The stand-alone GPS units have come way down in price, but I’m sure like anything, they will get way better in the coming years. I already have a lap-top for work, so I always have to have it with me.
Does anyone on here have experience with the GPS units that you can add-on to your laptop? I figure it might be a good investment, and staying away from the stand-alone unit will help keep the cost down. I figure I’ll stay on the cheap for now…then upgrade when they get even better.
There are a lot of options, and I have zero experience with any of them.
I also have a wireless internet card for the laptop (Verizon). I doubt that would help with this much. Although I could get on google maps and create a “new route” manually if I got off-track.
Does your laptop have bluetooth? I have a small GPS unit that uses Bluetooth for my phone. Its a GPSlim 236 (I think, going off the top of my head) It was like $75 or so around Christmas time and has proved invaluable on a few long drives I’ve taken with it. I’m terrible with directions and this thing makes it easy. I don’t know how well a laptop would work as a navigation unit unless you mounted it to the dash, but it would be great for telling you where you are and where to go. You also would need the navigation software for the laptop - which is usually the expensive part, but that can be pirated as long as you don’t require the lastest maps. I use iGuidance on my phone and the maps are like a year old.
I use Delorme Street atlas and its GPS system on my laptop. We use Delorme for the helicopters at work so I know its accurate. I have used it for multiple long distance trips no isses. It should run you between 60 and 100 bucks total software and GPS hook up.
Which phone do you have? I have a GPSslim as well as well as iguidance, but I didn’t get it to work on my treo700w. I ended up getting a Garmin Streetpilot for around $200 and love it, but to have it on my cellphone could certainly come in handy sometimes.
I was looking into this a while back. Apparently Microsoft brought otu a USB GPS antenna type deal that ran in sync with Streets and Trips. I have found the GPS adapters on eBay pretty cheap, I just don’t have the laptop to hook ti up to… That may be the cheapest option, but I don’t know if Streets and Trups has a monthly fee for GPS service.
I looked at streets and trips from Microsoft combined with the USB GPS. I think it was a Pharoah* (*sp?) and it went for $99.
Streets and Trips is pretty good without the GPS. I do know someone that bought and frequently used Streets and Trips and they said they had no problems at all. If the user passed or missed an exit, it would automatically reroute him.