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Paperless Questions And Confusion


PAWINGERS

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We have several questions about this paperless thing. I bought a used Palm IIIc and currently use Spinner and Plucker. It works for us but we have some questions and concerns that we would like some help from the experts on this board.

1. Battery life is only two hours or so, do you think maybe the battery is shot or is this to be expected?

2. We use Plucker and Spinner and it works but seems to involve a lot of fooling around. One problem is the fact that we get some strange waypoint numers for some strange reason. For instance, most waypoint numbers beging with a (GC..) but for some reason we have waypoint numbers that begin with (M & R & V) . In other words, a cache maybe should be GCG1PN but on my Palm it is MCG1PN. Why is this. Lots of the waypoint names are correct.

3. There are some caches that have things that don't show up on our Palm. A cache called Crossword Crosswalks has some a crossword puzzle that is apparently a img. and things like this don't show up on our Palm so we can't use the Palm for these.

4. We're wondering if we wouldn't be happier with a Pocket Pc, what do you think??

5. Also think we would like to use Sonar or Cachemate or maybe something else other that Plucker. Are some of these programs made specifically for Palms and some for Pocket PC's? What do you find that works best?

6. At times I may want to just send one or two new caches to my Palm or Pocket PC because maybe they just showed up and I don't want to reload everything, is this possible and how?

7. Sonar looks pretty neat, is it easier to use than Plucker and Spinner?

8. Will a Pocket Pc do a good job or is paperless caching more designed around a Palm?

Thanks in advance.

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1. Battery life is only two hours or so, do you think maybe the battery is shot or is this to be expected?

That's not much. Are you sure you're charging it properly? It needs to charge for several hours.

2. We use Plucker and Spinner and it works but seems to involve a lot of fooling around. One problem is the fact that we get some strange waypoint numers for some strange reason. For instance, most waypoint numbers beging with a (GC..) but for some reason we have waypoint numbers that begin with (M & R & V) . In other words, a cache maybe should be GCG1PN but on my Palm it is MCG1PN. Why is this. Lots of the waypoint names are correct.

You've set it that way. I don't use Spinner, but it has settings to change the essentially useless GC to something meaningful, indicating the type of cache. Read the Spinner documentation.

3. There are some caches that have things that don't show up on our Palm. A cache called Crossword Crosswalks has some a crossword puzzle that is apparently a img. and things like this don't show up on our Palm so we can't use the Palm for these.

Certainly you can. Images don't come in pocket queries, though, so you need to do it another way. If you absolutely have to have the images, point Plucker to the cache page. The lack of an image is not a Palm problem - gc.com doesn't send images in pocket queries.

4. We're wondering if we wouldn't be happier with a Pocket Pc, what do you think??

Whatever floats your boat, but they are several times as expensive, meaning two hundred dollars and up, and that's just for an older model.

5. Also think we would like to use Sonar or Cachemate or maybe something else other that Plucker. Are some of these programs made specifically for Palms and some for Pocket PC's? What do you find that works best?

Cachemate is for PalmOS, GPXSonar is for PPC. Cachemate is certainly easier to set up than Plucker, but it doesn't look as nice, nor does it allow the sorting possibilities. I use both, because Cachemate allows modifying the pages, which is handy for multis.

6. At times I may want to just send one or two new caches to my Palm or Pocket PC because maybe they just showed up and I don't want to reload everything, is this possible and how?

Depends on the program. The easiest way to do this is to get GSAK, filter for the caches you want, and generate the appropriate files. For Plucker, set up a new channel pointing to the html file for that cache(s).

7. Sonar looks pretty neat, is it easier to use than Plucker and Spinner?

I have no idea. I don't, and won't, have a PPC.

8. Will a Pocket Pc do a good job or is paperless caching more designed around a Palm?

A PPC will work. You just need different software.

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I normally don't pipe into stuff like this, but get yourself cachemate and GSAK!

 

Become a Premium member at geocaching.com and use pocket queries. save them as .gpx and then use them with GSAK and cachemate.

 

I use these 2 items only. ( I do use mapping software also, but it isn't req'd)

 

Cachemate ($8 dollars to register) allows you to add logs and gives you all the info on the website for the cache, doesn't change the name of the cache, and keeps the hint encrypted unless you want to have it decrupted.

 

GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife - $20 to register) is the SWEETEST cache software I've ever seen. You can list your caches in many ways, you can export .pdb files for your palm that slide right into cachemate, it will export files for about 10 different mapping softwares, as well as make files for other systems to use. You can input a center coordinate and have the others listed by distance from that point, Etc. , etc., etc.

 

Cachemate 4.0.3

 

GSAK 5.0.1

 

Let these be your guide to the great outdoor caching adventure!

 

CdirtO

Edited by CdirtO
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