Benefits Of Paperless?

[+topotracker]

In reading through the postings that talk about pocket pc's and palmtops for geocaching I am still not clear as to what they do and don't provide in the way of benefits. It's evident that the storage capability would be beneficial but do they store & display all of the same data, format and street map info that the geocaching waypoint page provides? Why are so many varieties of software used to manipulate the data? Do you need one type of software for working with the data and one for working with the street map info? What benefits do the custom formats provide? How effective is the small screen size for reading info on a waypoint page and details on a street map? Maybe a better overall question is what are the primary benefits that justify the use of a palmtop or pocket pc for geocaching? Thanks, Jay

[+Red Clover]

I recently went paperless and will never go back. I personally just use my Palm for the cache pages. The street maps I have loaded into my GPSr. The advantage of Palm for me is that I can store a virtually unlimited number of cache pages. These I can then carry around with me in my purse, pocket, or pack. If you ever deciede to go on a cache-a-thon this is a huge perk to having to carry around a 3 ring binder.. then look up the page .. then hand decode the hint in the field if needed.

 

For example. My dad lives in Jax Florida so I have 100 or so closest caches to his house in my Palm. The closest 200 to Macon GA where I live are in Palm and GPS. So if I go visit dad I dont have to carry a binder w/ 300 pages in it. I can pull up a cache page near him, hand enter the cords (if I havent downloaded them to the GPS already) and Im ready to search. I can also make find/DNF notes right in the Palm.

 

Good lord this is wordy. Sorry bout that.. Have fun!

[+Alan2]

The PDA is a tech toy; the PPC is a tech toy, heck, the GPSr is a tech toy. They're all tech toys. That's why we're doing this. The more tech toys there are, the better.

 

Alan

[+Renegade Knight]

Value Added. You can spend 200 on a PCA (Pocket PC world) that lets you go paperless and has maps. Evething above that is Gizmo factor.

[+NightPilot]

With a color high-resolution Palm, using Plucker, the cache pages look just like they do in your browser, but you don't get the maps. You can buy programs that do mapping, however. Mapopolis gives you verbal turn-by-turn autorouting, no PC needed, with automatic rerouting if you take a detour, to any address or lat/lon, for <$100, Palm or Pocket PC. Plucker will pluck any webpage and put it on your Palm, for free. I wouldn't be without my Palm even if it did nothing for geocaching. I carry it everywhere, but I don't usually take it into the shower with me.