Reviews > Navigation and Map Gear > GPS > Geomate Jr. > Test Report by Jamie DeBenedetto

geomate.jr

by Apishere, Inc.

Reviewed by Jamie DeBenedetto
Updated October 13th, 2009

Report Contents

Reviewer's Information Back to contents

Product Information Back to contents

Description of Product

The Apisphere geomate.jr is a kid sized, hand held geocache companion that uses GPS technology to guide the user to pre-programmed geocaches. Since it's marketed to children there are only three buttons and the display screen uses simple icons to communicate information. There is also a big lanyard loop and a lanyard so the unit can be worn around the user's neck. The battery compartment, located on the back, employs a slide off cover. On the left side is a small covered port where the Update Kit plugs in. As soon as the geomate.jr is turned on, the screen offers a cheery "Hello" to the user and then says it's searching for a signal. Once the satellites are located the main geocaching page comes up. This shows the user six different bits of info. about the cache. In the center of the screen is a circle, outside the circle is the directional arrow, showing the most direct route to the cache. On the inside of the circle is the satellite icon, indicating the strength of the GPS signal, the distance to the cache in miles/feet and the order of the cache relative to the geomate.jr. The first cache location shown is the closest but the user can also scroll through 19 others that are nearby. The upper left corner of the screen shows the "find difficulty" of the cache using a magnifying glass icon and stars numbering 1-5, 5 being the most difficult. The upper right corner tells the user about the terrain difficulty using a little mountain picture and 1- 5 stars, 5 being the most difficult as before. In the bottom left is a group of four boxes, smallest to largest. This tells the user the size of the cache. On the bottom middle is a character of a hiker, which indicates this is the main geocaching page. There are three other pages, the GC page, which lists the geocache code for each of the twenty caches, the Navigation page, which gives the compass reading and other location info., and the "Found Log", which lists the caches already found.

The two main navigation buttons on the front are easily distinguished by their size difference and by the little signs above and on them. The larger button has an arrow on it and a picture of a home over it. This button is used to scroll through the information on each page and to activate the "return to HOME" option. The smaller button is labeled with a page or paper looking symbol and moves the user through the four display screens as well as marks the cache as found. The buttons can also be used together to set the "HOME" position mentioned above. There is another icon of a flag positioned between the buttons to remind the user of the "HOME" option and how to set it.

Arrival Condition and Informational Material Back to contents

The geomate.jr I received is in perfect condition and arrived with everything needed to turn it on and start searching for caches right away. Batteries aren't normally included, however. It came in the original packaging with the lanyard and a Quick Start Guide (QSG). The QSG, like the display screens, is very simple to read and uses several child- friendly pictures to explain how to use the device. I found the unit to be very intuitive to use but I ran through all the information with my sons so we'd all be starting off on the right foot. They picked it up very quickly.

Expectations and First Impressions

The manufacturer's catch line for the geomate. jr is, "the anytime, anywhere, work out-of-the-box family-friendly geocacher." This was my expectation and so far it has been met. I purposely did not open the device when it arrived so my sons could help me with start-up right from the beginning. My 7 yr old son, AJ, opened the packaging, opened the battery compartment (almost completely by himself) and then my 5 yr old, put in the batteries and closed the compartment. AJ then turned it on and I gave them a 10 minute rundown of the buttons and the meaning of the screen icons using the Quick Start Guide as reference. We were all surprised to see several caches within a few miles of our home but we chose to drive to a local mountain park area in which to wander about for our first trial. The boys had the device on and were zooming down a wash bearing down on the first cache in just a few minutes.

First impressions are good at this point. We used it twice already to find three caches with relative ease. My boys are already bugging me to go out again for more "hunting" so I guess I'll have a lot to report on in my Field Report.

Please check back in two months for the next installment of this test series, the Field Report.

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-Jamie J. DeBenedetto - 2009

Reviews > Navigation and Map Gear > GPS > Geomate Jr. > Test Report by Jamie DeBenedetto