Hope someone can point me in the right direction, I have obtained a HP IPAQ 3970 and want to use it as a sat nav device in my car. It is completely standard out of the box and what I need to know is:-
1) what software do I need?
2) what GPS Receiver do I need?
3) Can I get a power lead to plug into my cigarette lighter to power the IPAQ when on the move?
4) Is there anything else I need to do/get before it will work?
Sorry if these questions are a bit basic but I have never used any sat nav or an IPAQ before. Also I would like the cheapest options on all questions please.
Thanks in advance
Jensen
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I think the 3970 is bluetooth enabled, there fore you would need the following:-
1) Software is personal choice, there are quite a few on the market, I use TomTom, but thats because it suits me, others use AA and there are various others, Have a look at pocketgps.com they do alot of tests etc.
2) You can probably use a Bluetooth receiver,which seem to work quite well, There are plenty for sale on auction sites, or you could use a wired receiver, again it's personal preference.
3) power leads are avaliable for most types, Some GPS receivers use a cradle and therefore will charge your Ipaq whilst it is in it.
4) Not really, read the instructions, you may need a storage card that has suffecient memory for the programme you want to install on it.....most are fairly stright forward to set up.
Best advice is vist the web site mentiond above, it has loads of info.......I have no interests in the site I hasten to add.
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You would also do well to search this forum since there is quite a lot of discussion on the subject fo Satnav here.
Use the forum search option over to the right, not the site search above.
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Jensen,
1) Tom Tom is best, can pick it up cheaply from Ebay, although older versions have limited postcode lookup functionality but you can improve this with addons easily downloadable.
2) The 3970 is bluetooth (BT) equipeed as far as I know, so get a good BT receiver as this will make it easier to locate in the car. I have a Tom Tom BT receiver that you can plug into a holder (which is hard wired into a power supply in the car) but you also use it as a standalone unit, making it portable for use in other cars etc. Can also get a variety of compact flash/secure digital based GPS receivers that are compatible with the IPAQ.
3) Plenty of cigarette lighter power adaptors that will power the IPAQ and GPS receiver
4) You may need additional storage for your IPAQ (compact flash most likely) to be able to store maps. Depending on how much map coverage you need & how much available memory you have on your IPAQ you may get away with storing tom tom + maps on the unit itself.
This is a great site for hardware, software, setup questions etc
www.pocketgps.co.uk/
MM
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The 3970 has bluetooth but it does not have a compact flash slot without using a jacket, it does have an SD slot for memory though.
On my 3970 I use a NAVMAN GPS Jacket (which has a cf slot for memory) combined with ALK CoPilot V4. I'm a great fan of this software due to the easy planning of complex journeys with varied waypoints, TomTom looks good though and great vlaue at the mo.
I wouldnt now recommend using a jacket unless its very cheap as its toooooo large to put in your pocket when leaving the car, go for a wired (fit and forget) GPS or Bluetooth GPS(you always have to remember to turn on GPS unit and make sure you ipaq has BlueTooth turned on, still needs wiring for power or you use lots of batteries)
I find its great for using satnav and listening to mp3's at the same time, the directions are read out over the top of the music.
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