Hi all,
I am looking to purchase a GPS to aid my navigation of the great outdoors. I have to confess to not being that good with Maps and I understand that this is a Skill I need to work on however I do like an easy life aswell.
I have a fixed GPS system in the which I use alot, sometimes when I know where I am going just so I don't have to remember to watch for the turns.
Anyway back to the outdoors, I haven't seen a dedicated unit in opperation but I have seen an Ipaq with a pre loaded map and a bluetooth GPS receiver.
What I what to be able to track routes that I have done, mark places that I hear about or notice on my travels, have both of these available from the unit and my PC at home. I think I would like to see a map on the GPS showing locations etc.
Can anyone give me an idea of what is best IPAQ or GPS unit and why and also advise which you belive to be the best unit.
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 <BUMP>
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 I use an iPaq 5550/Bluetooth GPS and an iPaq 2210/Bluetooth GPs on a regular basis. Although I mainly use my 5550 I'd recommend the 2210 as the best for what you need.
The 2210 has the advantage of taking CF cards without needing an expansion jacket, which means cheaper cards and more space to store maps on. It doesn't have the Wifi of the 5550 but that's not essentail anyway and can be added as a CF card adapter if needed. The 64 Mb of internal memeory in the 2210 is easily sufficient as maps are stored on memory cards.
For GPS any Sirf 2 comaptible GPS will do the job - just shop around.
Personally I prefer Memory Map as a mapping/navigation software. It allows you to display the OS maps on screen in zoomable format - with your GPS psition shown as a red circle. Maps are widely available online through programs like emule, or you can buy legitimate copies from many outdoor shops.
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Dave,
Thanks for the reply, can I ask , what GPS unit do you use with the IPAQ and how do you deal with the unit switching off in terms of it keeping a track of your movements to download.
Also what do you do about battery life when do say a 3 day trek ?
Cheers
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Dave,
Oh yah, why did you choose Ipaq over a dedicated unit , did you have one already and chose to make it work for it's money or did you choose it on it's own merits from a blank sheet ?
Thanks Again
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Baz,
On the 5550 I usen emtec Sirf2 bluetooth GPs and on the 2210 a TomTom Bluetooth Sirf2 GPS. Both can keep a constant track of where you go for at least 6 hours on a single battery (integrated of course and not AA). For the 5550 I also have a CF expansion pack with its own external rechargeable battery that gives a further 15 hopurs, a 4xAA recharger for emergency recharges (does 1 full charge of the external per 4xAA) and a solar powered recharger for sunnier climes. I also keep them topped up using the car charger while travelling. The same options are available for the 2210, as are further internal and external batteries.
I chose the 5550 for the combination of its Memory Map abilities and the integrated Bluetooth and Wifi. We got the 2210 about 2 months later - it wasn't put when I got the 5550, as a better value for money option.
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 Gents, you scare me. Deeply. You seem to speak English but I don't comprehend a word. Have I become Old?
(Mind you, the police _do_ look everso young nowadays...)
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Dave,
Thanks again , I think you sell the solution well and given some thought around the power (which you obviously have) you can get the duration I am looking for, no question about the mapping and the storage of information, I have seen Memory Map running on one of these things and it's pretty impressive.
Any one in the dedicated outdoor GPS camp care to throw some alternate views on the table please ?
Cheers
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 I could do with one of these as seeing as my tent is so incredibly big I often get lost inside it.
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Or maybe a smaller tent !
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Baz,
It's been a learning, and expensive, experience. I started out with just the standard battery and an in-car charger but found the 6 hours wasn'y enough for a prolonged trip. I took the route of using a jacket with battery mainly for the CF card facility, otherwise I would have got more internal batteries from www.mdsbattery.co.uk/
In the past year it's helped out all over the place from getting me safely up a 400m peak in a snowstorm (and down again) to being able to show 3 Americans they were about to walk straight off the edge of Glyder Fach. It's even let me send a picture and email from the top of the Colorado Rockies. As a bonus I use it everyday for work/personal stuff as well.
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Any thought on the dedicated units ?
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