Which PDA to get to hook up to my eTrex Vista.

revhigh · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 14, 2004 Posts: 13

I like to use my vista for hiking and bike rides due to its small size but it's no good for street routing.

Simply put... What PDA, street mapping software, and how much minimum flash memory do I need to have a full routing GPS for my car in the US using the Vista for a receiver? Also, I would like to have the option later on to add a GPS receiver to the PDA (the plug in type, not the handheld type) and still have a compact flash port.

Thanks for the info.

DavidW · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 12:09 pm Post subject:

The requirement for an unused CompactFlash slot is especially tricky, as the only way I know of to get two CompactFlash ports (most 'card' based GPSes are CompactFlash) is to use an iPAQ Expansion Pack, which only work with 3000 and 5000 series iPAQs. All the 3000 series machines are now discontinued, and it now looks like the remaining 5000 series machines will be superseded in two or three months time by machines that don't support Expansion Packs (sometimes referred to as "sleeves").

One way to meet your requirement would be to buy an SDIO GPS, and a Pocket PC that has both SDIO and CompactFlash slots - but you'd then need the CompactFlash slot for memory for your maps.

Another way is to forget about GPS cards entirely, buy a Bluetooth capable Pocket PC with the slots you want, with the future intention of buying a Bluetooth GPS.

I'll leave the US parts of your question to someone with US experience.

David

revhigh · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 14, 2004 Posts: 13

Thanks for the info. I went and purchased a new Dell X30 624MHz with the Pharos Pocket GPS system/receiver. The Pharos system plugs into the PDA port and also charges the PDA through the 12v accessory plug in the car. With that system, I can store maps in the SD memory card slot. The vista will be used strictly for handheld use.

	PocketGPS
	Web