GPSr or Droid/IPhone/EVO

[+babest51]

I am not a "Power Cacher", most of my logs are in local parks & short hiking trails. I do most of my caching while out of town on business (the reason I took up this hobby). For years I have been doing this the old way searching by zip code, down loading or manually entering coordinates to my GPS and writing out hints, etc. Needless to say, I am getting tired of this. This is what I want to be able to do: Turn on my "device", see if there are any caches nearby; look at cache info, including hints, all without having to preload coordinates/PQs. I have seen this happen on new phones (I-Phone, Droid) and I am in love. I am just not sure how this works (I know you down load an app) and how much it costs to access this service each time I look for a cache. I would also like to be able to preload specific caches just like before. So, should I get a new phone or a new GPSr. Are there GPSrs that do what I want? Are there phones that will let me preload caches? I also just lost my IPod so the phone could also replace that. Any thoughts would be appreciated

[+bswanderer]

1. Yes, droids, iphones and others let you preload caches with free applications using pocket quarries or an online service called bcaching (you load your pq to there.

 

2. Many apps are free

 

3. With a program called gasket, you can copy pq's and convert them for many car GPS units also.

 

My favorite is a Droid with either geobeagle, geohunter, or gsac

[+MaxiP]

Both Android & iPhone devices will allow you to do both planned (loading PQ's) and spontaneous (download 'local' caches). There is a GS app for both devices but IMHO there are better apps available that will suit your needs.

 

Like bswanderer, I am a fan of GeoHunter on Android but recently paid for Georg as the enhanced functionality (IMHO) is worth the €5.99 I paid. It includes navigation (on road, off road, compass, radar), multiple databases for imported PQ's in different areas, waypoint averaging for setting caches as well as just being 'nice' to use.

[+teamhillside]

My solution:-

Cheap smartphone on PAYG (Nokia 5230 / Nuron) which includes "proper" GPS

Cheap data package (£5 per month for 1GB data)

Geocaching Live application (free, but requires data connection for maps / downloads of caches)

 

iPhone = great, but a) very expensive! and GPS has poor reports of accuracy.

Android = great, but similar expensive comments. If an Android phone were available in the £70 PAYG bracket in the UK I would get one without hesitation.

 

No more paper!

 

Matt

[+northernpenguin]

My solution:-

Cheap smartphone on PAYG (Nokia 5230 / Nuron) which includes "proper" GPS

Cheap data package (£5 per month for 1GB data)

Geocaching Live application (free, but requires data connection for maps / downloads of caches)

 

iPhone = great, but a) very expensive! and GPS has poor reports of accuracy.

Android = great, but similar expensive comments. If an Android phone were available in the £70 PAYG bracket in the UK I would get one without hesitation.

 

No more paper!

 

Matt

 

Just to be clear here, the ORIGINAL iPhone GPS implementation had poor GPS. The iPhone 4 has a much improved GPS chip that consistently outperforms my Garmin Colorado 400t. It also gets a position lock quicker (though I suspect there is some aGPS data usage from the carrier to give it a boost).

 

I also need to point out in this thread nobody is mentioning the *official* Groundspeak apps for Android and iPhone. The *official* app is $10, works for life and is supported by Groundspeak - that means site changes do not break the app functionality like it does for the third party apps like c:geo or GCzII. I used to really cringe going caching the day after a site update but not anymore.

 

The official Geocaching app works best with a live data connection, but you can save PQs and cache maps so it is possible to work offline if you would rather not chew through your 3G usage.

 

Geocaching Live is an awful way to geocache, I would not recommend that method to anyone. It's free, and priced accordingly ... at least, that was my experience using a Windows Mobile device.

[+splashy]

I've an Oregon 550 and a Samsung Galaxy S I9000 android phone, the free and/or cheap Gps app's for the android are LIGHTYEARS ahead of Garmin, maps are cheap or free, the batt. time is good enough it's very accurate, only it's not rugged, but on this moment I'm very happy with this android system.

[+babest51]

Thanks for all the input, it really helps to hear from those who have used a phone for geocaching. I have read some of the other threads and I feel confident the phone system meets my needs. On those occassions hwere I am in the deep woods I can always get out my ETrek that has served me for over 5 years. Thanks again for the advice.

[+teamhillside]

Geocaching Live is an awful way to geocache, I would not recommend that method to anyone. It's free, and priced accordingly ... at least, that was my experience using a Windows Mobile device.

 

I'll agree with you that it isn't perfect, and certainly I took my time to get used to it. However, now its the only caching app that I use. Since downloading it and installing it, I've worked out:-

- how to get offline maps (handy when there is no 3g signal)

- how to submit field notes / logs directly

- how to manage stored amounts of caches on it (admittedly it doesn't "do" PQs)

 

The manual is non-existent / useless, but the software works fine, doesn't crash, etc etc.

 

I'm using it on a Symbian device because there weren't too many alternatives out there!! If I could run an app which worked like the official apps, or like some of the unofficial (but apparently excellent!) Android apps, I would do.

 

I wouldn't want to be manually keying coordinates in too often, but that's as much a flaw in the OS as it is in the device itself.

 

I'm comfortable with recommending the method. And I respect your disagreement!!!

 

Matt

[+northernpenguin]

Geocaching Live is an awful way to geocache, I would not recommend that method to anyone. It's free, and priced accordingly ... at least, that was my experience using a Windows Mobile device.

 

I'll agree with you that it isn't perfect, and certainly I took my time to get used to it. However, now its the only caching app that I use. Since downloading it and installing it, I've worked out:-

- how to get offline maps (handy when there is no 3g signal)

- how to submit field notes / logs directly

- how to manage stored amounts of caches on it (admittedly it doesn't "do" PQs)

 

The manual is non-existent / useless, but the software works fine, doesn't crash, etc etc.

 

I'm using it on a Symbian device because there weren't too many alternatives out there!! If I could run an app which worked like the official apps, or like some of the unofficial (but apparently excellent!) Android apps, I would do.

 

I wouldn't want to be manually keying coordinates in too often, but that's as much a flaw in the OS as it is in the device itself.

 

I'm comfortable with recommending the method. And I respect your disagreement!!!

 

Matt

 

I'm pretty sure the Geocaching Live experience I had (very buggy, didn't work on high res displays, clunky nav controls, etc etc) had a lot more to do with the fact that I was on Windows Mobile at the time. Symbian is almost non-existent around these parts.

 

Geocaching Live may very well be best of breed on Symbian devices, and has the benefit of being an official app for that platform.