im thinking of getting 1 and using arial photogrphic mapping software just have a few concerns


are they easy to water proof?

what sort of battery life do they give??

hows best to fit the GPS recever, bluetooth, card slot or externaly on a cable??

please advise

 

I can't answer your questions about GPS with PDA's. The PDA that I had (Sony Clie PEG-NR70/U) had a fairly good battery life. It would run for about 2-4 hours playing MP3's.

Very few PDA's are "ruggedized" so I can't imagine any holding up to use with an ATV, if that's what you're intending. There are some on the market, but they're aimed at the industrial segment (Symbol makes some ruggedized ones for scanning, for instance). You'd pay top dollar for these too.

Probably much better and cost efficient to buy a GPS that downloads to a PC. They're more rugged by nature.

 

yeah but the arial photo sortware would be real usefull to me, the detail is prety amaizing,
and it moves along with you,

most of my riding is likely to take place on land i shouldnt ride so the more detail the better, you can see filed boundries, gates, prety much everything,
ive seen some enclosures that water proof them but it gave no details of how your gps reciever would connect,

do the rugedised symbol ones run the pocket pc windows thing??

 

Well.....
Rule number one applies here. If your going to be stupid - ya gotta be tough...
Land you shouldnt ride on? Its guys like you who give ATV's a bad rap.
I recommend you spend as much money as possible and go as fast as you possibly can.
Remember rule number one.

 

Yes I have used one, quite a bit actually. At least on a road motorcyle. Problems are battery life is not good, you have to plug it in. Not waterproof at all nor are they very rugged. I doubt that any of the units I have used would last very long mounted on an atv.

 

yeah rule number 1 will most definitly apply,

in the uk we have no access to pulic land what so ever unless your running in an organised event, yep it might not be good for the atv scene but thats a usa isue realy cos there are thoes that dont want you on public land, i dont have the access anyway so i dont realy give a ****,


the only legal access is on what are known as green lanes, these are basicly roads that date back to the horse and cart and have never been sufaced, and yep the magic mushroom eating tree huggin middle aged foot patrolers want em closed down to vehicles

down side is you need a fully road legal vehicle to ride em tax insurance and MOT so i aint got much of a chance there,

anyway i dont mean to sound like some kind of hooligan cos im not. i just want to get out into the coutryside and enjoy some riding

just be good to have some accurate and detailed mapping while im out and about,

also if anyone is interested ive found a site in the uk for mapping software and pda GPS stuff, they also have an operation in New York,

check it out try the demo software looks good to me,

http:www.memory-map.com

and thanks for the comments,

 

Check out the OTTERBOX site for info about a good waterproof holder.

 

thanks Mike,

yeah i had seen the otterbox on the site i mentioned looks great, thanks for the link tto there site,

 

I've used a Compaq PDA Aero Model 2130 on my quad. I loaded it with 1:24,000 Topographic maps using OziExplorer CE software. Although at the time the Compaq allegedly had the best screen for daylight use, I found it a little difficult to see. If I got lost, though, I could stop and shade my hands over it and see where I was on the maps. It got it's GPS signal from a Garmin 12XL and a serial cord with a gender changer and a special cable from Compaq. The signal cord and connectors were an unsightly mess, and I taped them up to be waterproof. The Compaq Aero had no moving parts, so I didn't worry about reliability. The biggest problem I had was the power cable had gotten dirty and lost contact, running down the PDA's battery. I saw the message too late, and when I got home I had to reload all the software. Syncing with the PC at home was always an "iffy" process, as Microsoft's "Activesync" often couldn't find the PDA that was attached. I finally gave up on the process and bought a Lowrance iFinder GPS. I use OziExplorer to load trails off of a topographic map at home, prior to riding. I've still got 2 Compaq Aero 2130's, but just don't use them any more. Maybe the newer PDA's are easier to see in daylight, and may have enough memory to have a GPS receiver in the Compact Flash slot. Bottom line; it is doable on a quad/ATV.

 

thanks, as long as its doable its gona be the way i go,