premium membership with no paperless GPS

[+rockvet06]

I am wondering if it would be worth my money to get a premium membership if I only have a Garmin etrex venture HC. It does not (to my knowledge) have the capability to do paperless geocaching. Are there any other features that I could utilize with the premium membership to make it worth it? Also, I have a Ipad2 (not 4g enabled). Would that help as well?

 

thanks

[+ngrrfan]

I am wondering if it would be worth my money to get a premium membership if I only have a Garmin etrex venture HC. It does not (to my knowledge) have the capability to do paperless geocaching. Are there any other features that I could utilize with the premium membership to make it worth it? Also, I have a Ipad2 (not 4g enabled). Would that help as well?

One of the advantages of PM is the ability to generate a pocket query and then load that into your etrex. You are correct in that the Venture HC isn't a paperless unit but that isn't a reason to not move up to premium membership. There is an app for the iPad, Geosphere, that you could load the pocket query into and then using the iPad and GPS you are paperless.

 

I used an iPod Touch in conjunction with my Venture HC to go paperless. It came in handy to have some logs and hints right at hand.

[+wmpastor]

I am wondering if it would be worth my money to get a premium membership if I only have a Garmin etrex venture HC. It does not (to my knowledge) have the capability to do paperless geocaching. Are there any other features that I could utilize with the premium membership to make it worth it? Also, I have a Ipad2 (not 4g enabled). Would that help as well?

 

thanks

Don't forget those PMO caches!

[+DonB]

I am wondering if it would be worth my money to get a premium membership if I only have a Garmin etrex venture HC. It does not (to my knowledge) have the capability to do paperless geocaching. Are there any other features that I could utilize with the premium membership to make it worth it? Also, I have a Ipad2 (not 4g enabled). Would that help as well?

 

thanks

You will also be able to download GPX files and with a free program called CacheMagnet you can load the GPX file and do a condensed printout complete with hints. I can print a day's caching on about two sheets of paper and for anyone worried about using paper you can turn it over and print another day's caching on the other side.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Agreeing with others, just the ability to have the advance search parameters of pocket queries may well be worth the price.

 

And that the combo of gps and ipad would work nicely. Use the ipad to store the gpx files and the gps to find the caches.

In the early days of paperless caching, this was what everyone did, as there were no gps units that handled the entire GPX file at first.

[+gcfishguy]

With that unit, you can also use GSAK to generate a GPX that you can then load onto the unit with Garmin's POI Loader.

I do it with my 60csx, and by using POIs instead of waypoints, I can have the name, part of the description, the type of cache, container, hint, found/not-found results of the last 4 logs, etc.

It's not paperless, but it's a poor man's version.

Edited May 23, 2013 by gcfishguy

[+Semper Questio]

I am wondering if it would be worth my money to get a premium membership if I only have a Garmin etrex venture HC. It does not (to my knowledge) have the capability to do paperless geocaching. Are there any other features that I could utilize with the premium membership to make it worth it? Also, I have a Ipad2 (not 4g enabled). Would that help as well?

 

thanks

 

The term "paperless" is somewhat relative. Ini its purest form it means you are using a GPSr that can hold all the data for the cache. But in the more generic sense that is not the case. For instance, I use a GPSMap 60csx. It is not considered a paperless GPS, ut I do paperless caching. I load the base cache data in my gizmo and the rest goes on my smartphone (I use GSAK/GDAK). If I need more info or if I am caching outside my home area, I also have the Geocaching app for dynamic cache info retrieval.

 

So just becuase you don't have a "paperless" GPS does not mean the premium membership is of little value and that you cannot go paperless.

 

As for other values in premium membership, there are plenty. I am mainly a big fan of PQ's, caches along a route, and bookmark lists. You can use bookmarks in sseveral ways, often in conjunction with the ignore list, to have more control in cache selection and notifications.

[AZcachemeister]

'Paperless' doesn't necessarily mean you have the latest and greatest GPSr.

It means you are not printing out reams of cache descriptions to go caching.

You could save the descriptions on any of several electronic devices, including a Palm PDA you got for $20 off EBay.

[+cwgrizz]

I am wondering if it would be worth my money to get a premium membership if I only have a Garmin etrex venture HC. It does not (to my knowledge) have the capability to do paperless geocaching. Are there any other features that I could utilize with the premium membership to make it worth it? Also, I have a Ipad2 (not 4g enabled). Would that help as well?

 

thanks

 

My son-in-law just got a PM about 2 months ago in preparation for a long vacation trip with his family. He has exactly that GPSr and a laptop. The PQ's along a route feature was his main reason for getting a PM. All worked well for them and I think they felt it was well worth it. If you cache on a semi-regular basis it is probably worth it. I held out because I had the same GPSr and didn't think the PQ's were that much of an advantage, but then bought an Oregon and decided I needed PM. It probably would have been to my advantage to get the PM earlier in my Geocaching adventures.