Which GPS to buy?

gpsnewbie · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 21, 2004 Posts: 2

Thanks in advance for helping me decide which GPS will be a good fit for me.
I work for a company that services over 50 outdoor warning sirens in a 3 county area, in the same state. Believe it or not, some of those sirens are in the most backwoods of places! Needless to say, after being rushed from siren to siren, I can’t remember where I was, or how to get there again.
Gathering the exact location of each siren will not be a problem.
Having said all that, I need a GPS that:
1) Has the ability to tell me my position when I reach the siren, so it can be recorded. It doesn’t have to be super accurate, I can see a siren from 100 yards away or more.
2) Has the ability to have positions entered, by either computer or manually, and lead me in the general direction to that point.
3) Be able to work in a vehicle while moving, like on the dashboard.
4) Be somewhere in the $200 price range.
5) Be a stand-alone unit (like a handheld) for use when I don’t have the laptop with me.
I do have the option of connecting it to a laptop via serial (DB-9) connection, in the vehicle, and via (DB-9) or USB at home. I had thought about using a GPS receiver in conjunction with mapping software, but I am unable to determine if all these back roads will be on the maps, and still be within my budget.
Thanks,
Mick

lbendlin · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 4:16 pm Post subject:

Your request is unrealistic. What you want will cost you around 400USD

Other than that, all you need to do is select a handheld GPS that has a serial NMEA output. Most of the newer ones support it. This allows you to record your positions and do the outdoor stuff directly on the handled, but also allows to use the handheld as a standard serial GPS receiver with your laptop. then you need two types of laptop software - one to deal directly with the handheld and fetch the data log etc, the other one for standard street navigation.
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Lutz

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Dave · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 7:13 pm Post subject:

As Lutz says, the main issue is going to be your budget, you will need to spend atleast double that to get a system based around a handheld GPS that would give you directions as well as regular gps waypoint to waypoint.

You could go the PDA route, but you'll probably looking to spend $400 just for the PDA although there are some cheaper ones. I would realistically be looking around the $400-600 for what you are requiring.

gpsnewbie · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 21, 2004 Posts: 2

OK, thanks for the replies.
Let’s scrap the idea of using the laptop for mapping purposes for now.
Is it still possible to get a handheld GPS, be able to use in a vehicle, and have the ability to upload and download wayward points, track between the points, tell me my current lat/long, have serial NEMA output, and be somewhere in the $200-300 price range?
I assume that wayward points are positions that I can enter in. I have the lat/long of the positions I need, I just wanted to be able to back them up in case something went wrong with the GPS.
My thinking is I can always add mapping software later if the GPS has serial NEMA output. I also assume that any handheld GPS will probably not have any support for county roads.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mick

lbendlin · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 1:35 am Post subject:

That should be a good start. Some of the Handheld GPS (but maybe not in that price range) can accept any kinds of maps, so you can define for yourself if you want the county roads in or not. Generally those handhelds don't do street navigation though - just topographical orientation.
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Dave · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:37 am Post subject:

With this sort of price range you could go for say a Garmin GPSMAP76 and load MapSource maps. It would show you the road you are on and the direction you are travelling if you loaded MapSource maps to it, but you wouldn't get any routing. It would give you an NMEA output and also the ability to set and navigate to waypoints and create tracks/routes. You could then connect it to a laptop later in-car and purchase some mapping software around £100 that would give you full navigation.

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