GPS devices for SkyDemon - Does the perfect device exist?
Morning all.
I've got a cheap £60 satnav running MemoryMap with all three half million charts on, merged together to form one chart at the moment. Whilst this is great, the screen in my opinion is a little small and it won't run SkyDemon (I'd much prefer this to MM as when you've priced up the charts and software for MM it becomes expensive for what you get).
I think that hacking PNDs is an unreliable and improper way of getting GPS, whilst still costly. The battery life on these devices can be very poor as well.
In my opinion, the ideal solution would be a device with a 7-inch screen, like the cheap PNDs found on ebay, but with a full operating system on such as Windows XP or even Windows 7. Here's the tricky bit. It would need a built-in GPS receiver, an in-car charger, car/aircraft mounting kit and sunlight-readable screen. An extended life battery and foldout QWERTY keyboard would also be a bonus. I have an HP Pavillion 12-inch tablet/laptop however no GPS, no bluetooth for GPS, no car charger, crap battery life and the screen isn't even readable in the depths of the night never mind 2500' above the ground on a sunny day. No way of mounting the thing either (The device is too big anyway).
The SkyDemon software is excellent. Really excellent. Though it does become frustrating when the only recommended devices are phones or PDAs, with tiny screens. I have searched far and wide for a device that meets my requirements, as I feel it would be the perfect tool for planning and flying all in one but I've had no luck. My question is, does anyone have any better ideas/know of a device that is the perfect partner for SkyDemon?
It seems that we have the perfect software, thanks to Tim Dawson, but we are now lacking the ideal device to make the most of it. Devices are unreliable, lacking in features and interfaces and overall just don't cut it like the big-gun Garmins. Surely a device with all the necessary features would come in at about £300-£400 (It doesn't need to be the latest core2duo 5 million mhz 400gb memory crap, just enough to run the SkyDemon package), would be easily updatable/upgradable for future software releases and would still cost far less than any Garmin? I dare say that if such a device was available you could also connect it to a 3G provider for in-flight TAF and METAR updates as well. Anyway, ideas?
Thanks.