Protect Your Paperless Caching Investment!

Okay, so you’re into paperless caching (very ecological on your part!). However, it’s important to protect delicate

A great investment in your great investment!

electronics from harsh weather, dirt, dust, and abuse. A good way to start is to protect your PDA or smart phone with an Otterbox. Another (very cheap) investment is a pack of screen protectors. Essentially, they are nothing more than very thin, very clear sheets of contact paper that keep your PDA’s screen from getting scratched up. I bought a pack  of  13 Palm screen protectors at a local office supply store for about $13 (US).  I’ve used them not only for my PDA phone, but for my Garmin GPSMap60cx. I’ll probably not need to buy another pack for a long time to come.

To apply the screen protector, first clean the screen of your PDA. A Q-Tip with a LITTLE rubbing alcohol or window cleaner should do fine. DO NOT let the alcohol or window cleaner run into the device itself from the edges of the screen! Then, thoroughly dry the screen. Next, cut the screen protector material to the size of your screen. Palm’s screen protector sheets come with templates that you simply cut out. Personally, I cut my just a hair larger than the template. Peel the screen protector sheet from the backing, taking care NOT to touch the sticky side. If you do, there will be a beautiful fingerprint left. Apply the screen protector at one end of the screen, slowly rolling the material onto the rest of the screen. As you do so, use a soft cloth to wipe across the screen protector to eliminate any air bubbles from forming.

Palm's screen protectors have templates on the back ready to cut.

By the way, a word of warning if you use a Palm phone or PDA: NEVER use a metal stylus unless your screen is designed for it! I’ve read on several forums of screen failures being caused from just that. Use the stylus that came with your device.