IPAQ and GPS

[GUMBALL]

Hi Guys,

I am planning on buying an IPAQ and a GPS (TOMTOM??) in the near future, but am somewhat confused by what is available on the market.

I want to use it for business use mostly, so need Word, Excel and Outlook for contacts diary etc, but also require a "Sat Nav" system - I would like to keep the amount of wires on this to a minimum (but don't necessarily want to pay a fortune just to lose one or two wires!). One of my colleagues has just bought one with wires everywhere and says he doesn't know how he got by without it in the past.

I will probably buy one on ebay or from the USA, but need to decide which is best for me.

I would also like to be able to use it in the USA later this year.

Anyone here got/use one and any recommendations???

Thanks guys

GUMBALL

[GUMBALL]

Seems like a good deal???

What do you think??

Or am I looking too high up the range?

http://www.totalpda.co.uk/TomTom-Blu...iPAQ-5550.aspx

GUMBALL

[alastaid]

Gumball,

I am a convert, but slightly lucky in that I get an Ipaq with work. I have Tom Tom 3.0 with the Tom Tom bluetooth GPS, which I did pay a bit extra for the bluetooth but it means I can use it walking (when I get a chance).

Basically I would not be without it, it is fantastic, better still if you get the Tom Tom 3.0 UK version they give you a main roads of europe map. I made a bracket to the Cobra and took it to Le Mans this June and had what has to be the best drive in the cobra. I was leading a convoy of 6 cars through the back roads of France for about 300 miles, we never weant near a payage, and the tiny roads it had details of was unbeleivable. I am a complete convert to driving in France now, as before I always got lost and frustrated as there were no signposts and directions could be a liitle misleading at times.

You can also get PDA's that are also phones as well, which have GPRS so you do all your email etc

http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=108654

still a bit pricey but some of the guys swear by it. You can you run Tom Tom on these as well, get a bluetooth headset and you can really be Captain Scarlet

Hope this helps

Cheers


Alastair

[Marcus-AK]

I just upgraded my aging ipaq/CF GPS unit with a new iPAQ 1940 + TT Bluetooth all from ebay. All brand new, I think I got the receiver (matchbox size) for about £90 and the ipaq for £176. You will need a memory card (128MB min) to store the maps on (again ebay). I already had the software (lets face it, you can get it free if you really want to). You can get car mounts and the like for about £20. You probably wont need an in car charger as the GPS BT device last a long while and the ipaq does too....

Get yourself some free GPS POI software (such as checkpoint) from www.pocketgps.co.uk and then download the speed camera overlays. You have yourself a speedtrap detector, full GPS mapping, personal organiser all for the sum of £290 or the like... If you are really serious you can get any maps for anywhere in the world for next to nowt.

The bluetooth solution really is the one to go for. The satelite lock times are fantastic ! Literally switch it on and away you go ! I much prefer the ipaq solution rather than something like a Garmin because you can load so much more different overlay detection software/POI files etc...

Tomtom really is good software. They seem to update it quite a bit too. The routing has never let me down.

Marcus

[Paul B]

Great question, however, what about the variety of PDA's available ??

I am completely baffled and, like Gumball, want something to do the job but not to go to the moon !

From what has already been said then, we need a PDA with a minimum of 128Mb, Sat Nav software, a GPS receiver, bracketry, in-car charger. Anything else ?

Thanks for the advice.

Paul B

[Marcus-AK]

Yep there are a number of PDA's available, some faster than others. Even the slowest colour one (ipaq 1940 I think) is still ultrafast in my opinion (for running GPS etc). Dell do them and so do a few other companies. Bottom line is they will all run PocketPC 200x which is the OS needed for the TOMTOM software. To be honest, the ipaq 1940 for £180 is cracking value for money. As long as the unit has bluetooth, then you are good to go. It also needs some kind of memory slot as the built in memory wont be large enough to hold the maps.

TomTom maps come in different sizes. You can have two halves of the uk for 64MB each, or load up the whole lot (street level) for just under 128MB.

One of the latest types of memory slot/card that comes in the ipaqs are 'SD' (secure digital). The memory cards are quite inexpensive.

Everything you mentioned that you need is correct, PDA, Bluetooth GPS unit, 128MB mem card, mount (I wouldnt bother with the charger to be honest)

[Kevin W]

I've got an Hp Ipaq 2210 (but no GPS). Total convert, it completely runs my life now. I boiught mine at Dixons after returning the cheaper 1920 (or was it 1940) model. Managed to haggle on price as CarPhone warehouse were selling them cheaper, and Dixons will beat other high street vendors + 10%. I specfically wanted CF as well as SDIO sockets so I coukld plug in a VGA card for presentations.

Mine was an impulse buy, if buying again I would give serious consideration to the Dell Axim range, as they are quite a bit cheaper than Hp. But no real grumbles with the Hp - has fallen out my top pocket several times onto hard floors and no damage.

Kevin

[Kevin W]

Marcus, look on the net for SD memory prices - got mine (Pretec 128MB) from a camera site, its fine. You often loose a bit due to poor SD specs (my max capacity is 121MB instead of 128MB). If I;d payed hp prices perhaps I'de have the full 128MB, but Hp SD was 2-3 times the Pretec price I paid! HTH Kevin

[GUMBALL]

I have narrowed down my search (I think!) to 3 possible models....

H2210,H4150 & H5550

They are all the same speed and I don't need the added security of fingerprint ID, but the H2210 doesn't have WiFi (what is wifi?????).

I was looking at buying this...

http://www.totalpda.co.uk/TomTom-Blu...m-Car-Kit.aspx

and a 256MB SD card

Any thoughts???

What is the difference with the above models??

Would I be better off with this...

http://www.totalpda.co.uk/TomTom-Blu...iPAQ-4150.aspx

If I just use a big memory card, is that going to be the same as having a big internal memory - Ill be using outlook and GPS mostly at first I would imagine and could do without changing cards etc....???

Please help - I'm lost!!!!

GUMBALL

[GUMBALL]

OK

Swaying towards the H4150.

Anyone got one??

What do you think of it??

GUMBALL