Gps

As a follow up I own a laptop but I prefer not to use this as room is restricted

Ron, I don't gnow too much about other GPS capabilities but on investigation I decided on a Magellan Meridian Plantinum. I have a 256 meg card and the v5.12 firmware.

It has the capability to upload maps with considerably more detail than I have seen with Emap and the like. Many of the other gee wizz types have maps that will have you lost outside of the capital cities. Discover Aus Streets and Tracks up loaded even shows tracks that are not public roads. It can be used for moving map on a laptop if you so wished, like me with more room. There are suggested positions and types of a small monitor in other sections of the forum.

Mine frequently takes signals from nine satellites. The colour would possibly be better for some situations.

Lets face it the new model will be out by then too though for the Magellan or something else.... There is a good package price from ExplorOz but I actually bought mine and the card on Ebay, just bide your time for those though. I have not seen the card so cheap since either!Regards

JohnR - Not enough of the right travelling, some here..... some over there.......

Hi Ron
Are you actually in Australia or visiting from overseas?
You could check out www.gpsoz.com.au/ to get an idea of what's available.
Regards Charlie

I can only speak about the mapping that Magellan produce for NSW and on the whole its incredibly detailed, much better than any of the paper maps once you out west .My main complaint would be most gravel roads are listed as 4wd tracks so a lot more work needs to be done on properly classifying various roads before it will totally replace paper maps
Charlie

Both Magellans DiscoverAus and Garmins Mapsource Metroguide Australia are excellent GPSr loadable mapping products. Each will only load on their own brand GPSr and are about $240.

Magellan Meridans use SD memory cards.
Garmins use a proprietory Garmin memory card or have fixed internal memory.
The SD cards are much cheaper, however....
all of Australia in DiscoverAus is 234MB and all of Australia in Metroguide is 48MB.

Detail is similar in both products with both having excellent metropolitain area and good rural area mapping.

Mapping should be 50% of your decision.
The other 50% should be reliablity and the user interface.

Personally I prefer the Garmin interface.

Cheers,
Burnie M
Garmin GPS V
http://www.gpsriders.net

You can buy stand-alone dumb GPSs with NMEA output for feeding into laptops, etc.
Tassie company - http://www.commlinx.com.au/GPS_receivers.htm
If you're technical and don't mind putting things together, Motorola also make a basic board for about $80
http://www.motorola.com/ies/GPS/products_positioning.html
Gerry

Hi, I too have an (old fashioned?) Garmin GPS 2 (not the + model) wired direct to the battery (along with UHF radio power lead). I also have a GME "flat" (powered from the GPS) external antenna which clips on the roof with the incorporated 2" square magnetic base. This tells me where I am, where I am going (Go To), where I have been (snail trail), in terms of latitude and longitude or co-ordinates, and what direction I am currently heading in. I use it with good paper maps (e.g Hema or Westprint) which have grid lines etc. on them, and watch the shape of the snail trail on the GPS develop the same shape as the route on the paper maps as we go along.
Used this way it has been really useful on occasions, and a "comfort" on others. It is reliable and simple to use. I don't really think you NEED a GPS with underlying electronic maps or a connected laptop computer to survive the Australia Outback. Your existing GPS2+ will be fine for your trip. Save the $ for something more important.

Ron,
If you're after satnav type applications, I have first hand experience with a unit called Navman (owned by my brother). This is developed in NZ, and uses the street database from Sensis & whereis (white&yellow pages people). The mapping, whilst having streets only (no contours) was impressive in its coverage, showing many little used tracks in the mountains behind Kempsey that were noteven on auslig maps. There are however known "black spots" (around Canberra ... maybe there's a reason for that??). New "Maps" are downloadable, has extra memory cards for more maps. This unit is well worth a look, more functional and a good deal cheaper than an equivalent Garmin.
Cheers
AndrewSo much to see, too little time ...
Andrew