Re: GPS Navigator vs Mini-Notebook+GPS
- From: "miso@xxxxxxxxx" <miso@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:12:38 -0700 (PDT)
On Mar 30, 9:40 am, D from BC <myrealaddr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:32:56 -0700 (PDT), o...@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I do the laptop in the seat thing with Delorme. Other then the Ohio
Highway Patrol looking at me sideways for having a bright laptop in
the right seat, it works great. Much better then most of the small
dash mounted GPS I've tried, plus with a Sprint wireless card I've got
10 Mb per sec internet nearly anywhere in the United States, while
moving. I use a 175 watt mini inverter. You just have to remember to
power it down at night if your accessory socket is unswitched.
One of my friends has went so far as to bolt a ugly laptop mounting
platform to his van's dash. He's a field repair tech, and needs the
precision navigation. I though SWMBO was gonna kill him for welding
up the swivel bracket and wrecking the dash, but she likes the fact
she can hang her purse off it and compute while mobile.
For legal purposes I make sure I have no movies stored on the
machine and just the Delorme and Aviation nav stuff. When you can get
a beat up Dell for 25$ in working order at the local surplus place,
its worth it as a dedicated nav machine.
It also works much, much, better then the cell phone based units
that do triangulation instead of GPS, I've rode in cars with those
exhibiting as much as two miles of error in suburbs.
I have the handheld as well, and have put a touchscreen GPS in
mom's car, but if I'm going on a road trip, the laptop wins hands
down.
Steve
Cool! :)
I might try to find a used laptop.
D from BC
myrealaddress(at)comic(dot)com
BC, Canada
Posted to usenet sci.electronics.design
You need a mighty small notebook, assuming you are going to put it on
the dash. A netbook is more like it. Assuming you take it with you,
you will need to boot the notebook every time you start up. Now if you
get the built in GPS, you might be able to put it to sleep. A friend
just bought that P series Sony with the built in GPS. It worked OK,
but the GPS won't get recognized anymore. I haven't followed up why,
but we're talking failure in the field. I'd hate to depend on such a
system.
The phone based navigation presumes you have coverage. A big
assumption.
I've had two cars with built-in navigation. I've also used the Nuvi.
Other than having to pack up the Nuvi when you leave the vehicle, it
worked pretty well. Obviously having a built-in nav is the way to go
for new vehicles since you don't have to pack up the GPS when you
leave the vehicle.
Note that the Nuvi and similar models lack the accelerometers of the
built-in systems. In situations where you have canopy issues, the
accelerometer keeps the system working. Besides tunnels (DOH), you can
lose the GPS in very dense urban areas or heavily forested areas.
For something not built in, the Nuvi is the way to go.
.
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