PDA / Sat Nav Question

Robothell

Anyone out there got one of these two gizmos? They're basically Pocket PCs with sat nav functionality - dunno if they're really good value or just a cheap PDA with a basic sat nav, managing to do neither one very well.

Acer N35
HP Ipaq RX1950

Any suggestions?

DrSmutt

have had 2 acer n35 for work and they are a piece of crap.

can take up to 15 minutes to get a satellite lock (if you get one).
The charger socket+plug get destroyed with constant plugging and unplugging.

do not bother with it. they do work better with external amplified antenna but this still cant fix the dodgy power/data socket.

replaced the acers with TomTom ones. brilliant works first time, everytime.

MonkeySaving?

The Acers are ok, the inbuilt GPS are cak. Use an Acer by all means but get a Sirfstar III GPS receiver for Tomtom. The HP ones a much better

odowdchr

The HP6915 has an excellent GPS built in. Comes with TomTom software.
Might not be as quick to start as a standalone because of the other stuff that's on the PDA but works perfectly.

JustCharlie

The PDA / GPS hybrids are a jack of all trades but a master of none so to speak.

Stand alone GPS are normally much beter quality (ie faster, more reliable, more accuate, more features)

TBH PDAs are on there way out. Many companies have stopped making them all together. Best of spending a bit more and getting a nice 'smart phone' there getting better all the time and can do mos things a PDA can aswell as call people! Truth be told the sat navs on them ae still poo.

If you can hold out wait for the apple iPhone. I reckon it will revolutionise the market for hybrid devices.

MonkeySaving?

JustCharlie wrote:

The PDA / GPS hybrids are a jack of all trades but a master of none so to speak.

Stand alone GPS are normally much beter quality (ie faster, more reliable, more accuate, more features)

Rubbish, a PDA combined with TomTom 6 and a decent GPS receiver is no different from a normal TomTom unit, plus you get to use Outlook sync etc etc. Are you saying that a TomTom GPS is "better" than say an IPAQ running the same software at half the price??

JustCharlie

i apologise for generalising too much

i have used both a freestanding gps and the software on a pda

i've always found that the freestanding ones were faster and more responsive. They don't take as long to start up, programme your destination or correct you in a error

obviously tomtom software will be the same on freestanding or a pda

but the software you normally get on a bundled hybrid pda is second rate and not a good as the big tomtom or garmin brands.

From what i've seen i don't think the cost of an ipaq + tomtom software + gps reciever would half that of a tom :rolleyes:

odowdchr

JustCharlie wrote:

TBH PDAs are on there way out. Many companies have stopped making them all together. Best of spending a bit more and getting a nice 'smart phone' there getting better all the time and can do mos things a PDA can aswell as call people! Truth be told the sat navs on them ae still poo.

If you can hold out wait for the apple iPhone. I reckon it will revolutionise the market for hybrid devices.

The Ipaq6915 already does that.
Quad band phone, wi-fi, gps, music, video, office, bluetooth, expandable memory, usb, rss, internet browsing, remote control, business level encryption, VPN network connection over GPRS.........in fact it'll run far more than the Apple will.

The trouble as always is size, programming, processing power, screen resolution, and inbuilt memory.
If you want it to be adaptable for everyone's needs it's got to be quick and powerful and adaptable....or you could go down the smartphone route where it's built to do a series of specific tasks quickly, but you can only do a certain amount with it.
Phones and PDA's are becoming one already and the Apple is just jumping into the market, so it'll be interesting as to whether they're just aiming to make the best gadget in the world for the home market, or something that is truly revolutionary.

odowdchr

JustCharlie wrote:

From what i've seen i don't think the cost of an ipaq + tomtom software + gps reciever would half that of a tom :rolleyes:

The new ones have TomTom burnt into the ROM and a GPS unit built in....but it might not be as responsive as a standalone because the machine is doing so much more at the same time.
The GPS unit is available for other applications such as mapping software, photography fixed to GPS.
By having an operating system on the PDA, you can customise and expand TomTom with your own layers in advance of just updating speed camera positions etc... Probably not important for the man who goes from A to B, but a lot more useful for business users who might want to do onsite surveying, corporate routing etc...

MonkeySaving?

JustCharlie wrote:

From what i've seen i don't think the cost of an ipaq + tomtom software + gps reciever would half that of a tom :rolleyes:

Take the tomtom equivalent of a PDA with GPS & receiver and you'll find it's half (if not less than half the price).