Another beginner with no idea

[andy65]

I know this is the most asked question but scrolling through the Forums has left me as confused as ever albeit that there is loads of excellent info in them.

Starting from scratch - what is the best set up for GPS out there at the moment with a price tag of say up to £500 or thereabouts. If a bit more gets something vastly better feel free to suggest it!

I have no kit at the moment so will need a PDA (I want the added benefit of the PDA so Go would not appeal to me), GPS receiver and the mapping software etc. I like the idea of a BT receiver to avoid some of the wiring clutter in the car plus the added flexibility but can you hardwire a power source for these for in car use or would an active mount be a better solution for avoiding clutter with a wired GPS? Can you use a BT receiver with an active mount to supply the power?

In terms of the mapping software, most of my journeys will be within the UK but I do drive in Europe (for holidays mainly).

The ability to load the camera database sounds like a must!

Are you aware of any kit due out shortly that might be worth waiting a few months for?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Darren]

Here's my brief shopping list:

iPAQ 2210
256MB CF Card (Not SD)
BT or Wired Mouse
Brodit Active Cradle and ProClip to fit your car
TomTom Navigator 3 - if you need Euro coverage you can either make do with the limited 'Major Roads of Europe (MRE)' bundled with TTN3 or buy the full European Map Set.
_________________
Darren Griffin

[AndyMac]

I just bought a HP 2210ipaq, tomtom 3 navigator, wired gps with car kit and 256Mb Compact Flash card from Dixons for £440.

Good deal and easily the rival of similar kits on the net. Currys and PCWorld are doing the same deal at the moment.

Andy

[Darren]

That's not a bad price, TotalPDA have the same (2210, TTN3 and TomTom Carkit) for £336+ VAT to which you'll need to add the cost of a memory card, say £35 for a 256MB CF which is only a few quid less.

However I'd not give a penny to any Dixons Store Group Outlet, I'd go with a recognised supplier of PDA's and GPS from whom you'll get some support and assistance if needed.
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Darren Griffin

[oddsock]

Darren said "However I'd not give a penny to any Dixons Store Group Outlet, I'd go with a recognised supplier of PDA's and GPS from whom you'll get some support and assistance if needed." I totally agree ! I contacted Pc world when my 6 week old ttn3 wired gps started playing up and the technical guy I spoke to said he was a "pc expert" and did not have a clue about gps .he then told me to get support from tomtom .he also gave me Hp's number in case I had a problem with the 2210 part of my set up . Anyway the gps is on its way back to tomtom so lord knows how long it will be before I get it back! Good job I have my navman 4400 bt as a stand by.

dave

[Andy_Hill]

I have the 2210 as Darren has sugested with both SD & CF cards. The CF card works the best with TT3 & TT3 Bluetooth.

Avoid the cheap & nasty flash cards, stick with Sandisk, Lexar etc and buy th fatest that you can aford.

http://www.ebuyer.co.uk - These guys are worth a visit.

[gokhart]

I'm another happy 2210 owner and TT3 user with GPS via Bluetooth. I also use a CF card with no recorded problems to date.

The only thing I would add to the responses above is: if you can wait a week or so, maybe going with Co-pilot version 5 as it is meant to have better up to date maps, rather than TomTom ???

Once Co-pilot has been out a week or so, then there will be user feedback in order to allow a good comparison between the products.
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IPAQ 2210 Rom 1.00 CF 512MB
TT3 / TTBT & Fortuna Clip-On

[andy65]

Thanks everyone for the swift responses

Certainly seems the iPAC2210 is a popular choice. Anyone have anything to say on the iPAC4150 for a comparison?

:D

[TC]

The hardware makes no real difference to the performance of a GPS set-up at least not with the current batch of PDAs - new ones versus older PDAs perhaps.

What I am saying is the you choice of PDA for a GPS set-up will depend on things not directly related to GPS and navigation.

Things like:

Do you prefer the look of a 4150 over a 2210 or vice versa
Do you want Compact Flash Storage (perhaps because you already use this format in say a digital camera) - the 2210 has both SD and Compact Flash
Do you want Wifi on your PDA this is available on a 4150 but not on a 2210 unless you buy a card that will take up one of the memory slots.

As I say both machines will run a GPS set-up equally well
_________________
Ipaq 2210
Fortuna Clip-on [Xtrac V2]
Tom Tom Navigator 3
Memory Map

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