Which Pocket PC?

alex · Post by **alex** » 05 February 04 11:03 pm

ok, I've decided I need, need, need a PDA to further my geocaching career - but which one ? I think I need Pocket PC because I want to run GSAK/OziExplorer, Iwant to load some maps onto the unit, I want to be able to log into email and web worldwide and, of course, I want to do all the essential work things like scheduling, spreadsheet, word etc. I am seeking advice - is a 2210 good enough? do I need to go to 5550 instead? or somewhere in between? Toshiba, IPAQ, or something else?

Also, what are the add-ons needed, you know, the things they don't tell you about in the shop until you realise the basic unit doesn't quite do what you want until you try to do it.

And of course I need this before heading overseas in two weeks! All responses/advice greatly appreciated. Thanks

Team Piggy · Post by **Team Piggy** » 06 February 04 8:27 am

Alex, Have a speak to Kevin, he is the guru.

He is running about the Ipaq 3360 or something like that, I am running a 5550.
Kev has his already setup, and it makes your hair stand on end with what it can do

, I am slowly setting mine up, but still need to fine tune it all.

You can run it as a GPS, Moving Map with Ozi CE, Have all cachenotes and logs on there for a whole state or country

, have an encrypter for those clues. etc etc.
I suggest looking at buying a backpack (extra battery and clip on cradle for it, and also look (NO BUY BUY BUY) extra memory for it whilst OS.
I have ordered a 1 gig compact flash for mine, means the ability to have heaps of maps on there. Street directories are another item you can load too.

Ebenezer · Post by **Ebenezer** » 06 February 04 9:41 am

I have recently upgraded from an older Casio E-115 to an iPAQ 2210. After some initial problems I now have a replacement unit that I am very happy with.

The features that dictated this model are that it takes CF cards (I already have a 64 meg CF card) as well as SD cards, and also has a serial port to connect my eTrext Venture to. It has no WIFI (which I don't need). In theory I could get it to talk IR or BlueTooth to my phone to connect to the internet, but in practice I never use this. All this for $600!

Do you already have a GPS that you will connect via a cable, or are you considering a CF or SD card type unit, or a Bluetooth type unit? e.g. the iPAQ 19xx range don't have a serial port.

Ozi is quite fast, and the display is great. AFAIK GSAK does not run on PocketPC. I don't currently have GSAK installed on my home PC, so at the moment I don't have cache descriptions downloaded to my beepy diary. (My wife prefers to have the paper descriptions anyway.)

If you are thinking of installing Ozi, I assume you already have some maps. Consider how much storage you are going to need. MicroDrive (or similar) cards only come in the CF form factor, and will chew your batteries (compared to flash memory anyway), but you can store a lot of maps on 2 gigs.

I have put in a birthday request for a data/power combo cable which charges the beepy diary while in the car. Some of the newer iPAQs have cradles that can charge a spare battery at the same time, but I have never needed one (so far).

Freddo · Post by **Freddo** » 06 February 04 2:09 pm

Palm, alex, palm.

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 06 February 04 2:58 pm

I second that, Freddo. Unfortunately, I have to admit that map/GIS support looks to be better on the PPC platform

(at the moment).

Navman have a new bluetooth GPS, software and Aussie maps compatible with Palm, but it's a little pricey.

Alex, PPC can't run any old windows app, so I'm not sure why you mention GSAK. Just thought I'd clarify that.

- Rog

Papa Bear_Left · Post by **Papa Bear_Left** » 06 February 04 5:23 pm

alex wrote:ok, I've decided I need, need, need a PDA to further my geocaching career - but which one ? I think I need Pocket PC because I want to run GSAK/OziExplorer, Iwant to load some maps onto the unit, I want to be able to log into email and web worldwide and, of course, I want to do all the essential work things like scheduling, spreadsheet, word etc. I am seeking advice - is a 2210 good enough?

Let me add my Palm advocacy:

The MS Office support is better on Palm than on PPC (strange but true), and there's great email and web apps that I use regularly via Bluetooth to my mobile or, occasionally, a PC. All of the above either in ROM or bundled with the device.

Check out the deals on the Tungsten T3. 320x480 screen, small formfactor, bluetooth, 64MB RAM, 400MHz Xscale CPU, SD card slot, etc.
Have a browse around the local user group site for some ideas on prices, etc.

Blaze_au · Post by **Blaze_au** » 04 July 04 5:01 pm

I have a O2 XDAII phone/pocket PC 2003

I have found it to be excellent... Mind you today was the first time I used both oziexplorer and gps sonar together.... I'll report again how well things are going when my Ebay bluetooth GPS arrives..

ian-and-penny · Post by **ian-and-penny** » 04 July 04 5:37 pm

I use an IPAQ 2210 that runs:

Word
Excel
MS Money
IE
OzieCE
GPXSonar (Free GSAK type program for PPC that uses GPX file output from GSAK)

Has a compact flash port for GPS or CF Cards
Has SD card port.

I haven't started to utilise it's full potential yet, and as an ex PalmOS user I definitely wouldn't go back.

What swayed my choice? I already had Ozie, & didn't feel like changing to/ paying for/ learning about a palm compatable moving map program.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Ian

Blaze_au · Post by **Blaze_au** » 27 July 04 4:09 pm

I have an XDAII and a bluetooth gps...

The XDA is a phone/pocketPC 2003 all in one.

Install Oziexplorer & GPSSonar what more do you need?

ok.. maps.. you also need to load some maps... ok.. you also need to load the latest cache info... ok.. run GSAK to dump the cache info as waypoints...

Still it's a great setup.

binns1012 · Post by **binns1012** » 27 July 04 5:36 pm

Hi I use Cerience Repligo for paperless Geocaching http://www.cerience.com
they have versions for Pocket Pc and Palm
regards Tony

Geocaching Australia

Which Pocket PC?

Which Pocket PC?

Ipaqs are good.

Re: Which Pocket PC?

Pocket PC