[pct-l] (no subject)

[dkwoods33 at yahoo.com (david woods)]

Chuck,
 
After watching this board for most of a year I finally see a topic I may have enough knowledge to address.
 
I walked 460+ miles of SoCal PCT last spring. I started at the border with some paper and a pencil. At Warner Springs I decided I wanted to mess with the Pocketmail after watching other hikers using them and realizing what a mess it is to try to keep a decent paper journal on the back of my 8.5 x 11 maps. I called my oldest daughter and she ordered me one (the fancy model) and had it sent to Idyllwild where I picked it up. She ordered the one year service plan which if I recall correctly is about $15 per month.
 
  Is (was) it worth its weight?
 
For me it was. I spent some of my town time entering my journal as it stood and used it every day thereafter as long as I was on the trail.

  How much actual writing might it take before its (the fancier model) memory is full?
 
I think it has 1Meg of memory which will hold a lot of words. I kept my journal on it as an email for each day. I probably uploaded once a week on the average and in the process downloaded my previous week which my SO was emailing all over heck and back. I do not remember how often I erased the in and out folders but I did not do it too often and I never came close to filling the thing up, but, you could be more wordy than I. 

  How is (was) its battery life?
 
I never did use up a set of batteries in the nearly 2 months I was using the thing but I did put some lithuims into it somewhere along the way to save a fraction of weight and for more battery life. Last fall I loaned it to my SO's daughter who kept a journal of her move to CA on the Alcan (by motor vehicle) with it. As best I can remember she used the same batteries. I have read that the battery life is over two months (if I remember correctly).
 
  How did you protect the device en route?
 
I kept it in a ziploc bag in my junk bag and had no problem. Of course I did notes it around and generally treated it with respect but not with kid gloves.

  Do (did) they work with most phones?
 
Mine has worked well with both pay and home phones but would not work wit my Sprint cell phone at least the last time I tried. I think I have read that they do not work with cell phones period.

 How did you transfer the information to trailjournals.com if indeed you did so?
 
When I got home I pasted each days entry into a word doc and spell checked the whole mess copied and pasted a day at a time into trailjournals.com. It was not nearly so time consuming a I expected but I had less than 60 days to do.
 
www.trailjournals.com/dandd

The only negative is can report is that typing with ones thumbs while laying in a sleeping bag does get tiresome. I had a good experience with the device and would recommend it to all who are willing to put up with the 8+ ounces and the tyranny of having to keep a journal.
 
 
 
 
Message: 28
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 09:34:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Chuckie V <rubberchuckie@yahoo.com>
Subject: [pct-l] Going hi-tech...Pocketmail Questions
To: PCT-List <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Message-ID: <20060201173427.18388.qmail@web52807.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

  Hi gang,
  I'm considering going a little more hi-tech during this year's thru-hike attempt. In 2002, I shunned the digital age and didn't carry so much as a timepiece, but this time around I'm hoping to carry a pocketmail device. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here could tell me about the unit and its service plans. I've been to their website, but would like to know the following from someone with experience:
   
  Is (was) it worth its weight?
  How much actual writing might it take before its (the fancier model) memory is full?
  How is (was) its battery life?
  How did you protect the device en route?
  Do (did) they work with most phones?
  How did you transfer the information to trailjournals.com if indeed you did so?
   
  Thanks! My apologies for the plethora of questions...
   
  -Chuckie