Reasonably Priced Pda's For Paperless Caching?

[wanderlust]

Hi folks -

 

Although I have been caching since 2001, I admit that I am light years behind in regards to all of the technological achievements in the sport.

Forgive me if this question is way too novice, but could you give me some recommendations on purchasing a PDA that I would be able to utilize for downloading cache info? What bells and whistles am I looking for when I walk into a place like Best Buy? I'm not necessarily looking for the top of the line by any means, but I would like to know what most folks are using or a good quality PDA that could be purchased that would be a cacher's best friend.

 

I appreciate all suggestions/recommendations!

 

Wanderlust

[+Smogman]

There are several models at best buy that are not too expensive and literally all will do a great job my son has a Palm Zire that has 2megs of memory that currenly has 600 caches loaded on it and has'nt maxed the memory yet the Zire 21 has 8 megs of memory but has most of the same features just basicly more memory. My favorite is the Zire 31 it has 16 megs of memory, Color display and has a back light for night caching the Zire and the Zire 21 are not back lit but both work flawlessly for caching. My favorite Caching software and this is a whole nother topic is CACHEMATE The best $7.00 I've spent on caching period!!!!! Just my .02 worth

[+katguy]

You can easily get a PDA sufficient for caching on Ebay for $40 or so.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

I ended up spending a couple of hundred on a palm with lots of bells and whistles. You can go cheaper. Mine comes with 32mgs which it way more than you need. I'm looking for a decent mapping program to upload personal maps to each cache page. Or maybe a route map? Either way I wanted extra memory.

[+Bilder]

Several folks here (myself included) have picked up older palm IIIxe's on Ebay for around 20 bucks.

[+Learned Gerbil]

I can confirm that if al lyou want is to run cachemate for logs and cache descriptions, a very cheap secondhand PalmIIIxe is ideal and can be as low as $20.

[+Renegade Knight]

I'm not a palm fan but when it comes to cheap PDA's you can't beat the deals on the older palm based PDA. They do get the job done.

 

Any current generation Pocket PC will work for paperless caching. Some of them are now down at 199.00. In the used Pocket PC world I'd not touch anything that wasn't running at least Pocket PC 2002 for it's operating system.

[+maleki]

I love my old Handspring Visor. Bought it used fpr $ 25 at a garage sale. Bought another on Ebay with a Magellan GPS Companion for $ 75. - a really great deal.

 

I've had up to at least 750 caches loaded in it with 4 previous cache logs on a recent longer trip. I'm sure it would hold at least twice that. With more that about 250 caches loaded it bogs down a bit doing sorts but its never been a prob.

 

I use Cachemate and Cache Nav with the GPS Companion attached. It works great a a backup GPSr too when it is attached.

 

Best of all it uses 2 AAA batteries(I use rechargable) that always last at least all day.

 

I thought it might be finished last week after a very rainy caching day. It made it thru part of a very wet day, I knew I was pushing my luck, but it died near the end. Totally disassembled it and let it dry out for a couple days and all seems to be fine again.

 

Hard to imagine I cached for a year before going paperless. I cache a lot but would not think of carrying a new higher end PDA . My $ 25. Visor would not be a tough loss to handle relative to a higher end PDA.

 

I have used one of the older original Palms also. The 2mb memory was a bit limited so the Visors 8mb seems endless.

 

Have fun

[+Mauison]

I got a new Zire off of ebay for $42 shipped. Bought the $7.00 Cachemate program. Both work great together. I have about 700 caches loaded and there's still memory for more. Sometimes I use GSAK to edit my pocket queries and then load it onto the Zire.

[+Learned Gerbil]

You can get Aquapacs that are the right size for PDAs and you can even use the stylus through them. I don't tend to use mine, but carry it with me in case it rains.

[robertlipe]

http://www.overstock.com and http://www.palmone.com frequently run sales on returns/refurb/blemished units. Right now, the former has Zires for $33 and Zire 21's (the 8MB unit plus backlight) for $50. Palmone doesn't quite match Overstock on pricing, but they tend to have a better warranty.

 

Like a poster above, I agree the high-end units are pretty, but I tend to cry less when I tumble down a bluff and dunk a $30 Visor in a creek than if I did the same with $500 iPaq. And at that price, there's a spare in my car...

 

At the cost of an ink jet cartridge or two, if you're spending any time at all printing and organizing a stack of papers, this really is a win...

[+TresOkies]

Also www.sellmypalm.net.

 

Personally, I think you would be better off buying a new zire 21 than a used IIIx or Vx. The price of a new Zire is around $80 (street price) and the benefits are worth the cost. In a zire 21, you get a 126Mhz ARM chip, which is about 6 times faster than what is in a Palm IIIx or Vx. The speed increase will be noticable when you import caches into CacheMate or calculate the closest caches. Plus, it's got a warranty which could come in handy when you drop it in a river like someone I know.

 

Disclaimer: If you buy a new Palm device, my stock and options will go up 1/100,000,000th of $0.01 (more or less).

 

edit, add url tags

Edited July 2, 2004 by TresOkies++

[+strikeforce1]

I'm not a palm fan but when it comes to cheap PDA's you can't beat the deals on the older palm based PDA.  They do get the job done.

I just went paperless myself. Read some threads for ideas on a good cheap one. Took someone's ( I don't remember who, it might even have been RK ) suggestion. I just bought a PalmIII on ebay with two cradels, keyboard, modem and some extras for $50..00. I didn't need one with bells and whistles, as RK states, it gets the job done. If something happens to it, I'm not out much, I'll just grab another pda, as others stated for $20. , and use the same add on's, and won't feel bad about the loss. BTW: I just hit 100 post with this one, and hit 100 finds two days ago. Look out RK and Blue Smurf I'm catching up .Sf1

Edited July 2, 2004 by strikeforce1

[wanderlust]

Thanks for all of the great tips/suggestions...but some of them have made me think of another question!!....

 

What is CACHEMATE and where do you buy it??!

 

Wanderlust

[+Learned Gerbil]

Cachemate is a sophisticated database that allows you to carry description and logs with you and do so much more, and all for $7.

 

I suggest yo uread the documentation on the site.