after market gps system?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Not that there is anything wrong with that

Thanks for the info. At first blush it looks like a waste of a $100 to me. However, I have wondered if a GPS system like Nuvi would pick up the satellites in our motor home. The windshield is "shaded" by the cab-over design of the motor home. I'll have to read up more on it. Maybe the bluetooth system could pick up a signal from a remote GPS receiver on top of the motor home and "beam" it to the Nuvi? I think I don't know what I am talking about and should shut up and do some research. . .

My experience is that bluetooth right now is a good technology that has a lot of implementation limitations. For a headset with a matching phone or a phone and a matching PC receiver, a-ok. Mixing and matching, not so much. Took me a week of fiddling to find out for sure if a bluetooth phone would work with my wifes lexus, without buying it from the lexus approved supplier.

My in-laws have an old garmin colormap I bought them 6 years ago, it works ok in their motor home while moving but if they're sitting still in the wrong place it can lose satellite lock. I got him a 'beanbag mount' that basically puts the thing on a beanbag so if it loses lock he can move it somewhere else on the dashboard.

Some of the new ones are so small and light you can suction cup them to the windshield where they'll get signal and be a great target for people to see them and steal them.

Many can take an external antenna that can be placed on top of the motor home, although I dont think i've seen a wireless version, one could exist. Probably not bluetooth as that has a very very short effective range, often 3-6 feet.

 

[yelnad]

My husband uses a laptop GPS, although I don't know the brand. His territory is all of PA except for Pittsburgh and the 5 Philly counties. He likes it and it was considerably cheaper than other systems. Of course, in PA we don't get much glare from the sun.

He was even hiking through the woods with it the other day mapping our property boundaries.

 

[Martha]

Some of the new ones are so small and light you can suction cup them to the windshield where they'll get signal and be a great target for people to see them and steal them.

Many can take an external antenna that can be placed on top of the motor home, although I dont think i've seen a wireless version, one could exist.  Probably not bluetooth as that has a very very short effective range, often 3-6 feet.

I did some poking around.  On a motorhome site I frequent people are raving about the Nuvi and say it works fine without a supplemental antenae.  That is good news.  Several have suggested not using the suction cup mount.  As the unit is small, they just use a piece of velcro and stick it to the dash or window and remove it when not in use.  We have two pieces of velcro on the dash already we use to attach our cell phones, works great.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I have never used or needed an external antenna for my Nuvi 350.

BTW, I just upated the software per gReeNY and, voila, it now reads altitude, the speech is smoother, and it takes coordinates of a location (handy because some out of the way stops list themselves this way as an alternative to going through a long set of directions).

Last week I got lost in my own city, trying to circumvent an accident on the interstate. Good opportunity to let the Nuvi strut its stuff. After about 4 turns it had me on an entry ramp back on to the interstate well beyond the accident. I had never heard of any of the streets it sent me down. Cool.

 

[audreyh1]

Audrey, can you elaborate on your experience with laptop-based GPS solutions? You said that the glare makes the laptop screen hard to read and that the UI is unwieldy while on the move. I have never used a GPS unit at all, so is having to use the UI while en route a common occurrence?

Yes - especially on long trips with lots of miles per day. Zoom in, zoom out. Page to another screen to view upcoming legs of the trip. Occasionally look up a temporary place to stop - gas station or restaurant.

Our GPS has a touch screen and a remote - both very useful for operation while in transit.

The "navigator" - i.e. the person in the co-pilot seat (my husband) actually operates the GPS with the remote when in transit. We can both see the screen. I may occasionally reach for it (the touch screen) and zoom in or out or do a quick page to view upcoming legs or estimated time of arrival. I can do this with minimal distraction, but I don't do anything fancier than that when I am driving.

Audrey

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Plus if you think having an aftermarket gps (and probably a cellphone) doesnt give you enough of a shot at a busted window and missing gear, try throwing a laptop computer into the equation.

The latest rage around here is going up to people in "wifi hotspot" coffee shops and either hitting them in the head or stabbing them and running off with their laptop. The couple of hundred bucks you can get selling that in 15 minutes is way better than trying to get someone to give you their wallet and hoping theres more than four bucks in it.

By the way, they primarily target Apple notebook users as those are the easiest to resell.

 

[soupcxan]

By the way, they primarily target Apple notebook users as those are the easiest to resell.

You'd really have to be a bad apple to resort to stealing from a Mac user. Those criminals are rotten to the core.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm just disappointed to have missed the marketing opportunity to advertise "Avoid the Mac and avoid getting stabbed!"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/08/MNGE9I686K1.DTL