Thinking about buying my boss's pda as above which already has the Tom Tom GPS installed in it.
He tells me all i need for this to work in the car is the receiver and obviously a cradle.
Just wondered if anyone has a PDA in there car for GPS and if the whole cradle setup looks nice and is not bulky and apart from Ebay are there any place that do a nice (compact) version of a cradle.
HP Ipaq 5550
Moderator: RichardW
HP Ipaq 5550
Volkswagen Golf 59' 1.6TD S 
gps
I have a Medion PDA with GPS (courtesy of Aldi, £249 last year) works fine.......my wife has a VDO gps system built into her car and its at least as good if not better under certain circumstances. Mine came with Cd Rom European maps for downloading into an SD memory card. Very good as a comp. diary with alarm and notes also Windows note pad. I have all the synchronicity package for my home computer .......so I've put a load of books on it as well...great for when you have to wait anywhere, also an MP3 player (limited capacity). Mine has a cradle which is great for my Xsara (very unobtrusive) the other great thing about a portable one is that I can move it to the CX or/and when I'm in France put it in the BX. Oh, and the GPS will also work handheld.
I would think that the best place for a cradle might be the manufacturers w/site as they are all a bit different in size and shape.
I would think that the best place for a cradle might be the manufacturers w/site as they are all a bit different in size and shape.
Mike
1993 BX TXD EST mmm. nice. 1990 Bx 19TZD Auto Lhd (now lives in France) 1998 Xsara 1.9d lx.
1993 BX TXD EST mmm. nice. 1990 Bx 19TZD Auto Lhd (now lives in France) 1998 Xsara 1.9d lx.
I am in the middle of building a in-car pc, the advantage is that not only will it run GPS, it'll play DVD's & Digital TV / Radio (if thats your noodle) & have all the functions of a standard PC (obviously).
I take alot of photos too so I can use it as a mobile PC to download images & edit them if needs be, only needing to either plug the car into the network or remove the HDD caddie & plug it into the main PC at home.
I am aiming to come in on or under the £200 mark for the complete setup, the bulk of which is taken up with the 8" Touchscreen.
The downside (apart from having a pc in your car!) is obviously you can't take it away with you & it'll be a little difficalt to move between cars with it.
I take alot of photos too so I can use it as a mobile PC to download images & edit them if needs be, only needing to either plug the car into the network or remove the HDD caddie & plug it into the main PC at home.
I am aiming to come in on or under the £200 mark for the complete setup, the bulk of which is taken up with the 8" Touchscreen.
The downside (apart from having a pc in your car!) is obviously you can't take it away with you & it'll be a little difficalt to move between cars with it.
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Fluffykins
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 15 Dec 2005, 22:05
- Location: W Sussex
- My Cars:
GPS in cars - Have you got aircon?
Yes, Aircon!
I have a handheld GPS (Bought in an attempt at self-preservation: Her indoors likes to go out for walks but she insists on taking every turning off any footpath we're on. We've ended up wlaking MILES sometimes
Anyway, tried it in the car (Renault Espace 2000 TXI) and it worked just fine.
Some time later, new car (Blingo Multispace HDI, with aircon).
Damn thing seemed to have got a whole lot less sensitive and kept dropping the fix much more often than in the Espace. Worked OK outside tho.
then it hit me. With the aircon, the package also includes a coating on the windscreen to reflect IR rays and reduce heat buildup. Its a multilayered metal coating. You can just see the edge of it around the shading Citroen puts on the windscreen around the rear view mirror - it looks for all the world like the edge of a coat of lacquer on the glass.
So there you are - My tuppenceworth.
What's the build of the in-car PC, rossnunn? what bits are you using and what software?
I have a handheld GPS (Bought in an attempt at self-preservation: Her indoors likes to go out for walks but she insists on taking every turning off any footpath we're on. We've ended up wlaking MILES sometimes
Anyway, tried it in the car (Renault Espace 2000 TXI) and it worked just fine.
Some time later, new car (Blingo Multispace HDI, with aircon).
Damn thing seemed to have got a whole lot less sensitive and kept dropping the fix much more often than in the Espace. Worked OK outside tho.
then it hit me. With the aircon, the package also includes a coating on the windscreen to reflect IR rays and reduce heat buildup. Its a multilayered metal coating. You can just see the edge of it around the shading Citroen puts on the windscreen around the rear view mirror - it looks for all the world like the edge of a coat of lacquer on the glass.
So there you are - My tuppenceworth.
What's the build of the in-car PC, rossnunn? what bits are you using and what software?
It's only a stream of electrons, and I know where I can get some more
Hehe, these things are way funny these days 
The nice thing of a car-pc is being able to customize it to the car, like the higher spec C5's and their colour screens, for instance.
If i could just interface it to the C5 and have all the data from the car on the pc, then i would definately make a car-pc.
Ross, keep us informed on that
The nice thing of a car-pc is being able to customize it to the car, like the higher spec C5's and their colour screens, for instance.
If i could just interface it to the C5 and have all the data from the car on the pc, then i would definately make a car-pc.
Ross, keep us informed on that
Francisco
C5 2.0HDI smoothly riding on 1.8l version spheres
When the hearts beats like a pressure regulator you know it means one thing: Love
Citroën - pacemaking since 1955
C5 2.0HDI smoothly riding on 1.8l version spheres
When the hearts beats like a pressure regulator you know it means one thing: Love
Citroën - pacemaking since 1955
Well i have the PDA
In the new year my boss is giving me the car cradle for it too
Got to get a (cough cough) Tom Tom cd to put it onto the PDA which he will do and probably post sometime when he has chance.
All i need is the bluetooth receiver, which i get for around £40ish from Ebay or a nice proper official Tom Tom one for around £60-£80 which i will get next pay day probably (15th)
In the new year my boss is giving me the car cradle for it too
Got to get a (cough cough) Tom Tom cd to put it onto the PDA which he will do and probably post sometime when he has chance.
All i need is the bluetooth receiver, which i get for around £40ish from Ebay or a nice proper official Tom Tom one for around £60-£80 which i will get next pay day probably (15th)
Volkswagen Golf 59' 1.6TD S
I was looking into building a ITX micro PC but to keep the cost down I am using the following:
800mhz CPU all-in-one Mobtherboard (still pricing this)
256Mb (min) of PC133
30Gb Laptop Hard Drive
Laptop DVD Rom
8" Touchscreen
Runing either Win 98SE or XP Home & using Mediacar software.
Funny, I had a idea of replacing the speedo with a LCD screen. The user can the have any looking speedo they with, analog or digital with any colour or layout. The user then can use the same screen for in-car multimedia (TV, PC, Gaming, DVD etc).
The screen would plug into a 'black box' the box would have a 'conversion' cable that plus into it and the car's standard loom, the box would also have inputs for multimedia devices.
The user would have a option on screens, various sizes all with a touchscreen option, they also would buy the bezel that clips to the screen & fits like a standard speedo.
User's would be able to by the different conversion cables so they can move it between cars.
The software can include things like 0-60 timers, G-meters, NOS controllers, laptimers etc etc, these would probably be add-on modules that can be sold seperatly
I had the idea about 3-4 years ago & the other day I saw a advert for a similar idea from Alpine or Pioneer.
800mhz CPU all-in-one Mobtherboard (still pricing this)
256Mb (min) of PC133
30Gb Laptop Hard Drive
Laptop DVD Rom
8" Touchscreen
Runing either Win 98SE or XP Home & using Mediacar software.
Funny, I had a idea of replacing the speedo with a LCD screen. The user can the have any looking speedo they with, analog or digital with any colour or layout. The user then can use the same screen for in-car multimedia (TV, PC, Gaming, DVD etc).
The screen would plug into a 'black box' the box would have a 'conversion' cable that plus into it and the car's standard loom, the box would also have inputs for multimedia devices.
The user would have a option on screens, various sizes all with a touchscreen option, they also would buy the bezel that clips to the screen & fits like a standard speedo.
User's would be able to by the different conversion cables so they can move it between cars.
The software can include things like 0-60 timers, G-meters, NOS controllers, laptimers etc etc, these would probably be add-on modules that can be sold seperatly
I had the idea about 3-4 years ago & the other day I saw a advert for a similar idea from Alpine or Pioneer.