CacheMate

Homepage: http://www.smittyware.com
On my Okta Touch we’re running the PPC version of CacheMate. The first PPC version was released on 10 February 2006 and it seems to going from strength to strength so a mere US$8 CacheMate is a bargain and if you’re venturing into paperless geocaching then CacheMate is the way to go as it contains everything you ever had to print out on paper before.

“CacheMate™ is a database for tracking GPS cache hunts. You can store information about caches or benchmarks, decode hints, and transfer data to and from other software and devices.”

which packs the following features:
• Configurable/sortable list view
(great for sorting caches by distance, name, difficulty, terrain etc)
• Distance/bearing display with GPS support
• Multiple database support
• Editable cache type list
• Geocaching hint decoder
(it’s nice to have the choice of decoding or not, by default the hint is still encrypted)
• Record bookmarking
• Bluetooth GPS support
(essential considering I’m using OnCourse Bluetooth GPS Receiver Edition 3)
• Windows Mobile 5+ GPS driver support
• Plugin application support
(the plugin you may find most useful is Cache Nav)
• Waypoint projection
• Travel bug management
• Supports Garmin iQue GPS/Mapping
• Voice notes recorder
• Full-text searching via Pocket PC Find application
• VGA display support (Pocket PC 2003SE and later)
• Import/export waypoints using GPX and LOC XML files
(oh so handy if you also use GSAK )
• User-defined fields with GPX import/export

CacheMate is very user friendly but if you need help there is CacheMate documentation available from the authors homepage. Th4tguy™ also has a great CacheMate tutorial available which includes exporting your GPX files from GSAK, very handy if you’re running the combination or a little overwhelmed by it all.

CacheMate also comes with the Cache Nav plugin

“This plugin adds GPS navigation capabilities to CacheMate. It displays information from a connected GPS receiver in real time, and provides distance and bearing information to a selected waypoint.”

which I have to admit I’m yet to use, at this point I’m still awfully partial to TrackyPro’s use of Google Maps but I suspect this will change on a cache by cache basis as TrackyPro can be CPU intensive which drags the functionality of it right down to molasses speed. My main reason for actually buying CacheMate is the no frills, super quick, always on hand, cache listings which include all the information you’d find for a cache on Geocaching.com, including hint deciphering and log entries etc.

I love how super fast CacheMate is at displaying cache details, the sortable list view of caches, the interface is clutter free and it’s very user friendly. What is missing from the cache listings, that Geocaching.com has, is photos, so if these are important for the cache hunt just be aware that maybe a problem… but not too much of a problem because CacheMate does provide the option to “View On line” which springs open the full cache listing, including photos, at Geocaching.com in your default browser… but there is a downside to this, it’s not a Mobile friendly URL so be aware that side scrolling and a little imagination will be needed.

We’re also running TrackyPro…