Garmin GPS II PLUS

Hey Jeff,

You will have proper topo maps the move on your laptop as you drive with your position being shown buy a cross hair. You can plot way points and upload/down load between the two. Very handy when navigating at night. I'm sure your GPS is supported.

Leroy

Hi Jeff
I have the Garmin 11+ and it is great, I run it with a IBM thinkpad and use the following system
link text from Exploroz shop, plus Hema Desert Map set which was great. Travelled throughout the Kimberley's with the GPS and the maps and had no problems even on hard to find tracks. The only problem you may come across is that Garmin use a comm port and some laptops only have USB. There are comm to USB adapter Cable available on the net
regards Rwanderin' in retirement. victor 2010

Hi Jeff,
The fun of going bush now begins!
OziExplorer is what I use on an ageing 486dx Thinkpad.
Maps:
- NatMap have all of Aust in 1:250,000 digitized on 2 cds for $99 - think this site sells them. Calibration files are downloadable free from the Ozi website.
- Also, recently released, most of the SW and south coastal is now available as DOLA maps in 1:50,000 (2cm=1km), which goes to east of Esprerance. Calibration files are included. Cost also $99 (1 cd). Avail from Perth Map Centre, the author, Greg Harewood at explorer@vtown.com.au, but maybe David is now selling them on this site.
- and of course the HEMA desert maps, also avail from this site.

Out in the wilds, the 250k maps are quite sufficient, but in thick sw bush, the 50k maps are better, but not as good as the CALM maps, which are not commercially available.
You can also do them yourself; I sat down for many long nights and scanned all my 50k paper maps and re-stitched them, and these work a treat. The Ozi site also tells how to do this.
To interface to the Garmin, you will need a serial port on your laptop, otherwise you'll need to buy a USB-serial converter, and I've heard they sometimes are a bit temperamental. A Pentium laptop of >200mhz and 64MB memory will get you by, but you can survive with slower machines.
OziExplorer is downloadable from www.oziexplorer.com as a free trial.
Rgds
Gerry

Thanks guys, got the oziexplore running in less than 5 mins, excellent! Just got to find some good maps of perth and sourounding areas (hint hint anyone).

FYI - Looks like with a Garmin you can upload and download waypoints and routes from the software. Was just playing with it then.

We also use the 2+. originaly hooked up to Toshiba Satalite laptop but SWMBO decided she did'nt want to nurse it anymore so we got an Ipac & mounted it to the dash & use with ozi CE for moving map & hav'nt been lost since, we also take paper maps of where we are going incaseof Murfy's Law.Check this link for cables
Regards Bob
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