gps

[doogie]

im thinking of getting a gps system which should i get adn what sort of price am i looking at ?

why do i need an ipaq and a sat nav kit does the one thing not do the lot ??

all advice needed ta.

[da SLUG man]

im thinking of getting a gps system which should i get adn what sort of price am i looking at ?

why do i need an ipaq and a sat nav kit does the one thing not do the lot ??

all advice needed ta.

ipaq is an electronic organiser (palm top pc/pocket pc)
you need a gps reciever and software for it to work.

packages like the "tom tom go" are stand alone sat nav but the ipaq type are able to be used for other stuff too!

[Danno]

Depends on what you want to do with it. I use an Ipaq that uses software called Memory Map. Basically OS Maps for offroading. You can also buy the road nav software to use with an IPAQ. Not 100% sure, but 99% Dedicated in car sat nav kit, wont give you the choice of software to use. You're stuck with road biased navigation.

I'd personally go for the Ipaq route. Get a second hand one to keep costs down, but make sure it has a mediacard slot so you can fit lots of maps on it. That way, you get the best of both worlds. My set up cost me nowt for the Ipaq (it was knackered when I acquired it!) and £150 for the GPS reciever and cradle. Ten minutes to set up. And its removeable.

[doogie]

Depends on what you want to do with it. I use an Ipaq that uses software called Memory Map. Basically OS Maps for offroading. You can also buy the road nav software to use with an IPAQ. Not 100% sure, but 99% Dedicated in car sat nav kit, wont give you the choice of software to use.

i would want to use it for both on and off road so as you described above sounds best.

is it easy to switch it from vehicle to vehicle as i drive two vehicles and would want to do that ?

[Danno]

Yeah, its a magnet mounted GPS receiver and a suction cup cradle. Takes all of 2 mins. Just plugs in to cigareete lighter. I'll post some more details for you tomorrow. I swear by mine. Its great! Lol!

[Danno]

Here you go, this is what I use

Receiver - HERE

Cradle - HERE

Software - HERE

For the software you can either get the full UK coverage version or just buy the region that you are in. For road biased software then have a search on the net. Or look at the same site as the receiver and cradle.

Hope this answers your Q's

Dan

[Malenibo]

I got my road based Tom Tom software off e-bay. Although a copy it works fine and is a lot cheaper than £170 for the original. It cost me £10 including postage. Also got the Europe map software the same way and it is absolutely fantastic at navigating around Paris. Even my wife has admitted that the Sat Nav is a useful addition to the car. We have christened it DORIS as the female voice sort of gives you that impression.

I also got the Ipaq secondhand from e-bay plus the GPS receiver

[codlord]

I got details of my iPaq-based system here:
http://www.showmesome.info/hilux/workshop/gps.htm

Very handy for multiple vehicles as it is self-contained.

Although I now use TomTom navigator software for on-road.

[Danno]

I was thinking of a navman jacket, but wasnt sure about the reception as its an internal receiver. Read Codlords site and it would seem to be ok. I have mine on the roof when I'm using it so I dont get any signal drop outs, unless I'm parked on the drive for some reason.

[codlord]

I don't get that many dropouts but it sometimes seems a bit random - sometimes I can use it within a couple of minutes and hours on a journey without any probs, other times it does seem to struggle to get a signal and can sometimes dropout.

Another issue with internal ones is that some cars have some sort of coating on the windscreen which reflects GPS signals (I think a lot of newer Renaults have it) - when I was in Spain the only way I could use it in the hire car was to have my passenger hold it up against the side window!! Obviously not ideal!

Although the sleeve is convinient, all-in-all an external one would be better.