PDA's with GPS - Help Needed Please.

[Bladeloon]

Hi Guy's,


A mate has recently bought a Garmin GPS along with some other bits and bobs to use it with his Autocom it came to about £700, a bit too much I feel,

So it got me to thinking as I've been toying with the idea of getting a GPS unit, and looking at the ones on offer are still a little too pricey even though you can now get a TomTom Rider for about £250, I've been thinking of possible using a GPS PDA, the two I've seen are the Acer N35 which is GPS enabled, and comes with Route finding software already installed all for a little under £100, and the Acer N50 which is also blue tooth capable for about £150, which both seem much better on my pocket, for the yearly blast to France, although it would get used in the car also.

So really my question is; has anyone used or is useing a GPS PDA, on their bike for trips to the continent, with any sucess and are these any good for the job, or is a dedicated bike GPS unit like the TomTom Rider or Garmin Quest 2 still the better option, as I want to hook it up to my Autocom unit, for proper hands free use, and what with space being at a premium on a bike especially a sports bike, as my mate is realising trying to fit his Garmin to an R1

Any advice, thought's, ideas would be of great help.

Thank you in advance,

BL

[alone]

I've used a PDA GPS for a short 1,000mile trip round England visiting mates at Uni.
Infact, I even left it in the top of my tank bag, only took a quick glance to look down n check the screen. The one I used was clearly set out, so all the info I needed was instantly available.
I found it also helped to have a breif mental image of the main roads in your destination area.

I'd opt to use it again over a lot of the soul GPS units I've seen in friends cars.

[Keen]

I've been wondering this as well. For the next big trip I've been thinking of getting a GPS enabled/compatible PDA. That way, not only do you get GPS, you also have (if you get an ok one) mp3 player, somewhere to write notes on the trip and even internet access to quickly check for nearby hotels and restaurants or send quick emails to friends and family at home.
____________________
"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[syl]

When my mobile contract runs out next time, I think I'll treat myself to a HP6915 (or hopefully a 3G based successor). Phone, PDA and GPS (with TomTom Navigator software) all-in-one. Not too big either (OK, hardly a micro-sized phone, but I currently have to carry around a phone and a PDA).

https://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/images/emea/ipaq-hw6900-mobile-messenger_190x170.jpg
____________________
Current bike: Kawasaki Z750S

[NSR Mick]

[quik_d]

i'v got an ipaq 2210 with a plug in GPS unit running tomtom 6 and it all works fine. I've been to portsmouth and southampton and back and its been ok. I put it in the clear panel on my tankbag and plug headphone into it so i get ear plugs and directions in one

The tank bag has a waterproof cover if it started to rain hard and i put it ina waterproof bag inside the tankbag as well so it should be protected alright
____________________
LOOK AT DAT M8 WELL LUSH A PARROT INT IT

[bin]

I use the garmin quest with an ear piece...its very good...only fault with 1st gen is not much memory....
____________________
...its what you make of it...
...Silver Suzuki gsx1400...

[Rumpelstiltsk...]

I have an Acer N35 that I swear by.
I use it both in the car and on the bike.
I fitted a Lighter socket to my bike to power it and slip the thing into the map window of the tank bag.
Next year however,I'm going to fit a proper holder so that the device is sat behind the fairing.

[markandmindy]

Got an IPaq PDA on my VFR800 ad went round Scotland with it earlier this year. For mounts etc., try RAM-Mounting systems here https://www.ram-mount-uk.com/ . As previous posters have pointed out, you really do need to consider waterproofing your PDA, particularly with the good old Brtish weather being as it is!!!

[Peirre oBollox]

I`m running an IPAQ rx3715 with tomtom Navigator 5 UK maps, thats the heavy duty version with all the bells etc, not the lightweight version used by the all in 1 tomtoms.
i do up to 3000km a week driving around the UK using it for work and I`m happy with it too, I either have the tomtom bluetooth reciever connected or wired up to a Holux GR 213 reciever which has a Y cable enabling me to power both the reciever and the IPAQ from the bike while they`re in the map pocket of the tankbag


for more info on gps kit try the forums on https://www.pocketgpsworld.com/
also with the IPAQ when I`m not using satnav I can change the SD card and use it as an MP3 player, and connect it to my starcom on the bike
I`m also able to email, surf the net, and instant msg using the IPAQ
when parked up in motorway services when working

I happen to have 2 DVD`s with the TT software on inc cracks,
1 for TT5 western europe,
the other is TT6 inc western Europe, scandanavia, and USA
____________________
I accept no responsibility for swearing, drinking, motorcycle riding or your pregnant teenage daughter.

[quik_d]

[Peirre oBollox]

[quik_d]

I've got a 2gb SD card so with all tomtom with europe maps on it should take about 1.6Gb, leaving 400mb for a few albums if convert it into wma files, but yea i see what your saying.
____________________
LOOK AT DAT M8 WELL LUSH A PARROT INT IT

[Rob]

Just wait until the new year when the Nokia N95 will be released! GPS/phone all bult into one!
____________________
Love is 1050cc

[feef]

I did france with Alturion GPS on my HP RX3715, with a bluetooth GPS unit. The kit worked well, except that it was very hard to read the screen in sunlight, and putting it in my tank-bag killed it a few times, as the see-thru plastic of the map-pocket acted like a greenhouse and overheated the PDA.

For me, using the PDA as a GPS did work well, but it's main use was to prove to me that a GPS on the bike IS worth investing in.

I now have a Quest 2

a
____________________
Mudskipper wrote: feef, that is such a beautiful post that it gave me a lady tingle
Windchill calculator - London Bike parking
Blog and stuff - PlentyMoreFish dating

[crm250]

I use an old H1940 coupled with a bluetooth reciever and it works well.
However i have used a H2210 and found a major flaw. the 2210 is known for a bit of a dodgy charging circuit, and after around 15 hours of use on the 600rr it managed to spike and kill the PDA. i put it down to a one off, until it killed the second one in roughly the same time.
The 1940 has proved itself far more reliable but i always run mine silent and just use the screen.

Other option is to buy an old scabby nokia 6600 and use that

[natv4]

[Bladeloon]

Thank you all, for your replies, I must admit the water resiliance thing was a worry with a PDA, but over heating it never crossed my mind in my tank bag, so thank you feef for that eye opener.

I'm still a little undecided whats the best (read: cost effective) route so I'll bimble along to the London Bike show in Feb, and have a look at a few and make some decisions from there, me thinks

Having been looking around recently I've seen the TomTom Rider including car kit going on Ebay for £240-ish.

Cheers again guys...
BL

[Peirre oBollox]

[Kickstart]

[natv4]

[Peirre oBollox]

[natv4]

Thanks, that explains the curious lockups you sometimes get. Its not nearly that bad though, it just requires you press hangup then switch back to TT6 (on my phone at least). It then works fine until you close TT6 again.

The maps will have the same (at least similar) version numbers. The current (teleatlas - I think) maps should be around v6.60 for europe (TT5&6), you are right though, do not mix TT5 and TT6 maps, they are not the same. They are released simultaneously though.

Its definately the cheapest way to get SatNav, although I would advocate buying rather than stealing. My costs were:

Orange SPV M3100 (PDA phone) - FREE
TomTom v6 - FREE (just testing..)
Ebay 32 channel bluetooth GPS - £39
Ebay 4GB SD card - £55 (1 year ago, now around £36)

For the full Western Europe TT6 with Maps - £130.

You also then have a PDA capable of movies and music.
____________________
Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[Peirre oBollox]

[cpmedic]

Hi Guy's,

Recently took on a new mobile phone contract with T-mobile and got myself a free MDA Compact 3 with built in GPS.
Paid an extra £30.00 and got the full Co-Pilot Sat Nav software on a 256mb micro sd card.
Since then I have got hold of a 2gb card and Tom Tom Navigator 6 with full UK / European maps.

In short, what a cracking bit of kit.

Would recommend looking into this if you want everything in one which fits in your pocket.