Which PDA?
Geo- for grown-ups
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages    Log inLog in 
  GamesGames   

Which PDA?

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic     Forum Index -> GPS nuts & bolts
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Cookster
Member


Joined: 20 Nov 2005
Posts: 96
Location: Perth

PostPosted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 7:24 pm    Post subject: Which PDA? Reply with quote

I am looking to buy a PDA but hav no knowledge of them. Can anyone suggest a good PDA to purchase at a resonable price, and one which can take Memory Map?

Thanks.

Cookster
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HighlandNick
Founder member


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 635
Location: Highlands, Scotland

PostPosted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a nice one (secondhand) for sale. Shocked
Its really good - well I would say that wouldn't I???
Actually I have two.....Embarassed

One is a Dell Axim X30 PPC. I have used this for quite a while with a Bluetooth GPS, Memory-Map, I-Go (like TomTom), CacheMate....

The other is a Dell Axim X5 (similar to X30 but older and slower). Much cheapness.

I have really enjoyed both but have moved on somewhat.

Open to offers!

I now have a HTC Kaiser / Stellar XDA which is rather good - also a PPC PDA but has a built in GPS and mobile phone. But the battery life isn't so good as the X30, and absolutely nowhere as good as a real GPS....But for Memory-Map, TomTom etc, it is excellent.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Big Wolf
Founder member


Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 577
Location: Carnbroe, Scotland

PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Currently using a Mio P560. Has a slot for a SD card so up to 4GB of memory can then be available with a suitable card. Currently using memory map, cachemate, spoiler sync, gps gate etc.

The internal GPS is fine for use with memory map but not so hot with BeelineGPS since the update frequency is too infrequent. Its a great device for replacing maps and printouts but the internal GPS is no comparison with my Garmin Vista for when you get down to 40m to go.

I probably get about 6hrs out a charge but it comes with a car charger so I generally find its fine whne out and about. Since its standard mini usb socket there are external battery boosters available forfor keeping in your rucksack to charge it up when you are miles away from the car.

Ps when using memory map you will need to slice up your maps into chunks of about 200Mb in size as the ones that come with memory map are too big to load on the PPC. What to do is zoom out the map you want to slice then add a circular route that is a rectangle so that the first and last waypoints are the same. Now right click on the route and select 'operations' then choose the last option on the pop up i.e. send enclosed map to mobile device. Then either choose the mobile device in question or a new directory on your PC and then transfer over the maps to a memory card later (since sending 200MB files over USB is not exactly fast)
_________________
www.BigWolf.co.uk


Last edited by Big Wolf on Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:54 pm; edited 2 times in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
skinnymalinky
Member


Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 373
Location: Sunny West Lothian

PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We use an Ipaq with a built in GPS and use a memory card to store lots and lots of cache pages. For the past year it has done pretty well but we've just got a garmin too. We find the ipaq doesn't always update often enough for us when we're walking. Also our laptop and the Ipaq sometimes just randomly decide to stop talking to eachother. I love using memory map and paperless caching though so we will continue to use both I think.

Lindsay
_________________
Now a happily married pair of cachers!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dunk090
Member


Joined: 01 Aug 2007
Posts: 83

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I currently have an Eten glofiish X800. It's a 3G phone / PDA / GPS. I chose it as it has a VGA screen, but in practice this is actually worse for Memory Map as the screen makes the maps very small - often it's a problem to tap on the icon for a cache on the PDA. This PDA is also under-spec'd in terms of memory, so quite a bit of fettling is needed to get it to run properly Evil or Very Mad

I think HN's choice of an HTC device would have been better, but impatience got the better of me Embarassed

I've had a couple of iPaqs in the past and they all do a good job with Memory Map and GPXSonar.
_________________
I hate nano's!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cookster
Member


Joined: 20 Nov 2005
Posts: 96
Location: Perth

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, I will check these out by looking at reviews of them.

I didn't realise that cachers used them as a gps as well. I was looking to simply load cache locations onto memory map so that I didn't always have to be at home when I was looking up caches and trying to work out where they are.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Acronema
Member


Joined: 02 Jun 2008
Posts: 68
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As I already have a good GPSr I went for a Palm Tungsten without GPSr built in, and have been very happy with it.

I have had PPC (Windows Mobile) PDAs in the past and have been disappointed with the battery life. Although I have not tested it out against my PPC PDA, I feel that the Palm battery life is much better. I suspect that this is because the OS is more efficient that the Microsoft product. I am also impressed with the sync system that the Palm uses compared to the PPC.

I have often been asked by colleagues about the accuracy of GPSr's built into PDAs and mobile phones, as compared to (say) Garmin eTrex dedicated units. It would be interesting to hear more from forum members on this topic as I have no experience of the built in units. I suspect that the superior antennae and averaging systems in dedicated units would be much better than the inbuilt utilities.

Incidentally, have just bought a little GPSr that fits onto my camera hotshoe and connects to my dSLR (works on a Nikon D200 or above) and embeds the lat long into the image file. This probably has a similar performance to the inbuilt GPSr units. I am looking forward to testing it out againsy the Garmin in Manaslu next week (unfortunately its a geocache desert!).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Scotsbob
Founder member


Joined: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 594
Location: Hamilton, Scotland

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

as an aside I was totally ignorant of where Manaslu was, found out by googling, but can you call the 8th highest peak in the world a desert???? even though there may only be one cache there

Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
_________________
"It's not whether you get knocked down.
It's whether you get up again."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Acronema
Member


Joined: 02 Jun 2008
Posts: 68
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

too true...but it is pretty dry on the north side of the massif as it is in deep rain shadow. The river valleys have some good forests, but there are large areas of very dry bare landscapes. As we will be collecting plant specimens we will mainly stick to the valleys and moist slopes. I wont be hoisting a flag on Manaslu summit, but we will have to go over a 5200m pass.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Scotsbob
Founder member


Joined: 27 Sep 2005
Posts: 594
Location: Hamilton, Scotland

PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good Luck
_________________
"It's not whether you get knocked down.
It's whether you get up again."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic     Forum Index -> GPS nuts & bolts All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Create your own free forum now!
Terms of Service Purchase Ad Removal Forum Archive Report Abuse