Honest recommendations needed PLEASE

[Bilbo]

Dave, et al
I need some good advice. I want to design a system that I intend to use primarily for backcountry "navigation". I have access to limitless drg's and doqq's. I also have ESRI programs that let me register raster images in utm's (preferred) and convert into geojpeg's (great for memory reduction). I have an iPAQ 3800 and want to get an expansion battery pack - so sleeve gps is probably not an option. I have tried the navman 3450, but am disappointed in it's major limitation of communication only at a baud rate of 57600!!! - so many established programs don't have that capability.

1) What would you consider the best, reasonably-priced, semi-rugged, 5 meter-90+%, fast to fix, low power consumption CF receivers that have the capability to output nmea in a variety (at least 4800 & 9600) of baud rates, and perhaps even have receiver on/off option (power preservation) when attached. Do I really need WAAS (yes, I live in the western US)? Do I want to stay away from xTrac receivers (see future desires below)?

2) I will eventually want to get a good street navigational software that is compatible with the gps and won't mask or default the port for the backcountry mapping software.

Is there one software package that is somehow capable of both, vector navigation and raster display?

I have religiously read all of Pocket GPS World's product reviews, but am now more confused than when I started. I need some help from some unbiased, heavy-duty users...
Many thanks

[lbendlin]

Bilbo,

what's that ranting about the baud rate? Rest assured that any receiver running at NMEA 4800 will have plenty of baudrate to transmit all the relevant GPS messages in each one second cycle. Setting higher speeds merely allows the serial port listener to wait faster.

For your back country experienc you can use OziExplorer, for the combined street/offroad experience you can try Delorme StreetAtlas 2004 Handheld in combination with Delorme Topo 4 (but be warned, it is not the most contemporary software on the market

You need WAAS when you are particular about more accurate altitude readings. Other than that it's more of a gimmick

Good street navigational software? Define "good" ... I cannot even name a personal favourite, because I use them all - sometimes one has the better maps while the other one has the most POIs. You can choose between Mapopolis, Routis, CoPilot, TomTom, TeleType, PocketMap , and many more. If you are more specific about your requirements I may be able to recommend a particular one.

unbiased heavy duty users? That's an oxymoron. As soon as you are using something heavy duty you get so used to it that you are willing to ignore its weaknesses and keep praising its strengths... ;-)
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[Bilbo]

Thanks Lutz.
I rant only because it gives me pleasure - no other REAL reason....oh, and the fact the the navman 3450 drivers (yes, all of them) will send nmea or sirf data at 57600 ONLY. Try to overwrite the port settings and lower the baud rate with Winfast or Navmon and alas...no gps detected, no data stream, no nothing. There's more than a few 3rd party programs that don't support such a high rate.
But I'm over that now, thanks to your council. What do I owe you?
I was contemplating the OziExplorer, Fugawi, MapTech Pocket Navigator Pro, and Memory Map.
How are maps "calibrated" in Oziexplorer? I have access to lots of maps - topo, aerial photo, satellite - that are already georegistered. I don't want to reinvent the wheel (we are spoiled ___'s here in the US).
I can find no technical information of any kind on Fugawi's web page. MapTech looks to be an awesome product, but you have to download the air photos from Terraserver and register each by making a world file of sorts - again reinventing the wheel. Also aerial and satellite images are only supported in the PocketNavigator Pro version. For another 100 yankee bucks, I can purchase ArcPad 6.0.3 (a tad beyond my needs).
Memory Map - I'm clueless.
As for street navigation, perhaps I'll hound you for info some other time.
Thanks again Lutz - you run one fantastic site.
Regards.

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