Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 21:48:45 -0500
Reply-To: Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: GPS software/receivers.
In-Reply-To: <6.0.3.0.0.20041031083414.03814af0@buncombe.main.nc.us>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I recently bought a Garmin PDA-based GPS that uses the Palm OS. It is
called the iQue 3600 and I bought it for a little more than $400. It is
quite awesome and has a really brightly backlit color screen. The only
things I would recommend with using this one is that you get a sd memory
card for it (or you won't be able to store enough maps for more than a
day trip) and buy a cheap invertor ($9 from www.computergeeks.com)
because the battery power only lasts an hour or two in GPS mode.
I love this unit because:
it is super compact, easy to hide after a day of use on the road,
it works very well and gives you voice directions so you don't have to
look at it while you drive (a no-no), and it has a really great listing
of businesses. Say you are traveling in a certain area and you really
feel like having some Kentucky Fried Chicken. You just look this
business name up in the PDA and it will bring all of them up in order of
the closest to your present location. Click on it and you will get a
set of directions taking you there. Also if you make a wrong turn with
this unit it instantly re-routes you so that you can get back on track
in the shortest amount of time.
Just wanted to share this with the list. I have an older Garmin GPS
with software if someone wanted it. I would sell it for $50 obo. It
uses a serial port connection and the reciever takes AAA batteries but
it has only been used for a few hours total. I find the hand held unit
much more convenient to use.
Just FYI.
Ken Wilford
www.vanagain.com
John 3:16
Edward Maglott wrote:
> I got the MS streets and trips 2005 GPS package recently on an excellent
> rebate deal for $50. It comes with the USB GPS module/receiver that
> seems
> to work well despite its tiny size. Definitely worth the money, but not
> great. I have been running it on a feeble old laptop that does not meet
> system requirements for the program. I am taking that into consideration
> in my evaluation of the product. It is pretty cool to be driving
> along and glance at the laptop and see the map with your highlighted
> location moving along. The drawbacks are those which I have seen in
> previous versions of streets and trips. Sometimes it puts you on roads
> that don't exist, or the roads are not where they show on the map. This
> has gotten better and better over the years since I first started
> using S&T
> back in 98. The other main drawback I see is that it doesn't seem to be
> able to correlate your location with the directions. So If I have a
> route
> planned and I am on direction that says stay on Main St. for 5 miles, It
> will show my location on the map for that direction, but the directions
> pane will not highlight the direction I am on, etc. It would be great if
> it could do that, and then you could see what the next direction will
> be. It would also be nice if it could track your time and update the
> time
> you will reach your destination as you go slower and faster or get
> lost. It does have a nice feature to recalculate directions to a
> location
> from your current gps location.
>
> Edward
>
> At 06:34 PM 10/24/2004, you wrote:
>
>> I'm in the market for a USB GPS receiver and software bundle for my
>> laptop..
>>
>> Anyone have any suggestions? I've been looking at Earthmate and the
>> Microsoft/Pharos models..
>>
>> Chris
>
>
