a while ago, i gave my wife a pocket PC Dell Axim v51v w/ Windows Mobile 5.0 and a gig SD card.

her job has recently changed, and she's going to be doing more travelling. she'll likely benefit from a GPS unit, and i was planning to get her set up w/ one on her Axim.

anyone have experience w/ Pocket PC based GPS units? recommendations? thoughts? comments? i'm looking for a good bang for buck setup here. i don't really need mounting, etc., as i can deal with that myself. i'm mainly looking for a good receiver and software. if possible, something that will work well on or with a laptop as well.

it'll have to be pretty easy to use... she's pretty good w/ tech stuff, but has to focus when dealing with it... i don't want her "focusing" when she's driving..

 

I used my AXIM with GPS software and was quite happy with it. The mount I had wasnt S2000 friendly, but it would work well in other cars.

I had OSTIA, then switched to mapopolis. Worked well. Was accurate to about 5-10 feet.

Let me know if you need help with equipment. I went through quite a bit of it before I found out what I was really looking for, so I can tell you what to avoid.

I would go with mapopolis for software.

 

I use TomTom 5 on my SX66 PPC Phone with a generic BT GPS receiver. I'm fairly happy with the whole "converged" setup... though I've run into a few bugs with TomTom... which is could be remedied with faster processor in the PDA.

The TomTom interface is pretty decent, has no problems with addresses/POI and it has turn-by-turn voice directions. The typical interface is a "3D" type real-time map, you can also view the route on a traditional 2D map, or via text directions. Allows you to store a "Home" and waypoints/destinations. I'll try to get a few pics up...

The BT receiver is great. No problems pairing with the SX66 or Laptop. This is a 3 year old unit, and doesn't lock onto the satellites as fast as the new SiRFIII chipset. The delay is usally ~30 seconds... depending on the situation. No problems interfacing with TomTom... haven't done anything in depth with my laptop, but used it for tracking AP coordinates while evaluating perimeter coverage of a customer's WLAN.

Here's a site with more information about GPS recievers:
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/f...sp?FORUM_ID=50
[Take a look at the sticky for the Axim]

Here's a link to a few BT GPS Receivers:
http://www.globalsat.com.tw/english/produc...n_id=20&p_id=74
http://www.globalsat.com.tw/english/produc..._id=20&p_id=167
[The BT-338 is probably the most common, and the BT-359 hasn't been released]


Pics of the two GlobalSat BT recievers listed above:
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=46708


Hope this helps... at least it'll help you research and educate. Let me know if you have any questions, I'll try to answer as best I can.
Ken

 

Go to aximsite.com and go to the GPS part of the forums and read about it. If you could hold out for a few months, most software will be updating to the newer maps.

I use Oncourse and it's alright (a new version is supposed to be out soon). There are plenty of choice.

 

thanks all...

gonna check out some of the linkage and info. i'm definitely not in a mood for experimenting - i need this to work out of the box.

 

I was going to go with the PDA and GPS setup, but it was just a hastle with connecting to the bluetooth receiver and the PDA. Plus, the software was expensive.

With the money I was going to spend of the software and bluetooth receiver, I opted for a TomTom 300 off ebay.

I'm planning to do a hard wire mount to the igition.

 

I use a Dell Axim X50 with a BT GPS receiver and Mapopolis

Link for the GPS receiver: http://www.deluoelectronics.com/customer/p...hp?productid=52

 

thanks for the continuing input... i'll be honest w/ you -- i'm reading, but not as fast as you guys are posting.

keep it coming though, as i will eventually catch up.

 

I use an Axim X50V, the predecessor to the x51v. My GPS is a Pharos GPS-360 that fits into a BT mount. I'm using a variety of software, but the main navigation software I use is iGuidance which works very well. My wife can use the Axim with iGuidance, if that says anything... One of the things that I really like about it is that its re-routing is very fast. Make a wrong turn, make a stop somewhere, and virtually instantly it re-routes to your destination.

You should be fine with almost any Bluetooth GPS. Don't make my mistake and start out with a CF GPS, then upgrade to BT later--definitely get a BT GPS directly and keep the SD and CF slots available for other stuff. There is no substitute for the wireless connection and you might as well take advantage of the built-in Bluetooth. If you are buying new, you might as well go with the newest GPS chipset as well, though you probably don't need it for navigation (most nav software "snaps-to" streets so actual GPS resolution is not that critical). The newer chipsets offer better sensitivity (detect more satellites simultaneously), faster fixes, etc.

Definitely read up on Aximsite (in the forums) regarding WM5 and any Bluetooth issues/fixes you might need to deal with on the PDA itself. Seems like there were some issues with the Bluetooth stack when WM5 first came out.

You will find an overwhelming amount of information at Aximsite. This is good, because it means there is a huge user base. Maybe focus on recommendations for the X51V with its WM5 operating system. You might find some software is recommended generically based on maps, look and feel, routing, etc., but whatever you get make sure it runs fine on your device with your OS.

I have been using an SD card as a semi-permanent storage device. You can get 4GB SD cards for around $100 now. I have almost all of my applications, ebooks, etc., on a 4GB card, plus maps for the entire country with room to spare. This leaves the CF slot available for music, movies, etc. and any other devices I might want to add.

 

i have a dell axim


had the pharos, didnt like it.

now i have garmins bt system. love it! i can be in the middle of no where, get a craving for chinese, and it will tell me the closest spot, including a phone number to call and place on order! great points of interests...