Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/05/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Kyle I have used a Garmin eTex as my hand-held GPS and I have have used it with a laptop and Route 66 software on my Mac. This software worked well but it doesn't have the features for driving that a unit designed for a car has. Since you don't own a car forking out the bucks for a car unit would be foolish. But be aware that you'll need a navigator to get the functionality using the GPS unit and a laptop. <http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexVenturecx/> I bought mine at REI. It works really well. I like being able to set a base camp location and then use it to get back to where I started from. I've needed that a few times in Arizona when I was walking a stream bed and couldn't find the trail that got me down there! Saved some panicky moments. I will also recommend REI. They gave me good advice when I bought the unit. I have a Garmin 2610 that really is wonderful. all the maps are on an internal hard drive. We take it when we fly and rent a car - works super. Not for you but others who are thinking about a dash-board GPS might want to investigate one of these: <http://www.garmin.com/products/sp2610/> The complaint is always "they make routing decisions that a person who knows the area wouldn't make" and it's true in its way - but when you don't have a clue about how to get from Pt A to Pt B they do a very good job. I'm not big fan of Route 66 but it's okay and it runs on my Mac. <http://www.66.com/> You might also be able to get a GPS car for a fancy cell phone and use their software on that. Adam On 5/22/06, Kyle Cassidy <kcassidy@asc.upenn.edu> wrote: > okay -- for reasons that hopefully i'll be able to talk about in the > weeks ahead in more detail (though those of you who are shrewd will > probably figure it out without too much trouble), i'm driving across > america this summer stopping in various places to do a series of > portraits. i'm thinking that i might want to get a GPS to make > navigating between all these places easier (i'll be stopping in 16 > cities and probably taking two, maybe three portraits in each). > > my thoughts: > > 1) i'd like a gps that interfaces with my laptop, since i'll be bringing > a laptop to store my, er, film, on. it's a mac g4. > > 2) after this trip i probably won't use the GPS for ANYTHING except > geo caching snickers bars. -- i don't own a car. > > so ... i'd like a handheld unit, it doesn't need intergal maps, but > interfacing to a laptop with mapping is essential. and since i'm not > going to use it much afterwards, cheap is good, used is good .... > renting might not be bad .... > > any advice on what to get? > > kyle > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >