Geocaching Apps for Nokia phones in the UK

[+calisnenath]

My contract is up for renewal soon, and I'm thinking of sticking with Nokia (the X6 maybe??) because I like the sound of the Ovi Maps being able to do satnav. Any recommendations for using it for paperless geocaching? Or alternatives for phones - iPhone is out (I'm on virgin have you seen their choice of phones?!) and it's a low end contract so Blackberry etc is also out. I've also posted on the technology page but since it is a UK specific question I thought I'd ask here as well!!

[+Simply Paul]

If you do a forum search for Nokia (5 letters; should work ok!) you'll get a long list of threads where answers are explored in depth. I've a 5800 - older model now, but a handy tool for caching and playing Fieldrunners (my current obsession )

[+RatRunCrew]

I am using a 5800, but getting a 'real' gps soon.

For on the spot 'find caches near me' its faultless, accuracy is good, and I wont be able to compare between paper, and paperless untill the weekend...

I am assuming you will be using Trimbles geocache navigator..

[+Sagetheowl]

Hi,

My phone contract has come up for renewal and the option I went for was the Nokia 5230 because of the built in GPS. I use the sat nav feature with Ovi Maps, but I have come across Geocache Navigator by Trimble. Does any one use this and if so, how have they found it?

Best wishes, Steve

[GerritS]

Hi,

My phone contract has come up for renewal and the option I went for was the Nokia 5230 because of the built in GPS. I use the sat nav feature with Ovi Maps, but I have come across Geocache Navigator by Trimble. Does any one use this and if so, how have they found it?

Best wishes, Steve

 

Hi Steve,

 

I used to use Geocache navigator all the time when it was free... The free software was excellent, I now have a Garmin Oregon and still sometimes hanker for the free software.

You can read back through unlimited logs not just 5, the radar screen was brilliant for finding caches. Posting field notes straight to your profile no connecting GPS's etc.

 

It used to crash when in marginal phone reception but I think they got around that with the super duper paid version...

 

I know 2 cachers who actually bought Nokia phones just to use the software. Interestingly one has moved to Iphone for there free ap and the other has now switched to Android. I now use geocaching live which gets me to the cache on the occasions my Oregon is not to hand.

 

I guess we change (destroy) phones to often to want to buy software that is stuck on one phone!

[altipueri]

I use Nokia N86, (used to be N95) with Trimble app (was free, now costs).

 

I also have Viewranger Ordnance Survey 1:50000 on the phone. (About £25 for 200 square miles; £200 for all UK).

 

It's good enough for casual use.

 

In fact just earlier reading about iPhone app problems has probably meant I'll keep this longer.

[+RatRunCrew]

Sagetheowl geocachenavigator is great, nothing wrong with it al all, but it costs! Now... if you get a premium account, and mines about to expire ( I had 30 free days cos I got a Garmin) and you download a pocket query.. and send that to your phone via bluetooth or run it via Nokia suite or Ovisuite, it creates Points of Interest in your Nokia Maps!

Nokia Maps, so long as you browse OFFLINE is free from Data useage, so there is no data transferred through your provider!

So Either get Trimbles app, and pay for your data used when running it, OR buy a years subs to this site and make Pocket Queries that run totally free on your phone.

Two quick points, your phones GPSr isn't particularly wonderful under trees, and you wont want to use it too often in the rain

[GerritS]

Another free app for nokias that free that is often over looked is..

 

Smart GPX follow the instructions easy to install depending on the phone it can send caches to POI' and get them to appear on google maps.. You can upload numerous PQ's at one stage I think my phone had about 5000 caches in it!

 

Free paperless caching

 

Also Geocaching live bit clunky but works..

 

There are a couple of other freebies have not got my N95 to hand but if some one is interested, mail me Ill post them.

 

Have to agree if you did not have to pay geocache Navigator is the king...

 

Although think my next phone will be android

[GerritS]

Double post..

Edited July 6, 2010 by GerritS

[Stompy]

Check this out, I've just found a cache using it on Nokia X6.

Geocaching Live Beta

[+Mark+Karen]

I have a Nokia N97 and together with Viewranger makes a very good tool for geocaching. It even has some in built features which allow you to open geocaching.com and find nearby caches etc. But you have to pay for the maps - they are quite expensive. And inputting coordinates etc is all a very manual process.

 

But I've just bought an iPhone and it's a world of difference, it's like going from a BBC Micro to a supercomputer!

 

Anyway, just because you are on Virgin now doesn't mean you have to stay with them, you can choose any network and keep your number.

[+teamhillside]

My contract is up for renewal soon, and I'm thinking of sticking with Nokia (the X6 maybe??) because I like the sound of the Ovi Maps being able to do satnav. Any recommendations for using it for paperless geocaching? Or alternatives for phones - iPhone is out (I'm on virgin have you seen their choice of phones?!) and it's a low end contract so Blackberry etc is also out. I've also posted on the technology page but since it is a UK specific question I thought I'd ask here as well!!

 

I'm on Virgin (PAYG direct debit, £5 per month 1GB data allowance) and have a Nokia 5230 which I use for caching (its my sole caching tool).

 

I use trekbuddy (www.trekbuddy.net) most of the time:-

- offline maps

- reads GPX files

- quite "configurable" (perhaps quite "geek friendly"?!)

- free!

 

But as it needs offline info, if I'm caching "unprepared" then "geocaching live" works fine:-

- live updates of where caches are

- but needs a data connection

- sometimes a bit slow to respond

- not particularly intuitive to use, and not as advanced as trekbuddy (IMHO)

- also free!

 

For both, I prefer to use a bluetooth GPS receiver rather than the built in GPS, but having said that when I haven't had my bluetooth receiver around I've still found all of the caches I've looked for.

 

Its a decent cheap phone, battery life is poor (I find I need to charge it daily, but I've got an in car charger). Ovi maps is fine as a satnav - its not TomTom, but it gets me from A to B fine.

 

HTH!

 

Matt

[+Geocass&Andy750x]

Some Great Nokia 5800 offline caching tips in this post, glad I stumbled upon it. Thanks Andy has a 5800 and after the massive shock of £26.99 for the Trimble app we decided to not purchase it. I use an iPhone and the GeoCaching app only set me back something like £4.99 so figured that Trimble are either very cheeky, or the app is amazingly good. Is it amazingly good? Andy's phone is up for renewal in Jan so he's going to get an iPhone primarily for the GeoCaching app. It is so handy to have live cache info readily available when you're out on the road!