VisorCentral.com - GPS for Prism & Laptop??

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-- GPS for Prism & Laptop?? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=38803)

Posted by wumagic on 10-19-2003 09:48 AM:

GPS for Prism & Laptop??

What is a good GPS system that has the capabilities of being used on both the Visor Prism and can be transferred to a Laptop?

What current GPS system are you using with your Prism??

Thanks!

Posted by HindeR on 10-29-2003 03:21 PM:

I have the magellan GPS at home collecting dust. It was a fun toy, but we never used it as we had planned which was to find our way in new cities when on travel. The color screen of the Prism was much easier to follow maps on, but the Prism's battery life did not last long enough. I suppose if we had gotten a car battery charger cable, and another car charger cable for the GPS, it would have worked better.

My wife's Visor Deluxe died last week and we bought her a Zire21. She never needed or used the expandability and the rate at which things die in her purse (especially when the kids get ahold of it) demanded a cheap replacement.

I still tote my Prism around, but I am about to replace it. The 8MB just is not enough anymore. By the time I install my apps and office suite there is no more room for syncing documents.

The Magellan is a springboard module so it will not work with a laptop. I have seen new GPS modules that I think are bluetooth. You might be able to find a bluetooth springboard module on eBay, they did exist at one time, and use that to connect your BT GPS to both your laptop and Prism. The catch is, there is most likely no software for the Prism to work with that BT GPS unless it is generic PalmOS software that can use any available BT connection.

Good Luck,

Chip

Posted by EricG on 10-29-2003 05:01 PM:

you could try to find yourself a cheap Garmin (or other brand) hand held GPS and then try to locate an adaptor cable to connect it to the Prism, the thing about the Prism (as with all handsprings) is the Port is USB on the bottom of the Prism, not serial like the older Palm units, so you may have trouble finding a cable (or a cheap cable).. I don't happen to know of any, but if you search you may find something, then of course there is the software on the Prism, you need to find a Palm program that can accept GPS data via a serial connection and will work on the Prism, I would try to find the program you want to use first and see what hardware they recommend (especially for Handspring Visors).. Nice thing with a standalone Garmin GPS is you can also get a normal serial cable and hook that up to your laptop, or of course, you could use it standalone.. I owned a GEODE GPS springboard module and honestly, I agree with HindeR, it was a nice toy.. don't go the springboard route, get a separate GPS unit and try to find cables to connect to the Prism and/or your laptop.. (don't forget you will also more than likely also need to purchase additional map display software for both your laptop and the prism)..

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Posted by gooselab on 11-01-2003 10:25 PM:

To HindeR:

I hope you don't mind my asking, I've been considering getting a Magellan Companion for my 16mb Prism. If you're not using yours anymore, would you consider selling yours?

To wumagic:

Currently I have a Lowrance Globalmap 100 GPS that I hook up to my Prism. Establishing the connection is pretty easy. I use the data cable for the GPS, hook it up to a cable I got from PN Technologies. I keep the whole thing from falling off the windshield by using RAM mounts, one for the GPS, another for the Prism.
The program I use is called Atlas by GPSpilot. It's not a bad program, allowing you to scan or download maps off the internet, and then calibrate them to work with a GPS, but there's quite a bit of work involved in building up a library of maps. The main reason I got this program rather than Mapopolis or something similar is because I live and work around the east coast of Canada where there are no maps available for palms (that I'm aware of).
The whole setup sounds pretty descent, but you should see the bundle of wires hanging around the dash! That makes it fairly impractical and cumbersome.
That's why I'm interested in a springboard style GPS. I'll either power the Prism from a small emergency battery pack (4 AA NiMh), or a car charger kit I have. That way I'll have enough juice to power the PDA for a while. Anyway, I hope you find something that works for you. Good luck

Bill

Posted by EricG on 11-03-2003 04:57 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by gooselab
That's why I'm interested in a springboard style GPS.

If you set your expectations appropriately, then you wont be disappointed but don't expect a whole lot from a springboard based GPS device..

I am speaking from personal experience here.. I would encourage you to "try before you buy" if at all possible or make sure you don't spend a whole lot incase you are let down..

__________________
"One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no �them� out there. It�s just an awful lot of �us�." -- Douglas Adams

Posted by HindeR on 11-03-2003 02:57 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by gooselab
To HindeR:

I hope you don't mind my asking, I've been considering getting a Magellan Companion for my 16mb Prism. If you're not using yours anymore, would you consider selling yours?

I don't mind your asking, but I'm going to hold onto it for a while longer.

Posted by gooselab on 11-03-2003 05:16 PM:

quote:
I don't mind your asking, but I'm going to hold onto it for a while longer

Oh well, never hurts to ask! Thanks for responding.

quote:
If you set your expectations appropriately, then you wont be disappointed but don't expect a whole lot from a springboard based GPS device..

I agree, I wish I could try one out first. Unfortunately I don't know anyone that has a Magellan GPS or any other GPS module that I could try, so getting one from this message board or ebay is the only way.
My main reason for wanting the module is to use the NMEA output in conjunction with Copilot 4.3 and GPS Flightmaster 3.2. Although I can't use the PDA/GPS module as a prime source of navigation because it isn't certified equipment, it provides a little bit of backup if I need it. For that purpose, I think a module would be suitable as long as the module I got was working correctly. From what I've read here, the Magellan Companion GPS is fairly reliable that way.

Posted by HindeR on 11-03-2003 05:37 PM:

You mentioned a mess of wires. The Bluetooth GPS module would reduce the amount of wires and cables by one. Can you run Bluetooth in a cockpit, or does it interfere with communications/navigation? Here is a link to PalmOne's bluetooth GPS:

http://www.palmone.com/us/products/...es/peripherals/

But it is pretty pricey at $350.

I was really surprised to see the Nexiam Handy GPS Pro is still $125 at expansys.us. The Magellan's are going for that much on Amazon as well.

Current eBay auctions have high bids around $50 with 2-3 hours to go and others have Buy-it-Now's at $105.

Good Luck,

Chip

Posted by gooselab on 11-03-2003 10:13 PM:

quote:
Can you run Bluetooth in a cockpit, or does it interfere with communications/navigation?

I've never looked into bluetooth as an option for GPS because of both the price, and the fact that they are unapproved transmitters and could interfere with the navigation equipment onboard. Your post peeked my curiosity about how well avionics and bluetooth get along together though, so I did a little research.
There are definitely concerns about how these devices affect navigational capabilities, modern 'fly by wire' controls, as well as collision avoidance systems, although it seems the research is still a bit preliminary. So unfortunately although bluetooth in a cockpit looks like a great idea, it would be unwise to use it.
It's too bad really, because a bluetooth phone and PDA combination could have lots of practical applications, i.e. wirelessly updating the weather etc.

Posted by EricG on 11-04-2003 05:12 AM:

The GEODE GPS springboard module with the last beta firmware supports NMEA .. I had one and used it with a few other palm apps so it does work, however, Geodiscovery is long defunct so there is no support and you get what you get, when you get one.. You may be able to find a Geode on eBay cheap to play with at least to try.

__________________
"One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no �them� out there. It�s just an awful lot of �us�." -- Douglas Adams

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