OT- Advise on buying GPS

It's Xmas again and time to buy gifts for my wife, This year I’m thinking GPS.
I like the car GPS units but she drives whatever is closer to the door on our driveway so that couldn't be any help plus I like to have something to take boating, hunting,...
So handheld GPS is what we need but which one?
Electronics changes every year so I don't wanna buy anything expensive, I learned my lesson on my Video cameras in early 90's.

Price MAX: $300

She also has a Tungsten E2 palm pilot, I’ve seen some receivers for the PDA, anyone use these? Any comment on receiver for palm?

Thanks,

Chris

Gosh, I hate to rain on a party, but I think a GPS in the car is just as dangerous as a cell phone, maybe even more dangerous. It can be a serious distraction, and you take your eyes AND your mind off the road to mess with a GPS.

I used one regularly when I was flying, but I made sure it was set up properly before I took off, and I rarely messed with it once off the ground. And, that was with the other traffic several miles away, not several feet away in the opposing lane.

Roger

What you say it probably true, Roger, but what are you going to do if you need a map? Ideally, your passenger will be able to direct you while they study the GPS screen, or, one could get the talking type of GPS that tells you when your next turn is coming up.

I think they are invaluable when travelling in unknown areas. I use a laptop, and have the trip planned out beforehand. The screen is large enough to see at a glance, and I can then easily tell where my car icon is, on my planned route. If I get off track, I pull in somewhere and can study to find my way back on track.

On a handheld, I think I would want the talking type of directional guidance, since the screen is so tiny.

In the Uk we are quite littered with Radar Traps and there are things which buzz and flash. Some are called Road Angels. Being deaf, I cannot hear the warning. Wrong frequency or something?

Now talking GPS is here and I was impressed with the ability to see and hear instructions.
She talks funny and can see radar traps which we can't but in all, she is great.

Not perfect, but who is?

Norm

I have a 10" screen laptop and use a power inverter so I can keep it on all the time. Map software and GPS unit came from Delorme. Fantastic stuff. The GPS unit was $99 and the map software in my opinion is tops and has a $39 price tag. Go to Delorme.com

This has been a real life saver for me late at night in unknown places.

TMD

I have a high dollar one that talks and does everything automatically.

I also have a hand held one that plugs into a laptop but does not talk. This is probably what you want if you have a laptop. that way you can take the hand held GPS in the woods or fishing.

Target stores has a fairly good selection of GPS units, they have one that hooks up to a laptop for $99 that looked interesting.

If you have a laptop you have a lot of choices, but it might be a bit complicated for the wife. I think $300 might be a bit slim for a good dedicated unit though, and the hand held units might be lacking on features.

The ones for the palms are nice, but the screen is too small to really be useful, unless you really need it when you are lost.

Lots of choices, just depends upon what you want to do with it.

Dave J

Interesting.

You buy your wife a GPS?

I just finished shopping for her.

A dress coat, three bras, ten pairs of underwear, two pairs of pants, some body spray, an MP3 player and a coffee pot for her classrom later, I am done.

A gps....man, you get off easy!

At least do this: www.mp3car.com

-Jacob

If you have a laptop you have a lot of choices, but it might be a bit complicated for the wife.

Click to expand...

Can we say that out loud?!

Well, I got her a bottle of perfume, handbag, snow boots and some other small things and called it a day.
This morning I was opening my mails and found a $500 charge on our bank statement from a sporting goods store.
Well it couldn't be a new fishing pole so I started searching the house and found a Ruger M77 in 338 Winchester Magnum.
I was happy for 5 minutes till I realized I’m pretty much making an ass out of myself with my gifts so I thought of GPS.

That way I won't be short on gift and I can use it for my hunting trips and overnight boating.

Delmore GPS receiver is very tempting but if I understand correctly they need a power source other than battery (portable), which is not good for trip to the woods.
Fantastic for auto use and around highways but it's not portable.

I might get one for the laptop though, I like it.

Oh i see that it gets the power from the laptop thru USB post, and the bluetooth model has a chargable battery. Very neat.

That way I won't be short on gift and I can use it for my hunting trips and overnight boating.

Click to expand...

Does she use your gun?

I dont know your wife, but I do know mine. Simply put, if I got her a GPS, she would use my gun (on me ).

Is the handbag made by coach, or kate spade?

When I was shopping for GPS, I really liked the Lawrence H2O. It is made for boating, but I am quite sure that it will also work for any other application. The reason I liked the lawrence is because they have the best topographical maps out there. They are broken up into state, federal public hunting lands, etc, and private property...so you know not to stray. The maps will cost you another 100 bucks, but it's worth it to me. I think the GPS unit runs right around 300 bucks.

I say the H2O version because it's the waterproof one. Sorry, but I'm not going to carry a non-waterproof GPS out in the field. I WILL drop it in a stream!

Anyway, those are my thoughts

Oh, a gift that I have never lost on...go to the hair salon that she goes to and ask how much a haircut (coloring if she is in to that)/eyebrow wax costs. Get her a gift certificate.

-Jacob

oh yah...

www.geocaching.com

the forum at that site is very knowledgable!

-Jacob

Oh, a gift that I have never lost on...go to the hair salon that she goes to and ask how much a haircut (coloring if she is in to that)/eyebrow wax costs. Get her a gift certificate

Click to expand...

Santa brings a gift certificate every year; I would be shot if one year the “obvious traditional” gift wasn't under the tree.

I ordered the Delrome Blue Logger Bundle #3 and it should be here on Wednesday.

She would really like it, she gets lost all the time .

I don't think it's gonna do me any good for boating but I can hope for a new fish finder with marine GPS for my birthday

Only men need a GPS, women stop and ask for directions.

Mom was Dad's navigator until she passed on. When Dad announced his plan last month to drive round-trip Seattle - Florida over the holidays, alone, instead of trying to talk him out of it I got him a GPS navigator.

Lot of models to choose from but I chose the Costco solution, the Magellen Roadmate 360 @ $499 on account of that being the only model they sell. (Actually they have more choices online.)

I am a software guy, even with what I take for granted today, these little gadgets are bloody amazing. My hat off to the folks who dared dream of shoehorning a GPS receiver, antenna, computer, screen and speaker and gigabytes of map data into the size of a large wallet. An amazing piece of work.

You get increased features, flexibility and programming ease on a continuum from the base models @ around $300 up well past $1000.

The only bad aspect of the 360 is the programming interface is terrible. Too rigid, far to picky about weird street names, you have to use your imagination and think like a computer to make it work.

Dad loves it. The voice navigation is great. The location coordination is typically accurate within a few yards. The tiny built-in antenna works fine anywhere near the dashboard.

For this trip I programmed in all the destinations I could think of, and programmed his approximate snow-avoiding route by way of waypoints in cities along the way that pinned down his route. For example Barstow, Albuquerque, OK City, Shreveport, Montgomery.

Metal content:

It came with a hokey windshield suction cup mount, that was difficult to use and too far for him to reach. I machined a small block of 6061 to fit the dashboard contour, then bent up some 308L TIG rod to hook between an A/C vent and the defroster vent, locked into the Al block with setscrews. I took apart the suction mount and attached its mating bracket to the Al block, so the mount is semi-permanently fixed to the dash an inch above the shift lever, but with no damage to the dash.

It is a portable device, the only connection is a coil cord that plugs into the lighter socket. The antenna can be removed and mounted remote, for example if you have a good mounting spot lower down on the dash or center console. But they don't help with the mounting.

Laptop with Delorme GPS.... We don't leave home without it. (long trip)

This past summer I asked about "modern" GPS's here on PM for flying and didn't get much feedback. I did end up buying a Lowrance Airmap 1000 and have been very happy with it.

When we flew out to see Rick Rowland's Tod Engine project, I took it and some other equipment out of the airplane for the cab ride to Rick's. It was about 7 or 10 miles, (from the "big" airport), the cab driver got lost, and dispatch was not helping him very well. I had programmed in the area including Youngstown for a radius of about 20 miles, so got the GPS out of the bag, stuck the antenna up in the cab windshield and brought up the street maps. Very quickly got us back on track, as the driver had bypassed a turn off and was heading well out of the way.

I have used it on trips in the car mostly for familiarization with using it fluently. But really don't like it for regular travel. It seems that for whatever reason, my mind focusses differently with a GPS than with a map, even though the data is aproximately the same. With the GPS, I end up stuck with "my head inside the vehicle" and become very "instrument dependent". With a print map, my focus is more easily well "outside the vehicle" looking only for features keyed by the map.

Even on local flights, it is better for me to ignore the GPS, or set it up as a HSI. I took my neighbor up as he wanted to photo his house and property. I've actually never intentionally flown over my property here, though have passed close enough to see it on a trips east at higher altitudes. Neighbor and I both live in a somewhat hilly area, with woods around. Waypoint #001 is my desk in the office, so even though this was local area, i used that to reference by flying out of the airport a dozen miles away. We first flew in the opposite direction, up to Watkins Glen for some pictures, then turned to head back the other side and around down to where we live. Darned if I didn't almost get lost while following the line on the GPS as far as situational awareness. Obviously, we were "where we should be" but both of us were going nuts focussing on the GPS track and not looking outside for familiar visual cues. I finally turned the GPS face over, found the power substation, pointed out the crossroads and power line to my neighbor, we picked out his pond, and flew to it.

I find on the road, I lose similar visual stimulus or awareness with the GPS on. But they sure are great in an emergency.

smt

A GPS for SWMBO? That ranks right down there romantically with buying her a hammer! Go to Victoria's Secret and buy her some nice (from her standpoint, not yours) lingerie and a nightgown. I may be old, but I am not that old!

stephen thomas,

What aircraft are you flying?
I'm gonna get my PPL this coming summer, Thanks for the info on the GPS, i'm sure i'm gonna need one for flying.

Come one, GPS is not a hammer . She always wanted one and i made fun of her everytime she said it.

So wifey already has a GPS now.... sounds like you still need one for hunting and driving, and maybe flying in the near future.

As the guy who restores a 1918 18" lathe instead of going out and buying a new Grizzly, I do things a little differently. My GPS is a Garmin Etrex Vista handheld. It is a ful moving map GPS with 24megs of storage (enough for about 1/4 of the continental US down to hog trails), and also has a real live barometric altimeter and a mag compass for use when not moving.

Discovering I was also driving around with my head in the console, I got the little suction cup windshield mount, but the suction cup died. I found I could wedge the GPS between the windshield and dash and forget the $25 mount. It has great reception in that position and provides a "Heads-Up-Display" so you can get the info you want and still see the old woman that just stopped on the entrance ramp in front of you.

With the detail map CD, it can give you the attractions, gas, food, lodging info etc... when you point at an exit. It runs on two AA batteries for about 16hrs even with the backlight on. I use a set of NiMH rechargables. Only get about 12hrs out of them, but I carry all four and the recharge overnight. They have a 12V adapter for the car or an airplane with a 12V system.

This GPS has no aviation database... at least the one you buy doesn't... I literally took a weekend and sat down with the A/FD for this area and loaded up all the NAVAIDS, airports and such using the lat/long coordinates to establish waypoints. I wouldn't try to fly an instrument approach with it (unless everything else in the airplane went out!), but it kicks BUTT for VFR flying.

I fly backwards to most folks. I fly by VFR pilotage and use the GPS for verification instead of staring at the GPS and looking out occasionally. Just what I got used to. This one has an HSI, but if you can fly it, you probably should be in airliners. Full-width deflection is 1/4 mile. I use the RMI display instead. I built a little aluminum yoke mount that attaches to a Cessna yoke with HF mini-bungees.

For hunting, it is waterproof, about the size of a cell phone, weighs nothing, and is very cheap ($350 or less). National forests and such are loaded, too.

Bad points. The screen is only about 2x2", so it can be hard to read, RMI or HSI is not a problem, but a cluttered zoomed-out map is nearly useless unless you have it up close. It doesn't talk to you, you have to figure where to go yourself when driving (I don't consider this a negative personally). The CD for the fine detail is about $100, but it is worth it I think.

I have learned one important lesson with the high detail maps. When I first got the GPS, I began going out and driving for fun in my 300ZX turbo, using the GPS to find alternate routes. Never once did it lead me astray, every road went exactly where it showed. The problem was that it did not tell you what KIND of road this was. Ever been 4-wheeling in a 300hp sports car? After doing so inadvertently a couple of times, I decided that was not such a great idea.