Portable GPS

[stig]

I'm after a GPS system for use on both my car and mike bike.

Current options are:

Garmin Streepilot III - about 850 quid - rugged, does the job with voice and all the toys

Compaq iPaq & iNS - about 850 quid - does everything a PDA does aswell, not v.rugged but more flexible

Handspring Visor & Magellan - 140 quid - already have a Visor so a cheap option, but how good?

Answers on a postcard, actually, better post them here - it's quicker

[plotloss]

I have the iPaq and navigation system, wouldnt have paid for it though!

I stuck it to the Chims windscreen and it left me with hardly any windscreen! The arm connected to the GPS unit is huge and gets in the way an awful lot.

If I could find a way to get an external aerial I'd get someone to wire it in properly as its a good bit of kit, just too big.

Matt.

[Stig]

What sort of battery life do you get or is it running from the in-car charger?

[plotloss]

For the 30 seconds of swearing that I did whilst it was in there the battery seemed fine, this is the longest I have had it running in the GPS jacket though. In the other jackets battery life seems fine but I have a charger at home and at the office so it never really runs down.

Matt.

[fatsteve]

I went for the NavMan 3000 system, works with the Ipaq and costs about £250, not sure how much an Ipaq on it's own would cost, £300?? (been a while since I bought mine).

Anyway, in short, It's the same hardware as iNS but different (not quite as good) software. You loose dynamic re-routing and postcode searching, but generally it's a good system.

Haven't managed to stick mine to the windscreen, so instead have to make do with it stuck to the drivers window which can get in the way when you're driving a but enthusiastically.

Checkout www.navman.co.uk

Don't really know much about Visor's except that they are Palm compatible so software like TomTom GPS will work www.tomtom.com

www.gps4fun.com/main_geodiscovery.html

Steve

[pbrettle]

quote:
If I could find a way to get an external aerial I'd get someone to wire it in properly as its a good bit of kit, just too big.

www.gpsw.co.uk/acatalog/GPS_Categories___GPSW_Antennas___Smart_Antennas___106.html

This link was from the NAVMAN site and it seems to recommend them for re-radiating external aerials. Check it out - doesnt explain much, but worth probably worth calling as GPSW (GPS Warehouse) do have a solution for cars such as the Laguna that prevent the signal getting through the windscreen.

Can be done.

Cheers,

Paul

[chaos]

I decided on the streetpilot 3 and so far have been pleased with it. I've only used it for one longish trip so far (London to Blackpool ), but it worked well.

The Garmin also comes with a non-slip bean bag type mounting plate thingy that clung to the dash of my current car (corrado) with no problem, don't know if it will work in the TVR as easily though.

Another site to look at is www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk

One last thing to note, although it's got the voice directions on this unit, how audible this will be in a TVR is anyone's guess suppose it depends what volume setting you have the loud pedal set to!

Jools

[pbrettle]

I have an Ipaq with the Navman 3000 and it works pretty well. Would say that it isnt perfect but works well enough for most circumstances. The smartpath city is excellent for accuracy, but the smartpath trip is a little vague (think this is the maps rather than the GPS). So you can look like you are driving across a field. Not that this is a problem as it is perfect for identifying almost exactly where you are and the direction you are travelling in.

So pretty unlikely to get lost with it, and if you do take a wrong turning then correcting this is very easy. Speed and performance is good too. Used mine for a 2000 mile trip to Italy and back and worked wonders - didnt get lost once. Even when the rather crap Italian road signs tried their best - though did take a couple of wrong turns but this is to be expected. But worked all the time, every time.

I dont use it every day as most times I know exactly where I am going - but on the times that I dont it is perfect. Also rather nice for long journeys as you can see what is coming up and how far you have left to go....

Would consider a full fit option for a car (but not the TVR) and have have 3 cars so it is the perfect solution even though it is slightly limited. Worth the money and pretty good. Colour is nice too.

Oh, and you do need to use the external power on it - it will eat through the battery in no time - so if it is in the TVR then you really do need an extension cord for the cigarette lighter socket (Maplins for reference).

Cheers,

Paul

[fatjoe]

Hi

I maybe a bit late for replying to this thread but anyway I already have a StreetPilot installed on the quick dash mount braket in my TVR. I got it from www.gpsx.co.uk It seems to work OK, but if your giving some welly theres no way you will here the directions, but there again when I need to listen I'm never going that fast.

Joe

[joust]

The Navman GPS3000 with new software (it's now called the NavMan GPS 3400 I think) is what I have. It's better than the Compaq one and about £200 squid cheaper.

I use it all the time in the Noble, Elise and Quattro - gets me around fine.

The "sucker arm" with the GPS3000 is a bit crap - you have to lick it to make it stay - but Memory Map do all sorts of mounts - you'll bound to find one that works - www.memory-map.co.uk/acatalog/pda_gps_accessories.html.

J