What PDA ?

[jvaughan]

Guys, im looking for a PDA. Want to get one that is expandable .. would like toget GOS and a moving map too so save carrying around a handheld GPS. Also want to beable to use it as a PDA .. ie documents / planner / calender / portable web surfing appliance etc. etc.
Have seen a few cars with PDA's stuck to the windscreens (I assume this is the GPS module)
Also accessing the internet is vital. Will it use Bluetooth and link with my phone or does it take a SIM ?

any recommendations ? .. Looking to spend about £400 on the basic unit

[ultimasimon]

How mad is that? I have just bought the new Navtalk yesterday along with my mate on here, 911Scott. If you want a PDA, a decent phone, AND a GPS system which talks, I can strongly recomend the Garmin Navtalk. It also gives you voice commands for directions and you can buy a hands free kit as well.

After spending over £2k for my last Alpine sat/nav in the car which was not transportable, this thing is a technological break through.

Also if you want to meet your mate somewhere you just send him a text message and it attaches the way point, and the phone literally talks you to him turn bu turn... How cool is that? Ideal for car meets.

Details are here: www.garmin.com/products/navTalkGSM/

We bought ours for a grand for the pair of em through Scott's company, although you can buy them at Maplin Electronics for £600 each. They are on back order everywhere though, so expect to wait a week or so.

This is the best James Bond toy I have ever had

[kdd]

Compaq IPAQ's are nice units, and I believe you should be able to get one for ~£400. You can get expansion jackets for GPS, or alternativly plug in an external GPS receiver. TomTom do a couple of products for moving map/route planning at both the city->city and streetmap level. Their products can include car mountable GPS receivers, if you didn't go for the jacket, or separate unit.

Hope this helps (and isn't too vague!!)

Cheers,

Karl

[srider]

kdd said:

Compaq IPAQ's are nice units, and I believe you should be able to get one for ~£400. You can get expansion jackets for GPS, or alternativly plug in an external GPS receiver. TomTom do a couple of products for moving map/route planning at both the city->city and streetmap level. Their products can include car mountable GPS receivers, if you didn't go for the jacket, or separate unit. Hope this helps (and isn't too vague!!) Cheers, Karl

I can second this. I'm using an iPaq, and tomtom navigator 2. Route planning works well, and it's a great pda.

www.pocketpcthoughts.com is a good source of info.

[Hates_]

Interestingly enough I currently have a casio PocketPC but I've decided to move to the PalmOS Clie SJ33. Dunno, I just find the PocketPC complete overkill for anything. I mean yeah GPS is nice and all, I've just never found that I could comfortably carry around any of the PocketPC's while doing day to day stuff. But each to their needs I suppose

[Chrisgr31]

I have a Compaq Ipaq and its possibly the worlds most expensive diary and address book!

The screen is too small for spreadsheets, not used it for GPS, personally I use a UK atlas which cost £5.99 and get a print out from Multi-map for local streets. Can do a lot of them for the saving on a GPS unit!

Really ought to investigate more of its features but it a question of time. Anyone know any courses one can go on to have lessons in all this hi-tech stuff and getting it all compatiable?

[jvaughan]

Yjamls guys. I do a lot of offroading, and also occasionally some offshore boating. I think a GPS would be the most beneficial. (I have seen people "Lost" on Salisbury plain for hours. I usually have a compass and an "escape bearing", but GPS navigation is, so im told the way to go.
Would be nice to have some PC functionality.. the ability to surf the web and say access POP3 email / Telnet / Terminal Connet to devices etc.

I think im sold.. its an Ipac thing....

cheers for the feedback

[Andy M]

I bought a top of the range Ipaq (I think it was a 3870) about a year ago and never used it - total waste of money!

So my advice is, make sure you'll definitely use it before you buy it.

I think I gave mine away in the end...

[Digga]

I bought the bog standard Palm about 18 months ago, just to see how I got on with using a PDA and I've been very pleased with it. I'm now looking to upgrade, so this topic is very interesting.

IMHO, if you're going to lug a PDA around with you, it might as well double-up as 'phone and GPS unit. So I'll be checking Ultimasimon's Garmin link straight away.

I've never used a handheld GPS for hillwalking etc. but my day to day car has Satnav and if, like Chrisgr31, you've never used in-car Satnav, you cannnot believe how much stress and effort it can take out of journeys. Clearly, you're not benefitting on your regular journeys but anytime - wjether work or leisure - you have to find anywhere for the first time, it's fantastically easy and I can't reccomend it highly enough.

[Hates_]

Digga said:

I bought the bog standard Palm about 18 months ago, just to see how I got on with using a PDA and I've been very pleased with it. I'm now looking to upgrade, so this topic is very interesting.

I upgraded to a PocketPC from a Palm. TBH worst mistake and biggest waste of £400 quid ever. Because of the size and pain of trying to do anything without having to fork out over the odds for software meant it's pretty much gone unused. Can't wait to move back to the palm. Now that most have a colour screen I'm even happier about the move back.

[Digga]

Hates_ said:

I upgraded to a PocketPC from a Palm. TBH worst mistake and biggest waste of £400 quid ever. Because of the size and pain of trying to do anything without having to fork out over the odds for software meant it's pretty much gone unused

Sorry to hear that, but I suppose at least it vindicates my 'toe in the water' approach in spending 90 quid rather than 400.

I do wonder quite how useful, for example, the spreadsheet functions are on PDAs when their screens are so small. I've looked at the XDA - a reasonable stab at PDA/Phone - and the screen looks too small to be of much use on spreadsheets or Word documents, and even the latest Palm looks only marginally better.

I'm now thinking that it's perhaps unrealistic to actually work on this sort of document on a PDA and that the best you can hope for is perhaps the Garmin's combination of phone/pda/gps functions.

[Hates_]

Digga said:

I'm now thinking that it's perhaps unrealistic to actually work on this sort of document on a PDA and that the best you can hope for is perhaps the Garmin's combination of phone/pda/gps functions.

I find trying to do any type of work on a pda impossible. Trying to write/edit documents just becomes tedious when not being able to input stuff as fast as you could with a keyboard (hence why I got a laptop). There are a few progs like JLandscape which do increase the resolution of the PocketPC by cheating and doubling the pixels, it does actually work really well. And the screen can be flipped so that the PDA is used sideways giving you a wider display.

TBH I think the pda/phone hybrids are even worse. If you think about how much a normal mobile phone handset costs (and I dont mean the subsidised price you see in shops) and the price of a good PDA. I don't see how you can get a product of any quality for the price they offer the hybrids at. But I'm not saying they are useless. I really am just speaking my opionion.

What doesn't work for me, maybe perfect for you. I just want something to store numbers, dates, notes, tasks and maybe play some games to pass the time when I'm bored.

>> Edited by Hates_ on Monday 30th June 11:02

[The_Gza]

I was looking at a Road Angel or similar GPS based speed camera detector, but after reading a couple of forums decided that a PDA based system would provide more functionality at less cost. I bought an 2nd hand iPAQ 3630 from eBay and then added the TomTom Navigator software and a GPS receiver - with the CheckPOInt add on software, I've now got a SatNav system and Scamera warning system for a lot less than the cost of a Road Angel alone

[tycho]

jvaughan said:

Guys, im looking for a PDA. Want to get one that is expandable .. would like toget GOS and a moving map too so save carrying around a handheld GPS. Also want to beable to use it as a PDA .. ie documents / planner / calender / portable web surfing appliance etc. etc. Have seen a few cars with PDA's stuck to the windscreens (I assume this is the GPS module) Also accessing the internet is vital. Will it use Bluetooth and link with my phone or does it take a SIM ? any recommendations ? .. Looking to spend about £400 on the basic unit

I have an iPaq 3975 for sale if you decide to get one. It also has a SD 128Mb card as well. Mail me if you want more details.

Rob