# laptop gps v handheld gps



## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Hi all

another brain straining problem for me

Do you guys have any advice re: the fitting of gps software to my laptop or buying a stand alone handheld gps
Have you (the experienced) found there to be any prefference?

The thought of my laptop dangling off me glovebox door does not inspire me with confidence, but i am always open to suggestions

So what are the fores and what are the againsts

Waiting in anticipation

Paul


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Paul,

If you want GPS navigation on the move, a laptop is fine to sit on the copilot's lap, or to be tucked away out of sight but providing audio instructions. Laptop navigation software can be quite cheap (eg Infomap Navigator http://www.directions.ltd.uk/index.php )

Otherwise, unless you are desperate to use a laptop, go for a PDA or dedicated box solution (which is another issue all in itself, but not what you asked).

Dave


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Dave Thanx for the reply

Had a look at the site you suggested, quite impressed, i feel that i would like to buy a hendheld system but am not totally convinced, there are so many choices to make that "i cant see the woods for the trees"
Guess i need to visit some shops to get the feel of these handhelds

Paul


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## 88781 (May 9, 2005)

We use a 'laptop system' in our M/H, easy to use, 100% accurate, info map europe, any further software is downloadable ie no expensive 'pods' to buy, plus you still have a p.c. to use for other applications, e-mail,internet access etc. Something you can't do with a dedicated stand alone gps navigation system.

Down sides are: bulky piece of kit, not really driver friendly for screen viewing, need a navigator for that IMHO! and power supplies have raised issues for p.c. .and Laptops are expensive to buy initially.


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Mandy/dave

would it be to much to ask what system you have on your laptop, where you got it from, what you paid for it

in fact i want to know everything you do  :lol: :twisted: 

i already have laptop, so that expense is out of the way

Many thanx 

Paul


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## further (May 9, 2005)

Red0ne said:


> Mandy/dave
> 
> would it be to much to ask what system you have on your laptop, where you got it from, what you paid for it
> 
> ...


So would I as we have just bought a new laptop
Regards
Chris


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

mandyand dave

if there are 2 people like me and chris, there may even be more of us (uninitiated) needing to know how to turn the laptop into a gps system

Could there be the need for someone like yourself to put some words together and have it as a general guide for those who are new to this

I appreciate it would be a bit of work for whoever did this , but i am sure the info would be well recieved by those of us not in the know

Paul


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## SidT (May 9, 2005)

Already having a laptop I bought Info-Navigator 4 from Doug Antill at the York show, I think the offer is still the same, A GPS receiver plus Info-Navigator which is 5 CD's covering most of Europe, all for £115 as opposed to £400/500 for other systems. See www.action-replay.co.uk
Whilst on a small "aire" on the A16 in France I zoomed in and it was accurate right down to the small roads on the Aire.
Cheers Sid


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Thanx sid

i have spent the night sleeping on it and the more i think about it the more it makes sense for me to use this laptop, as it would be such a waste otherwise, i am going to have a look at the site you have highlighted.........will let you know the outcome

Paul


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Oh sid 
what do you use to power the laptop? whilst on the move

Paul


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## phylymann (May 9, 2005)

Paul,

Before you buy,
visit http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/modules.php?name=Forums 
the best site for information on GPS from fellow users.

All the best


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## Raine (May 10, 2005)

:? Hi! We have a lap top, hubby doesn't have a navigator (sorry i can't be good at everything!)so how do you power the laptop on the move, and is this really REALLY REALLY an easy thing to use! ( I have to turn the map round if'n we're going the other way, ok ok, i know theres other ladies out there that have to do the same!! Ten things at once is quite an accomplishment, but eleven, pushing it a bit! :roll:


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Have actually made a decision (man thing) and have ordered the navigator 4 bunble , as suggested by sid and dave..will let you know the outcome when it arrives and i actually learn how to use it

Paul


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## 88792 (May 9, 2005)

When you buy the Navigator programme, ask for the power adapter for the laptop that lets you pug into the cigarette lighter socket. Used ours last weekend to go to Brugge, very good.


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Mikesha

When i ordered it is was offered as a bundle package, and thankfully below the offer was the plug in power supply, so i got that aswell..

Total cost for the lot was £145 inc delivery

i was going to spend nearly 3 times that amount on a tom tom 3 

hope i have made a good choice

general concencus, says i have

Paul


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## 92889 (May 1, 2005)

*GPS Software*

Hi All
Entering in to this discussion a bit late... I have been looking around at software for GPS and founr some free at Sunninghill (www.gpss.co.uk) I have not tried it as I have a new PDA phone that will be easier to take on my motorbike but may be worth a look for laptop use.

Stu


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

I use a laptop and Navigator for my gps, it sits on the floor between the front seats with the screen layed back and powered via my inverter, the large screen is easily seen with a quick glance down. The down side for most people is the low audio volume from the laptop ( remember you are driving a diesel) this can be overcome using an earpeice or as in my case an external audio input on my cab radio.

I am more than pleased with my set up although I must admit it would drag my pockets down a bit if I used it for Hiking. 8O 

Ken


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## 88847 (May 9, 2005)

Hi ken

Being naive as i am, do you use your invertor while on the move, off which battery?

if so it will make all the difference to me as the adaptor i biught for my laptop is a 90watt continuous and i found out it should be a 120 watt, so i cant cope and the laptop battery dont last forever

Paul


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

Paul

The quick answer is yes and off the leisure battery, so far I’ve had no problems at all, and not real expecting any.

My set-up is 2 x 110 aH batteries supplying a 600W ( plenty to spare)modified sine wave inverter, these are charged from the alternator when on the move, and the M/H plug in systems when on powered site, from this I run a 17” CRT TV with DVD (3/5 hours day), laptop for routing, photo editing etc, small battery charging and all the other normal M/H appliances, Lights, Pump, Heating etc.

I think the longest period on an unpowered sight without charging or driving and without the batteries going flat is 4 days so far.

I wont say this is the best set-up, but it is simple and like most simple things, it works. 

Ken


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## 89022 (May 12, 2005)

One simple remark from me,
make sure that whatever you put over the dash or on the dash is not in the way of the airbags.
There are laptop mounts that fit on the dash but the problem is that your airbag is behind it.
Do I need to say more where your laptop will end when the airbag is deployed.

That is perhaps the biggest advantage of the PDA solution a suction mount on the windscreen middle is in most cases out of the path from the airbag.

Lots of succes with navigating........ (eh I'm lost)

Leo


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi All

I thought I would share my Laptop/GPS setup with you

I bought an ex lease IBM Thinkpad P111 900Mhz 20gig DVD from 
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tier-1-Online
No problems and it cost £360. It came with a fresh installation of Windows 98 and I am sticking with that.

The laptop battery has been well used and only gives around 45 mins but I run it from the Cigar lighter via a Kerio power unit from Maplin, so this is no problem.

I use Autoroute 2004 software with loads of preprepared .axe maps containing all sorts of useful POI (point of Interest) ....AA sites, CC & C&CC sites, CL sites, Gardens, Castles, Cycleways, TV stations, Speed Traps etc etc. If I was travelling on my own or if my other half was not a born again map person I would most likly use Infomap Navigator. Version 4 of this software really looks outstanding for the money. As it is Autoroute allows us to plan exactly the route we wish to take using whatever roads we wish to use and it always tells us exactly where we are on the move.

I also have Memory Map software and maps of interesting regions of the UK, and the UK road map.

The GPS mouse is a Fortuna U2 USB connect which came from Expansys
http://www.expansys.com it cost around £70

The laptop is mounted on a purpose made (by me) shelf fitted into the glove pocket of our 1998 Boxer see pictures below:









The general layout showing the Laptop, mount , GPS Mouse & Power lead









Detail of shelf showing the bracket which clips into the locks of the Boxer Glove Pocket door. Also note the extra white cord "hanger".

Velcro fixed inside the glove pocket holds the rear of the shelf down.
The laptop is held in place with a strips of Velcro and two side stops made of Rubber that fit into indents on the IBM.

All this gear can be stowed quickly out of sight when the van is left unnatended.

Hope this is of help to those folks who have a laptop and wonder if it can be used as a GPS navigation system

Mike


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

spykal

I also use Autoroute for planing the route and other info like camp sites and autogas points but my GPS navigation is done by Navigator, but I think for routing Autoroute is by far the best.

For would be GPS users who may misunderstand your posting ("and it always tells us exactly where we are on the move. ") Autoroute does not have audio instructions, if it did I would probably use it in preference to Navigator.

Ken


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## 93111 (May 1, 2005)

*Laptops on the move*

New to this site, but a number of people are enquiring about how to power laptops whilst on the move. Maplin (www.maplin.co.uk) do a very good 12v to various voltages laptop power supply which would solve most peoples problems. It would also help with charging up the laptop whilst on the move and when no 240v is available. Hope this helps


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

*Re: Laptops on the move*



edaip01 said:


> New to this site,


Hi and welcome to the site

Anyone buying an adaptor must check the power requirements of their laptop, some laptops do seem to need a large amount of power and the Maplin adaptor or the Kerio may not cope. For these Laptops a small invertor may be the best and cheapest solution.

I am sure someone on here had this problem recently...maybe they will reply too........Was it SidT or KenS?

Mike


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

Hi
Taint I, I've always run from an inverter, also remember some laptops do not use a radial plug ( mine for instance) as used in quite a few adaptors.

Ken S or Ken (whichever)


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## 91929 (May 1, 2005)

*laptop tv v gps phone*

Can someone put ALL the technical bits N bobs together

Hi RAINE you can turn the map uoside down

But it isnt as easy to turn the laptop round & even if you do you end up looking at the back of the screen dont you

We told one man that we were going to stick to a paper map when he told me his £2000 system could only take you to a certain town using the post code even with an address My autoroute works better than that & if we got a GPS ariel (his was another £150) you can be directed right to the door of the place you are looking at I keep getting sent to the wrong side of dual carriage ways when im route planning


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi all
The pictures of my laptop/GPS in my previous post were not showing up to anyone except me  

I think they are working OK now ..someone please tell if they are ...or not.

Mike


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi Mike they are showing now

George


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Mike,

They are 

Dave


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Thank you both :lol: 

Mike


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## elbino (May 9, 2005)

We bought a Navman PiN currently around £350. This is a PDA running windows with built-in GPS receiver. Comes with street maps for UK and Europe/Scandinavia. Hasn't set a foot wrong yet (well olmost). UK fits on media card supplied and I bought another 256mb one on the web for about £40 which holds 90% of France if Paris is loaded on the PDA memory. French experience with it was great. Attaches to windsceen with sucker cradle and is easy to listen to and for passenger to watch.
Excellent re-routing when you don't fancy a narrow road etc is instantaneous and seldom tries to insist on taking previous route. Wouldn't be without it especially since Pda coonects to Web via infra-red connection with mobile phone for picking up email etc
paul


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## Mike48 (May 1, 2005)

When you used the Navman Pin in France did you use it to locate French Aires? Can you use the PIN to find places by lattitude and longtitude?


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## Raine (May 10, 2005)

Hi Pam&Pete, I DO turn the map upside down but hubby is not impressed with that, hence his flat head-joke joke! :wink: , we're still looking, and the prices have dropped amazingly or should that be alarmingly, depending on when you bought it, or not as the case may be, anyone had a real good deal on an easy peasy system, we have a lap top we could use, but think hubby would like a system that he can use in different vehicles. any h e l p gratefully received but please speak s l o w l y and in something i can understand, thanks :roll:


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## Paulway (May 9, 2005)

gelathae

Sorry this is a bit behind the last posts but I did not notice it before!!

If you ensure you get the latest PiN 300 that has V3 software, rather than the PiN 100 V2 software, yes it does do lon & lat. as well as a lot more than V2 that is still being sold as current. I make the last point as Navman do not do reduced cost upgrades for users who already have their software, so to upgrade will cost the full software cost a not inconsiderable amount!
Other than the upgrade issue I would highly recomend the PiN for its adaptability, ease of use and superb GUI (Screen views) which give one of the best 3D views going, if you hav'nt seen a 3D view on a GPS, IMHO you have not seen the best.


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