PocketMail

[WhoAh]

I'm planning on staying in touch with the family & friends using PocketMail. Anyone else looking at using one of these gizmos?

[Smile]

I have one, used it last year, terrific. Weighs 10.5 oz. including the drypack case - a luxury item. IMHO Nice to have a night when you want to record the details of the day that may be lost, and also to write down who you saw/passed hiking. Great way to keep up with a trailjournal as well - and you can use it off trail as well - no waiting for the computer in a hotel or cafe, email from any phone.

Not all hikers think the weight is worth it, but for me it was a fun addition to the whole experience , but on the other hand, at night alone in my tent with the glowing green-lit screen, it was like some sort of weird umbilical cord to the 'techno' world out there that sort of went against the grain of the whole backcountry experience.

So as with everything on a thru - to each their own!

[StarLyte]

Pocketmail is the next best thing since the cell phone. I am transcribing for a pct hiker right now, hardly any cell phone coverage from the trail so he uses it to send me the journals. It's great. I want one too, just waiting for the opportunity to REALLY being able to utilize it.

[peanuts]

StarLyte who are you transcribing for????

[eArThworm]

I'm planning on staying in touch with the family & friends using PocketMail. Anyone else looking at using one of these gizmos?

Yep, got one. Used it last year on a hike. Plan on using it next month hiking the Northville-Placid Trail. I love it. Allows email contact using phones when you're not around computers.

[RITBlake]

Can someone explain how a pocketmail actually communicates with the internet. Can it dial out itself, or does it require a cell phone or a pay phone to work?

[RITBlake]

I'm asking because I kept a hand written journal during my entire thru, but I'm finding it very time consuming to retype all of it on to the computer. Sometimes its hard to read my own hand writing and the journal jumps around a lot. Pocketmail would solve all this for me.

[QHShowoman]

It requires a phone connection to work. Basically, you hold pocketmail up to the receiver, dial the toll-free pocketmail #, and transmit the data.

[Ewker]

looks interesting. http://www.pocketmail.com/us/

[Frosty]

Yep, got one. Used it last year on a hike. Plan on using it next month hiking the Northville-Placid Trail. I love it. Allows email contact using phones when you're not around computers.

Gonna give it another try, huh? When you going?

[Jack Tarlin]

Quick comment, as this one's been said before:

As PocketMail and similar devices become more popular, there've been significant problems with hikers tying up public telephones for unreasonable ammounts of time in order to transmit their mail, journal entries, etc. This has been a particular problem where pay phones are few and far between....Neels Gap, Fontana Dam, Hot Springs, etc.

If you are contemplating using one of these devices, please have consideration for others who may be needing to use the phone, especially when it's the only one for miles around. Your right to check your E-Mail or upgrade your trip journal doesn't transcend the right of someone else to call their wife, kids, whatever.

Keep your calls short from public phones, whether they're on the street, in a hostel, etc. If your calls are gonna be more than ten minutes at a time, and if people are liekely waiting to use the phone, do your business, including your PocketMail business, either late at night or better yet, from your own motel room.

Nobody has the right to monopolize a public phone merely because they're carrying cool gadgets.

[Footslogger]

That brings up a question, at least in my mind, since I don't own a Pocketmail thingee and have never used one ...

For anyone who has/used one ...on average, how long does it take to transmit a page or so of journal text or an average e-mail using Pocketmail ??

'Slogger

[stumpknocker]

I've used one now for several years and they work great for staying in touch with family and sending in journal entries to a transcriber to post for you.

Your family or friends can send you an email and you can recieve it any time you get to a phone....or you can send email.

Much nicer than waiting until you get to a computer.

They work quickly....usually one to three minutes.

It's been my experience that the nobo's tie up the phone much, much longer.

[WhoAh]

Quick comment, as this one's been said before:


If you are contemplating using one of these devices, please have consideration for others who may be needing to use the phone, especially when it's the only one for miles around. Your right to check your E-Mail or upgrade your trip journal doesn't transcend the right of someone else to call their wife, kids, whatever.

Good point, Jack. I've also been around users of these in the shelters while section hiking, and some people are not real wild about having someone typing their journal into one while they are trying to chill or get their heads around a wilderness experience.

So along with being courteous with the phones, be a little discreet or considerate of the other shelter-mates.

[ivanputski]

I found mine to be nice to have. Work off pay phone, cell phones and it's a toll free call so even hostel will let you make the call. 1-3 minutes is about right to transmit. Having said that I no longer have a use for it so if anyones looking to buy one let me know.

[stumpknocker]

I just read a couple replies to this thread and can't believe what Jack and WhoAh wrote.

Jack, my right to tie up a phone to check my email DOES transcend another hiker's right to call his family if I got to the phone first.

That's how I communicate with my family and friends.

That other hiker can wait until I'm done with the phone.

WhoAh, if I happen to be in a shelter and typing away on my Pocketmail and you don't like it, use those things called feet that brought you into the shelter in the first place and walk on somewhere else.

Holy smokes Batman, I guess there really are people out there that want to hike my hike for me.

[frieden]

Jack, my right to tie up a phone to check my email DOES transcend another hiker's right to call his family if I got to the phone first.

That's how I communicate with my family and friends.

That other hiker can wait until I'm done with the phone.

WhoAh, if I happen to be in a shelter and typing away on my Pocketmail and you don't like it, use those things called feet that brought you into the shelter in the first place and walk on somewhere else.

I didn't know about Pocketmail, until this thread. It looks like a great way to communicate to family and friends. It would also be a quieter option, verses yappin' on the phone. We won't be staying in shelters, but I don't understand why someone would be upset about someone else quietly typing on a keyboard. If it's late, I could see where the light might get annoying.

I'd have to agree about the rights to the phone. I wouldn't hang for an hour on a pay phone, if people were waiting, but their right to communicate to family and friends doesn't override my right to do the same thing, even if I'm using technology instead of my voice. You do not have to become a doormat, in order to respect the rights of others.

[Michele]

Good point, Jack. I've also been around users of these in the shelters while section hiking, and some people are not real wild about having someone typing their journal into one while they are trying to chill or get their heads around a wilderness experience.

So along with being courteous with the phones, be a little discreet or considerate of the other shelter-mates.

My pocketmail has an option to turn that "clicky" sound OFF when using it, meaning the only other distraction I can think of would be the light from it? I can't see how it would at all be intrusive to someone else's wilderness experience, anymore than a headlamp, and headlamps are WAY brighter than the little green backlight on the Pocketmail. And whereas I've not started the service yet to see how long it takes, I also can't see how 1-3 minutes of transfer time in order to communicate with friends/family is any different than a 1-3 minute long conversation between 2 people, except I'll be communicating with a lot more than 1 person at a time, so that ultimately keeps me off the phone more.

I bought mine on ebay for 1/2 the price of it new...and I think it's going to be an essential part of my hike, because I have always been huge about sharing my experiences w/my family and friends. Also, if you choose to ditch the fancy little case for it and keep it in a plastic ziplock, then it only weighs 8.2 oz WITH the batteries. I'm also planning on keeping track of my expenses w/it too....seeing I (and I'm sure everyone can relate) am going to be on a very strict budget.

As for how it works, you can type emails and store them, then you go to any phone (not all cells work, but a few do from what I understand), and on the backside, there is a little round plastic receiver that you slide up and hold up to the telephone. You dial the 1-800#, and push the big button on the end that says "Send"...and there you have it. A very time efficient way to communicate with those people in your life that mean so much to you. It was my very first purchase for my hike.

[Smile]

YES! Turn the clicky setting off, but I have to agree with Stumpknocker as far as phone usage and who got there first goes....

I have waited a long time for a phone while somebody yapped to catch up with the past few days, when I had all my thoughts typed in and ready to go - it takes usually less than 2 minutes to send/receive, and I had probably an average of 5-6 incoming and the same outgoing each time, many of my outgoings were on the long side.

Either way, if everyone would have courtesy for one another - it will certainly come back to you in a positive way ;-)

[QHShowoman]

I'd have to agree about the rights to the phone. I wouldn't hang for an hour on a pay phone, if people were waiting, but their right to communicate to family and friends doesn't override my right to do the same thing, even if I'm using technology instead of my voice. You do not have to become a doormat, in order to respect the rights of others.

Well said. Tying up a public phone for 3-5 minutes while transmitting E-mail to all your friends/family takes up a hell of a lot less phone time than it would to call each person individually.