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Joined: 01/06/2003 06:38:52 Posts: 16 Location: United States
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
I am planning to buy the h2215 which has both compact flash and secure digital slots. For GPS purposes, which card should I buy? I know the CF is much cheaper compare to SD but which one will run faster? Will 256mb enough for tomtom usa software or should I get the 512mb? Thanks for you help guys
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
In most cases CF is actually faster than SD. SD tends to have a little lag in reading and writing, and is more expensive due to it's form factor size.
If you've got the option and don't want to use a Compact Flash GPS Receiver, then I would go for a CF card (boy I thought I'd never say that!)
256mb should be more than enough, most single country maps in all of the products comes in just under 100mb, so you could get away with a 128mb, but you won't get much more data on there if you want to use it for other things like ebooks or audio. Personally I'd go with the card you can afford, in my experience, you'll always want a larger card, which means upgrading later and then trying to sell the older card for about an 8th of the price you paid due to price drops.
Joined: 17/05/2003 02:26:21 Posts: 3747 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
I regard Dave's advice as spot on - though would say that my recommendation is usually to go for SD memory, on the basis that it leaves the CF slot open for other gadgets, such as Wireless LAN cards and the like.
However, on a device with dual slots, you have an interesting possibility. You can use SD memory for regular use, leaving your CF slot open for various add-on cards. For GPS, so long as you're not using a CF GPS card, you can use CF memory, inserting your CF memory card in place of other CF gadgets when you're in the car.
This may be of particular importance in the United States, where having 512MB or more of map files is, I believe, fairly easy! Those involved in the TomTom Navigator beta test in the States have talked about file sizes of 100MB or so covering just three or four states.
Joined: 17/05/2003 02:26:21 Posts: 3747 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
I would think that if you're using memory cards, battery drain is insignificant. In any case, if you're using your GPS setup for in-vehicle use, then you will almost certainly be powering the Pocket PC anyway.
If you're using your setup away from a vehicle, you may be more inclined to go for either a CompactFlash GPS or a Bluetooth GPS - a GPS 'mouse' is going to require you to carry a power source external from your Pocket PC. My solution to the mouse / CompactFlash dilemma is to use a Haicom HI-303MMF, which can be used either as CompactFlash or as a mouse.
Bluetooth has an advantage over CompactFlash if you need to weatherproof your setup - I would think it impossible to find a weatherproof housing for a Pocket PC fitted with a CompactFlash GPS.
Battery drain related to your storage card only becomes an issue if you use a hard disk rather than flash memory. By hard disks, I mean devices such as IBM Microdrives or, if you have a Pocket PC with a PC Card slot, such as an iPAQ with the right expansion pack, a PC Card hard disk (such as those from Toshiba). These impose significant power drain.
The power drain of using a flash memory card is negligible. The two most important factors for power drain (and hence battery life) on Pocket PCs are the backlight level, and the processor usage, with the backlight level being the most significant of the two. Add-on cards that impose significant battery drain also have to be remembered too - 802.11b Wi-Fi cards are particular power hogs!
Joined: 06/06/2003 21:23:45 Posts: 176 Location: London, United Kingdom
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
Hi Freeway,
I am also waiting to buy the H2215 when released and have been going through the same questions as you.
I have deecided to go for a SD meory card (256 or 512MB - not sure yet) and CF for other things like GPS and Wifi and whatever else.
I posted in another thread somewhere that there is a GPS CF for £70 and Wifi CF for £29 which seemed good value but I don't know about the quality of the units.
You have no doubt been following discussions elsewhere (eg. Brighthand) about the precise specs of the 2215 and when it will actually be available in the UK. I heard HP UK have just dropped the price of the 1910 which might suggest the introduction of the new line of iPAQs fairly soon???? I am interested whether it would have a USB port to link to my USB hard drive. Not quite sure whether it will fit various mounts, protective boxes etc and so am delaying purchase of cables and stuff till I've got one in my hand.
Joined: 17/05/2003 02:26:21 Posts: 3747 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
To date, no iPAQs have supported USB host capabilities. There are some Pocket PCs from other manufacturers that do; for those, drivers tend to be thin on the ground, though if your USB hard disk works as a standard Mass Storage Device, it would probably work.
Don't hold your breath for USB host support in the future iPAQs, unless Pocket PC 2003 happens to include USB host support, in which case we may eventually see USB host drivers and hardware becoming more common because everyone will be working on a common platform.
Joined: 01/06/2003 06:38:52 Posts: 16 Location: United States
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
mat, I don't know when is the h2215 will be avalable in UK, but some people from brighthand.com already got them from Fry (US). They don't have Fry close to where I live, but I am pretty sure I will get one on Monday the 23th. People who has the h2215 already have tried the bluetooth with emtac gps and they said it works flawlessly. So now I have no double in my mind about getting the h2215. I am also thinking about getting the tomtom bundle (bluetooth). I will let you know how well the new h2215 works with bluetooth receiver when I get my hand on one. can't wait
Joined: 06/06/2003 21:23:45 Posts: 176 Location: London, United Kingdom
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
DavidW
Shame. I was quite surprised when I heard comments about a USB port. Maybe people were talking about the the custom IpAQ port to USB via a cable (like the cradle). Oh well!
Freeway
Yes, please do let me know what you think of the 2215 and bluetooth [going green with jealousy]. If the newer blutooth GPSs have battery life of 30 hrs or so and have replaceable rechargeable batteries then I may go down that route myself.
Joined: 17/05/2003 02:26:21 Posts: 3747 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
USB host capabilities are rare on Pocket PCs. The PXA250/255 processor includes built in USB capabilities - but this is a client only port, and is not capable of hosting. Typically, the only implementation of USB on a Pocket PC is a USB 1.1 client port for synchronisation.
As I said, there are a handful of Pocket PCs with USB host capabilities (some Toshibas with the relevant expansion pack is what comes to mind - also there has been a USB host CF card), but the lack of standardisation and the lack of drivers render USB host capabilities of often marginal value.
If USB host capabilities get built in to the OS, that would, I guess, change things somewhat, though it would still require extra hardware (and extra cost) compared to using the built in USB capabilities of the XScale processors that most non-Phone Edition Pocket PCs use.
I guess, to an extent, the future depends what version of Windows CE sits under Pocket PC 2003. Reports on this differ, though my impression is that, contrary to some early reports, Microsoft have moved on to a more recent version than CE 3.0 (as Pocket PC 2003 specific development requires the use the version 4 of Embedded Visual Tools, not version 3 as in the past).
OS issues aside, the other problem with USB host capabilities is providing enough power for 'bus powered' devices. Obviously it's unrealistic to expect a Pocket PC to provide the full 500mA of a powered port, but even 100mA as typically provided on a port on an unpowered hub is asking a lot of the typical Pocket PC battery.
Joined: 01/06/2003 06:38:52 Posts: 16 Location: United States
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: Please help, CF or SD for GPS purpose?
matt, I got the h2215 now and it's sweet. Much much more than what i expected. It's tiny. I don't care which pda that had before. This one must be owned. I will keep it update when I receive the bluetooth gps.
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