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Which Pocket Pc?


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As I'm looking to make a similar decision the suspense is killing me. What have you gone for and is it any good?????

I use 2 PPC's

 

MIO168 which is great value and functions well, but no BT or WiFi but has an inbuilt GPSr all for £180.

 

I also have an iPaq 5550 this has BT & WiFi and use a GlobalSat BT 338 GPSr unit with that, cost in total approx £450.

 

It's all about what you want and how much you want to spend.

 

PPC is better for mapping software than the Palm, so the Palm is a no contender if you want mapping.

 

Milton (aka Moote)

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I've just got a second Ipaq 6340 for Sue to use.. Ebay £202 in the end. Second-hand but pristine - and HP will transfer the remainder of the 3 year warranty.

 

No inbuilt GPS but it does have an unlocked phone, wifi and Bluetooth. This enables us to use BT gps, earpieces and keyboards. This makes is a lovely integrated soluton - and we can play Scrabble between them during flights without dropping and losing the letters!

 

Don't get me wrong, I still love my Palm IIIxe and its gucci folding keyboard - it led me inevitably to this current solution - I wanted everything in one box (it was either that or the male-handbag thing to lug it all around)!

 

I particularly miss the faultless, automatic restoration and the straight-forward syncronisation that is the Palm OS. I know I can take it out of the drawer, pop in a couple of batteries, hot-sync it from a standing start and I'll be off from where I left off with the calendar sync-ed and up to date. I keep it for just that reason - for when the Ipaq falls over (and being a PC running windoze, failure is inevitable somewhere down the line).

 

Trouble was, the PPC had the biggest and the best software and so many permutations of hardware it made my head swim....so we settled for one each of the same for us.

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As I started this thread, I thought I should let you know what I bought in the end.

 

I opted for the HP Ipaq hx4700

£316 from PC world

Bought on-line and picked up

from local store.

 

I added a 1gb SD card from Amazon at £35.99

 

I also bought a Globalsat BT338 bluetooth GPSr

£89.28 delivered.

 

Proporta leather/Alu case £25 ish.

 

Well pleased with all of the above.

 

Have used the Wifi to log my finds from hotspots in Paris.

Cool. :D

 

Not cheap but all the kit seems to be well built and of

a sufficiently high spec to last a while.

 

Cheers

Dave

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Dave,

 

Well pleased with all of the above.

 

The same setup as me: let me know if you have any experiences or problems that are worth knowing about, and I'll do likewise! Who's going to be the first to perform a "drop test" of the 4700? I have a feeling it will be fine, but something is preventing me trying it out.

 

I do have an Otterbox as well: though it was bought for my old iPAQ it's good for the 4700 and reassuring to know that the PDA is fully weatherproof and protected whilst still useable. I have an extended battery too (£30): which gives the ultimate option for a day out walking, of being able to see your exact position at any time on a 1:25000 OS map, even in pouring rain or dense forest. :lol:

 

HH

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I have an extended battery too (£30): which gives the ultimate option for a day out walking, of being able to see your exact position at any time on a 1:25000 OS map, even in pouring rain or dense forest. 

I should clarify what I meant here: the Otterbox/PDA/GPS setup gives this option, and the extended battery just means that it's practical, as the battery won't run out too quickly!

 

HH

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  have an iPAQ 4700 - it's fantastic  .

The screen is amazing - you can view your digital photos on it just as if they're prints.

 

i have to agree, i also own an Ipaq 4700, and the screen is just fantastic, there is a very handy little app available for the 4700 that allows you for force any programme to run in VGA mode, i use on memory map and it allows you to see so much more of the map on screen at once, its also great for the likes of IE and Acrobat reader

 

with 2 expansion slots as well 1 compact flash and 1 SD you can even buy a GPS that will plug direct into the PDA rather that have a separate Bluetooth device, thought this will drain the battery a little more so a higher spec battery is advisable

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I have an Ipaq 3870 with a 256 card. With a Altha bluetooth GPS RX. I have Tomtom nav with all caches as POIs Also MM maps of areas that I visit.

I also have about 30 Ebooks installed that this is the main use at the moment. (Just finished The De vici code).

 

When out caching I use a couple of sheets of A4. with cache pages and Memory map printed with cache locations. Cost Pence.

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I have an extended battery too (£30): which gives the ultimate option for a day out walking, of being able to see your exact position at any time on a 1:25000 OS map, even in pouring rain or dense forest. 

I should clarify what I meant here: the Otterbox/PDA/GPS setup gives this option, and the extended battery just means that it's practical, as the battery won't run out too quickly!

 

HH

HH

 

Maybe not clarified enough; what did you use to extend the battery life? Do you have a site we can peer at?

 

Milton (aka Moote)

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Moote,

 

Nothing amazing: just a high-capacity battery. It's probably most useful to the rambler, who may well be away from any recharging facilities for the whole day. The standard battery can then be used as a reserve.

 

But mini solar panels are getting more feasible nowadays! And Pharisee's solution looks pretty good too.

 

Here's a link, anyway;

 

GPS For Less

 

HH

 

(edited after reading Pharisee's contribution)

Edited by Happy Humphrey
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I have an Ipaq 3870 with a 256 card. With a Altha bluetooth GPS RX. I have Tomtom nav with all caches as POIs Also MM maps of areas that I visit.

I also have about 30 Ebooks installed that this is the main use at the moment. (Just finished The De vici code).

 

When out caching I use a couple of sheets of A4. with cache pages and Memory map printed with cache locations. Cost Pence.

Here is a fact that I help produce statistics about inkjet printing, I did this work at work and so not got all the figures to hand.

 

The cost of printing a full colour sheet of A4 using an inkjet can be as high as 84p, if you have access to a Colour laser this price drops approximately 10 fold.

 

This is of course based on the fact we don't use cheaper unbranded cartridges and was also based on Photographs. I would guess that a page could be costing more than pence, and unless you own a papermill how do you go on a big cache hunt. Also Injet maps have a nasty tendancy to run when they get wet.

 

Just to fill you in on some other facts we cam up with in the same document

 

PC left on 24/7 costs ~ £158 a year and a PDA cost ~ £15

Edited by Moote
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The cost of printing a full colour sheet of A4 using an inkjet can be as high as 84p, if you have access to a Colour laser this price drops approximately 10 fold.

 

This is of course based on the fact we don't use cheaper unbranded cartridges and was also based on Photographs.

have been there with the 'paperless caching'. The trouble I found is. At times trying to see the screen in bright sunlight. Bad connection between the GPS RX bluetooth at times. Fiddley, and battery going at a crucial point.

 

I am glad you priced the cost of a photo print. I have two printers. An Epson C66 for everything else. And I do use cheap ink. £2.20 per cartridge. A4 paper £1.50 500 sheets 80 or 100 gram

 

My HP Photosmart 7960 is only used for my pics on best photo paper and expensive HP inks.

 

I do not do any large number caches at one time any more. So as I said it cost me pence each time I go out with the A4 sheets in protective plastic sleeves.

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