Blackberry apps

[+colliedoggie]

I've recently changed (upgraded!) from a Nokia 5800 to a Blackberry 9300 Curve. First I discover that I can't buy the Geocache Navigator which was so useful on the Nokia, I can only buy a subscription. Why? Second, for some reason, I have the only GPS Blackberry model that Handmark says is incompatible with Navigator. Are there any other geocache apps that might work with Blackberry 9300?

[+L0ne.R]

I've recently changed (upgraded!) from a Nokia 5800 to a Blackberry 9300 Curve. First I discover that I can't buy the Geocache Navigator which was so useful on the Nokia, I can only buy a subscription. Why? Second, for some reason, I have the only GPS Blackberry model that Handmark says is incompatible with Navigator. Are there any other geocache apps that might work with Blackberry 9300?

 

There's Blackstar and Cachesense.

I tried Blackstar but didn't find it intuitive, plus it chews up battery power.

I like Cachesense and I believe there's a new and improved Cachesense coming along around August 2nd (I think) when the GC site upgrades.

[+L0ne.R]

Found out there's another app for Blackberry users:

 

Trimble Geocache Navigator

 

http://www.geocaching.com/mobile/default.aspx

[+Fryguy1111]

I use both Blackstar Navigator as well as CacheSense on my BB Storm2 and they both work very well. I like the cache listing screen as well as cache detail screen in CacheSense as the display is colorful and easy to read. But I prefer the actual navigation screen (compass screen) that's on Blackstar.

 

A small bug I found in CS is the time it takes for CS to get satellite locks...sometimes over 10 minutes, but this may only apply to the BB Storm2. The recommended fix is to use the option to keep your satellite lock on all the time rather than only when you go to the compass/navigation/radar screen. BTW, this is how CS conserves battery power better than B* where B* has a satellite lock as soon as your application starts.

 

Keep in m ind that there is a small bug that's yet to be fixed in Blackstar, where the cache size doesn't appear in the cache detail screen. The easy fix is to edit the PQ to replace all instances of "container>" with "size>" before uploading it to your BB. Then Blackstar will display the container sizes for all your caches listed in the PQ.

 

Since I have both applications on my BB, I don't worry about the cache size in B*. But I use B* to find my cache (it lists the caches faster....important when you have 500 in your PQ ), then use CS to get the details of the cache. I hunt with B* compass as it's easier to see...and for night caches, B* has a wonderful night compass display (orange on a black background).

 

Since B* is free, it's the app I used exclusively for over a year until I discovered CS that costs only $9.99 with a lifetime of free upgrades.

 

Just my 8 cents worth

[+CajanCacheMan]

check this site out,http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/supportedphones/#carrier=sprint and you can find one that is supported thru your carrier,I am on my third BB with Sprint and i use geo trimble all the time,one phone may work with one carrier and the same phone will not with other carriers..

[+Fryguy1111]

Just a heads up on CacheSense. Just today, they've announced that this latest version 4.0.0.5 uses the new Geocaching Live API.

 

So now not only is CS great for paperless geocaching, anything that involved geocaching.com is done live and direct.

 

Though this is a beta version, but I've been using it for a few days now with no issues what so ever. They hope to release it "officially" next week.

[+TreasureKid's]

Just a heads up on CacheSense. Just today, they've announced that this latest version 4.0.0.5 uses the new Geocaching Live API.

 

So now not only is CS great for paperless geocaching, anything that involved geocaching.com is done live and direct.

 

Though this is a beta version, but I've been using it for a few days now with no issues what so ever. They hope to release it "officially" next week.

 

Does this mean it will work without having to DL PQ's into my phone. We do all the PQ stuff for our GPSr and basically wanted our BB's to be usable if we were somewhere without our GPSr and had time to kill. So we could just boot up program and find nearest cache at that moment, I know there is one like that for the iPhone (not cachesense) as our friend uses it.

[+Fryguy1111]

Just a heads up on CacheSense. Just today, they've announced that this latest version 4.0.0.5 uses the new Geocaching Live API.

 

So now not only is CS great for paperless geocaching, anything that involved geocaching.com is done live and direct.

 

Though this is a beta version, but I've been using it for a few days now with no issues what so ever. They hope to release it "officially" next week.

 

Does this mean it will work without having to DL PQ's into my phone. We do all the PQ stuff for our GPSr and basically wanted our BB's to be usable if we were somewhere without our GPSr and had time to kill. So we could just boot up program and find nearest cache at that moment, I know there is one like that for the iPhone (not cachesense) as our friend uses it.

 

Let me check that out as I haven't had to use a feature like that and will report back once I've had a chance to really work it out. But just today, on the spur of the moment, picked up my two boys from daycare and decided to try it out on-the-fly, so to speak. I started CS, clicked on "Pocket Queries", it connected to my account at geocaching.com and presented me ALL of my currently downloadable PQ's. I selected the one in my area and it downloaded it to my BB. No muss, no fuss . I clicked on "Nearest Caches" to my GPS location and in a few seconds, I had a list of the 20 closest geocaches from that PQ.

 

But I'll do some playing with it to see what it can do if you don't have an active PQ available.

 

Good question

[+GadgetNerdly]

Just a heads up on CacheSense. Just today, they've announced that this latest version 4.0.0.5 uses the new Geocaching Live API.

 

So now not only is CS great for paperless geocaching, anything that involved geocaching.com is done live and direct.

 

Though this is a beta version, but I've been using it for a few days now with no issues what so ever. They hope to release it "officially" next week.

 

Does this mean it will work without having to DL PQ's into my phone. We do all the PQ stuff for our GPSr and basically wanted our BB's to be usable if we were somewhere without our GPSr and had time to kill. So we could just boot up program and find nearest cache at that moment, I know there is one like that for the iPhone (not cachesense) as our friend uses it.

 

Let me check that out as I haven't had to use a feature like that and will report back once I've had a chance to really work it out. But just today, on the spur of the moment, picked up my two boys from daycare and decided to try it out on-the-fly, so to speak. I started CS, clicked on "Pocket Queries", it connected to my account at geocaching.com and presented me ALL of my currently downloadable PQ's. I selected the one in my area and it downloaded it to my BB. No muss, no fuss . I clicked on "Nearest Caches" to my GPS location and in a few seconds, I had a list of the 20 closest geocaches from that PQ.

 

But I'll do some playing with it to see what it can do if you don't have an active PQ available.

 

Good question

 

Blackstar will find geocaches based on your current location on geocaching.com. It isn't ideal though. It just opens your browser to search results near you and then you can select the caches you want and download them. Then you just import them like any other gpx file. So if you have an OS5 or older BB you might be out of luck.

Edited July 29, 2011 by The NoBodies

[+Fryguy1111]

Just a heads up on CacheSense. Just today, they've announced that this latest version 4.0.0.5 uses the new Geocaching Live API.

 

So now not only is CS great for paperless geocaching, anything that involved geocaching.com is done live and direct.

 

Though this is a beta version, but I've been using it for a few days now with no issues what so ever. They hope to release it "officially" next week.

 

Does this mean it will work without having to DL PQ's into my phone. We do all the PQ stuff for our GPSr and basically wanted our BB's to be usable if we were somewhere without our GPSr and had time to kill. So we could just boot up program and find nearest cache at that moment, I know there is one like that for the iPhone (not cachesense) as our friend uses it.

 

Let me check that out as I haven't had to use a feature like that and will report back once I've had a chance to really work it out. But just today, on the spur of the moment, picked up my two boys from daycare and decided to try it out on-the-fly, so to speak. I started CS, clicked on "Pocket Queries", it connected to my account at geocaching.com and presented me ALL of my currently downloadable PQ's. I selected the one in my area and it downloaded it to my BB. No muss, no fuss . I clicked on "Nearest Caches" to my GPS location and in a few seconds, I had a list of the 20 closest geocaches from that PQ.

 

But I'll do some playing with it to see what it can do if you don't have an active PQ available.

 

Good question

 

Got an answer for you and it's "Yes!" . When selecting "Nearest Caches", there's an option button that you can use to tell CS to use information from geocaching.com instead of one of your loaded PQ's. This feature allows users to go ANYWHERE and immediately start geocaching on-the-fly

[+TreasureKid's]

Thank you very much!!! Now I guess I will re-download it and give it a try again, if my free trial is up then we can just use hubby's phone for a bit.

[+hukilaulau]

We do all the PQ stuff for our GPSr and basically wanted our BB's to be usable if we were somewhere without our GPSr and had time to kill. So we could just boot up program and find nearest cache at that moment, I know there is one like that for the iPhone (not cachesense) as our friend uses it.

This is exactly what I use Trimble Geocache Navigator for on my BB (don't know what model, it's so old it's actually black).

It's also great to pull up the cache page if I'm at a cache but can't find it. Looking at past logs has often been the difference between a smiley and a DNF)

[Hatredcopter]

I've been using BlackStar (free!) on my Blackberry Curve, but haven't experimented with it much. I use it when I know I'm in the general vicinity of a cache, and then walk around 'til the coordinates are close. I prefer to print maps and take them with me, rather than having a GPS lead me right to the cache. BlackStar just helps me get more granular.

[+TreasureKid's]

Just a heads up on CacheSense. Just today, they've announced that this latest version 4.0.0.5 uses the new Geocaching Live API.

 

So now not only is CS great for paperless geocaching, anything that involved geocaching.com is done live and direct.

 

Though this is a beta version, but I've been using it for a few days now with no issues what so ever. They hope to release it "officially" next week.

 

Does this mean it will work without having to DL PQ's into my phone. We do all the PQ stuff for our GPSr and basically wanted our BB's to be usable if we were somewhere without our GPSr and had time to kill. So we could just boot up program and find nearest cache at that moment, I know there is one like that for the iPhone (not cachesense) as our friend uses it.

 

Let me check that out as I haven't had to use a feature like that and will report back once I've had a chance to really work it out. But just today, on the spur of the moment, picked up my two boys from daycare and decided to try it out on-the-fly, so to speak. I started CS, clicked on "Pocket Queries", it connected to my account at geocaching.com and presented me ALL of my currently downloadable PQ's. I selected the one in my area and it downloaded it to my BB. No muss, no fuss . I clicked on "Nearest Caches" to my GPS location and in a few seconds, I had a list of the 20 closest geocaches from that PQ.

 

But I'll do some playing with it to see what it can do if you don't have an active PQ available.

 

Good question

 

Got an answer for you and it's "Yes!" . When selecting "Nearest Caches", there's an option button that you can use to tell CS to use information from geocaching.com instead of one of your loaded PQ's. This feature allows users to go ANYWHERE and immediately start geocaching on-the-fly

 

Thank you so much for checking on this. We gave it a try and loved how it turned out, I was even able to log right from it. I normally wouldn't do this if the cache is in my GPS cause I have a rutine for this but if it is just a random cache this works. I still have to come home and edit the log just to dip our peronal TB as I have yet to figure out if I can do that also. Thank you so much for the help on this one.

[+L0ne.R]

Thank you so much for checking on this. We gave it a try and loved how it turned out, I was even able to log right from it. I normally wouldn't do this if the cache is in my GPS cause I have a rutine for this but if it is just a random cache this works. I still have to come home and edit the log just to dip our peronal TB as I have yet to figure out if I can do that also. Thank you so much for the help on this one.

 

I just noticed the CacheSense 'Quick Log' feature a few days. As a CO it scared me. It just posts TFTC, which has come to be known as another way of saying...."Your cache was not worth writing about". If you edit a TFTC log later, to say how much you enjoyed the cache, the CO does not get notified.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Lone R

[+TreasureKid's]

Thank you so much for checking on this. We gave it a try and loved how it turned out, I was even able to log right from it. I normally wouldn't do this if the cache is in my GPS cause I have a routine for this but if it is just a random cache this works. I still have to come home and edit the log just to dip our personal TB as I have yet to figure out if I can do that also. Thank you so much for the help on this one.

 

I just noticed the CacheSense 'Quick Log' feature a few days. As a CO it scared me. It just posts TFTC, which has come to be known as another way of saying...."Your cache was not worth writing about". If you edit a TFTC log later, to say how much you enjoyed the cache, the CO does not get notified.

 

It does as a default but you can edit that right on the blackberry if you are not to lazy to do so. We logged 3 caches on the 30th all of which had more that TFTC, not that I am a huge writer but I try to put something. When I got home I only had to go in to edit them not to change any text but rather to visit our personal TB to it.

[+gnies]

I am really loving the new version 4. You can do a field note where you have the options of Don't publish where it will be on the phone, publish as a field note which is what I use or Publish as Log.

 

With the publish as field note the next time I log onto GC it will show I have field notes so I can edit the brief note which was my info on the find and easily visit with my logging bug.

[+L0ne.R]

Thank you so much for checking on this. We gave it a try and loved how it turned out, I was even able to log right from it. I normally wouldn't do this if the cache is in my GPS cause I have a routine for this but if it is just a random cache this works. I still have to come home and edit the log just to dip our personal TB as I have yet to figure out if I can do that also. Thank you so much for the help on this one.

 

I just noticed the CacheSense 'Quick Log' feature a few days. As a CO it scared me. It just posts TFTC, which has come to be known as another way of saying...."Your cache was not worth writing about". If you edit a TFTC log later, to say how much you enjoyed the cache, the CO does not get notified.

 

It does as a default but you can edit that right on the blackberry if you are not to lazy to do so. We logged 3 caches on the 30th all of which had more that TFTC, not that I am a huge writer but I try to put something. When I got home I only had to go in to edit them not to change any text but rather to visit our personal TB to it.

 

Kudos. That's really good of you to make that extra effort.

 

It would be nice if CacheSense could change that somehow to let finders know that COs prefer more then just a TFTC. If I was a newbie I might think that that was the preferred comment. I think I'll go over to the CacheSense forums and make that suggestion.

[+Fryguy1111]

Thank you so much for checking on this. We gave it a try and loved how it turned out, I was even able to log right from it. I normally wouldn't do this if the cache is in my GPS cause I have a routine for this but if it is just a random cache this works. I still have to come home and edit the log just to dip our personal TB as I have yet to figure out if I can do that also. Thank you so much for the help on this one.

 

I just noticed the CacheSense 'Quick Log' feature a few days. As a CO it scared me. It just posts TFTC, which has come to be known as another way of saying...."Your cache was not worth writing about". If you edit a TFTC log later, to say how much you enjoyed the cache, the CO does not get notified.

 

It does as a default but you can edit that right on the blackberry if you are not to lazy to do so. We logged 3 caches on the 30th all of which had more that TFTC, not that I am a huge writer but I try to put something. When I got home I only had to go in to edit them not to change any text but rather to visit our personal TB to it.

 

I still log each of my finds via CS with some text as I used to do from a PC. It's just easier as I can now do it from my BB at the cache site with the memory fresh in my mind and it posts immediately. And at the same time, I have CS set so that a post goes out automatically to Facebook announcing that I made a find, the caches GC number, and its URL. All done automatically.....mine says this "Has been out geocaching with the family and just found "Take a hike" (GC29WPZ- http://coord.info/GC29WPZ) using CacheSense on his BlackBerry Storm2!"

 

It's very cool and highly configurable....I was in the closed beta and am still finding out features I didn't know existed

[+esquimaux]

Another great thing about CS is that it allows you to cache and write your logs both "live" while you're in range of the network, and "offline" when you don't have a signal.

[+Fryguy1111]

And it does work. My boys and I found a cache yesterday outside of cell range, but I still entered my log on my BB. Once we got in range, I saw it upload the log to geocaching.com automatically

[+JohnCNA]

Thank you so much for checking on this. We gave it a try and loved how it turned out, I was even able to log right from it. I normally wouldn't do this if the cache is in my GPS cause I have a routine for this but if it is just a random cache this works. I still have to come home and edit the log just to dip our personal TB as I have yet to figure out if I can do that also. Thank you so much for the help on this one.

 

I just noticed the CacheSense 'Quick Log' feature a few days. As a CO it scared me. It just posts TFTC, which has come to be known as another way of saying...."Your cache was not worth writing about". If you edit a TFTC log later, to say how much you enjoyed the cache, the CO does not get notified.

 

It does as a default but you can edit that right on the blackberry if you are not to lazy to do so. We logged 3 caches on the 30th all of which had more that TFTC, not that I am a huge writer but I try to put something. When I got home I only had to go in to edit them not to change any text but rather to visit our personal TB to it.

 

Kudos. That's really good of you to make that extra effort.

 

It would be nice if CacheSense could change that somehow to let finders know that COs prefer more then just a TFTC. If I was a newbie I might think that that was the preferred comment. I think I'll go over to the CacheSense forums and make that suggestion.

 

The Field Notes option is pretty slick. You can enter your brief details and have it upload to your Field note section on GC and then touch them up and embellish on the computer later and click to log them. This is what I do. You can choose to just have it post directly to the log instead. The Quick Log function you're referring to has a text entry box that's populated with 'TFTC' when you open it. The truly lazy can just select Quick Log and click OK. Or they can click in the text box and type a full log if they want to.

 

Searching is nice, too. As mentioned, it shows your online PQ's. Or you can search for nearest caches around your current GPS location, manually entered coordinates, nearest to the selected cache, nearest to a saved location or just retrieve by GC code. Just this past weekend I was sitting at the car dealer waiting for my car to be serviced. Got bored with Saturday morning TV and opened CacheSense. Said there was a cache 300 feet away. Borrowed a pen and walked out and snagged it. Sweet.

 

I use the multiple database option a lot. Lets me define a database for a specific outing or trail and I populate it via PQ, individual downloads, and/or importing a GPX file from Garmin's BaseCamp. Beats scrolling through a really large list of stuff that I'm not looking for today.

 

At the beginning of a trail hike/geocache, I sort the list by location. Same options as in the search functions, GPS, manual coords, selected cache, etc. If I sort by location using my current GPS location, all the caches on the trail will be listed in order of distance from me. And I just walk from one to the next.

 

Looking across a wetland with the GPS pointing that way to the cache, select Google Map and it brings up a satellite view of where the cache is. Ah, so THAT's the way around this! Nice. I use a Garmin etrex 30 with GLONASS and WAAS/EGNOS and 24k shaded Topo Maps. Cell phone won't beat that for position accuracy, and the etrex battery lasts for days. My Curve gives credible accuracy but the feature list just gets started where the Garmin leaves off and makes it possible to be completely paper-free. I don't leave home without both of them charged and loaded.

 

Lots of good stuff here. Free 30 day trial; well worth the ten-spot to own it.