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GPS that has similar function as iPhone app?


nintendudes

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I just started and downloaded the free version of the app on my wife's iPhone. Unfortunately, we haven't found a cache yet but we are stil learning the tricks of the trade.

 

I would prefer to not use the iPhone but I really like the way the app works. Being able to identify caches that are in your area, wherever you are, with a touch of a button is very convenient.

 

Is there a GPS unit that has this type of functionality or something similar? I don't always have my wife's phone with me and my cell is a Blackberry that my employer provides. :(

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I just started and downloaded the free version of the app on my wife's iPhone. Unfortunately, we haven't found a cache yet but we are stil learning the tricks of the trade.

 

I would prefer to not use the iPhone but I really like the way the app works. Being able to identify caches that are in your area, wherever you are, with a touch of a button is very convenient.

 

Is there a GPS unit that has this type of functionality or something similar? I don't always have my wife's phone with me and my cell is a Blackberry that my employer provides. :(

A GPS with built-in cell phone? Not that I know of. Even if such a device existed, I would expect it to be pretty expensive.

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I just started and downloaded the free version of the app on my wife's iPhone. Unfortunately, we haven't found a cache yet but we are stil learning the tricks of the trade.

 

I would prefer to not use the iPhone but I really like the way the app works. Being able to identify caches that are in your area, wherever you are, with a touch of a button is very convenient.

 

Is there a GPS unit that has this type of functionality or something similar? I don't always have my wife's phone with me and my cell is a Blackberry that my employer provides. :(

A GPS with built-in cell phone? Not that I know of. Even if such a device existed, I would expect it to be pretty expensive.

 

It doesn't need to be a fully functioning cell phone. It simply needs to know 1. where you are (which it does) and 2. where the caches are. The app provides #2 quite nicely. But is there a Gps unit that can replicate this function?

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It doesn't need to be a fully functioning cell phone. It simply needs to know 1. where you are (which it does) and 2. where the caches are. The app provides #2 quite nicely. But is there a Gps unit that can replicate this function?

Yes, most GPSrs do this, but they need to have the caches preloaded. I thought what you were looking for was a GPS that would show you what caches were nearby regardless of location. For example, you travel a few states over and want to see what caches are there. With a GPS device, you'd have to have loaded in the caches for that area before you left home. With the iPhone app, it can download the caches over the cell network on-the-fly. GPS devices can't do this because they don't have a data connection.

 

If what you're looking for is the ability to have all the caches for your town/city/whatever available, you can load those into nearly any modern GPS.

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You have to load the caches into a GPS with a cable attached to your computer.

The phone app downloads them for you on the road. You can save them for offline use.

I think one company sells GPSrs with preloaded caches, but then you don't get to filter what you want to find, and the available caches can change daily, you wouldn't know if one was archived or disabled . But I am the worst person to answer you, I'm on my fourth Garmin Legend, and they all had the same factory installed birth defect. I have to smack the left side of the GPS on my left palm, with just the right amount of force to make it work, and the toggle button works when it wants to.

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No dedicated GPS is going to give you the convenience of looking up nearby caches live, or "on the fly". They receive signals from satellites, not a data connection from a cell network. Like the above posters have already stated, you can download thousands of caches at a time to your GPS, though. If you get one of the models that features paperless caching, you will also have the full cache description, hint, recent logs, etc. to assist you. It won't be "live" data but it will be as fresh as your most recent download (more on that in a minute). If you have all the caches in your area pre-loaded on the unit and tell it to "Find Nearby Geocaches" it will list them in order of proximity to your current location, so it's kind of like having the app in that regard. They will also show up on the map with a distinct Geocache icon, so you can look them up on the map as well if you like. At least that's how my Garmin Oregon works, others may vary slightly in their function but will all do basically the same thing.

 

Now, as for getting the thousands of caches at a time downloaded to your GPS, you might want to consider becoming a Premium member, which will give you the ability to do Pocket Queries. This will let you easily generate a GPX file containing all the caches within the area you specify, which can then be downloaded to the unit. You can also filter the query by attributes like cache size or type, or only caches you haven't found already, or only caches with a certain difficulty rating, or any number of other criteria.

 

By the way, if you really want to get into this you might also consider upgrading that free version of the app to the paid one. They're completely different, the free version is just a sort of introduction to Geocaching....the paid app is a serious caching tool. It's not like comparing a Cadillac to a Chevy, it's more like comparing a Cadillac to a tricycle. I haven't heard anyone yet who didn't consider it the best $10 you can spend to get into Geocaching.

Edited by Chief301
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No dedicated GPS is going to give you the convenience of looking up nearby caches live, or "on the fly". They receive signals from satellites, not a data connection from a cell network. Like the above posters have already stated, you can download thousands of caches at a time to your GPS, though. If you get one of the models that features paperless caching, you will also have the full cache description, hint, recent logs, etc. to assist you. It won't be "live" data but it will be as fresh as your most recent download (more on that in a minute). If you have all the caches in your area pre-loaded on the unit and tell it to "Find Nearby Geocaches" it will list them in order of proximity to your current location, so it's kind of like having the app in that regard. They will also show up on the map with a distinct Geocache icon, so you can look them up on the map as well if you like. At least that's how my Garmin Oregon works, others may vary slightly in their function but will all do basically the same thing.

 

Now, as for getting the thousands of caches at a time downloaded to your GPS, you might want to consider becoming a Premium member, which will give you the ability to do Pocket Queries. This will let you easily generate a GPX file containing all the caches within the area you specify, which can then be downloaded to the unit. You can also filter the query by attributes like cache size or type, or only caches you haven't found already, or only caches with a certain difficulty rating, or any number of other criteria.

 

By the way, if you really want to get into this you might also consider upgrading that free version of the app to the paid one. They're completely different, the free version is just a sort of introduction to Geocaching....the paid app is a serious caching tool. It's not like comparing a Cadillac to a Chevy, it's more like comparing a Cadillac to a tricycle. I haven't heard anyone yet who didn't consider it the best $10 you can spend to get into Geocaching.

 

Thanks for all the replies. That is exactly what I was looking for.

 

Preloading the caches from a computer is not an issue. It sounds basically like updating the GPS in my car. I do plan on upgrading to Premium after we find a few caches and see if we like it. We have been letterboxing for a little while and would like to add Geocaching. Letterboxes are few and far between and it would be nice to be able to find geocaches in close proximity to the letterboxes we go after.

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