GPS for Laptops and PDAs Feedback

Gooday lynchmc : I have garmin , but my gps dozent have maps ,I use pc . heaps of gps with maps .

I use garmin topo aus & nz maps on dvd $229. loaded on laptop - not card - dvd not restricted to one machine .I also have shonky maps - all most free - I got a dvd from GPSAustralia heaps of stuff on it + nroute live tracking.
Its handy having garmin topo + shonky that gives a better cover of tracks in the out back . garmin topo also use hema + other stuff . their is also street maps but not street numbers . If you go this way read up on it 1st .
garmin topo use basecamp & shonky use mapsource . they take a bit of time to work them out - long nights - but good fun , log your tracks to look at later.

I have dean told that two nav aventura is good but don't know if it can be used with a laptop

You might find that GPS Australia forum is good for this stuff aswell .

good luck & dont forget the paper maps ,compass ,etc

For a laptop you can buy a little bluetooth "mouse" gps on ebay for under $100. You pair it with the laptop and sit it on the dash usually and it transmits gps data to the computer. The battery will last 18-20 hours and can be charged from the cigarette lighter.
After that you need a gps mapping program like ozi explorer and digital maps. There are maps for free download on some of the government sites or you can buy dvd's from map shops or online.
The Chinese 7" gps on ebay for a few hundred dollars are good value and have street maps included. You can buy ozi ce and topo maps to run on them and not need the laptop. If you really want to spend cash then an ipad works well too :-)
If you are new to it then there is a bit of a learning curve. Mike

I run a Garmin with Topo Maps.

I also have a netbook with Ozi and Topo maps, with a Bluetooth GPS receiver.

While i am on the track i find that the garmin is excellent, but for trip and route planning, Ozi is the best. Garmin do offer Basecamp with their topo dvd which is ok.

Basecamp has a photo feature built it and Ozi it is a plugin where you can import photos and based on their timestamp, will add it to the track log.

Also, another point, if you are looking at a laptop, consider one with a solid state hdd (hard drive). If you are running it live in the car while driving - especially with corrugations. Corrugations will kill a Hdd very quickly.

Cheers

B

Go with the 4.3" or 7" Chinese GPs using Igo for the turn by turn nav and Oziexplorer for the topo mapping. Buy a Hema 4wd Map DVD to get most of the maps and Oziexplorer.
We started out years ago with a laptop and Garmin GPS, then the GPS and Pocket Pc then the Chinese GPS which wins hands down for ease of use, no cords trailing everywhere and much more reliable.
Another big plus is that when you stop you don't spend 10 minutes packing everything away out of sight of the light fingered brigade, just unclip it out of the screen mount and shove it in the glovebox, or if going fora walk/hike take it with you.

I have a PC in the car that has both Oziexplorer and Memory Map installed.

While Oziexplorer is at least 2 times more flexible, it is also at least 5 times more complex to run and use, especially when you are driving. Memory map can do everything you have asked for and 98% of what you might need for traveling. It also has some neat features which make it more useful on the road, notably it can concurrently show 2 GPS maps at different scales or views. Ie you easily get an overview map and a detailed map of where you are. You can use it in 10 minutes as opposed to almost needing a training course for Ozi.

You can get Hema maps or other detailed maps for both.

If you have a PC / laptop, you MUST have a Solid State Drive. This will set you back about $150 - 200 for about 80Gig. Before I had a SSD I went through about 1 disk drive a year and the heartache in backing up and reinstalling. ( if you go this way get xxclone on the internet for free, it makes an exact copy of your boot disk on a back up drive ready for replacement, however after a few bumps this will end up being more expensive than SSD)

Having said all that, I would now reccomend waiting a few months if you can, and getting an Android tablet, (or if you must do it now, with an Ipad with memory map's Ipad version). They already have the gps built in. Both Memory map and Oziexploreer are expected to come out for Android in the next month or two and it will be a great solution. They both work without a phone connection.

You can use it for email, web, mapping , photos, watching movies, listening to internet radio back home etc etc, and it already has solid state memory.

I just saw the 10' Acer Android tablet running 3.0 ( honeycomb) and it is brilliant, it will take a 64GB Micro card so you have tons of capability for movies, photos, maps etc. That is the ideal traveling solution. Viewsonic even make one that boots up as a windoes 7 tablet PC, or an Android 2.2 tablet.

Thanks for the info