone is deliberately crippled in many, many ways. It's not that it couldn't do it technically, but Apple have imposed many political/commercial restrictions designed to prevent you doing anything that isn't expressly approved and authorised by them.

 

The bluetooth support is exceptionally limited, and it doesn't support GPSr. Furthermore, because it doesn't support a GPSr, all the programs that use a GPSr use the internal GPSr and have no way to select any other.

 

Rgds, Andy

 

A shame, but then what do you expect from Apple?

 

I use an external bluetooth (BT) GPS, bought off eBay. It's the size of a matchbox, supports 52 channels and is staggeringly fast at obtaining a position fix, even deep inside buildings. I paid £25 for it several years ago, looks like you can get one for a tenner now. (Yes, I know the most satellites visible over the horizon at any one time is never more than 12, but I presume the additional channels are used for error correction, which probably accounts for its staggering performance).

 

If you could somehow get this working with the iPhone then it's a cheap way round the problem.

 

I use mine in conjunction with a Sony Erricson phone on which I run a free program rather clumsily called LOCIFY. Locify downloads cache information and maps from the internet. This information can be stored on the phone if you think your internet connection may be flaky where you plan to go caching. It includes the basic cache listing, the decrypted hint, last few logs, and additional waypoint details. Once a link is established to the BT GPS it will navigate you to the designated co-ords by a soft compass. Locify actually does loads of other location based tasks as well - google it if you are interested.

 

All that is needed is a standard bluetooth connection and the ability to run standard Java applications on your phone. Assuming you can run a third party Java application on an iPhone, and can establish a bog standard bluetooth connection to another device, then it should work.

 

I can't help you with all the other shortcomings of the iPhone, though.

 

Or you could buy any other cheap bluetooth, internet and Java enabled phone for use with an external BT GPS - the total cost would be far less that that of a dedicated GPS device and would be far more flexible.

[+purple_pineapple]

 

All that is needed is a standard bluetooth connection and the ability to run standard Java applications on your phone. Assuming you can run a third party Java application on an iPhone, and can establish a bog standard bluetooth connection to another device, then it should work.

 

 

therein lies the problem! the iPhone uses a non-bog-standard bluetooth connection! - the only device it will talk to is another Apple. It certainly won't talk to my netbook, laptop or any of the other mobiles in my house!

 

I believe that Java is blocked by Apple as well!

[+Amberel]

Or you could buy any other cheap bluetooth, internet and Java enabled phone for use with an external BT GPS - the total cost would be far less that that of a dedicated GPS device and would be far more flexible.

Thanks for all the info, but I already have about 15 GPS receivers, including a bluetooth one, and a very good one in a WinMobile PDA. Personally I found the bluetooth solution to be very cumbersome in use, and as I have several receivers that perform just as well, it's been quite a while since I used it.

 

Prior to getting the iPhone I had to carry 2 units to get high quality performance on all the functions I want, i.e. phone + email + web browsing + PDA + camera + eBook reader + GPS + offline maps + offline cache database. The reason I got the iPhone is because I am on an eternal quest to find top quality performance in a single unit, and I hadn't heard about the dreadful GPSr performance on the iPhone (or about some of its other failings).

 

But the iPhone unquestionably does some things very well. So what has happened is that I now carry round THREE units instead of two !!!

 

Rgds, Andy

[+purple_pineapple]

 

The reason I got the iPhone is because I am on an eternal quest to find top quality performance in a single unit, and I hadn't heard about the dreadful GPSr performance on the iPhone (or about some of its other failings).

 

face facts andy, it don't exist!

[+HouseOfDragons]

The reason I got the iPhone is because I am on an eternal quest to find top quality performance in a single unit

 

 

Jack of all trades - master of none