Good starter GPS for use with smartphone, PDA, laptop?

[Trevj]

Greetings all,

 

I'm just getting started with geocaching, but I'm a bit of a technogeek so I have several "toys" I use on a regular basis and would like to find a gps receiver/antenna that works with them fairly interchangably.

I use a Treo 650 smartphone that is bluetooth-enabled, I also have a Dell Axim x30 PDA that is bluetooth enabled, and Toshiba m200 tablet laptop that has a usb connection. My though is that one, or several of these devices can function as the GPS display/software client and that depending on the conditions i'm going out in I could either use the super portible and fairly rugged treo smartphone, or if things aren't going to be so "woodsie" I can grab the Dell and use it because the display is bigger. I would like to be able to interface with the toshiba laptop on occasion as well because of it's ability to run Google earth.

 

So basically, I need a device that has a small form factor, can interface with bluetooth (USB if it's possible as well) and is fairly painless to pair with several devices.

I wouldn't mind if the device can be used as a stand-alone, but reliable accurate positioning and small size is more important to me since nine times out of ten I'll be using another device as the interface.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks so much!

 

-Trev

Edited February 21, 2007 by Trevj

[+Steel City Seekers]

Boy, you have quite a lot going on there. My initial reaction was to pick up a Bluetooth receiver from buygpsnow.com or semsons.com. I’m pretty sure that all of them work with the Pocket PC, and you’d just have to verify compatibility with the Palm OS. Then pick up a Bluetooth PC card for the laptop and you’re good to go.

 

Then I got to thinking about it a bit. You’d also have to have mapping on each of the devices. Goggle earth on the laptop. OK, but are you going to want voiced driving directions? If so, the laptop will need software for this. But then, you’d get into separate software packages for the Palm and Dell since they both run different operating systems. I can’t speak for the Palm because I don’t use one, but software for the Pocket PC that would direct you to a cache would include something as cheap as Cachemate (<$10) or Beeline; a cheap, but competent topo mapping program like Backcountry Navigator ($30); or a whole-hog navigation package like iGuidance, TomTom, and a host of others ($90+).

 

That’s still an option if you want to go through all that, and here’s another option:

 

Pick up yet another device – you can never have too many – a stand-alone rugged mapping receiver from Lowrance, Garmin, or Magellan that is capable of NMEA data output. Then, forget about using the Palm or the Dell outside of the car and use the mapping receiver instead. Get a cable to connect the receiver to the laptop -- http://pc-mobile.net/gps.htm is one source -- and use your Google Earth or pick up Streets and Trips or similar if you want detailed navigation.

 

Or, just for the heck of it, how about a third option:

 

Forget about everything you already own and pick up a Garmin or Magellan for which you can purchase separate topo and/or street mapping software and use this for all your GPS activities.

 

I’m sure there are more options and I could probably think of at least some of them with some more time, but my inclination would be the second option. It seems to me it provides the best of everything. A rugged receiver to use outside the car (you can still carry your Palm with you in a protective case) that you don’t have to be concerned about in the rain or cold temperatures or dropping in the drink, etc.; and highly-capable routing software with voiced navigation and advanced routing options to use in the car. (Actually, you could use it with the laptop or the Pocket PC, depending on the cable and software you bought).

 

FWIW, my setup is a stand-alone receiver with topo mapping and a Pocket PC with a bluetooth receiver and Mapopolis mapping. The Pocket PC is full-time in the car and the stand-alone is full-time in the woods. I never carry a laptop with me anywhere anymore.

[Trevj]

Steel,

Thank you for the reply, that's certainly well thought out. The point about the mapping software is well taken.

I like your suggestion of a stand-alone unit, think I'll look into that. Thanks again for the reply!

 

Trev

[+naviguesser74]

my suggestion, since you already have a treo 650 -- tomtom for street navigation, geoniche for geocaching and all other gps stuff and a globalsat BT 359 receiver. do a PQ for a qpx file. use gpsvisualizer to convert to tomtom format and to .pdb format. tomtom gets you close via streets, then switch to geoniche. for laptop use, i convert to html. works great for me.