I'm doing a bit of research on the various portable Sat-Nav sytems, particularly for in-car use. Of those looked at (on the net) so far, the various Garmins look promising as does a combination of Kane GPS plus I-Paq PDA. Does anyone out there have any experience of any of these systems, plus any use in European road navigation? Recommendations..... snags..... avoid like the plague.... etc?
TIA :confused:

Jack

FWIW I am our resident in house gadget freak at work, biggest problems is the depth of my pockets (short with long arms), however one of my bosses seems to like gadgets and has NO IDEA how to set them up. Thats where I come in.

A couple of months back I was summoned to his office to be given an Ipaq (model no escapes me but it has fingerprint logon technology - cool except when you reset - "can I borrow your finger").

It uses a bit of software/hardware called TomTom Navigator (http://www.tomtom.com) it was a breeze to setup and after standing in the car park for 3 minutes we had a satellite fix. The mapping is perfect and instructions first class.

He bought the maps of Western Europe last week and is currently testing the French one, I will find out how well he got on tomorrow.

Overall for a very modest outlay £300 Ipaq (not his but a normal one) and approx £2-300 on the sat nav software and hardware it is a fantastic bit of kit which has reached the top of my things to buy.

You can set Points Of Interest which include all of the registered UK safety cameras a licence saver in todays big brother state.

Only one setback as far as it is concerned the voice that comes over the Ipaq is hard to hear on the move so you may need to use the headphones when travelling.

Jack

Built in systems are much, much better than portable ones, because they use accelerometers to add to the information coming from GPS, and use both sets of information to position the car more accurately (and when GPS isn't available, eg in tunnels.)

You will never get the results from an IPAQ that you get from a Navtech box.

W

That is true, however

I use my ipaq + tomtom in my 3 vehicles in the UK, and if needed in hire cars abroad !

Which is nice.

Thank you gentlemen (or ladies?)
F S D - I had a quick look at the Tom-Tom in PC Worry and it seemed to be less favoured than the Kane, but that could well have been the 'commission' effect. However your experience seems to put it in the frame, at least.
WCollins - I take your point entirely - especially since this PM I saw the Kenwood in action :cool: That really is the canine's cojones. The problem is:-
1. that it has almost spoiled me for anything else and
2. that at £3k (but it does include fitting!! :{ ), I have something of F S D's pocket and arm length juxtaposition!!
I shall have to keep looking and maybe stick with paper maps for a while longer :8

Have a look at www.magellangps.com
Go for the sportrack color. You can buy a mapsend cd with it, with all the roads, towns etc. And you can even take it with you in your boat or cessna. It takes all kinds of maps, waterways, airfields etc. Good deal. And you can hook it up to your laptop or Ipaq if you would want that.

I’ve had an iPAQ 2210 with TomTom Navigator 2 UK map software and the TomTom Bluetooth Satellite receiver for about three weeks now. I have to say that it is brilliant, especially when using the 3D map view - you get the feeling you are about 50 feet in the air just behind your car, and this gives a really good appreciation of the road ahead.

Took a while to set up as the instructions did not properly relate to the bluetooth variant but now it is simplicity itself. I haven’t yet got it properly installed in the car (SAAB 9-5) as I’m waiting for a clip on attachment from Brodit – these are excellent and don’t require any holes to be drilled in the car. I have it perched in the dashboard cup holder for the moment – the sound is much better than earlier iPAQ models and it can easily be heard above the radio.

When the receiver is placed on the fascia directly under the windscreen I regularly get up to 7 or more satellites out of 12, but even putting it on the pax seat it receives 4 or 5 satellites.

Do watch out if you have an athermic heat reflective windshield like the new Renault Laguna – this stops the signals getting through and you will need either to position the receiver in the small clear area behind the mirror or get an external antenna.

The one thing that has become clear to me is that in the early days after installation these things are a damn sight more dangerous than using a mobile phone – that’s based on my own experience and that of a friend who has just written off his brand new BMW on the central reservation barrier because of fiddling with the GPS at speed.

http://ebusiness.gbdirect.co.uk/downloads/ or http://gpsdrive.kraftvoll.at/index.shtml

Thank you d2d and S Two.
seat OA - the Magellan looks very interesting but can you advise if the mapsend cd can be pre-loaded to give (for example) full mapping cover of France without having to reload while en-route?
TIA

The current issue of "Handheld Computing" ( http://www.hhcmag.com) has a special about GPS and handhelds - it's an American magazine, but may be available here in specialist newsagents and/or Borders (which do a good range of US magazines).