Paperless caching

I will start of by saying that Paperless caching is the only way to go.


I discovered papaerless caching because cheap printers take expensive ink and doing many caches in a day proved to be a waste of paper and ink. That would be one of the pros
The cons are that PDAs are not designed to take the abuse that a GPSr does.

Con THey are not water proof.

Pro they will soon have the numbers of many cachers in them.

Pro they are kinds cool to have and you can download games into them.

Con when the Batteries go flat then hint is gone

Like I've said before, I use my laptop for navigation that has many nifty things on it. Of course I don't bring my computer on the trail with me, so my question(s) is... Does it give you any advantage to carrying the palm on the trail with you? Are there any that have maps as detailed as those on my PC? Can you plug your GPS into your handheld to track your movements on a map (it's nice to have that feature on the laptop, especially on the logging roads that aren't in the maine atlas) ?

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Originally Posted by Hiram357

Like I've said before, I use my laptop for navigation that has many nifty things on it. Of course I don't bring my computer on the trail with me, so my question(s) is... Does it give you any advantage to carrying the palm on the trail with you? Are there any that have maps as detailed as those on my PC? Can you plug your GPS into your handheld to track your movements on a map (it's nice to have that feature on the laptop, especially on the logging roads that aren't in the maine atlas) ?

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What do you have for a GPSr? I've found that the mapping capability of my Garmin GPSMap 60cbeats anyhting I've found for the Palm. I use Garmin's City Select maps, and it even has those logging roads on it! LOL! :D :D

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Originally Posted by Hiram357

Does it give you any advantage to carrying the palm on the trail with you?

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I like the Palm over paper because you will have the last few log entries with you, which have proven to be very useful on some caches. And if you keep your Palm in sync, you don't have to worry about going to find a cache only to find that it was archived weeks ago.

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Originally Posted by Hiram357

Are there any that have maps as detailed as those on my PC?

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I'm sure there are, but you generally have to buy extra software for it, and as Where-R-We asaid, the new GPSR's have maps just as good

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Originally Posted by Hiram357

Can you plug your GPS into your handheld to track your movements on a map (it's nice to have that feature on the laptop, especially on the logging roads that aren't in the maine atlas) ?

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Yes, you can do this but I've shiied away from it because of the tangle of cables and the extra battery usage. For me, the Palm serves the purpose of a stack of 500 cache pages with up-to-date logs, and the ability to search for nearby caches from any waypoint. All I need to do now is stop forgetting to leave the Palm in the car when I hit the trail!

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so my question(s) is... Does it give you any advantage to carrying the palm on the trail with you? Are there any that have maps as detailed as those on my PC? Can you plug your GPS into your handheld to track your movements on a map

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Hiram,

The answer to your questions are yes.

My experience is limited to Street Atlas Handheld 2005 but there are other software packages that work with the PDA. The maps provided are detailed and by connecting the GPSr to the handheld (make/purchase a cable with the appropriate connectors) you can do do the same thing you are currently doing with the laptop. You can even add waypoints to the maps and create routes etc.etc..

I purchased a hardcase for my PALM and have had no issue carrying it with me when finding caches. Handy when logging a find immediately after finding the cache. Its not waterproof but ziplocs one gallon size work great. You can even stick your hand in the ZipLoc and use the PALM while its raining.

With Cachmate installed on the PALM I keep track of all caches in the State of Maine thus enabling me to change plans easily. No more convenient than a laptop but take up less room in the vehicle.

Happy Caching!!!

I prefer to use my gpsr for all navigation tasks, i.e. mapping, waypoints, etc.

I do like a hand held for keeping all the non-navigation data that is on the cache page.

The cache description and hints can be very helpfull. In fact, some caches should not be attempted without that inforamation because you may end up on tresspassing or not finding the cache. It can also be very difficult to store cache type and size on the gpsr. Ever get to a cache and find out it's a virt?!

I have not found any home use for a pda outside of caching, but a lot of people use them as an organizer.

I have to agree with TAT on this one. I have had my pda for over a year now and the only use I have for it is for caching. Before I got my laptop I did use it for reading mail and schedule when I was not in the office or at home but now I rarely do this since I allways have my mail at work and on the laptop and do not sync the bulk of it. And just am not that worried about my schedule to bother to carry my PDA unless I am planning on going caching. I have found several that I would have logged as DNF if I had not had my PDA to reread the cache posting and be able to go duh!!! :) The only feature that would change this for me is if I had my pda set up for wireless, then I might use it more but kinda doubt it since anywhere I go that has internet I usually have my laptop or access to a computer.

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Originally Posted by tat

I prefer to use my gpsr for all navigation tasks, i.e. mapping, waypoints, etc.

I do like a hand held for keeping all the non-navigation data that is on the cache page.

The cache description and hints can be very helpfull. In fact, some caches should not be attempted without that inforamation because you may end up on tresspassing or not finding the cache. It can also be very difficult to store cache type and size on the gpsr. Ever get to a cache and find out it's a virt?!

I have not found any home use for a pda outside of caching, but a lot of people use them as an organizer.

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With the help of some of the great folks on this forum we became paperless last week. We have only been caching paperless one day so far and have a lot to learn yet, but so far we have found it to be the way to go. Like someone else mentioned it's like having 500 up to date sheets of paper in your pocket. Before; thinking we were going to be near certain caches we would print a sheet, a few weeks later we may print another and so on, we have had as many as 5 sheets printed for one cache. Now we have them updated almost daily, and no matter where you go you have the info you need. Actually for the price of a few ink cartridges, a few reams of paper, and a few ring binders, you to can be a paperless cacher.:D

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Originally Posted by tat

I have not found any home use for a pda outside of caching, but a lot of people use them as an organizer.

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Tide Tool is another program I've had on my Palm and found it quite useful for planning kayak trips and the occasional cache that requires timing to cross a land bridge. Some people might even find it handy for doing a certain Earthcache off of OOB ;)

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Originally Posted by Cache'n Jacksons

Tide Tool is another program I've had on my Palm and found it quite useful for planning kayak trips and the occasional cache that requires timing to cross a land bridge. Some people might even find it handy for doing a certain Earthcache off of OOB ;)

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But, my new gps has tides built in!