DigiTraveler Personal GPS Navigation System for iPAQ

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://makeashorterlink.com/?U2B036352">http://makeashorterlink.com/?U2B036352</a><br /><br />Radio Shack has a $99 voice guided GPS system for your iPAQ 3600 and 3800 series. I would think the 3700 and 3900 would be supported too, but make sure they have a good return policy before ordering just in case.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2002/20021103-digitraveler.jpg" /><br /><br />Features include:<br />• Provides real-time address-to-address travel directions and turn-by-turn voice guidance<br />• Uses America's leading digital mapping title DeLorme's Xmap™ Handheld Street Atlas USA™ <br />• Provide alternate routes when stuck in traffic or put you back on track when you miss a turn, saving you time <br />• Locates over four million points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, hospitals and police stations <br />• Low power consumption <br />• Includes DeLorme XMap™ Handheld Street Atlas USA™ 2003 RSE software bundle for PDAs, windshield mount, Owner's Manual on CD, and 3 RJ11 to PDA cables<br />• Cables will connect to Compaq iPAQ 3600 and 3800 series<br />• Requires 3 AAA batteries or DC adapter, not included<br />• Your desktop must be a 150MHz Pentium® II or equivalent, 48MB RAM, 380MB hard disk space (530MB is recommended), Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.<br /><br />Source: John Cody

[Sven Johannsen]

There is a review of the device over at http://www.gpspassion.com/index.htm . The most interesting thing about it is that the Radio Shack edition of Xmap Handheld Street Atlas has voice prompting, whereas the retail version as yet does not.

[ThomasC22]

Well, I'm going to give it a shot, as far as the RadioShack version having more features...I don't know why but it seems that RadioShack still has a lot of clout in the electronics world (even though I hardly ever see anyone shopping there) so I would think they could get features in products they sell first.

It's good to see GPS prices going down (being the PPC provides all the processing anyway)

[Venturello]

Anyone knows if this GPS can be used with PocketStreets? Its my favorite PPC mapping software. I have a Germin GPS which works with my laptop but I have not been able to get it to work with my iPaq.

Thanks,

Juan

[Sven Johannsen]

You shouldn't have any problem getting the Garmin to work with Pocket Streets. Given that you have a GPS capable version ( from S&T 2002 plus the patch from MS, or S&T 2003). You will need a null modem between the Garmin serial cable and an iPaq serial sync cable. Compaq/HP did sell a serial comm cable which would not require the null modem adapter, but few seem to know about that cable. It was designed to hook the PPC to an external modem.

In any case, yes, if you get the PDA version at RS, it does work with iPAQs. Just be sure it lists your model. The software will work with any serial port, you just need the right connector and pinout.

BTW, one of the most common problem in hooking a PPC to a GPS, after getting the pinouts sorted out, is something having control of Comm 1. Most often that is a keyboard. Especially the Stowaway. If that is set to auto connect, it will snag he comm port and not let anything else (like a GPS) use it. Just turn it off.

[Venturello]

Hey thanks for tips, took note of them. Great data there :)

[kengreer]

I bought it yesterday... and returned it today. I played with it for a few hours last night. The system is pretty weak. It is devoid of any features. It's very difficult to enter your start/end points, no zoom in/out, devoid of Points of Interest, and once you have your route, it has no way of showing it to you textually or in an overview map. You can only rely on the prompts as you're driving. I felt the product was so bad that it just never made it into my car. This may be a nice product when they fix the software, but for now, I don't think it's ready for prime time.

I'm now looking at Navman, Destinator, and Pharos.

[Sven Johannsen]

No particular offense intended so don't take it that way. On this program you have to RTFM. I've had XMap (standard) since it was released and it is the most well featured mapping program in it's price class. It does indeed have POI, though you need to zoom in to see them. Zoom in and out is accomplished by merely using the d-pad or rocker. And it accepts maps cut by Street Atlas 2003, which rivals Street and Trips for POI density. It also accepts maps cut from DeLormes Topo program which would be handy for off road enthusiasts and hikers. Creating routes is quite easy, especially if you create waypoints first. You can generate waypoints and routes on the desktop companion (included) and transfer them to the PPC, making things very easy.

Turn by turn prompts are shown at the bottom of the screen, if you turn on tracking. It is a bit small, but is there. With the RS edition it adds voice prompts to that feature. The standard just beeps.

I and others have established that the reciever is acceptable for the price and works with many other mapping programs. I can vouch for Pocket Streets (from S&T 2003) and National Geographics Topo!Sync. I also used the output of the receiver with DeLormes Street Atlas 2003 , Mappoint, and Streets and Trips on the desktop.

Hard to understand how anyone could evaluate a mapping program that does door to door routing on a PPC, with voice prompts during travel, in an evening, when it never made it to the car. Took me a weekend with the manual to get comfortable with the program before I ever got in the car. Part of that is that it is a bit non-intuitive, so the manual is important, but it also has a ton of features you don't want to miss. (I had the standard version and used it with my eTrex.)

To keep from duplicating a lot of great info over here, intersted persons might want to check the thread over at PocketPCPassion. http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19989 We are up to 7 pages on this product. It is not a $300 package, but then you are not spending $300 on it either.

[dammad]

I'm with Sven - this is a great product for the price. I did the first 'live' test this morning on the way to work. It was a 50 mile drive from an urban area to deep into the mountains. The program tracked beatifully.

Note - testing done on a 36xx iPAQ with PPC 2002 upgrade with Xmap & maps on a CF card

Pros:
* 14mb map of the entire San Francisco Bay Area that opens instantly (as compared to my 4mb map on PocketStreets2K that takes 9 seconds to open). XMap appears to render on sections on the fly - but from a user standpoint I don't notice
* GPS receiver powers on only when the XMap connects to it - so the 16 hours of batterly life will only be used up during actual use time, rather than sitting idle
* Calculates door to door directions either by shortest Distance or shortest Time (today's trip took 20-30 secs to calculate.) Plus it saves the route so it can be reused without recalculating.
* Find function searches the map, address book, etc for addresses and gives a percentage match
* Monitor Mode provides a compass, speed, heading, elevation and lat/long position

Cons:
* Only shortcomings I've noticed are creating maps & transferring
* Converting large maps into the PPC format is a slow process - best to set it up and go to dinner. Fortunately, this only needs to be done once per map
* Export function by default tries to load the map into My Documents in main memory. Fine for those with internal memory upgrades, but not for those with all of our free memory on a CF card. Easy fix is skip the last step, find the map on the laptop & load it yourself.
* Voice function is currently not enabled on my iPAQ. I found the option for choosing the voice (Male/Female/Off), but have not heard a voice yet :? Will figure it out after work.

Net takeaway - this is a GREAT deal.

Thanks to Sven and all the others who tested the product & flagged this great deal.

[kengreer]

Thanks for the info guys. I would have RTFM but there was none! Did you receive one in your package (bought mine from Radio Shack). All I had was on-line documentation and it was useless. I was unable to find any information I was interested in. I recall nothing about zooming in the on-line docs. (But I can't double check as I've already removed the software.)

I also didn't know that you could download Delormer maps.

Had I known the above, that is, if the documentation were more informative, I might not have returned it.

[Sven Johannsen]

No there isn't a manual per-se. The desktop install has two help files found in the group it puts on your start menu that are html docs that print out just fine. One is the Desktop Manual and the other the Handheld. I printed, punched, and put in a binder to read in the lounger with Jornada in hand. Lots of "Oh, that's how you do that"s ensued. I agree the basic functions should be either intuitive or right up fron in the manual/help. This thing just has a lot of stuff it can do, and to keep the screen from getting to cluttered I guess, you have to dig a little for some features.

Don't know where you got impression you could download DeLorme maps? I did mention two other Desktop mapping products DeLorme sells that will cut maps that the handheld version will use. The thrust at DeLorme seems to be to include the ability to cut maps for handheld use in any of their new Desktop products.

The Handheld product pretty much sucked when it was released, only about 3-4 months ago (if that long). Almost all the online reported issues and gripes have been addressed with a rapid succession of three updates. Now there is the addition of voice prompting in the RS version. DeLorme seems to be actively working on and developing this product. Just mention that, because it might be worth watching if it still doesn't do what you want today. There were DeLorme folks watching forums when it was originally released and actively watching support e-mails to see what people complained about or weren't able to get to work. They didn't neccessarily jump in as DeLorme reps, but they listened and did something about it.

On the voice prompting - did you set it for male or female, and then go to the map with route on it, select track, select track on 'route', select the route you wish to track against, and then Start Tracking. (If you don't have the program that sounds convoluted, but it actually makes sense, and is quick to set up.

P.S. don't feel bad about the Zoom thing. I tried all the standard stuff myself, tap, drag a box, etc. Looking for that is what made me print out and read the book in the first place. Trust me it's in there. And it makes sense now, up to Zoom out, down to Zoom in. (IIRC)

[kengreer]

Thanks for the info. If they're reving it that quick, then I'll keep an eye on the product over the next few months. It looks like a product with great potential to blow everyone out of the water. The software just needs a bit of a boost. Since I planned on using it during my next vacation, which won't be for a while, I can wait.

By the way, I did see a significant software update on delorme's web site - but it said it was not applicable to the RS version. How frustrating! :( I didn't see any updates on RS's site.

[nosmohtac]

my local radio shack doesn't have any in stock. Does anyone know if this works with the Dell Axim.
It looks like it has a standard serial connector on the end of the cable. If this is true then any pocket pc that you can get a serial cable for should work with this product (with the addition of a gender blender?).

[SniperCharlie]

I stopped in a radioshack recently, and these units are now on sale for 49 bucks with the cables and software! Have fun!



http://www.gpspassion.com/Hardware/Reviews/RSGPS.htm


~SniperCharlie

[markcrump]

I think they have been discontinued. I called the 2 Radio Shacks in my area, and all they had were the $200+ models.

[nosmohtac]

They have been discontinued. That is why they have dropped the price on the remaining inventory to $49. From everything I've seen and read about these things they are an excellent buy, even at $99. The software that is included is well worth that.

The only negative thing I can say about it (keeping the price in mind) is that you can't charge your iPAQ and use the GPS at the same time, without modifying the cable. But, if your willing and able to do a little modifying, you have an excellent add on to your pocket pc or palm.