| Author | Message | ||
| bill chisholm (Billybandman)
Rating: |
I know this has been discussed before but things change fast in this field. Santa wants to bring me new Mapping Software and was womndering what are the revies on these. I would like to have updated maps of N. America and use my GPS for moving map too. Let's see what you guys recommend. | ||
| Don/TX
Rating: N/A |
My vote is for DeLorme, just got my new one last week. | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
Rating: N/A |
Bill, I recommend TomTom Go 300 & 700. The 700 has every street in the US & Canada all on one 2.5 gig hard drive running 64 meg of RAM and a 400 mhz processor, twice as fast as the Garmin & Delorme. Maisie & I have each been using these units for several months and we think they're great. You can buy with confidence using top level security here on BNO and I can delivery these units for Christmas if you order by the 20th. USD$730. and USD$940. respectively. Details in The BNO Store. Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Don Ripley Rating: N/A |
Fulltiming using CoPilot live laptop 8 and works great.This is not the cheapest GPS,but works well. | ||
| Ron Walker (Prevost82)
Rating: N/A |
I'm using MS Street & Trip 2006 /w GPS, works great and bought it for $130. Road maps of US & Canada, some of Mexico. Ron | ||
| Don/TX
Rating: N/A |
Ian is talking about a good product there, I particularly like it because of the display, seems better to me than most. | ||
| kevin schooler (Sylverstone_pd4501864)
Rating: N/A |
for my trip to lukes and back, (call it 10,000 miles with the detours we made, since i'm in washington state) i mounted a 15" lcd over my sun visor. (on the scenicruiser it's a nice spot for it) i used an old pentium 2 pc with 256 megs of ram. i put my altec lansing computer speakers on the dash, the subwoofer for them under my seat, and plugged all of it into the 700 watt inverter in the back of the bus with an extension cord strung through the package racks. as i ripped all of my music collection to mp3's a while ago, i had something like 200 hours of non stop no repeats music, internet access at flying j's (and an amazing number of wide open wireless networks) a nice speedometer, altimiter, and knew where i was to boot. mapping software was delorme street atlas 2005, and it came with the gps. the first thing i discovered was that the gps said i was going 65 when the spedometer that worked sometimes said 55 ... so i used it as a speedometer too. i used an old car phone double pivot bracket to mount a wire bracket to hold the keyboard, and another to hold a mouse pad, and zip tied the mouse cable to it. the whole thing worked flawlessly, and i highly recommend it. the only "gotchya" involved was that i had to tell the software to "avoid toll roads" and "avoid gravel roads". slick, cheap, does lots of things  -dd | ||
| bill chisholm (Billybandman)
Rating: N/A |
Luke, I am not that rich, sounds great though. I am hoping that I can continue to use my old Laptop, Compaq Preario 1200, with Windows 98, and some added memory. I work about 15 days/ month delivery Monaco, Marathon, Country Coaches all over the USA/Canada and like to use the laptop for accounting and internet too. PS> I still enjoy driving the 72 GMC 4108 that I have converted, there is something about using something that you have invested 14 years of sweat, blood and $$. | ||
| kevin schooler (Sylverstone_pd4501864)
Rating: N/A |
bill: you can do everything i'm doing with mine, with your laptop, if you have enough memory... i went with a desktop pc (sits in the package rack behind me) because they're cheaper than laptops. most of the stuff i'm using was scrounged out of my scrap pile, and pc ram upgrades are way less than laptop ram upgrades. hmm. the speakers were 100. the lcd was 200 the software was another 100 (delorme) the inverter was 65, (had it for years) and the machine was free, but you can pick up faster and better for 100 bucks almost anywhere. call it 600 bucks after keyboard, mouse, and any excess junk. in your case a laptop is much better, as the buses you deliver already have sound systems -dd | ||
| Don/TX
Rating: N/A |
The newer DeLormes also have a USB plugin for the receiver, powered from the computer, no batteries, nice improvement. | ||
| David Hartley (Drdave)
Rating: N/A |
I use a Garmin GPS-18 USB that came with EnRoute for $108.00 at TigerDirect. My Compaq 2210 Laptop sits on my dash on a small shelf and it works flawlessly so far and has never missed any mapped / named streets wherever I have been. Makes a nice speedometer, odometer and trip meter too and my 15 Inch screen is easy to view at a glance while driving. The bottom line is that you should be paying attention to your driving and not playing with buttons on some silly 4 inch screen or any screen for that matter. That's what a co-pilot (navigator) is for in that right hand seat! | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
Rating: N/A |
Bill, TomTom uses best-in-class TeleAtlas maps and have the software only package for your laptop. About USD$120. You can order it through Circuit City. Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Don/TX
Rating: N/A |
Ian does the tom tom get down to detail as to whether it is a left or right exit coming up, so you can maneuver for the correct exit lane with your monster a bit before you get there? I have sure learned to appreciate that, my Garmin does not do that. | ||
| David Hartley (Drdave)
Rating: N/A |
But Boss? Da Rules Say ~ But please, no commercial advertising. Just kidding Of the many Tv commercials that irritate me and many others the Verizon ( can you hear me? ) and the "Tom Tom" commercials are right up there with " See Bob impress the neighbors " with his all natural.. You know... I understand that it is a nice product and does a lot. But I like many others want a gadzillion wires, buttons and stuff to impress ourselves and others. I personally can't justify the cost for a single use gadget like that. I like stuff that NEEDS INPUT... Real Men don't EVER get lost! I have been confused, forgotten and forlorned but never lost. I am right here..... | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
Rating: N/A |
Don, TomTom advises of the turn ahead and is speed sensitive, so if you're in town it gives you about 300 feet look-ahead instructions. On the highway, it tells you about a mile ahead, again at about 750 feet and a "turn now" prompt. This has the 3D forward-tilt display, so you are always looking at the road ahead. David, It's obviously not for you. Clearly, you have found yourself ;-) Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Don/TX
Rating: N/A |
I was not clear Ian, on an interstate for instance, does it say RIGHT or LEFT exit ahead for an exit, or only that there a turn to be made? Or does it show enough detail that you can figure it out for yourself? THAT is where my Garmin falls on its face. | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
Bill - I use Microsoft's "Streets & Trips" myself, and find it very satisfactory. Since you already have the GPS unit, you can get the version without the GPS module for under $30 at Walmarts, or other superior shops. It works fine with my old Garmin Streetpilot, and it'll work with any other GPS unit as well. | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
Rating: N/A |
Don, Yes. It tells you "Exit left, ahead" at about 750 feet. Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Stephen Fessenden (Sffess)
Rating: N/A |
John, Microsoft Streets and Trips led me into the Hood in Philadelphia and through it to Darby. A dangerous and routing and a more complicated one too. A map program that takes you right through a big city to get to the suburbs is not too well thought out. Most of our trips would not reveal that kind of flaw. I used the Trailer Life program this summer. It had a lot of detail and gave pretty good routing with very close up detail. but it had trouble finding some cities. I trust they fixed that bug in the 2006 version. You can get it online for about $36 and it is GPS compatible. When we consider the cost of fuel used by any mistake in routing we could eventually pay for the Tom Tom. It costs me $5 to go 10 miles out of the way or to overshoot an exit and have to turn around. By the way, the exit detail on the Trailer Life program is terrific too. You see the individual ramps and curves on the highest zoom. | ||
| RCBishop
Rating: N/A |
For the initial investment....and the price of upgrades,and not the least, MY BUDGET, I am well pleased with Co-pilot....I have version 8....version 9 is now out. Lotsa good stuff, including voice. I yield, Ian.... RCB '64 Crown Supercoach (HWC) | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
Stephan - I found that simply telling the program to use highways kept me confined to the usual truck routes, in out and around cities. But I had never used the map program and gps all that much in past years, I just looked at a normal map before the trip, made notes and drove... "PCMILER" is said to be the absolute best, but it ain't cheap. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
"Real Men don't EVER get lost!" Ok, how 'bout "Geographically Disorentated"? FAST FRED | ||
| Bob Shafer (Michigander_bob)
Rating: N/A |
Stephen brings up a very good point about being routed through the "Hood". I use streets and trips and it shows the quickest route by default, which is probably why he was routed that way. Safety is my #1 concern, but does any routing program or even AAA for that matter really know where the "Hoods" are? Anyone have experiance with this, or is it our job to find out where they are. Bob 4104-2346 Flint, Mi | ||
| John MC9 Rating: N/A |
I dunno, but last time I was there, all of Philly was "the hood". Just put on some rap music, or some early Grateful Dead singin' that great "drivin' that train" cut... No problamo', man. | ||
| PAUL COLLYER (Paso_1)
Rating: N/A |
Kevin using the old pentium computer did you have to put any special filters or anything to prevent interferance. You mentioned you used a $65.00 700 watt inverter??? | ||
| kevin schooler (Sylverstone_pd4501864)
Rating: N/A |
the inverter was a cheapie from gi joes, and i think i paid 65 bucks for it, rated at 700 watts peak. the computer is a pentium 2/450. 256mb ram, 100gb harddrive, built in video. the speakers are an altec lansing computer set. (subwoofer box and a pair of speakers that go on your desk) .. i think i paid 80 bucks for those. the inverter cables had battery terminal clips on the ends, so i ran them out the back window, into the battery bay, clipped them on, and screwed the inverter to a wooden panel to insulate it (my bus is positive ground, the inverter isn't, so i couldn't let the inverter chassis ground itself) from there i used an extension cord to go to a terminal strip in the front, that i plugged in the computer, the lcd, the speakers, and another terminal strip into. (the second strip was for the 5 different cell phone chargers we had on board) no problems and it would play music and surf the web, etc, in a flying j, for hours without any noticeable battery drain. the *big* computer draw is a monitor, lcd displays don't draw much. keep in mind the newer the machine the less power it draws as well. the above setup was temporary, as the computer and inverter usually live in my van, (i'll build another one for the bus, and wire it in right) i didn't need any power filtration, as the computer power supply does a lot of it on any computer. ... that said, an apc battery backup to auto shut down the computer when i turn off the inverter, is going in the bus. -dd |
