Laptop durability in 4WD environment vs navigator

Most of the problems I have had with the laptop have been of my own doing eg. not having the GPS hardwired for power and not having battery backup for the notebook. After many trips I have finally sorted my mistakes out. I find however that I do not use the laptop much for mapping purposes unless I am doing some treknotes for EO. I tend to want to print out the maps available(GDT or Raster Mosaic) for the intended route. Twice in two years I have had to fire up the laptop to find out my exact position. I have seen a number of ways other people have their laptops running all the time and some have issues and some not. I run my laptop from a Kerio DC Charger and I also have a 150watt Pure Sinewave inverter if needed. They are all nice toys but not really of much use except to play with.LOL
I do however use the laptop to write up the daily journal and to download pics.

Run an Ipaq with a Navman GPS sleeve on a windscreen mount. Survived a Simpson crossing and the Hemma maps were spot on.

i have my laptop running all the time when on my trips , the places i go you would not tend to go if you didnt have some sort of mapping software, but still carrry the trusty paper maps of coarse
i have my laptop mounted under the pasengers seat closed up and secured
i have a 7 inch touch screen mounted on the centre console all hard wired up to a gps and also use a cordless mouse
i stuffed around lots before finnaly coming to this combination which i think works great for me ,and the laptop has not suffered any ill effects yet

cheers

I've run a laptop and ozi for many trips over the last 2-3 years. Its a Tosh 266Mhz and still goes like new. Its mounted on a platform between the two front seats and I use hook velcro on the laptop to secure it to the carpeted platform. This provides shock protection.

The keyboard gets dusty, but you can simply blow it out, or remove it and tip it upsidedown.

Cheers
Phil

My outfit.
Panasonic Tuffbooks. I have an old M33 which is used in my tractors as a guidance computer, linked to Dgps reciever, running farmlap and skymapper. This is a computer designed for operation in rough situations, even so I have to replace the hard drive every couple of years as they don't handle the knocks.
A 4wd is a lot more comfortable and has better suspension than a tractor, and if you have your info backed up, the cost of a replacement hard drive is very negligeble.

Just my thoughts

I started out using an old Toshiba 486/75 for mapping with Oziexplorer when it first came out, the old 486 hardly ever missed a beat and copped a hiding. Probs were mainly CPU speed and memory (lack of). Then upgraded to a P3 Toshiba which had a bigger screen and took up more space especially in most modern 4wd's.
Unless the passenger is happy to look after the laptop or as suggested use a remote touch screen they can be a bit of a pain. Theft was always a worry too around towns and when you park the vehicle.
In the Humvee while there is plenty of space for a laptop I found that most of the probs were still relevant.
I now use an Ipaq with Ozi Ce and a Garmin 12xl and find it is much more convenient to use, power requirements are much less, it is easily hidden when parked and has a touch screen.
The GPS has an external aerial and can then be tucked away out of sight.
One cable powers both units and provides an interface between them.
We still take the laptop on long trips mainly for digital picture storage and accessing email via CDMA on the go.

I use my Toshiba extensively off road - if not for mapping, then for kids watching movies on the highway.

The *only* problem that I've experienced is the screen/lid has loosened and moves forward and back far too easily. I'm not sure if RAM mounts would secure it in place so that it didn't get a constant 'forward/backward' movement..

My preference next time would be for a tablet PC, where the lid actually folds down on top of the keyboard (after flipping so that the screen is uppermost) - viewing orientation can be changed from 'portrait' to 'landscape' - mate of mine has this and it is quite robust.

Thanks everybody for responses,
Looks like I’ll have to look a little further into a dedicated navigation unit. Not as simple a decision as I first thought. Originally dismissed Navman etc as I figured Laptop would be much more useful, powerful and also heaps of storage for maps and programs. I wasn’t aware PDA type setups were capable of running Ozi Explorer as well as storing large maps
JOHN-If I were to go the laptop way I’d definitely be looking at a way to set up computer permanently although $435 for Mobile Desk unit looks great but pricey to me. I look forward to hearing how you go finding your way around OziExplorer. Which mapping software had you been using previously? Are you buying OziExplorer for any reason in particular or did you not already have moving map software (main reason I can see for purchasing with this type of software)?
One other thing, what’s a tablet computer? Silly question maybe but I haven’t a clue!
I think I have much to learn on this topic. Appreciate everybody’s advice.
Thanks again,
Matt

Thanks everybody for responses,
Looks like I’ll have to look a little further into a dedicated navigation unit. Not as simple a decision as I first thought. Originally dismissed Navman etc as I figured Laptop would be much more useful, powerful and also heaps of storage for maps and programs. I wasn’t aware PDA type setups were capable of running Ozi Explorer as well as storing large maps
JOHN-If I were to go the laptop way I’d definitely be looking at a way to set up computer permanently although $435 for Mobile Desk unit looks great but pricey to me. I look forward to hearing how you go finding your way around OziExplorer. Which mapping software had you been using previously? Are you buying OziExplorer for any reason in particular or did you not already have moving map software (main reason I can see for purchasing with this type of software)?
One other thing, what’s a tablet computer? Silly question maybe but I haven’t a clue!
I think I have much to learn on this topic. Appreciate everybody’s advice.
Thanks again,
Matt

Hi Matt,

I know you've had heaps of replies, but I couldn't resist putting in my 2 cents worth. We have just come back from 6 months away, much of it on rough dirt road. We use an iPaq connected to our GPS, with the maps downloaded with Oziexplorer CE. We were told that the iPaq was not robust enough for this, however, it hasn't missed a beat. We do keep the dust out of the car pretty well, and the iPaq sits in a cradle mounted on the dash, so it doesn't get beaten up by those corrugations. I do much of the navigating, and honestly don't really need moving maps, but it is good to be able to see some feature in the landscape and just look at the iPaq to identify what we are seeing.

Happy travels
Anni