Versatility AND Functionality ?

Chalky7 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 2

Right, here goes......

I'm a brand new member and a GPS virgin but have spent the last couple of evenings perusing this site and concluded that if anyone can help me have my cake and eat it, then it's you folks.

Not only that I'm also pretty new to PDA ownership and am not really 100% conversant with all the possibilities it holds. I have an Xda IIs, so that, I suppose governs to some extent what GPS hardware I can use ?

What I'm after is something that day to day will function as an in car sat nav for an engineer visiting multiple addresses and needing to take the PDA in and out of the car with me each time.

Then at the weekend I'd also like the flexibility to take the system into the hills hiking, biking etc (I realise I'll need to buy OS map type software and probably another memory card to put it on ?).

From what I've learned over the last 2 evenings I would lean towards a bluetooth reciever (I like the thought of solar powered one but are they any good ?) with tomtom for the roads and memory map for the hills. I'll also need a larger memory card as the one i have is only 32mb I think.

So I'd appreciate any "if I was buying that type of package I'd get......" advice you can offer.

Thanks in advance folks and I look forward to getting mobile.

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:15 pm Post subject:

you're on the right track (pun intended)

The solar BT GPS is a nice gimmick but nowadays you're better off buying a SiRF III based receiver. They are just so much better.

Get a big, big storage card (1 GB is good) and you can put both programs and maps on it.

For your outdoors stuff think about a rain cover for the PdA and the receiver. Otter Box or similar.
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discopanda · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 3

The Globalsat BT-338 receiver is what I'll be buying soon. Seems to be the one to get at the moment. Great reception and battery life.

Chalky7 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 2

Thanks for all the help folks. I've gone for a global sat BT338 reciever with tomtom (will have to save up for the other maps and more memory) and the silver shield cradle for the van.

cheers again.

s79 · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:35 pm Post subject:

anything cheaper that will do just as good job?

I am looking for something to work on my iPAQ 4150

I spoke to someone recently who said it was a waste of money buying anything with >12 channels as he has never picked up more than 8 satellites.
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Darren · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:49 pm Post subject:

s79 · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:01 pm Post subject:

Darren · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:08 pm Post subject:

Believe me, the difference in performance is worth the extra dosh. The GPS receiver is THE most importat part of your set-up, skimp on it and it'd be like buying a 42" LCD TV and plugging it into a £5.99 set top aerial.
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StevenGourlay · Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:20 pm Post subject:

Darren has a valid point go for a decent receiver if you want high performance but if you don’t mind getting lost as you cant get a signal get a cheap low performance receiver. Also make sure you that get decent software to go with the GPS as if you go a get a good receiver but 3 year old map data then again is going to be pointless.
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