The ultimate PDA/<span class="highlight">GPS</span>/Sat Nav

Phillip
I have not had a lot to with Magellan , or the PDAs , PDA s i have been told are not waterproof so I would presume Bulldust would penetrate, Navman is Crap , they don't have the tracks that Garmins do , all they are good for is in Towns and Cities and that was told to me by an owner , If your looking for a really good unit check out the Garmin Nuvi 660 , specs or if you want a top of the line do all then Garmin GPS Map 276C , and put the Track4Australia in it too , look here at the comparison

Site Link

and get all the specs from here

members.westnet.com.au/dtilley/maps.htm

Just been in my files and added another set of maps on display that shows the difference between the 2 systems at different zooms and locations

Site Link

Hi i dont have a PDA but waiting for the new ASUS 639 pda with built in GPS or the soon to be run out 636 PDA these units will give you turn by turn with either Copilot or Destinator and then install ozi explorer for all the other mapping.
As for loading your photos from your digital camera i am not to sure if it can be done but if so you wont have much storage space and you would have to have extra SD memory cards ,it would be better to have extra memory cards for your camera.
There are variety of other makes out there that will be ok but i have narrowed it down to the ASUS.
Have A look at GPS OZ or Johnny apple seed.

Site Link
www.ja-gps.com.au/index.htm

Sorry ...forgot to answer one of your questions, yes I use two Garmins, a Quest and a Nuvi 660, the quest records over 4100klm of track ,
like this, the point 3516 is the end of 1462klm , the Nuvi don't do this

1 7/12/2006 1:00:51 PM 0 m 2 m 1:35:36 0.0 km/h 310° true S32.05929 E115.74504
2 7/12/2006 2:36:27 PM 1 m 7 m 0:00:18 1.3 km/h 109° true S32.05928 E115.74502
3 7/12/2006 2:36:45 PM -1 m 2 m 0:00:36 0.2 km/h 91° true S32.05930 E115.74509
4 7/12/2006 2:37:21 PM 1 m 10 m 0:00:05 7 km/h 32° true S32.05930 E115.74511
5 7/12/2006 2:37:26 PM 0 m 7 m 0:00:15 2 km/h 18° true S32.05923 E115.74517
3505 9/12/2006 11:20:55 AM 88 m 235 m 0:00:12 70 km/h 58° true S31.64191 E128.99510
3506 9/12/2006 11:21:07 AM 89 m 204 m 0:00:13 56 km/h 57° true S31.64079 E128.99720
3507 9/12/2006 11:21:20 AM 88 m 180 m 0:00:14 46 km/h 60° true S31.63978 E128.99900
3508 9/12/2006 11:21:34 AM 86 m 157 m 0:00:16 35 km/h 60° true S31.63898 E129.00065
3509 9/12/2006 11:21:50 AM 86 m 20 m 0:00:03 23 km/h 62° true S31.63829 E129.00209
3510 9/12/2006 11:21:53 AM 85 m 25 m 0:00:06 15 km/h 115° true S31.63821 E129.00228
3511 9/12/2006 11:21:59 AM 85 m 36 m 0:00:15 9 km/h 143° true S31.63830 E129.00252
3512 9/12/2006 11:22:14 AM 85 m 39 m 0:00:15 9 km/h 82° true S31.63856 E129.00274
3513 9/12/2006 11:22:29 AM 85 m 29 m 0:00:15 7 km/h 29° true S31.63852 E129.00315
3514 9/12/2006 11:22:44 AM 86 m 11 m 0:00:13 3 km/h 37° true S31.63829 E129.00330
3515 9/12/2006 11:22:57 AM 85 m 0 m 0:00:07 0.1 km/h 211° true S31.63821 E129.00337
3516 9/12/2006 11:23:04 AM 84 m S31.63821 E129.00337

"Is anyone using a PDA that can be used as a GPS unit with topographic maps of Australia as well as a street/city satellite navigation system? Also, are you able to upload photos from a digital camera to the PDA for storage (when travelling)? "

I have been using a HP 5400 IPAQ PDA for over 12 months now and it does everything you are asking. For GPS connection I use a Navman 3450 sleeve. For town and city driving I use the Smartstreet software that came with the Navman, and for all other driving I use OziExplorer, with all topo maps etc loaded onto a SD card. The only thing I don`t like with the PDA is the battery life. Only get about 2.5 hours out of a fully charged battery but if your only using it in the car and keep it connected to a car charger it should be fine.
This has got me to looking for an additional handheld unit such as a Magellan for hiking and geocaching etc.

And photos can be loaded onto the PDA (on mine its done via the PC), but I don`t know if it can be done straight from camera to PDA (never tried it myself, and I don`t think I have seen a PDA with a USB connection). Even if it could be done I doubt the PDA will have sufficient memory to upoad all the photos unless you stored them straight onto a SD or flash card. It was easier for us to buy additional XD cards for the camera and just upload all the photos to the home computer when we got home.

Cheers.

I use a Garmin I-Que M4, through which i can run either the software for around town, the OzToppo maps for bush or the Ozi Software with Raster maps.
Basically all three in one unit that isn't to big, or small.
It came with all the stuff to hook it up to the p.c, as well as a holder/charger for in the Patrol. It comes standard with the City Navigator stuff and then i bought the OzToppo and Raster maps to put on a S.D. card.
I'm still learning how to use it all.

meow.

rick.

How much ??? Whats the average price one should be paying for a pda with gps and the ability to run oziexplorer ??

Would like to get one around the $500 mark, but which one ? So many features ? Is $500 enough ? What don't I need ? What DO I need ?

Phillip,

I have the Magellan XL.

All the tracks that you need, every street in every town in Australia, and soon to be released a turn by turn street directions all in one unit.

Wayne

It's unlikely there'll be much spare memory on a pda for photos. Particularly if you've got a couple of maps loaded (it didn't take me long to fill up a 2GB card with maps). Most pdas don't have large memories - they have expansion slots so you can put cards in them.

My camera & pda both take SD cards. A couple of cards are for maps, so I have a couple more cards for the camera. I'd aim to take enough memory to last the trip, or if away for a while and am going through a reasonable sized town, I'd get the pics transfered to cd and free up card space.

Phillip,
I have the Magellan XL and with the new software update - it is a great unit. Does not have voice directions but I don't have a lot of need for that. I have a walking talking version that changes its mind, swaps left and right and assesses driving quality as a bonus(!). Battery life away from a power source is not great.

If you do buswalking then get a small simple one as the XL is a fair size.

I understand the turn by turn s/w is coming.

alastair

Hi Phillip

I'm a bit like many others waiting for the right product to replace my several year old Garmin 3.
It also more important to me that I retain use of my personal tracklog database than rely on other map sources.

The current Magellan range will never in my opinion be in the race for "ultimate GPS". They do have some great features but the key interface, the screen, is quite poor in sunlight and has a relativily low resolution.

If I had to jump now I would go with Doug's suggestion of Garmin 276c and tracks 4 australia.

While the screen on this unit is only a little larger than say Magellan XL it is a lot more readable inside a car and has considerably more resolution (pixels) which takes blurry edge off the displayed data.

Its overpriced though at $1200 basic.

Robin Miller

I spent a fair bit of time researching GPS and I've been wanting to share my thoughts for a while.

My shortened opinion:
If you're talking about ultimate then PDA is far ahead of the handheld GPS units, which i leave a lot to be desired.
The most powerful, versatile and thorough option is a PDA running OziCE and (something like) TomTom with a GPS receiver. This requires that you're reasonably cluey and don't mind doing a bit of work preparing your trip and maps. If you are a bushwalker and want to take a GPS walking, get a cheap handheld (i.e. eTrex) as the receiver for your PDA.
If you only want to use the unit in a vehicle to follow known tracks, the easiest option is the eXplorist XL.

My long opinion:
The real value is in the maps, base maps on standalone GPS are useless for our purposes, you'll immediately have to go out and buy extra maps (or get a travellers pack). In my research the Garmin map offerings (tracks4aus) didn't come close to being usable, this ruled out Garmin for mapping GPS right from the start. Magellan has good map offerings in DiscoverAus Topo but i found that the explorist 400, 500 screen was too small to be useful, the main downfall being that detail only comes up as you zoom in, so you lost the big picture. The other downfall was that the maps only come on SD card which left no obvious way of backing up the maps, if you lose the SD card (physically or due to corruption) do you lose your whole mapping system? Someone else might correct me on this, but i don't like supporting companies that do things like this, why not just sell the CD?
With a bigger screen the explorist XL seemed OK (not good) in relation to the zooming problem above but i found the joystick a bit dicky to use, it felt weak and the unit in the shop was broken (wouldn't scroll to the NE) which wasn't a good advertisement for the durability. In terms of hiking the unit was too big and power hungry to be useful, which leads me on to the old maxim of carrying paper maps and compass, which you should be carrying anyway, IMHO this makes MAPPING GPS units irrelevant for walking. You've got a map/compass and know how to use them. Anyone doing proper off-trail walking would find mapping GPS cumbersome, with Magellan being the only option that might be useful. The useful functionality for hiking is keeping a track log (i.e. for later reference or backtracking) and the convenience of knowing your lon/lat. which you can get in a more power friendly eTrex for $200.
I walked out of the shop feeling kinda despondent about the whole GPS thing, which is when i started researching the PDA option. So my choice came down to the XL and the PDA.

eXplorist XL
* Has reasonably good maps for driving and even though the maps aren't useful for off-track walking it still has the most basic functionality (lon/lat., waypoints, etc)
* Is a single unit so not as much stuffing around with cables and such
* Power hungry when not running from external power source
* Limited to maps which are in DiscoverAus
* Large size for walking
* Clumsy controls when driving

PDA with eTrex receiver and OziCE
* Has whatever maps you can buy/scan/download/"borrow" from a mate
* Easy to control while driving (zoom, add waypoint, switch between maps)
* You get the most useful walking functionality in the eTrex in a much smaller and less power hungry unit
* You can load auto-routing software like TomTom, a lot of people don't get a GPS for this functionality (i didn't) but it is really useful, it has a lot of roads in it and you can use it to calculate your distance and ETA to places, sometimes i load it up just for that and then switch back to OziCE. If you've got it, you'll probably find yourself using it to get around civilised areas.
* The PDA can be used for myriad other things (never imagined using one but find it pretty useful)

I have the following hardware setup:
HP iPaq 2490 - $550
Garmin eTrex - $199
Combined power and data cable - $99
RAM mount for PDA - $88
Mount for eTrex - $59
2GB CF card - $89

You can then add your software and maps on top of that. I've been told you can get away with an iPaq 2190 for $450 and you can save with a smaller CF card and just sit the eTrex on the dash (gets a bit hot).

I'm embarking on a long driving trip around Australia. I'm also a bushwalker and i like things to be as versatile as possible so when dropping money on a GPS i wanted some crossover for walking and my opinions are based around that. I've taken it on a couple of trips and i'm really happy with how it performs. One thing that i'm curious about is how the PDA will stand up to dust over time.

Thanks everyone for your input. Great to see so many variations. Will start looking.

Hi All,

It'd be nice to see these things in action before buying one, so does anyone know of a place near Sydney or Melbourne where you can look at various PDA's running track/topo maps ? A knowledgeable person to speak to at the shop would also be handy.

Cheers,

Nic