Laptop or Mobile for satnav?

Kernow Buoy · 15 September 2007, 08:06

Excuse my ignorance on this subject but I'm trying to cobble together some form of satnav for a trip to the states next month, at present I have a laptop which will be going with us but also my sons now discarded Motorola A1000, I also have a Navicore GPS bluetooth receiver which seems to be working.
My question really is which is the best way to go, add a usb bluetooth dongle to the laptop to receive the gps signal or use the A1000, either way I'll need software and as its just for 2 weeks don't really want to spend much on it! Any thoughts?

Mollers · 15 September 2007, 10:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kernow

Excuse my ignorance on this subject but I'm trying to cobble together some form of satnav for a trip to the states next month, at present I have a laptop which will be going with us but also my sons now discarded Motorola A1000, I also have a Navicore GPS bluetooth receiver which seems to be working.
My question really is which is the best way to go, add a usb bluetooth dongle to the laptop to receive the gps signal or use the A1000, either way I'll need software and as its just for 2 weeks don't really want to spend much on it! Any thoughts?

Kernow Buoy · 15 September 2007, 10:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollers

Brilliant Mollers, wouldn't have thought of that

Mollers · 15 September 2007, 10:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kernow

Brilliant Mollers, wouldn't have thought of that

Kernow Buoy · 15 September 2007, 13:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollers

Now if I can have an answer from someone a little higher up the foodchain!

codprawn · 15 September 2007, 13:54

A laptop running something like autoroute (streets and trips in the USA) is great for driving around if you have someone with you to operate it.

I find a laptop is best for wandering around with no specific destination in mind. For solo use when you just want to get from A - B then something like TomTom is better but it's useless if you want to deviate from a set route.

In your case it's all down to what software you can get - I would get the blutooth dongle for the laptop and get hold of the US version of autoroute.

I was using my Garmin GPS12 on a laptop for route finding as early as 1998 - long before most people had ever heard of satnav - it was great - a dream come true from watching Goldfinger as a kid - a Bond gadget in my car at last!!!