GPS Software

[renrut]

I have a built in GPS in my cellphone/PDA. It's an HP Ipaq 6515 and works very good for GPS navigating. The only problem with it is, I bought it off Ebay and it didn't come with any software for the GPS.

I just tried Garmin Mobile XT and thought it was a good program. Garmin broke down POI's (Point of Interest) into sub-categories making selection a little easier. It had an automatic color change feature on it. As the sun set, the color automatically changed to darker colors. This was a very nice feature. They have extra maps available, for a cost, to navigate in other places than the road. They have water charts and topographical maps available for times your out hiking or travelling on the water. The big downfall on it was the map refresh speed. I emailed Garmin support about it and they said the program is setup to refresh the map onces per second. It makes the map very jerky and distracting. Travalling at 120km/h (slow on the 401) it is really bad. Other GPS programs I've tried did the same thing but I adjusted the GPS modem speed and it fixed the problem. Garmin has no settings available for devices with built in GPS. If you buy a Garmin GPS Bluetooth device, it's suppose to work very well but I don't need another GPS.

Another program I tried was TomTom Navigator 6. This is a very nice program and GPS software. The maps move very smoothly and it is full of POI's. The big downfall on this software is, TomTom seems to have stopped producing it. It would appear people have been illegally making copies of this and TomTom stopped making it. They tried a new TomTom 7 but it would only be available, pre-installed in new devices. Unfortunately, it's been hacked and it's illegally available on the Net.

I'm trying to find an inexpensive legal copy of TomTom but it's not available. TomTom still sells version 6 but for $150US. I can buy a complete TomTom navigation system at Future Shop for $150 Canadian. I have found it for $100CDN and may get it but am still looking for alternatives.

I tried Delorme Road Atlas and it was so bad, I uninstalled it right away. I went down Hwy 401 navigating from East to West. Delorme told me to exit the 401 and take back roads. It wanted me to back-track several miles, cross over the hwy and go back. It seemed to have no idea what it was doing. I tried a clean install and it did the same thing. If it doesn't know Canada's busiest highway, it's not very good. I used last years version and maybe this year is better but I'm reluctant to try it again.

Does anyone know of any other programs available for GPS?

[markopolo]

Check this link: $46 and it shows in stock

http://www.cdw.ca/shop/products/default ... DC=1136473

[renrut]

Thanks Mark but I already bought it from them. They cancelled my order because they don't have it. I contacted them several times about it but they don't seem to care. I would think this is false advertising. They say if you look at the page, it says to "Call" for location or something. (It's firewalled here at work). I kept pointing out that the site state, "In Stock and ready to ship" but they don't care and won't remove it from their website.

[markopolo]

I thought I found a deal for you

You mentioned Delorme and it wanting you to use back roads....

My Garmin always wants me to take a certain road if I'm heading up island or to the western side of the island. The road is almost not useable by an RV! I'd never take take it. We had visitors come using a higher model Garmin and it sent them through that road. We wonder where they were - they ended up turning around and using a map.

I've never used GPS software on a PDA or laptop so I can't help.

[renrut]

Not a problem Mark. I appreciate the help.

My street use to have a bridge at the end. It hasn't been there in many, many years. TomTom takes me over the "bridge" when I enter some places to go.

We also have a road that isn't maintained at all. I have a all-wheel-drive vehicle and I've taken the road a few times. It's broken the exhaust and a heat shield under the vehicle so far. Both navigator programs take me down that road. I hope no one uses a GPS to come here when it says to take that road. Some of the holes would break a lot of cars.

I will say one thing, my wife hates a GPS. She would rather use a map. At least on a map, it shows the one road as unmaintained and no bridge at the end of the road.

[kenking]

I use Delorme's Earthmate on my laptop and generally find it works pretty good. I've always attributed any problems I've had with my ancient laptop... but your mention of Delorme makes me wonder. Mine seems to know when I've strayed within a very short distance and recalculate. It will try a couple of times to get me back on the original route it calculated, but then figures out that I'm still moving forward and calculate a new route entirely.

[kenking]

I did forget one "feature". Many times, but not always, if I have Outlook Express running and then start the GPS program it will not aquire a satelite, especially if I'm moving. Not so much of a problem now that I'm aware of it...I shut the Outlook off first now.

[julievojo]

We use Co-Pilot. It has worked well for us for over 6 years now. It has POI including parks and campgrounds. We can also set it to tell us our speed, elevation, current road, time to destination, or several other options. You can set it for speaking or not speaking, depending on what you prefer (we only use it on speaking if we're stuck in heavy traffic somewhere).

This version runs on our laptop.

[renrut]

My brother uses Delorme on his laptop and has no problems with it. He's a transport truck driver so he uses it quite a bit.

The one I tried was their Pocket PC version. It was an older one and they probably fixed any issues since then.

I'm just trying various programs to see which one I like the most. I've narrowed it down to TomTom and Garmin. Both have good features I like. If there was only a program that took the best from both of them, it would be great but I know better than that.