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Whats The Deal With Pda's?


PooMan

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I keep hearing about palms and stuff liek that. i know what they are, but how do you use them for geocaching? just to keep track of what you have done and stuff? Basically like instead of having a print out, you just take that along with you? You can't get them to receive satalite reception and tell you which caches you're close to, can you? Thanks

PooMan

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I keep hearing about palms and stuff liek that.  i know what they are, but how do you use them for geocaching?  just to keep track of what you have done and stuff?  Basically like instead of having a print out, you just take that along with you?  You can't get them to receive satalite reception and tell you which caches you're close to, can you?  Thanks

PooMan

I just got mine a few days ago, and let me tell you... They are so magnificent. I have a list of about 1200 caches around my place.. So even without them on my GPS, I search them on the Palm, and get the coordinates, then put them in the GPS. I've been out caching today and Friday with mine. You can input logs in the field, check out nearby caches, with hints, past logs, etc..

 

I downloaded this AvantGo(.com) thing, so I get news and weather and political stuff downloaded to my

Palm too, So I can check that out on the park benches between caches (today).

 

Six months ago I would never have thought i'd EVER use one. Now me and the GF play with it all the time.

Edited by Marcie/Eric
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If you check the other threads on Palms, and paperless caching, you will see that I have recommended the Palm M500 many times. I bought mine brand new about 2 1/2 years ago, but you can get one on eBay for less than $60.00.

 

Then you need to download and buy Cachemate for $8.00 and you will be set.

 

Since you are a premium member, you can set up and download Pocket Queries. Using GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) with those and to send the waypoints to the GPSr and export the data to the Palm is very, very helpful.

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No. Everything you need comes included in that auction, and that looks like a good deal. Unlike other sellers, that person is not charging too much for shipping. They also have 100% positive feedback--always a good thing. :unsure:

 

It also comes with the extra card, which might come in handy for other applications.

 

The only other thing I might recommend is getting a hard metal case. I got one at Big Lots! for about $10.00. ;)

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I found the following a very good reference and the software is all free;

http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/paperless.html

This is all fine and dandy, but plucker is a pain in the a**... my method..

 

PocketQuery from GC.com;

load up in GSAK;

 

Filter, delete, format, whatever..

 

GSAK export to Cachmate PDB file;

Get PDB file Hotsync'd to Palm;

Cachmate on Palm reads it.

 

Simple as a pimple.

Edited by Marcie/Eric
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IMO, whichever PDA you choose should use non-volitile memory, so that when you are on the extended cache trip and the batteries go dead, you will not loose all your programing and cache desciptions. I use the Palm Tungsten T5, pricey but nice. The new Palm Tungsten E2 also has non-volitile memory.

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Has anyone ran the internal Palm battery out?

 

I've had mine on, backlit for a couple hours and didn't even get down to 75%.

 

I also have a car charger, so unless I go overnight caching deep out in the woods (without my truck: not bloody likely) i'm set.

 

I wouldn't worry about the battery issue. My Palm backs up everything to the PC with every hotsync, so i'm still not worried. My GPS still has the 500 closest waypoints. I think they also have an internal battery (like a PC clock) that always powers the memory and keeps it for months or years upon battery failure.

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I found the following a very good reference and the software is all free;

http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/paperless.html

This is all fine and dandy, but plucker is a pain in the a**... my method..

 

PocketQuery from GC.com;

load up in GSAK;

 

Filter, delete, format, whatever..

 

GSAK export to Cachmate PDB file;

Get PDB file Hotsync'd to Palm;

Cachmate on Palm reads it.

 

Simple as a pimple.

{shrug}

 

I export from GSAK and Plucker picks it up automatically at night (scheduled task) and pushes it to my PDA on the next synch.

 

Once plucker is set up it can be a "hands off" operation.

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Can i save maps or anything into my Palm M500 that i just bought? Or is it basically going to just save all the cache listings and details of the caches?

 

Let me get this straight...I must download all the waypoints into my gps, then download all the cache descriptions into my palm. Then once i get somehwere, i just clik on my gps, see what caches i'm near, then find the description of those on my PDA, right?

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Let me get this straight...I must download all the waypoints into my gps, then download all the cache descriptions into my palm. Then once i get somehwere, i just clik on my gps, see what caches i'm near, then find the description of those on my PDA, right?

Yes, that is about correct. It takes the place of printing out cache pages and makes it much easier to do "spur of the moment" caching.

 

Although I have a palm with cachemate, I still use my Sidekick to pull up the cache page live (or Joani uses her iPaq) because you can get all the logs and the most recent entries that might not have been in your pocket query.

 

--Marky

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compatable with my 60cs that takes a usb cord would be nice....

I picked up a Zire21 on ebay that works great and it uses the same USB cable as my Garmin Etrex Vista C and my Sony Mavica digital camera.

 

I use the pocket queries, GSAK to load the waypoints into my GPS and then export the information to HTML files and then use Plucker to get the pages to my PDA. It's a quick process for me.

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