Compact Flash GPS

[martynwhiteley]

Good news and bad news. The numbers didn't come up on Wed night, so the Azimut 55 will be on hold for a while yet. The good news is that I was GIVEN a Dell Axim PDA, by a collegue who found it too frustrating!

I'm pleased it has both CF and SD slots, 'cos that suits both my Digi-cameras, and unlike a Sharp pda I tried some months ago, It shows the photo's straight off the card in a very viewable status. I've longed ages for a way of viewing the photos whilst mobile, on something bigger that 1.6 inches, but without having to lug the laptop. Seems I've found it at last!

However, it's got me thinking about those CF GPS cards youn see cheap on e-bay etc.

Has anyone used one to good effect? Or for that matter, has anyone managed to commission a GPS mapping system on a Dell Axim?

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[qsiv]

Does it have bluetooth? If so the Bluetooth GPS systems have been getting good reviews.

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[martynwhiteley]

It does have Bluetooth.

However having spent many hours trying to configure Nokia 7650 and 6310 phones to talk Bluetooth to my laptop, I've yet to be convinced. Although I suspect it's more due to the infancy of the Nokia bluetooth drivers.



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[qsiv]

I gave up with Nokia Bluetooth, and moved to Ericsson, and have never had a problem since then (apart from some early TDK/USB bluetooth driver issues). I find it hard to understand Nokia building a bluetooth phone, that doesnt support a headset. Crass.

I've had a combination of car kit, headset, gprs phone, computer and PDA all working well using a T68i as the phone, Sony Vaio laptop, Compaq Ipaq, Ericsson headset and BMW and parrot car kits.

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[martynwhiteley]

Wow you deserve a medal getting all that working. It took our IT dept expert 3 days to even get my Nokia phone to talk IrDa to my Compaq laptop, after even he (an expert PLC programer) had to admit defeat with the Bluey.

Having just found a CF GPS system, correct for the Axim apparently, c/w Autoroute 2002, for £99 on the net, I've decided to take the plunge and order one. It may even arrive tomorrow!

I'm yearning after a colour chart plotter, but my hand helg Garmin Legend has good mono mapping (albiet on a small screen), so I would find it hard to justify spending £600 ish, just for the boat since most of my cruising is estuary/river.

With a soft top, and no full time security at the marina, one would have to make sure anything GPS ish was always removed when the boat was left. So I'm sure hand helds are still the best option.


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[qsiv]

Well I may not have the skills and perseverance of your guys (but IT and software is my business) - but I gave up with the Nokia's - just couldnt get Nokia bluetooth to work at any price!

Intriguingly more people seem to be looking at Bluetooth - I believe Bang & Olufsen are looking at 'wireless' speakers (well only a mains cord), transmitting digitally to the speakers, and doing the A/D conversion right at the point of delivery. Add to that bluetooth (rather than IR) controllers and also room to room without link cables and it will be much easier to install. Room to room video apparently defeats the bandwidth of Bluetooth...

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[Elessar]

I've just bought a TomTom bluetooth GPS.
It is proving to be fantastic - far exceeding expectation.
Setup was a cinch.
It comes with road software that routeplans, and is better, faster and more accurate than the one built into my car.
So far I've only used lat/long and speed on the boat, and I'm deciding which plotter software to buy. I'm trying memory map navigator - I want to be able to use OS maps too on the river. I know i've only got a choice of two ways but it's nice to see how far you are from the pub. There was a test on PDA software in PBO a couple of months back - I left the copy on the boat so I'll read it tomorrow.
The GPS unit itself is smaller than a fag packet, comes with cigarette lighter and permenant wiring adaptors, a mains charger and the battery will last 6 hours.
Only snag is one mounting option is a built in magnet, so keep it away from your compass.
In a condom it would be fine outside the boat, but isn't waterproof. There's an external ariel socket but seems to work pefectly from inside the windscreen.
If you want a GPS to work with a PDA, I'd really recomend this.

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[martynwhiteley]

Thanks for the reply, shame I missed the PBO.

It's all about prices at the end of the day, I did look at TomTom, but that was pushing £250, and over £300 (inc.vat I think) for the bluey.

The problem then is that your into colour hand held mapping gps territory (Magellan) at that price, and not a lot more for a dedicted marine chart plotter.

I've always been one to go for the separate washer and dryer, not the combination, the same for central heating/water heaters, not combi.

In my view you pay the same price for the combined appliance as the cost of the two individual units, and in most cases your better of with two.

I'd rather spend the extra £200 on a dedicated fixed gps for the boat, than just perhaps a better system for the pda.

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[Elessar]

You can get it for 211 plus VAT without the road software or 269 plus VAT with it. It is a washer drier, but I find the dry cycle handy in hire cars, other people's cars etc. as well as for cycling, walking.
A dedicated one is better when you're in the boat though, I don't doubt. This would make a supurb backup that's useful elsewhere, but I use it as a jack of all trades. Let's see if i've got both by this time next year.
http://www.totalpda.co.uk/productlist.asp?section=20 has good prices and found tottenham court road shops will match.

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