GPS Systems Vs. Integrated Car Navigational Systems.

[Monty Gibson]

Question: A lot of the higher end vehicles today are coming with the option of having an on-board navigational system; similar to those like Navman, CoPilot et. al. Upgrading a vehicle to one of these GPS integrated services run roughly $2000.00-4000.00 depending on the make and the model of the car. With that said, would you opt for a Pocket PC with Integrated Bluetooth and a new Bluetooth enabled GPS system, or would you opt to have the $2000.00-4000.00 upgrade? I can see benefits from both. But I want your opinion(s).

[msprague]

If your travels to unknown areas are typically in your own car and you have the money, then the in-car systems have an edge because you have the entire US on DVD and don't have to worry about map management. If you travel much by air and use rental cars then the Pocket PC solutions are the way to go. Quality wise, the Pocket PC apps are getting caught up with the in-car systems.

This is a good place to get started with Pocket PC info:
GpsPasSion Overview of Road Navigation Programs (http://www.gpspassion.com/en/software/NavOverview.htm)

[Monty Gibson]

If your travels to unknown areas are typically in your own car and you have the money, then the in-car systems have an edge because you have the entire US on DVD and don't have to worry about map management. If you travel much by air and use rental cars then the Pocket PC solutions are the way to go. Quality wise, the Pocket PC apps are getting caught up with the in-car systems.

This is a good place to get started with Pocket PC info:
GpsPasSion Overview of Road Navigation Programs (http://www.gpspassion.com/en/software/NavOverview.htm)

Great, thank you. I don't travel that much per se out of my area (radius of about 150 miles) and I think that I could do without the in car navigational system since one CD worth of maps could more than likely cover the 150 radius. Correct? Also, if I know where heading to ahead of time, I can just load the maps onto an SD card and go at it that way, correct? But again, if I do decide to head off into the wild blue yonder then having my Pocket PC with me would be more beneficial. I'm leaning toward a Bluetooth (or non-Bluetooth) GPS solution it seems. I don't plan on ever doing cross country driving, so I don't think there is a need for the integrated system for myself personally. Everything I tend to do is pre-planed. Thanks for your assistance.

[msprague]

With a Pocket PC setup you would be able to always have maps of the state of Florida on hand without a problem. From what you have described for your usage I think that you would be very happy with Mapopolis. Their Florida maps take up about 67 MB of memory for the whole state, but you can also pick specific counties if you'd like. The maps can go on a storage card.

[GoldKey]

With Tom Tom, I have all of Florida on an SD card. I prefer the seperate solution, because I can use one system in both cars. Plus if I leave the area on vacation, I just load the new local to memory and can pack the GPS and use it in a rental. Plus if I sell my car, I keep my GPS. Finally, buying a Dell and the Tom Tom hardware and software should be under $700. Plus it does other things!

[ctmagnus]

I would go the BT GPS/Pocket PC route simply because you can take it with you if the need arises.

[Pony99CA]

If your travels to unknown areas are typically in your own car and you have the money, then the in-car systems have an edge because you have the entire US on DVD and don't have to worry about map management.
One thing I've wondered about with in-car navigation systems is whether you get software and/or map updates. With CoPilot Live (formerly Pocket CoPilot), I can upgrade every year to new software and maps.

In addition, while the technical support is iffy, when I've sent map updates in, they've been made. My brother lives in the middle of the desert near Tonopah, AZ, and I sent ALK my GPS tracks. His address and street got added to CoPilot Live 4.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

I don't travel that much per se out of my area (radius of about 150 miles) and I think that I could do without the in car navigational system since one CD worth of maps could more than likely cover the 150 radius. Correct?
With CoPilot Live 4, maps for the entire country come on two CDs, so I suspect a 150-mile radius area would be no problem.

I have a large map of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah loaded on my 512 MB Compact Flash card with room to spare. The entire data directory takes 110.7 MB. The CoPilot Live program and support files are also on that card, and only take 118.6 MB (including the data).

Also, if I know where heading to ahead of time, I can just load the maps onto an SD card and go at it that way, correct?
With CoPilot Live, I can define a trip, a radius around the starting and ending points, a width along the route and I'll get map data downloaded to my device for that specific trip.

I don't know whether other routing solutions allow that, though; I've heard some only allow downloading counties or regions.

Steve