GPS hardware and software combo.

[mirkazemisaman]

He everyone!

I finally decided to actually get a GPS for my Axim, however with so many choices out there I thought it might be better to get an input from your guys. Please give me some suggestions.

Please note that I need a CF GPS and I am not going to pay more than $250 for both the hardware and the software...

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[mirkazemisaman]

He everyone!

I finally decided to actually get a GPS for my Axim, however with so many choices out there I thought it might be better to get an input from your guys. Please give me some suggestions.

Please note that I need a CF GPS and I am not going to pay more than $250 for both the hardware and the software...

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Pat Logsdon]

I have a Haicom HI303MMF CF GPS (it folds, and you can use it as a "mouse" GPS using a serial cable, leaving your CF slot free for something else - like a WiFi card). It costs $185 at semsons.com.

For software, I use Routis, from Deluo. It's $99, has excellent voice navigation, fast rerouting, and I've been very pleased with it.

I know, this adds up to $284, over your limit. But you can lessen the bite on your wallet if you join GPSPassion.com. For $15, you'll get to take $10 off the price of Routis, and 10% off the price of the CF card, giving you a final price of $270 plus shipping.

Deluo also has good prices on GPS bundles - this is a good one.

Good luck! 8)

[mirkazemisaman]

Originally Posted by Surgical Snack

Deluo also has good prices on GPS bundles - this is a good one.
Good luck! 8)

WOW, that does look like a great deal. Does anyone here use it? I would like to know how it performs compared to the popular cards like the Holux CF GPS cards. Is there a noticeable difference? BTW, I live in a relatively open area, so I am not really worried about reception.

Thanx again for your help.

[Pat Logsdon]

Originally Posted by mirkazemisaman

I would like to know how it performs compared to the popular cards like the Holux CF GPS cards. Is there a noticeable difference? BTW, I live in a relatively open area, so I am not really worried about reception.

The Deluo GPS in that bundle is made by Fortuna, and it uses the exact same chipset (SIRF IIe/LP) as the Holux GM270, so the performance is the same.

[mirkazemisaman]

Thanx again for the reply. I will order that package as soon as I get home. Another question though, what exactly is WAAS (I just know that it somehow makes GPS more accurate) and how do I know what "territories" are "WAAS enabled"?

[Pat Logsdon]

WAAS stands for Wide Area Augmentation Spectrum. The European counterpart is called EGNOS (not sure what that stands for). My understanding is that it's a normal GPS signal that has been received by ground-based stations, corrected for additional accuracy, clock drift, etc., and reradiated from the ground station. The concensus seems to be that WAAS signals are accurate to less than 3 meters, whereas normal GPS is somewhere around 7 to 15 meters.

It's not really very good for in-car navigation, since acquiring the signal takes significantly longer than a normal GPS signal. Plus, since it's ground-based, coverage is somewhat spotty.

Prarie Geomatics has an excellent article on WAAS that goes into a bit more detail.

Here's a map of WAAS coverage, if you're interested.

[mirkazemisaman]

Thank you Surgical Snack for following up with my post. It was of great help!!!

[Pat Logsdon]

Sure thing! Enjoy your GPS!

If you want to try something fun with it, try geocaching. 8)

[Brewser]

How big of a map can you use with the Routis software? Could a person go coast to coast or are you limited by downloading certain cities into the PPC before you go out? Thanks for the help.

[GoldKey]

I field tested the TomTom product and it is great, but I have not used any of the other PDA GPS's other than an old one for Palm, so I can't really compare for you.

And I agree with Snack, Geocaching is a blast.