Looking For a New GPS

[cjcoffroad]

I'm looking at picking up a new GPS for christmas. My only GPS experience is with Tom Tom turn by turn navigation. I want to use topo maps for fireroads and finding my way back to camp in the desert. I also have plans to use it in Mexico. I have been looking at the Lowrance XOG, but I think the screen is a little small. A netbook isn't quite an option because of space constraints, the same goes for a Lowrance baja series. Would a Garmin 1450 with topo maps loaded fit my needs? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tominator]

New GPS

Hey CJC...I'm fairly new here to the portal also! Been lurking for awhile...allow myself to introduce...er...a...myself...

Anyway, I've been in the same boat. I've been toying with the idea of either one of these. http://phandroid.com/2010/11/01/vie...pad-10-us-pricing-and-availability-announced/

It's way out of my price range right now and still a little on the bleeding edge of technology BUT, when you think about it, these will do just about everything....music, movies, camera, video recorder, Broadband, WiFi, video Skype on the road, bluetooth (to you car deck or hardwire it straight to an amp...stealthy, no stereo to steal), GPS that runs on Windows 7 for topos, USB for an external GPS antenna, or boot up Android GPS google maps.

The only tricky part would be mounting either one of these in a vehicle. There doesn't seem to be a lot of options out there right now. My thought was to put it on a Ram mount or a goose neck style microphone type mount with some sort of craddle. You can move it around, take it with you when your not in the vehicle. It could be worth the wait when the bugs are worked out and the price drops. The big question is how much abuse can these things take?!

If your looking for a straight forward GPS that's bulletproof then you might consider something like this http://www.expertgps.com/gps-receivers/Garmin-GPSMAP-496.asp. It's designed more for aviation but it appears that you can also load Topo maps on it also.

It seems there should be a cheaper solution like a TomTom that you could load Topo Maps onto but I haven't found one to settle on either.

That probably didn't help at all did it?!

 

[Tominator]

Gps

CJC, There's another discussion on this over here >>> http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46378

 

[trek 4wd safaris]

have a look at the "hema navigator" aswell

 

[cjcoffroad]

have a look at the "hema navigator" aswell

Can USA maps be loaded onto these?

 

[cjcoffroad]

Hey CJC...I'm fairly new here to the portal also! Been lurking for awhile...allow myself to introduce...er...a...myself...

Anyway, I've been in the same boat. I've been toying with the idea of either one of these. http://phandroid.com/2010/11/01/vie...pad-10-us-pricing-and-availability-announced/

It's way out of my price range right now and still a little on the bleeding edge of technology BUT, when you think about it, these will do just about everything....music, movies, camera, video recorder, Broadband, WiFi, video Skype on the road, bluetooth (to you car deck or hardwire it straight to an amp...stealthy, no stereo to steal), GPS that runs on Windows 7 for topos, USB for an external GPS antenna, or boot up Android GPS google maps.

The only tricky part would be mounting either one of these in a vehicle. There doesn't seem to be a lot of options out there right now. My thought was to put it on a Ram mount or a goose neck style microphone type mount with some sort of craddle. You can move it around, take it with you when your not in the vehicle. It could be worth the wait when the bugs are worked out and the price drops. The big question is how much abuse can these things take?!

If your looking for a straight forward GPS that's bulletproof then you might consider something like this http://www.expertgps.com/gps-receivers/Garmin-GPSMAP-496.asp. It's designed more for aviation but it appears that you can also load Topo maps on it also.

It seems there should be a cheaper solution like a TomTom that you could load Topo Maps onto but I haven't found one to settle on either.

That probably didn't help at all did it?!

Has anyone figured one of these setups out and gotten it up and running? I was looking at using an ipad since I already have one, but the recent test results haven't been that great.

 

[Tominator]

iPad Cradle Mount

I did see a nice cradle mount for the iPad here >>>
http://www.ram-mount.com/NewProducts/ipadlockmount/tabid/2762/Default.aspx

 

[huskyfargo]

I'm thinking of jail-breaking my iphone (old service plan with unlimited internet) and using it as a hotspot for an ipad. Any advice or experience with this?

 

[cjcoffroad]

I'm thinking of jail-breaking my iphone (old service plan with unlimited internet) and using it as a hotspot for an ipad. Any advice or experience with this?

It should be pretty straight forward. Just look up the guides on youtube or google. My brother did it pretty quickly.

 

[Tominator]

Jail Breaking

I'm thinking of jail-breaking my iphone (old service plan with unlimited internet) and using it as a hotspot for an ipad. Any advice or experience with this?

Android has a cheap app that you can purchase that you can tether you PC to the phone do do something similar. I'm not familiar with iphones but maybe you can get an app that does something similar without having to crack it.

 

[Tominator]

pdanet

I'm thinking of jail-breaking my iphone (old service plan with unlimited internet) and using it as a hotspot for an ipad. Any advice or experience with this?

Husky, Here's the one I use for my Android which also works for iphones>>>
http://www.junefabrics.com/iphone/index.php