Weatherproof Digital Toys?

Scott Anguish asks: "I've been trying to find gear designed for the consumer market that is able to withstand exposure to water, dirt, etc. Kodak's DC5000 Digital Camera is a nice enough unit, but still misses the mark on price ($699) and performance (2 Megapixels, no irDA). Cell phone wise: Ericsson had talked about releasing their R250d model in the U.S., but that seems to have been a no show. Their new R310s looks promising, but seems only to be available overseas. Are there any other options for use in the U.S.? (most cell providers don't seem to know much beyond the cheap phones, or the 'stylish' phones). And what of a PDA? I want something that can be tossed in pack with my eTrex GPS and not worry about the conditions. What are the options out there?"

PDA protection

[ptomblin]

If you look on PalmGear [palmgear.com] you can find a variety of rugged Palm PDA cases, including titanium ones from RhinoSkin and neoprene ones from other companies. I've seen hard plastic ones that look like they'd be excellent for canoe trips as well, but they're not listed there.

However, if I might be presumptuous, might I suggest that you leave all that digital junk behind (except the camera) when you're going into the woods? I find losing the distractions of home (computers, telephones, schedules, etc) an essential part of the experience, whether it's a 2 hour mountain bike or a 2 week canoe trip.

not to take the simple route...

[psychosis]

... but for the most part, a ziplock bag could help a lot. you can hear through the plastic pretty well (for a phone), but i'm not sure how you would sound to the other person.
Granted, that's not the "geek way", but I did this for a palm when mountain biking and it kept it clean/dry for my purposes. ;)

rugged toys

[jerrol]

Well, this is sort of off-topic, but if you are also looking for comm-gear, the Cobra FRS-3xx radios are pretty tough. Will withstand short immersion and a couple of drops.

Canon, Newton & Motorola

[waldoj]

In 1996, I used Canon's original digital camera, an Apple Newton 120 and a standard Motorola flip-phone. All survived many months of rugged backpacking without flaw or problem. (I used lots of other electronics, all of which failed miserably.) But this stuff rocked.

a $699 waterproof digital camera misses on price?

[hatless]

Sounds to me like you found your answers, but you either don't have the money or you resent having to pay more for ruggedized cases, wider operating temperature ranges, etc.

Sure, you can get plenty of 2.1 megapixel cameras for $400 or so, but you wouldn't want to take them out on a rainy day, much less swim with them. $700 for submersible sounds fair, seeing as it's the price of a lot of plastic-cased 3-megapixel models that I'd be afraid to take outdoors at all, like the Nikon 880.

Check with some of the big specialty shops like B+H Photo [bhphotovideo.com] and see if they carry aftermarket waterproof enclosures for other models. They might.

Weatherproofing and waterproofing electronic equipment is expensive. It adds thickness and weight, and makes every switch and dial a design challenge.

Cellphone...

[yabHuj]

The GSM phone Siemens M35i is advertized as splash-water resistant. But I am not sure wether it can be used within USA.

Psion...

[yabHuj]

...has a ruggedized Organizer originating from the famous Series3 (I guess): water-, dust- and drop-proof - maybe a bit above your price range (http://www.enterprise.psion.com/public/products/w orkaboutmx.htm [psion.com]) but with complete com solution (http://www.enterprise.psion.com/public/products/v comm.htm [psion.com])

Maybe Nokia, or Garmin?

[scotpurl]

Supposedly the Nokia 6250 is semi-immersible. http://www.nokia.com/phones/6250/ You can dunk it briefly, so it'd probably stand up to rain and perspiration.

There's also several places that make waterproof bags for electronics (search for "waterproof cell phone"), or even hard-core things like this: http://www.yachtsee.com/floatingcellphonecase.htm

Also, Garmin was supposedly making a marine version of this GPS/Cell phone uber-toy: http://www.garmin.com/products/navTalk/ Then you'd only have to have the one thing.

Casio G-Shock Palm

[doggo]

The Casio G-Shock Palm is what you're looking for...unfortunately they don't make one. But wouldn't it be cool? The toughness of a G-Shock watch, with the simplicity and versitility of the Palm OS. Color screen would be nice too. Heck, let's even have another proprietary expansion slot of some kind too(water resistant of course). Seems if Handspring & Sony could license the Palm OS, Casio should be able to too. I mean heck, aren't G-Shocks like the most collected thing in Japan.

Yeah, I know Casio has the Casiopeia, and some others. And the industrial handhelds (but like the man says, too pricy for what you get.) But they all run some WindowsPickYourSuffix.

You can run linux on at least one of 'em, I think, but still not G-Shock.

Casio has made a G-Shock(ish) cell phone, but it's ony available in Japan so far.

Imagine the Dolphin/Whale [casio.co.jp] conference G-Shock Palm.

re: Casio G-Shock Palm

[doggo]

Too bad about your watch. Mightn't that be a warranty issue? Nevertheless, G-Shocks have a great reputation. I'had mine a couple of years, and it's survived multiple swims, though never at anywhere near the rated 200M, and numerous demonstration collisions with the wall across the room. I have a friend who's $450 Seiko diving watch croaked at a tiny fraction of it's rated depth. I think every product is gonna have a failure here and there, that's why manufacturers provide warranties in the first place.

Besides, I think the main point about ruggedizing PDAs, cell phones, and laptops is not so they can survive submersion, but that they are'nt put out of commission by trivial bumps and drops, or get fried because you got caught in a downpour without an umbrella.

R301s pretty good

[fantomas]

I've got an R310s - it's pretty good and solid. I'm outside quite a lot doing pyrotechnics, outside fire shows, hillwalking. It's taken all the weather and battering I've given it.

Interestingly enough they aren't selling very well in the UK as far as I know so you might be able to pick one up cheap. CarPhone Warehouse started selling them at 99 pounds a time but by the time I decided to get them they'd reduced them to 10 pounds.... ok this is subsidised but it shows that they aren't that popular.

Don't know why, the selling point for me was that the first page of the manual has cleaning instructions: it shows a graphic of somebody holding the phone under a running tap. My kind of phone.

Phone

[milgram]

I would love a waterproof cell phone.

Socks and sandwich wrap!

[dstone]

for the most part, a ziplock bag could help a lot

When I go hiking or riding, I drop my StarTac in a (clean) sock and then put that in a small sealed baggie. My reasoning being that it adds 1) a small amount of crash-proof padding and 2) if some water does get in I'd rather see the sock soak it up and distribute it than have the phone lying naked in the accumulated water in the bag. I've done this in horrible weather for a couple of years and my phones have not suffered. The best part is that 98% of my time (when I'm out of the bush), I don't have to carry a big goofy yellow "sport" phone around with me in the city or for business.

This is probably similar in other cities, but here in rainy Vancouver the bicycle couriers wear all manner of phones and wireless gadgets and they simply wrap them fresh daily in bags or plastic sandwich wrap and seal it with a strip of duct tape or rubber bands. This seems to work for 8+ hour shifts in really crappy weather.

Re:Casio G-Shock Palm

[crazney]

yer grate, my casio gschock watch, 11 months old, went swimming, it died from a water leek.. not what i call reliable.

"Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk ?"

Re: Old Joke. Sorry

[atrowe]

I'm sure Hemos would too.

Here's how to search

[Vassily Overveight]

The term of art you want is 'ruggedized'. Enter this into search engines along with the type of equipment you're looking for to find leads. Be warned, however: it won't be cheap, and it won't be state-of-the-art. Manufacturers of ruggedized gear are usually a generation behind, and, depending on the degree of ruggedization, can raise the cost by a factor of 2 or more.

AquaPac is all that - take your Palm under water..

[RadVen]

I've been playing around with a very cool PDA case from AquaPac. (http://www.aquapac.net)

It is a tough flexible plastic "bag" that holds a Palm PDA, has an external pocket for a stylus, and a nifty rope to hang around your neck. They claim it is waterproof to 10m depth.

The case is designed to be flexible enough to use your PDA right through the case. I've had no trouble at all - even grafitti works well.

They also make some cases for cell phones and other devices, but I haven't tried them out.

- RadVen

Re:not to take the simple route...

[Tychoma]

Don't forget to paint it yellow.

All ruggedised/splashproof kit is yellow.