X?? for GPS

[RRHODY]

Have been using my T42p as a travel mate for rental car GPS and WiFi in motels. Seems overkill and bulky. Looking to get a X?. Since the GPS is no speed hog, the unit need not be fast. I'd like something reliable and light. Internal WiFi not a necessity; I can deal with a PCMCIA card. Since travel would be the unit's only function, I'd like to keep the cost down
Any suggestions?

[rkawakami]

Is the GPS attached via a serial cable or USB?

edit: Hmm... after checking the X2/X3/X4 specs it seems like none of them came with a built-in serial (RS-232) port. So I hope you have a USB GPS!

[fixup]

When I was young and foolish, I used laptop/PDA for GPS. No more. Here is what I do now:

Open maps.google.com to plan my trip. Once done, click "Link to this page", then go to "http://houghi.org/tomtom/" and convert the route to an ITN file. Transfer this file to my TomTom One LE and it'll guide me to the destination(s).

[RRHODY]

The GPS's I've used have been by serial connection, and bluetooth wireless, but now I'm using a USB.
As to using the TOM-TOM, the screen size of the current dedicated GPS units is too small for our tired old eyes. The T42 is plenty big, but I thought something in the 12 inch category might work better.

[RRHODY]

To fixup
I guess I'm old and foolish. How does your TomTom connect to the internet?
What is the screen size compared to a 12 inch?

[graywolf]

Well, I use a CF GPS with my X24 and MSS&T, or or my Toshiba e755 and Tom Tom 5.0. I guess I could plug my Garmin Legend into them as well. Now I always know where I am, but still don't know where I am going

[fixup]

To fixup
I guess I'm old and foolish. How does your TomTom connect to the internet?
What is the screen size compared to a 12 inch?

My TomTom does not connect to Internet, my laptop does. The screen size is 3.5 inches, enough for turn-turn guiding. As I said I do planning on my 12" laptop.

[RRHODY]

So, you end up carrying two units, one with a 3.5 screen and the other a 12 inch that could do what the 3.5 does - hum????

[fschwep]

I'd say search for a pre-owned X31. There are many for sale on eBay lately, and these are very comfortable machines to use. Also fast enough to replace the T4x as a general use machine. An X30 will work OK as well, but indeed you'll need to play around with PCMCIA cards etc. to get wifi. More importantly, the X31 has USB 2.0 and the X30 has not.
I have both and can say that the X31 is more of a pleasure to use as it has everything built in (except an optical drive of course).
Specifically, I use a Garmin GPS hooked up to the USB (for older models of GPS, there is a company in Britain, GPS Warehouse, that sells dedicated cables which enable you to hook up a serial GPS directly to a USB port without any dongles or whatever; they are very expensive however). Nowadays the GPS is a Garmin 60CSx. I use digitized topomaps (on CD from the French topo service IGN) with 'CartoExploreur', a far more feature-rich variant on the Mapsource software. Having a fairly large area on 1:25.000 scale requires a fair amount of disk space, and it helps if the computer has a decent graphics card to display the maps quickly. The X31 has an ATI Radeon card with dedicated video RA; the X30 has an Intel chip with shared RAM, and I can say the X31 is a lot faster.
If you find one with decent specs (enough RAM, wifi and with XP preloaded/licensed), you'll have a machine that will keep you happy for years to come.

[fixup]

So, you end up carrying two units, one with a 3.5 screen and the other a 12 inch that could do what the 3.5 does - hum????

No I only carry the 3.5". I only use my laptop to plan complicated multiple routes (such as garage sale:D ). If you have not tried any TomTom One LE, give it a try. Very easy to use - just few finger types and you're ready to go. The 3.5" screen is no problem at all.

[RRHODY]

To fixup:
A 3.5 screen is too small for my tired old eyes, besides I want the WiFi, so one unit with the GPS is my choice.

To fschwep:
Thanks for the info on the X31, I'll watch for one.

[mini_g]

Is the GPS attached via a serial cable or USB?

edit: Hmm... after checking the X2/X3/X4 specs it seems like none of them came with a built-in serial (RS-232) port. So I hope you have a USB GPS!

Just as a heads up, the Ultrabase X2,3, & 4 have a serial port.

[rkawakami]

Yes, I know. I keep an X22 with a media slice on the dining room table. If I had to use something in a car with a serial GPS, I'd opt for a 650Mhz 600X rather than lug around a slice which almost doubles the thickness and weight of the X22 (and with the slice, is 100 grams heavier than the 600X), just to get the serial port. The OP's requirement that it be "light" seemed to, me at least, preclude the use of an X2 or X3 media slice. Also, my X31 with the slice is just as heavy as the X22/slice combination. Don't have any X4 equipment so I can't say if it would be any lighter than the 600X when considering the requirement of a serial port.

[hYdrociTy]

I sometimes use MSS&T 08 with the included usb receiver. I found that the processor usage in both reduced power (600mhz) and speedstep off (1.5gz) was at 100%. If you use the laptop on battery then sometimes the program would be unresponsive when you turn driving guidance on. The spoken directions and the little arrow panel works fine, but the map itself sometimes refreshes very slowly, maybe skipping 2-3 "frames" so when you look at the screen the current location icon almost leaps instead of a seemingly smooth trail on the map.

If you use switchspeed xp and set the processor to 1.2 ghz or 1ghz it basically solves this issue, but battery life will be horrible nonetheless. I use the 8 cell battery and the life is still around 2.5 hours with the screen brightness on the second bar and always on

I honestly don't know how a 1.5ghz pentium m can spend all of its resources on such a task. True the cpu is doing the work of redrawing the map, but come on, this isn't crysis here..

I'm still looking for ways to place the [censored] lappy. The 12" non glare reducing screen is a driving hazard when placed on the passenger's seat.

[sjthinkpader]

When I had a X20, I tried to use a Garmin eMap with a serial cable. Later I tried to use the BT Garmin GPS-10 with my T41. Following are my experiences:

1. The computer needs a built in cradle much like what the police cruisers use. Without a cradle it is forever unstable unless there is a passenger/copilot holding it.
2. The screen is too dark under outdoor conditions. It lacks auto brightness adjustments dedicated GPS units have.
3. Even with specially design software such as the Garmin nRoute, finding and moving the cursor, reading any pop-up, labels is too difficult.

So I am back to using dedicated GPS and now carry a Garmin eTrex Venture Cx or a Garmin Quest for travel; the eTrex when I will not be driving and the Quest when I will drive. In my own cars, I use various versions of the Streetpilot 26xx/27xx.

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, I know. I keep an X22 with a media slice on the dining room table. If I had to use something in a car with a serial GPS, ....

I used a serial to USB cable. But it was still one more thing to carry. Unless you carry a DC adapter, the battery power profile will blank the screen or I had to change to special power mode to keep the screen lite. All in all a really cumbersome experience in using the computer as a GPS in the car.

[j-dawg]

I know a cell phone seems like a bad option, but I just replaced my iPhone with a Nokia N95 and it is beyond awesome, as well as having a good selection of GPS navigation software, much of it free. Given how much you'd be paying for a laptop, you might feel it justifiable to spend the extra $50-100 (I paid $400) for a GPS-enabled phone to replace your current one.

The phone has also made my laptops seem a bit redundant; I can do basically any internet checkin' that I'd want to do while on the move on my phone now, and the phone's data plan makes Wi-Fi access points unnecessary, though it can do Wi-Fi too.

Consider also all the extra applications that can be helpful in unfamiliar territory--applications to help you find food, gas, tell you the weather, get the news, sports scores, check your e-mail for the twentieth time today, etc.

At this point I'm just raving about my phone...but really, it's great. You should try it.

[sjthinkpader]

Different animal, your phone GPS is an assisted GPS. It is actually using GPS receivers on the basestation towers and give you a triangulated result. It doesn't work when the phone signal reception is weak.

If you want a real GPS with your phone, you need a piece of software loaded then a BT or tethered GPS receiver. Here is Garmin's version for use with their GPS 10/20 BT pug on your Nokia with Symbian S60 OS.

http://www8.garmin.com/support/download ... sp?id=3939

I have this assisted GPS feature on my Blackberry 8830 also.

[j-dawg]

The N95 has "real" GPS capability in addition to A-GPS. You can disable A-GPS and use vanilla GPS if you like, but the A-GPS is usually good enough. That, of course, is bearing in mind that I've never used it for a road trip or anything like that; I've only had it for a week and I've mostly just used it to prove to myself that it worked (which it did in Manhattan, where the tall buildings make A-GPS useful).

[sjthinkpader]

Real GPS? I have to take your word for it since I don't have a N95.

A real GPS antenna will make any phone really ugly. I took a quick look at the Nokia N95 web page and info is scant.

"Navigation

* Built-in GPS with A-GPS support*

* A-GPS is a network dependant feature that requires a data plan. Additional charges may apply"

They only mentioned A-GPS on these web pages. Nokia did buy Navteq about 6 months ago so maps may be stored in the phones already.

GPS satellites are flying overhead in 12,552 miles orbits. Signals from them reaching the earth is very weak. So the GPS devices have a large (one inch square) antenna in them. This antenna needs to be horizontal for best reception. Making any phone with real GPS ugly. On the other hand, A-GPS is just using the GPRS/HSPA/EDVO data channels so there are no additional analog radio receiver, antenna is required.