Fulham71

Looking to get my father one of these
Just wondered if anyone could reccomend a good PDA (not massively expensive but that will do the normal things & be Windows compatible) & a good version of navigation software to go with it ?
It will spend most of its time between 2 cars & be used more for satelite navigation that other functions !
Thanks
Paul

pbee

I used to run a Ipaq 3870. but this was rather slow and needed a jacket for cf memory cards. I have just upgraded to a Ipaq 2210 which has SD and CF inbuilt, I Paid About £240. And is a lot neater than a jacket solution. I Run TomTom Navigator 2 software.

I use a 1gb CF card which holds the majority of european maps, and the UK on a 128mb SD card.

I also bought one of these from Holland. I prefred the these to the arkon and brodit mounts as it looks like a phone kit solution very professional.

http://www.carcomm.nl/

and a proclip dash mount from here. to securely fix it to the dash.

www.handnav.co.uk

Its a swivel mount which plugs into the 12v power socket and has a serial lead to connect to a gps, I use it to attach to my Road Angel.


There are lots of solutions out there, if you are moving it between cars you may want to look at cf gps cards or bluetooth gps devices to save on cables. But buy a proper mount for each car, ive used cheap vent mounts and they are more pain than anything espicially when you consider you have a few hundred pounds worth of equipment dangling off the dash.

with a jacket solution look at the brodit mounts on handnav as carcomm are moulded for just the pda.

for great product reviews look at www.pocketgpsworld.co.uk.


mail me if you have any questions I have now done 4 different solutions, for parents friends ect each different dependant on what they wanted it for.

gregh

seems to be good prices on 2210s around at the moment, check expansys.com and www.pocketgps.co.uk for product reviews.

Luan Pra bang

look here http://www.expansys.com/d_gps.asp
and www.scan.co.uk for cheaper memory cars 2.2 gig CF card for 120quid.
I would consider one SD car and one CF card or use a 5 gig PCMCIA card hard drive if you want to play MP3's or store data as well.

Fulham71

thanks guys for the info !
I was hoping to just buy a package product that had it all but seems like thats an unlikely option !

thanks again
Paul

mattstant

Dell axim are the dogs danglies for price and spec at the moment and they gat universal thumbs up from all the mags.
Id buy one myself if i hadnt already gone down the palm pilot route years ago.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...=uk&l=en&s=dhs

mattstant

That pocket gps site is very impressive looks like they havethe perfect deal for Fulham here http://www.pdamods.com/default.asp?PARTNER=GOOGLE

Fulham71

thanks mate I shall take a gander !

sillysi

Have a look at TotalPda. They have plenty of kits available.

carl

I'm also looking for something like this. But as well as being able to integrate with the car, I'd like to be able to carry the PDA+GPS around. I also like the look of the TomTom software. I was thinking of something like the IPaq2210 + CF GPS + TomTom s/w, but sticking the GPS receiver in the CF slot negates the possibility of putting a huge CF memory card in there, doesn't it?

sillysi

Why not just get a Bluetooth receiver, velcro it to your coat and away you go.

carl

A bluetooth receiver is just another device that's going to run out of charge...

sillysi

How about a Bluetooth receiver with swappable reachargable batteries? Other than some sort of solar powered option you are always going to have the problem of powering the devices.

Luan Pra bang

Has any one seen any reasonably priced gps software. I have all the right hardware but can't bring myself to pay over a hundred quid for tomtom 2 ?

V5

I've just ordered an iPAQ 2210 which, IMHO, is the best bit of kit out there atm. The fact that it has both SD and CF slots gives so much flexibility. I bought mine at the weekend from Ebuyer where they are down to £221 inc VAT now. (There are other sites offering similar pirces, I just like Ebuyer.) I also bought a 256MB SD card - plenty of room for other stuff - the UK maps take up approx 100MB. Oh, and a CF WiFi card for only £27 inc VAT!!! (So no need to buy a more expensive iPAQ to get WiFi enabled.

One of the main reasons for going the above route (and explaining it now) is that I will be turning it into a SATNAV solution later in the year (when funds allow ) I will get a Haicom303E CF GPS card that can also be used as a GPS mouse. This, to me, gives excellent flexibility. All you need is to get some of the topographical GPS software and you can use it when hiking etc, as well as in the car.

Hope that (fecking essay ) is of some use!

Iain

rik1471

This looks good value:

http://www.handnav.co.uk/html/more.p...mm338-package1

Rik.

rik1471

I'd not recommend the TomTom provided bluetooth GPS. 3 seperate devices have become faulty, and WTF is the two red leds all about. It tells you in the book when they light up to leave it for 12 hours and allow the batery to completely discharge. It was doing it every other day!