Anyone here have PDA GPS (TomTom3, etc)?

[Jim 1]

Hi all...

 

I've been looking into PDA based GPS systems as it seems a great way to get reliable entry level GPS for around the £400 mark.. does anyone on here have such a setup in their car, and how have they found it?

 

You can buy all in one kits, but I also priced up seperate bits on eBay which would do the job :

 

Dell Axim X5 : £139.99 (Buy It Now Price)

TomTom3 Kit : £139.99 (Buy It Now Price)

TomTom3 Mounting / Accessory Kit : £45.95 (Buy It Now Price)

256MB SD Card : £31.99 (Buy It Now Price)

 

So for around £360 you can be up and running! It seems like a good deal...

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

I run TomTom 2 on my ipaq 3630.

Its a great system :)

 

Yeah, go for it pal.

Everyone's dead jealous you get full voice touch-screen satnav for £400, then you can take it from car-to-car too.

 

C'est tres handy!

[Jim 1]

Hm.. i'll do a bit of investigation into it this month.

 

I am going to drive and visit my parents in a few weeks time at their caravan up in Hunstanton on the east coast and I am a bit paranoid about getting lost.. i've sorted out the AA cover so just the route finding to take care of. Plenty of deals on eBay at the minute so i'll just keep my eyes peeled :)

[RadoAds 0]

A couple of mates use tomtom3 on the ipaq, they love em, they just download the latest maps and software from the newsgroups as i believe the retail stuff is very expensive

[Jim 1]

Ahem.

 

Not that we condone such things around here.

 

:)

[dazzyvr6 0]

A couple of mates use tomtom3 on the ipaq, they love em, they just download the latest maps and software from the newsgroups as i believe the retail stuff is very expensive

 

 

what newsgroups would that be then??i need to get mine updated

[Henny 0]

yeah, my mate runs it on his Ipaq clone... I'm very impressed with it... 8)

 

on a slightly off topic theme, does anyone know any good LAPTOP software to do the same as this? I really like TomTom, and have GPS in my car for the tracker which I'm going to interface into a broken laptop in the boot which'll be linked into my TV system, but I don't know of any good Tomtom style software which'll run on a full PC processor... :|

[Supercharged 2]

I'm also interested in this, I've almost decided to go for the TomTom as it seems to be regarded as the best on the market fro the price but I also need a PDA as my Sony Clie is way too old...

 

I was fairly impressed with my friends new HP iPaq the other day, seems very good in terms of build quality alto I wouldn't mind another Sony but not sure if the software can be got or is as good??

 

I've not looked at at Axim but I won't be buying Dell on the principal that the build quality of both there laptops and desktop PC's seems to get worse everytime they bring out a new model!

[Storm 0]

won't be buying Dell on the principal that the build quality of both there laptops and desktop PC's seems to get worse everytime they bring out a new model!

I think differentley - Dell rules the world and slaughters HP in all reliability surveys. Most of the rap that Dell gets comes from resellers who constantley slate Dell because they are a Direct company and not reseller-centric. :D

 

My Axim is built like a tank and is the latest X30, check the reviews and the price.

 

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/spotlights/s ... 676,00.htm

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/han ... 558,00.htm

[Scott 0]

I agree - on all the contracts I have won over the last 2-3 yrs every corporate company uses DELL and thats cos for reliability and value there is nothing better...

 

I run a DELL Axim X5 with Tom Tom 3... the Axim X3 is also good if smaller and more compact.

 

Great piece of kit! - I transfer it from my Pug to the Corrado all the time - 2 min job...

 

Where can I get these newsgroups then? :lol: - I paid retail for my software inc full maps (£96)

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[yalan 0]

yup - I've been running tomtom 2 BT since december and think it's a fappin marvelous for the price.

only down side is that unlike my old Alpine system - you can't add in waypoints to take a specific route.

 

have heard quite a few people complain about bluetooth recievers though. If I hads the choice again would probably go for a wired antenna. Check out pocketgps.co.uk ......... forums for all brands ........

 

http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/modules.php? ... a60ff1e1d9

- and BT seems to cock up on quite a few (40% !)

[Jim 1]

I ended up being a cheapass and went for an AA roadmap instead ;)

 

I've got a charger rebuild looming and alloy wheels that need refurbing.. I decided that whilst this is one of the 'gadgets of the moment' I couldn't really bring myself to do it after all so. Maybe another time. Thanks for the feedback on this though :D

[yalan 0]

navigate to ...... kew gardens. bosh ..... done!

navigate to ........ santa pod. bosh.......... done!

navigate to nearest cash point . bosh.......done!

tell me when the ba*tard gatsos are coming up ....... bling blong - 'SLOW DOWN'

 

sold all my other gadgets (fast car - expensive stereo etc) just don't think i could go back to paper maps now!

[Gman 0]

The Navman is quite good. It works nice and the GPS is a sleave for the old style IPAQ. looks the biz in the car.

 

G

[Henny 0]

So, does ANYONE know of any decent GPS software for a laptop? :?

 

Got the hardware all ready to go, just need some decent easy to use software (preferably with camera warnings! ;) )

[coolrado 0]

microsoft autoroute can be used with gps as full navigation i have autoroute 2001 on mine but no gps antenna

 

i have heard that the newer versions of autoroute have a few problems (not showing new roads like the m6toll)

 

but apart from that its quite good

[jedi-knight83 0]

i have the ipaq 2210 and the tomtom 3 kit. i was selling a load a few months back for about £380 all in.....though if you look around you can probably get them for £300-£350.

 

its a fantastic kit and irons out all the problems i had with my ipaq 3630 and navman jacket!!

 

i have mine nicely installed in my car....wired all hidden behind the dash etc etc... works great.

[Scott 0]

I have a mate who runs the IPAQ with the navman jacket and he cant believe my Tom Tom 3 system can pick up the satellites in less than 60 secs... his Navman takes ages!!! :lol:

[jedi-knight83 0]

yeah was the same with my old navman set....the new tomtom 3 one does it instantly

[Yandards 0]

My brother runs the tomtom 3 system its very good but I did notice a few problems with it as opposed to a head unit based system.

 

The road info was not the most up to date and he is using the latest map update it just seems that the new stuff has been left off.

 

The GPS accuracy drifted a few times and it wasnt until we were past the junction that it was clear that that was the one you needed to take - bit of a pain in cities.

 

The speaker on his Ipaq 5550 was not loud enough to hear at motorway speeds but that was with the windows up - I would recommend you get an extra speaker hooked up, this also makes it difficult to listen to tunes/radio.

 

You are going to need to plug a GPRS phone in if you want traffic info and then bluetooth it to the PDA - you will also need to provide power to the PDA from the cigi lighter - this means you can't charge your phone if you are using it for GPRS.

 

Route recalculation was not the most rapid and the 5550 is still one of the fastest PDA's on the market by a good margin.

 

The POI (Points of Interest) plug ins are great - especially the GATSO one - both fixed and mobile cameras + two warnings but it cant tell you which way round the camera is facing.

 

Overall I was very impressed with the system but for me the lack of integration with your current head unit cause some minor niggles but for the price of the system it is very good value for money; if you wanna go all silly with your sat nav you can always order one of these

 

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_det ... _id=25-112

 

I just have and will let you know how I get on with it.

 

Cheers,

Yan

[biggrim 0]

there is a new Navman pda-stylee one just come into halfords. It's £399.99 and looks much better than the £349.99 medion palmtop pc thing. Had a customer in today looking at it and was well impressed with it. No external gps unit, all in one so less wires and less hassle.