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| HeadHardHat takes a look at BlackStar |
I had recently watched an episode of IceNRye's TrackFiles which is a very well done geocaching videozine. There he mentioned about a BlackBerry geocaching application known as Blackstar and if anyone had a video showing it in use. Now normally I usually get asked first to do a review but this is a FREE application and thought it would be perfect to test and let other geocachers know if it is worth using or not. So off I went into the Autumn woods of North Carolina and gave it a spin. Below is not only my review of it but a full blown GeoSnippits Video.
As you know I do not pull punches about a product I am reviewing. I calls them as I sees them so that you my ever trusted viewers get the facts. So before I get inundated with your emails of likes and dislikes let me say this straight out. When I first said I was doing a review of BlackStar I recieved a ton of twitter tweets from users who use BlackStar all the time. For that I am grateful, it is also the reason why I went and did a second round of testing just to be extra sure of my findings.
So go enjoy the GeoSnippits. I had a lot of fun making it and you will not only find my actual findings but a scorecard of how I felt BlackStar did... Enjoy.
-HHH
If the player above does not function, please click this link to go directly to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n4Wradn28E
My personal likes and dislikes of the BlackStar application. I like that it is free and gives a beginning geocacher the chance to go out with minimal cost and go geocaching.
What bugged me the absolute most about BlackStar is it's need for use of third party applications and the time it took to load the applications for everything you do while geocaching. Also if you are in an area that does not have fast internet access you are really going to feel the pain with all the uploads. I honestly can say that this would be a terrible application to use if you were on a numbers run due to the lag between programs yet on the other hand if you are just geocaching for the moment it can be handy. The best thing is to give it a shot for yourself.
You can download your free copy of BlackStar for your BlackBerry phone from this link here:
http://www.blackstarnavigation.com/
GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Twitter me at
@headhardhat
Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
http://www.geosnippits.com
3 comments:
A great review of Blackstar Navigation, I used to use this program when I first started Geocaching and I always found myself about 30+ feet away from ground zero when looking for a cache. I will say that it has helped me in finding caches now because when using Blackstar, I would get close and put the phone away and just started searching, now I can spot a hiding spot from 30 feet away :-) also the application has not had an upgrade in over a year. Nowadays I use my Oregon 400t, a lot more accurate.
When you say it uses lots of different applications what do you mean by that?
It utilizes your blackberry browser, google maps, and blackberry maps applications. When you go through the motions of geocaching you have to access these other programs which takes time and really slows you down. Especially if you have a slower connection.
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