Looking to purchase an HP iPaq

[Omied]

hey guys, i'm lookin to purcahse an HP iPaq. It's main use is really gonna be for when i'm at the auction's, i use it with the Blue book program for dealers. Whenever i'm at the auction's, i see many buyers with some sort of Infrared attatcment on the top of the iPaq unit, it's not the built in I/R port, it's an attatchment, and they open up the door jamb of the car's, and scan some part of it, and it automatically gets all the information from the car, and all u gotta do is enter mileage and boom that's it.

Does anyone have any further info on this attatchment? Also i was looking to get the 5550 or whatever that newest hp model is for $650. But i think it'd be a waste to blow money on it since that will be my most use for it.

Do you guys have any recommendation's on which one i should get that would suit my needs? Also, with the bluetooth or wireless internet access, how's that work out? Can i be for example at the auction, snap a picture of a vehicle, then email it right away to someone to look at the car, straight from the iPaq unit? Or you can not do that?

Thanks in advance

[jt3]

Whoa!!! Slow down there buckaroo... that's a whole lotta questions for a first post!

Just kidding... let's see if I can touch on all of them.

First off, the "attachment" that you see is probably a bar-code reader, and they're probably reading the VIN, or some other coded information on the car. In addition to barcode software, which may be hard to find, and which probably isn't cheap, they're probably also using some kind of Automotive database program, so you might ask them what software they're using on the back end.

As for the attachment itself, there are sleeves that will work with any sleeveable iPAQ (any 3000 or 5000 series iPAQ... not the 1900 or 2200 series). These sleeves, if I remember correctly are a few HUNDRED dollars, so again, not cheap. I'm sure, by now though, there are Compact Flash or maybe even SD based units, which may be a little cheaper. The CF unit would, of course, require a CF expansion sleeve for the sleeveable iPAQs, or you could then go with the 2200 series, which has CF built in.

As for bluetooth and wireless... those are nice functions, each with various uses, but I don't think either of them would be useful in the way that you're thinking of them. WiFi would be nice if the auction site supports a "hot spot," which is an 802.11b internet connection, but I highly doubt that you'll find many, if any, of those at an auction site. Bluetooth could use a bluetooth-enabled phone to access the internet, but you don't see many of those in the U.S.

The easy way to do this is to get a CF or PCI based modem. Again, you'd need expansion sleeves to use these (except CF on 2200 series), but you could access the internet directly. All major Cellular providers (Verizon, Sprint, etc.) have these available, and rates start at like $20/mo.

So, to bottom line it... you COULD snap a picture, read the barcode, and e-mail the information to someone straight from the iPAQ, but it would mean some serious card swapping to pull it off.

My suggestion would be to find the cheapest route, and go with that. This is PROBABLY (but not necessarily) going to be via Compact Flash devices, plugged into a 2200 series iPAQ. Of course, your milage may vary... results may not be typical... all models are over 21.

[Omied]

Whoa!!! Slow down there buckaroo... that's a whole lotta questions for a first post!

Just kidding... let's see if I can touch on all of them.

First off, the "attachment" that you see is probably a bar-code reader, and they're probably reading the VIN, or some other coded information on the car. In addition to barcode software, which may be hard to find, and which probably isn't cheap, they're probably also using some kind of Automotive database program, so you might ask them what software they're using on the back end.

As for the attachment itself, there are sleeves that will work with any sleeveable iPAQ (any 3000 or 5000 series iPAQ... not the 1900 or 2200 series). These sleeves, if I remember correctly are a few HUNDRED dollars, so again, not cheap. I'm sure, by now though, there are Compact Flash or maybe even SD based units, which may be a little cheaper. The CF unit would, of course, require a CF expansion sleeve for the sleeveable iPAQs, or you could then go with the 2200 series, which has CF built in.

As for bluetooth and wireless... those are nice functions, each with various uses, but I don't think either of them would be useful in the way that you're thinking of them. WiFi would be nice if the auction site supports a "hot spot," which is an 802.11b internet connection, but I highly doubt that you'll find many, if any, of those at an auction site. Bluetooth could use a bluetooth-enabled phone to access the internet, but you don't see many of those in the U.S.

The easy way to do this is to get a CF or PCI based modem. Again, you'd need expansion sleeves to use these (except CF on 2200 series), but you could access the internet directly. All major Cellular providers (Verizon, Sprint, etc.) have these available, and rates start at like $20/mo.

So, to bottom line it... you COULD snap a picture, read the barcode, and e-mail the information to someone straight from the iPAQ, but it would mean some serious card swapping to pull it off.

My suggestion would be to find the cheapest route, and go with that. This is PROBABLY (but not necessarily) going to be via Compact Flash devices, plugged into a 2200 series iPAQ. Of course, your milage may vary... results may not be typical... all models are over 21.

alright cool, thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, the attachment is the bar code reader, couldn't get the name outta my head at the time of the post, anyways, yeah that's what i need, i guess i'll have to ask some of the dealers next time i talk to them and find out.

Now that i see that my plan for taking a pic, emailing it to someone and using the net on the ipaq would be more pain than it's worth to me in my case, i'll just go the basic route, though if i'm able to find a good deal on some ipaq 5xxx series, i think i'll most likely get it

Again, thanks for the great reply