Why So Many Batteries???

[+The Hokesters]

Is it something we don't know about? Is there some sort of Alkaline conspiracy?

Why is it that so many caches start off with a pack of AA batteries in the cache?

 

We have a Garmin Geko so start planting some AAA batteries you sneeky cache hiding types!

 

The Hokesters

[+Haggis Hunter]

I also have a Geko and they eat the batteries up as fast as hell. I use rechargeable now. As I go through 2 sets on a caching day out.

[+The Hokesters]

Make sure you get the highest mAh that you can find and use the NiMh I am on 850mAh at the moment and they last for 9 hours when new which is Garmin's Alkaline usage figure.

 

The Hokesters

[+Stem]

Most GPS use AA. I'm not aware of any gps besides the geckos that use AAA. They can be found in many caches because batteries are an item that all cachers need. I always carry extras with me. I don't want to be caught miles from my car with a dead gps. I also don't want to be caught 500' from a cache I just hiked 3 miles to get to with dead batteries. Batteries are considered good trade items, and are often refereed to as "gps food".

[+Subarite]

I have a GPS V that eats batteries - I always have at least two spare sets of alkalines/NmH with me.

 

Andy.

[+Grant Clan]

Maplin sell some Uniross 2300 mAh batteries, they last over a day in my Garmin Vista. You can get a pack of 4 with a 1 hour charger that has a lead for the car included for abou £20 (can't remember exactly how much it cost)

[+Renegade Knight]

The battery issue is why I standardized on the AA and dumped all my other gadgets that don't use that type.

[+The Hokesters]

AAA's are no problem unfortunately my Kameleon Remote control turned me on to 'em and that doesn't just eat batteries it skins 'em, cooks 'em and feasts on 'em! However 850mAh is all you need

 

Thanks for the clue on why the AA's are in a lot of caches and that they are "GPSr Food" that was the answer I was looking for.

 

By the way you can only get 2300mAh in AA and above so us Geko owners are still in the dark - don't touch that backlight! Look out for GP NiMh batteries they are better than Uniross and usually a lot cheaper. Your best bet is to look in Yellow Pages for Battery Wholesalers. I pay less than £1 per 850mAh AAA battery and have a stock of 12. That will last any 48 hour stint with my Geko!!!

 

The Hokesters

Edited April 30, 2004 by The Hokesters

[+wildtrekker]

I use AAA in mine (yes it's a Geko) and have 2 sets of 650mAh. I also have a rapid charger that runs from my Cig lighter socket in the car, which charges fully in about an hour, so never have a problem anymore.

[+Lizzzzeeeee]

I must admit I read lots of worries about GPS's eating batteries and looked carefully into battery life before buying, but I have to say that my eMap seems to be on a diet. I now use 2100 NiMh but even before that I didn't really go through a lot of alkalines. Compared with the amount of diesel my landcruiser uses it's nothing!

 

My PDA however when Bluetooth is turned on is another thing though, it can go flat in half an hour. Oh and my Canon Ixus (uses a proprietory Li-ion) with the screen on on a cold day can say change battery pack after only one photo!

 

Geocaching is still a fairly cheap hobby though (my husband does track days in his Subaru and can go through a set of tyres in one day!), if you discount all the new gadgets you simply have to buy!!!

[+The Hokesters]

You obviously never get far enough from your Landy WildTrekker

 

The Hokesters

[+wildtrekker]

being able to get closer to the caches via legal green lanes does help and I do have two sets of standard spares just in case, but the charging of the 2nd set between caches is the winner for me, you always have a fresh set.

[+Pharisee]

I have a GPS V that eats batteries - I always have at least two spare sets of alkalines/NmH with me.

 

Andy.

I've just bought an AN-MANN all singing, all dancing charger and eight 2200mA/h NiMH AN-MANN batteries to go with it. After a couple of rapid charge/discharge cycles (probably not necessary but I did it anyway) I put 4 in my GPS III, a known battery eater, and left it switched on by the window. 12 HOURS later it was still working and amazingly still showing the batteries as fully charged. It stopped working after 13.1/2 hours of continuous use.

Edited May 1, 2004 by Pharisee

[+aisledog]

Check out ebay for good prices

[+Richard&Pepper]

12 HOURS later it was still working and amazingly still showing the batteries as fully charged. It stopped working after 13.1/2 hours of continuous use.   

This is the slight problem with using NiMH BAtteries in devices that have a battery meter designed for Alkaline batteries. The voltage of an alkaline battery slowly drops as it's charge drops, and the battery indicators measure this voltage drop to indicate battery charge status. A NiMH battery on the other hand does not steadily drop it's voltage as it discharges, it remains fairly constant. It's voltage suddenly drops just before it is completely exhausted. So, you cannot rely on on the battery indicators unless they were designed to work with the type of battery you are using.

 

Richard

[Sparticus]

I must say I've never had a major problem with my GPS V.

 

I use the in car adapter to run the unit and only use batteries once looking foir a cache.

 

A tip I use is to estimate roughly where the cache might be and turn it off until I get closer. Not always appropriate for some caches, but works most of the time.

 

I find I don't have to change my batteries at all whilst I'm out, but I make sure i always carry a spare set, Just in case

[+Volvo Man]

If you use a Geko, perhaps you should follow me round, one of my often left trades is AAA batteries, due to a near unlimited supply of them.

 

On the rechargable front, I use 2000 mah No-Mem (american brand) in my MeriGold, ( he he, I just got that) and usually go through a set a day. the main problem I encounter is that rechargables charge best when charged individually, but all the chargers on the market in the UK do them in pairs. When I can get around to it, I discharge them completely with a torch, then charge them in pairs, but this can take quite some time, as the GPS only uses around 75% of the charge. I do however, have quite a few of them to carry as spares, thanks to a great offer last time I was in the US. (10 for $10)

 

I also use 700mah AAAs in my camera, and in 6 months use, I think they've had to be recharged 4 times.

 

I'm also working on a low cost solar charging solution for batteries, but I need to do a little research first.

[clintb]

the main problem I encounter is that rechargables charge best when charged individually, but all the chargers on the market in the UK do them in pairs.

Look around on eBay for the Maha MH-C401FS charger. It will charge 4 AAs or 4 AAAs individually at either a slow or fast charge. I have been very pleased with the one I bought from thomas-distributing.com.

Edited May 2, 2004 by clintb

[+The Hokesters]

Just so everyone knows - the Geko 301 (not sure about other models) has a settable option for either Alkaline or NiHm!

 

The Hokesters

Edited May 2, 2004 by The Hokesters

[+Grant Clan]

Maplin have 12 x 2300 NI MAH batteries on sale for 14.99, just bought a pack. Seem very good value.

 

I'll let you know how they compare with the life of a uniross soon

[+snaik]

Etrek Legend has 4 Battery settings in system setup, Alkaline, NiCad, NiMH and Lithium which works great until you forget to set the battery setting, just checked mine have NiMH in but set to Alkaline, Doh!

Edited May 4, 2004 by Snaik

[+Rocky Balboa]

Isn't it about time that a GPS with a mobile phone style battery was introduced? Meaning you could simply plug your Unit into a mains socket at the end of a long days caching, go to bed, and wake up with a full set of batteries? or charge it using a portable car charger? For people on a tight budget like myself its hard to afford all these extras every trip. I did invest in a charger but found the rechargable batteries lasted about a quarter of the time of Duracel or similar meaning a lot of my trips ended up being treasure hunts once they had run out . It was also car adaptable but once your out it takes an hour+ to gain any power so that wiped out the option of charging between caches especially since I already use my Garmin car cable for power during the drive. If there is already a GPS model out there that uses this method I would love to be pointed in the right direction!

Edited May 4, 2004 by Dan Wilson

[+Pharisee]

If there is already a GPS model out there that uses this method I would love to be pointed in the right direction!

Garmin iQue 3600 but not if you're on a tight budget

[+The Hokesters]

I suppose any palm or pocket PC with integral battery which is (or can be with a GPS jacket) GPS enabled will work in this way however you will probably find the battery life of this system is sorely lacking compared to a dedicated handheld.

 

I have an iPaq and did consider getting the GPS kit to go with it but battery life for Pocket PC is poor at best. Can't talk about Palm as I have never had one. Anyone know what the battery life is for the Garmin iQue 3600?

 

IMHO its a dedicated GPSr handheld (which can still be connected to a PDA if you want) and a good stock of rechargables which are now very affordable.

 

No doubt dedicated GPSrs with integral chargeable batteries will onto the market in the near future as demand for the units grow.

 

The Hokesters

[+The Hokesters]

There is an iQue on ebay listed at £400 starting price and buy it now for £550 (Item number: 3095005889). Apparantly this would cost you £700 new?

 

This thread might be of interest too - Here.

 

The Hokesters

Edited May 5, 2004 by The Hokesters

[+Pharisee]

Anyone know what the battery life is for the Garmin iQue 3600?

 

Not very long if you have the GPS switched on and the backlight up full.

I don't use mine for hunting geocaches, though. I use it with the in-car navigation kit to get me to a suitable parking place and then switch over to my Legend. I only turn the iQue on once I've found the cache to make any notes etc in CacheMate. Using it that way I've never had the battery go flat on me as it gets some re-charging from the car while I'm travelling between caches.

There is also a handy little 'thingy' available that holds 3AA batteries and plugs on the bottom. It will re-charge the iQue about three times on one set of AAs.

[+TheCookieCrew]

I have an iPaq and did consider getting the GPS kit to go with it but battery life for Pocket PC is poor at best. Can't talk about Palm as I have never had one. Anyone know what the battery life is for the Garmin iQue 3600?

 

I use an IPAQ 2210 whilst out on the hunt, and as with the Garmin V 'cos I charge it in the car in between caches I have never had a problem, I use a SysonChip CF GPS that doesn't seem to kill the batteries to quickly. Even without the charging between caches I get approx 3 hours on the battery...... Nice, but again not a cheap setup....

 

Mike

[NeilFord]

If there is already a GPS model out there that uses this method I would love to be pointed in the right direction!

The Fortuna Clip-On Bluetooth receiver does indeed us a mobile phone style battery, in actual fact it uses an identical battery to a number of Nokia Mobile phones.

 

However, personal experience has been that it's not particularly usable in the field, due mainly to the instability of the bluetooth implementations on most handhelds. I use mine in the car alongside an iPaq and it works superbly. For locating caches I resort to a Geko 201, using the iPaq for cache details and static maps.

 

I tried using the Fortuna and the iPaq wnen I tackled Hertfordshire with OzGuff and it just kept crashing and requiring a reboot far too often :-( Shame really, as it's actually a really good receiver.

 

- Neil.

[+dogastus]

I have 2 sets of AA rechargable NiMH batteries I use with my Legend. A fully charged set seems to last me all day (well MY version of all day) and I have the other pair in my backpack as backup. I also keep with me, as a safety backup, a pair of unused Alkalines (sell by date = 2009!).