looking to buy a pda

[+FDNY260]

i see that most of the geo info can be downloaded to a pda. having never used a pda,(and i own almost every gadget known to man) i was wondering if anyone has any sugestions on what to buy and how to use it, and what benefits i get by using one? thanks

[+Harrald]

My Sony Clie just stopped working today. So I'm in the market for a new one. If I find a good caching PDA I'll let you know where and how much.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.

Sydney J. Harris

[SkyeMaloney]

No clue what is good now a day, but I can tell you that with them constantly changing, you can get some good deals on ebay!

 

-------------------------------------------

http://www.hardcorebodybuildingontheweb.com

[+JamesJM]

I just bought a Dell Axim. I did so because I completely gave up trying to figure out the *best* buy, had no idea what this one does or that one, so I tossed a coin an it came up Axim.

 

Hope this helps. - JamesJM

[+2CacheSharks]

I had a palm, and then upgraded to an IPAQ. No complaints here.

 

We used to be directionally challenged, now we are GPS challenged. At least we know where we are when we are lost now.

[+Geofool]

First you will have to decide which platform to go with. You have two choices here, Palm OS or Windows CE/Pocket PC. If you are familiar with Windows 98-XP, Pocket PC will look and feel similar.

 

I went with the Pocket PC route as I thought it better suited my needs. I picked up a Dell Axim X5 Advanced for $265.00 shipped to my door. Been very happy with it so far. I've had it for 3 months now.

 

Cool little unit that works just like your desktop PC. You can use it as a MP3 player too. All you need is a set of headphones.

 

GF

 

********************************************

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

 

[mckee]

A friend steered me in this direction:

 

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=462885

 

[+Renegade Knight]

General PDA

 

Palm, Lots of apps, more stable, longer life on batteries.

 

Pocket PC, Lots of apps, Easier input methods (unless Palm has upgraded Grafiti) and more mapping programs available.

 

Mapping being my main function I went Pocket PC when I got a PDA.

 

Both work and everyone seems happy with what they get.

[+CuriousZ's]

I've got a Palm M130. Great for my needs and handles the geocaching information that I've needed so far. It's not as advanced a unit as some though.

 

I don't know much about the new Palm Tungsten's, but from my research and experience I would suggest the following:

 

1) If you are looking for a good device to keep track of appointments, addresses, dates, task list, misc things such as geocaching information, some downloaded web pages, etc. then the Palm with an OS operating system and good battery life has worked fine for me.

 

2) If you are looking to download and keep pictures, maybe take pictures, listen and download mp3 files, more graphical type things, then you may want to look at a unit with the windows operating system.

 

These were the biggest issues when I bought mine. You may also want to check out www.cnet.com

 

They have reviews, good/bad comparisons, feature comparisons, and they will give editor selections. Good source of reviews for all computer, digital camera, and entertainment systems. Hope this helps.

[Mr. Big]

Hello,

 

I didn't post the original query, but I'm finding it useful, too. It might be helpful to know what you actually do with those things. I see people noodling with them everywhere.

 

What I'd like to do:

1. Download cache pages

2. Get a plug-in full-size folding keyboard for light word processing

3. Play back digitally captured bird calls through an external speaker.

4. Track appointments -- basic calendar.

 

No. 3 is because I'm an active birder, too. While all the usual suspects are easy to identify by ear with some practice, an unfamiliar flycatcher (that darn Empidonax group) sometimes can only be sorted by call, and I'd like a pocket reference that's easier to scroll through than a set of two cd's, cd player, index booklet combination.

 

By the way, birding is at least as addicting as this stuff.

[Fakk 2]

What I use my Pocket PC Toshiba for:

 

Excel spreadsheets:

Balancing Bank Accounts.

Keeping track of how much money I spent on my Jeep.

Keeping track of all my login and passwords for webpages.

Waypoints, Cache Name, Long, Lat

 

HTML Pages

Cache Pages Saved from this site.

Creating my own webpages when not at home (though done mainly in Word).

 

Ebooks: I have about 50 some books downloaded, only about 9 or 10 on the pda at a time.

 

Games. Gotta have the games. Hearts spades, bejweled, poker, and a few others.

 

Appointments, Phone Numbers, Tasks, Quick Notes.

 

I also pulled it out during a Seminar with fold out keyboard, the people around me looked at me strangely as they wrote in there yellow legal notepad. I just looked back and smiled, as I typed away what the guy was saying.

 

I use an old Palm IIIc to keep my desk from wobbling, is about all it really is good for.

 

I bought a GPS. Now I get lost with style.

[+crashmore]

FYI Amazon has one of the best deals I've seen on a descent pocket pc. It's 199 bux with free shipping which is about as cheap as you'll find a brand new pocketpc. This one runs the new 2003 os as well. Might be worth looking at. I use a toshiba E755 and love it.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009K7ET/jasondunn-20/002-9922786-1845612

 

"Law pain i reviar mistar aen"

[+tankboy]

I just bought a Sony Clio SJ-22. I've been pretty happy with it. Works great with Plucker and cache pages. It's overkill for my needs though, I would have been fine with the 99 dollar Palm Zire.

 

If you want sound, I'd go with the Pocket PC platform. Be prepared to spend considerably more than 99 dollars.

[+Harrald]

I also went a little overboard. I just got the Zire 71. It's more than I needed too but I wanted the camera too. I had stopped carrying my Digi cam a while ago.

 

Also Don't buy the Palm Zire!! The 71 has more memory and has a card slot. The basic Zire has 2 meg of memory and that's all she wrote. It can't expand. I bought one when they came out and brought it back 2 days later. There isn't enough room for plucker and a PQ.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.

Sydney J. Harris

[+FDNY260]

my wife has a palm V can i use it for the downloading of geo info? and how do i do it?

 

FDNY260

 

Never Forget 9-11-01

[+Doc-Dean]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Harrald:

My Sony Clie just stopped working today. So I'm in the market for a new one. If I find a good caching PDA I'll let you know where and how much.

---

My clie recently went kaput too... Actually it works fine, but it will no longer hot sync.

 

I use it extensively in my job and although it worked fine other than lack of hot sync, it is usless to me with out that function because many of the programs I use have to be updated daily. I suppose I could just do the IR sync, but I would have to be insane.

 

Went through 2 weeks of different tests to figure it out and finally came to the conclusion (with Sony's help or lack of help) that it was a hardware failure....

To send it back to Sony for repair (I am out of warranty period) it would have cost me $139 plus shipping one-way. To buy a new clie in the same (actually not exactly the same, but the similar with all the same features) was $159 plus tax. So for $20 more, I got a new Clie with a 1 year warranty. It is model SJ22 BTW.

 

Also check out Epinions

 

---------------------------------------------------

Free your mind and the rest will follow

[+DBleess]

How to use them - my take on things.

 

http://members.cox.net/dmbleess/geocache/benchmarks.htm

 

SA / PP-ASEL-I / Yahoo "SphinxXXVII" / ICQ 1916574

[+J&FErickson]

If you haven't found them yet, you might take a look at the following 2 web sites. The 1st is dedicated to Pocket PC's & has an active forum section. The 2nd is devoted to using pocket pc's with GPS units attached - most often via a CF card slot

 

www.pocketpcpassion.com

www.gpspassion.com

[+woodsters]

Got an iPAQ (pocket pc) here...it's great...when you download queries, make sure you do in GPX format for it...then get teh gpxview program (free) and put it on hte pocket pc...then you can put the queries on the pocket pc...the neat thing is that you can get a program called MS Pocket Maps for less than $30. You can download maps fro free from their website, but generally of the larger metro areas...anyway you can export the gpx files to the maps on the pocket pc...when you pull up a map and if you have caches in your querie in that area, then it will show them on the map. You can even tell which ones they are. I do wish though that you could get to the page in gpxview directly from the map...That's a neat thing about gpxview is seeing the cache pages and some logs like on the website and in color too...

 

Brian

 

As long as you're going to think anyway, think big. -Donald Trump

[+jollybgood]

I upgraded my phone at Verizon. They're blowing out their Pocket PC phones (Thera) for $199 bucks.

 

You really get quite a package for the money. Leather case, head phone, remote control (for MP3's), cradle, charger, 32 meg memory card.

 

Pretty good deal when you consider you're getting a phone AND a PDA rolled into one.

 

If you're in the market for a cell phone you might want go take a look at them.

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

"Never declare war on a man who buys his ink by the gallon."

[+trippy1976]

I'd go pocket PC

 

It does the basic stuff about the same as a palm, but when you get into the more advanced stuff like autorouting, etc. the best stuff seems to be available for Pocket PC.

 

You may not intend to do these things now, but at least having a pocket PC would leave the door open for the future.

 

--------

trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Assimilating golf balls - one geocache at a time.

[+GLM]

I need to upgrade both my GPS AND my Palm. I have been waiting on this unit to hit the streets and then read some reviews on it before making up my mind.

 

http://www.garmin.com/products/iQue3600/

 

Gary

[Team Titus213]

I still use an old Palm III and would not consider downloading way points yet. When I go afield I take this one with me:

 

Always with me Palm Pilot

 

__________________________

What are you looking for?

[Rovi Ratuos]

I have recently been given a Casio Cassiopeia Pocket PC.(Windows CE)

Can anyone tell me if it can be used with OS maps in conjunction with my Magellan 315 GPS.

[wusdabuzz]

Go to the garmin site and look at the new garmin ique 3600. I just got mine and it is awesome.

[+quakemap]

For mapping applications you want color screen at least 320x320 pixels, lots of memory and a memory card. Here is a list of what meets the requirements: http://www.earthquakemap.com/pda.html

 

http://www.quakemap.com - redefining Easy...

[+Walguzchas]

I've chased down a low end route and I'm pleased as punch. I first scored a Palm IIIxe on ebay for $32 (the slightly better than going rate). Then the StreetFinder gps clip on for $25 (same rate goes for it). Next go to the Navman Site and download the gps viewing utility (free). Next get Cetus gps (also free). Then get mobipocket's FREE reader . Now become a premium member (a whopping 3 bucks a month) generate a query in mobipocket and you are out there caching with the big boys with no unsightly pieces of paper.

 

The system got a lock much faster than my Magellan 300 (I said I was cheap) and seems to hold it pretty well. The only draw back is that its not very rugged but I'm working on that (modified bumper case).

 

I've also acquired a Visor Neo and Magellan gps companion for it ($45 and $50 respectively) I think I like it a bit better and modifying the bumper case to accommodate it (with the gps attached) is a bit easier. In any event, both will get you into the game with style for less than a C note.

 

It ain't easy being the cheapest man alive, but I work really hard at it.

 

Wali

 

[This message was edited by Walguzchas on September 04, 2003 at 11:18 PM.]

[+GLM]

quote:

---

Originally posted by wusdabuzz:

Go to the garmin site and look at the new garmin ique 3600. I just got mine and it is awesome.

---

 

I had my sights set to get one of the 3600s. I just read an article in the Washington Post this past weekend that states the battery will only last for 2 hours using the GPS continuously. That really burst my bubble.

 

Gary

[+T10X]

WUSDABUZZ, is the i3600 unit in color? Please give us a review after you are familiar with it. If battery life is short, use rechargables. Thanks

[+smenzel]

I spent quite a bit of time using both a Palm and iPAQ -- Palm Vx and the original iPAQ (both the 32MB and 64MB models).

 

The iPAQ demo'd incredibly well. Unfortunately, I had pretty severe battery problems even with the PC Card Sleeve (with the extra battery built in). Sitting in the sun reading an eBook with the backlight turned off and the extra battery pacy, I would run out of power after a few hours of reading. The Palm will last me several days w/out any battery worries. As I understand it, Compaq has been addressing their battery issues.

 

Aside from possible battery issues, you should base your decision off what you intend to do with your device and what software is available to help you accomplish this.

 

I like to track data and find myself away from a power supply creating new ways to track data (creating databases). Aside from PocketSQL and another computer, I have yet to find a way to do this on the PocketPC. There are half a dozen solutions for this on the Palm. I'm sure there are situations where the opposite is true.

 

If I were just starting out with a PDA, I would do two things. First, I would hound my friends with PDA's and get them to show me exactly what they do with theirs. This is more easily said than done. Second, I would buy a used device or two off of eBay with the idea that it'll get replaced with something nice once you figure out what that something is.

 

Good luck with your PDA search.

[+robert]

regarding the iQue:

1) built in li-ion battery, no rechargeables possible.

2) battery life is increased if you turn down the backlighting.

3) wouldn't use it caching--not durable enough unless you're heavily into virtuals

4) I load pocket queries with CacheMate

 

~robert

Notice: Driver carries less than $20 cache.

[The Cuthberts]

Been using the same iPAQ for 2 and a half years now with no problems. Make sure you get a car charger though for caching as the battery life with a GPS sleeve is only around 90 mins with one this old !

 

Andy