Mark Allanson
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 08:12 PM |
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GPS for laptops
Ebay and others seem to be bristling with GPS dangles at the moment, for about £35. I guess that you would need the software to go with these.
Has anyone tried them yet, which are any good, which sotware is the best/worst, any inobvious pitfalls?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GPS-RECEIVER-for-PDA-HP-XDA-X3-more-LAPTOP-USB-reciever_W0QQitemZ110101721621QQihZ001QQcategoryZ64371QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZ
ViewItem
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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greggors84
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 08:18 PM |
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I think you can use it with autoroute. But never tried it myself.
Have a look for a cheap PDA maybe , then you can get hold of tomtom for it. Some PDAs have it GPS built in too, although these might be pricier due to
being newer.
Interested to see what GPS software you can get for laptops as I bought a bluetooth reciever not so long ago.
I was told the other day the TomTom are bringing out some PC software, dont know when though.
Chris
The Magnificent 7!
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mookaloid
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 08:19 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
any inobvious pitfalls?
An obvious pitfall is where will your laptop go in the car when navigating - it will fall off the dash under hard acceleration
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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ProjectX
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 08:19 PM |
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Have a go with the OS memory map software, Its is very good!
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greggors84
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 08:21 PM |
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As for which one, I bought a nokia one, little bit more than the £35 ones, but thought I would go for the branded one especially as it was for my
Nokia Mobile.
Works fine, had a few problems with the bluetooth disconnecting, but updated the firmware on my phone and havent had a problem since.
Chris
The Magnificent 7!
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 08:26 PM |
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I wasn't thinking of the bluetooth ones, just a dongle which plugs into the USB on a laptop, nice to have a 15" screen rather than a
2" one.
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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ecosse
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 09:05 PM |
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I've used one for a few years now, along with autoroute, works great, took us round france the past 2 years no problem  plug a headset
into it and stick it under the seat, voice guidance works a treat 
Cheers
Alex
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 09:21 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by ecosse
I've used one for a few years now, along with autoroute, works great, took us round france the past 2 years no problem plug a headset
into it and stick it under the seat, voice guidance works a treat
Cheers
Alex
Just to clarify, all I would need is the laptop, one of these dongles, and autoroute software?
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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bbwales
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 09:25 PM |
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Hi,
I use a laptop with a bluetooth dongle and a bluetooth gps, for power i got an inverter (cheaper than a dedicated charger). I use both autoroute and
infomap with very good results. I then got myself a 7" lcd screen and mounted it into the dash of my old car. looked the business.
Regards
Bob
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flak monkey
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 09:28 PM |
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Mark, All you need is a usb gps whatsit and autoroute (and a laptop of course).
Job done.
As others have said, it works well just on voice guidance, plug in some head phones and you are off 
David
[Edited on 12/3/07 by flak monkey]
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 09:32 PM |
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My laptop doesn't have bluetooth, but I do have a little plugin jobbie.
Is there any advantage with the bluetooth GPS over a USB one?
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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ecosse
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 09:54 PM |
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"Just to clarify, all I would need is the laptop, one of these dongles, and autoroute software?"
Yes indeed, that's all you need
Cheers
Alex
PS
Mine is just a basic USB one
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 10:02 PM |
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Any particular version of autoroute? (I'll be asking one of you to come install it in a minute!)
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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ecosse
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 10:52 PM |
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Autoroute 2006 if you want the voice guidance, 2005 didn't have the option.
Although if you intend purchasing it I would say don't and go buy a dedicated gps instead (yes it is or was that expensive), I, of course,
bought mine 
Cheers
Alex
PS
Aldi have one on offer this week for £120!
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BenB
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| posted on 12/3/07 at 11:37 PM |
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When I tried this a few years ago (serial GPS unit) the only problem I found was that my laptop really (even placed on a seat) didn't like going
over bumpy road surfaces. I think the hard disk suffered a bit!!! Put me off laptop based GPS units... but then again, maybe modern laptop based HD
units are more vibration resistant...
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wilkingj
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| posted on 13/3/07 at 11:45 AM |
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Anyone want to buy my Inforad.
Its a speedtrap detector. The beauty is that it runs off a USB connector. In the car you have a Cigar type power plug, and this has a USB type
socket.
However, you can run it directly off a PC USB socket as well, and you get GPS direct into the PC / Laptop.
If you want the Speedtrap data, you need to subscribe to the service. If you dont subscribe, its just a good littl GPS unit for a PC.
U2U me is anyone is interested.
1. The point of a journey is not to arrive.
2. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Best Regards
Geoff
http://www.v8viento.co.uk
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ChrisGamlin
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| posted on 13/3/07 at 10:53 PM |
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Make sure whatever dongle you buy has one of the later chipsets like SIRF3 as they'll usually work without needing to be in line of site
of the sky (mine plugs into a 12v power socket in the boot and works fine under the parcelshelf), and they get a fix more quickly which is important
if you're turning it on and off quite often.
Mine is a Holux GPSlim 236 which is bluetooth but it also has USB connection. It would be worth getting something similar that does both if you think
you might change to a PDA / smartphone based system later on.
[Edited on 13/3/07 by ChrisGamlin]
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