Using a netbook/laptop as a SatNav (1 Viewer)

steveclecy

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Does any member use their netbook or laptop as the primary SatNav device? It strikes me that route planning is so much easier on a larger display than on a standard TomTom or Garmin type device. You do lose the touchscreen capability of course.

Have you bought a GPS USB receiver? They seem to vary between £25 and £75 on eBay. Any thoughts or comments?

Steve
 

ehuplad

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Does any member use their netbook or laptop as the primary SatNav device? It strikes me that route planning is so much easier on a larger display than on a standard TomTom or Garmin type device. You do lose the touchscreen capability of course.

Have you bought a GPS USB receiver? They seem to vary between £25 and £75 on eBay. Any thoughts or comments?

Steve


I am looking to get Autoroute 2010 when available and i was looking to run on Laptop but route through Reversing camera if possible.
 

MicknPat

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When touring the USA & Canada 2007 to 2009 I used a 910 TomTom that had USA / Canada maps as well Europe maps, I also bought Microsoft's Streets & Tips 2007 which is the USA version of AutoRoute together with a USB GPS ariel.

The only problem with the 2007 Streets & Tips was if you went off route it could not re calculate a new route :Sad: just before our return to the UK I upgraded to the 2008 version which does re-calculate your route but never used it.

Mick

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Brisey

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Like Ehuplad I to am looking at Autoroute 2010, appears to be a cheaper option than upgrading my TomTom maps. Available in the new year from Amazon it comes with a GPS locator.

[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Autoroute-Europe-GPS-2010/dp/B002SPLI5Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1261212869&sr=1-2[/ame]
 
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I use it as a secondary, running the evaluation copy of Autoroute 2010 at the moment with a GlobalSat BU-353 GPS reciever from HERE And first impressions are very good:thumb:

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scotjimland

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I have tried using a 12 inch Sony laptop with Autoroute as a primary navigation aid ..

Problems i had

1. How and where do you secure a laptop securely.

2. Sunlight made the screen difficult to see

3. Autoroute 2007 had no auto redirect, the voice guidance was poor and lappy volume was too low.
Maybe that has changed with 2010 ?

4. Vista was prone to crashing just when you needed it most, ie when you took a wrong turning and were trying to re direct.

5. You can't drive AND use a laptop so you have to depend on a co pilot.
This can work if the co pilot is sitting at a table and willing to do it..

My advice, use Autoroute to plan a journey then up load to the GPS unit. The co pilot, if so inclined, can follow the route on the lappy and advise.

Another option which I have now adopted is to plan on Google maps and upload to TT using Tyre



jim
 
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Jim

Not used 2007, but 2010 does auto redirect and voice directions and volume are good.
 

scotjimland

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Jim

Not used 2007, but 2010 does auto redirect and voice directions and volume are good.

Hi

that's an improvement but it still leaves the main problem of where/how do you mount a laptop securely and still be viewable ..?
I tried on the dash of the RV using velcro but it was too far away .. plus it vibrated quite badly .. I still think it's better to use a dedicated GPS unit and use the laptop for planning and as co pilot aid ..

jim

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scotjimland

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Now that's interesting. A HD when spinning is at risk, is this where all your problems originate ????

Good point Brian, I hadn't thought on that, and now you mention it more than likely.

I only tried it for one journey, going to Parc Verger Jan 2008, the HD failed in October same year and replaced under warranty by Sony.

This is the Sony Z series that is designed for business travelers, carbon fibre case with the HD protection system, so it should be more robust but clearly not robust enough to sit on a dash and vibrate all day :Doh:

With hindsight, a better option for in car/van use would have been a solid state drive such as the Mac Book Air

jim

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Wildman

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There are two main differances in using a laptop or a dedicated satnav.
1) no automatic redirect
2) using a laptop the car can be seen moving not the map.

I have used a lappy with mappoint and a gps locator. I find it useful for pinpointing our location an a decent resizeable map. When driving an following my nose and deciding to go to a specific place the map is much better. so actually I use both but the satnav gets used more often. My navman is not that upto date and I don't have the software to download POI's but no problem with mappoint.
 

Braunston

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Hi,

We have been using Autoroute on our 13.1 inch laptop since 2006 I think that was the first version that could be purchased with a GPS sensor in the box.

We have a small shelf mounted on the dash on the passenger side and my copilot uses it for all of our journeys, we have upgraded to 2007 and then to Mappoint 2009 and more recently the evaluation copy of 2010, I found Mappoint 2009 a bit over the top and have reverted back to 2007 with updated maps.

Mappoint and Autoroute 2010 both have automatic re-route but having used both we found that it can be a pain as quiet often the re-route gets into a loop especially if they have built a new road alongside of the existing, so we turned it off and used the old 2007 way of pressing F9 which leaves you in control, as quiet often due to the size of the screen you can see roads ahead that you may wish to take rather than being re-route back.

We have found over the years that its the best Sat Nav system we could find as we have a Tom-Tom and Garmin XT Mobile in our phone plus Nokia's own Sat Nav system and while they all perform well, Autoroute on the Laptop does it ALL perfectly for us.

And its so easy to add POI's
 
Last edited:

Braunston

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Hi, Just to add we do have a separate pair of speakers that are powered from the USB as Jim is correct the sound level can be a problem.

We also tried using a ASUS mini laptop thingy 18 months ago and had lots of problems, with changing the operating system to accept Autoroute, and when we resolved that it used to hang when on GPS quiet a lot, this laptop has 4GB ram and a Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn T9300 2.5GHz processor, windows 7 ultimate and it runs fine.

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scotjimland

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My introduction to sat nav was in 2004 using an iBook with Route 66, I had it sitting on the passenger foot well. No guidance but it it plotted the route and you could see when to turn and if you were off route.. I still have and use it, unfortunately it's the only mapping available for the G4 Mac and it is now discontinued and unsupported, but I digress.

Lots of opinions and good advice from users of both systems.. I'd sum it up like this ..

FOR Dedicated Sat Nav .

Can be heard easily
Re routes automatically
No need to look at it but when approaching junctions, roundabouts it zooms in for a clear view of the junction layout.

Against

More difficult to plan a route and small screen


FOR laptop

Large screen
Better mapping
Easy to plan route

Against Laptop

Size, requires a secure mount or held by co pilot which makes it less useful to the driver
Damage to HD possible..
Screen hard to see in bright sunlight
Volume too low but can be overcome by usb speaker
Difficult and hazardous for driver to use.

I don't think it's a case or either or but rather using both , for me a lappy can't replace a dedicated sat nav unit but it's great for planning and storing routes ..



jim
 

Ant&Debs

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Does any member use their netbook or laptop as the primary SatNav device? It strikes me that route planning is so much easier on a larger display than on a standard TomTom or Garmin type device. You do lose the touchscreen capability of course.

Have you bought a GPS USB receiver? They seem to vary between £25 and £75 on eBay. Any thoughts or comments?

Steve

I used my laptop and autoroute with GPS sensor from when they first came out, whilst i was driving Sleeper Coaches for Bands. The laptop sat on a small table thank was made for the dash, similar as made for trucks. It was a god send as it gave you a better overall view. A lot of the time our double deck coaches also had a trailer on the back so more info stopped me getting into problems with smaller roads.

I also had a back up tomtom but prefered the laptop system. I would imagine that its not that legal, but we did most of our driving at night and just used to turn down the brightness.
 

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JumboBeef

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I'm pretty sure the boys in blue would want a word if they found the driver using/could see a laptop whilst driving.

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hilldweller

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I'm pretty sure the boys in blue would want a word if they found the driver using/could see a laptop whilst driving.

Maybe, but every top car TG show these days has a laptop sitting in front of the driver and they are expected to use it.

On the other hand, that driver on the M6 appeared to be using a laptop when he killed a load of people.

And of course it was established in court that Lord ???? texting on the move had absolutely nothing to do with the smash he had on the motorway.
 

Braunston

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Hi,

I don't have the laptop facing me, i must admit i can see it if i really want to but that is normally only when we have a problem perhaps in a small town or the route indicated doesn't look wide enough etc.

As for legality I believe i heard a traffic officer comment that sat-nav systems where the screen is in a position for the driver to actually look at are questionable in law, as some of them are the size of some of the portable DVD players, and would just like a laptop distract you from actually driving, albeit so do a lot of other items.

As Brian has said/suggested the test of the legality would probably depend on your social status and financial position:ROFLMAO:/:cry:
 

Baggins

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Beware of buying ND-100, although at £20 it's good value, for use on Autoroute as it runs at 38,400 baud and Autoroute only accepts 4,800 input.:Angry:

On some other GPS receivers I understand the baud rate is adjustable.

BW

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Oct 23, 2009
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Beware of buying ND-100, although at £20 it's good value, for use on Autoroute as it runs at 38,400 baud and Autoroute only accepts 4,800 input

On some other GPS receivers I understand the baud rate is adjustable.

BW
Any suggestions as to the best one to use ?
 

Braunston

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Hi,

Not sure if its been mentioned but I wouldn't recommend a Bluetooth or any other wireless GPS receiver as the one we had needed the batteries changed on a very regular basis.

The main reason we purchased it was because of the over cab body, but in the end we didn't need to worry as the cable version we have now has no problem with picking up a signal through the windscreen.
 

jenkothewanderer

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Laptop as Sat Nav

Hi I use a Dell Mini 10 laptop for a Sat NAV and internet use whilst away. I use a vodafone dongle for internet access in the Uk and never yet failed to get a signal.
I purchased a GPS receiver from E bay for £30 with a USB connection which plugs directly into the laptop, and use a 12v supply through a Dell converter unit via the cigar lighter for constant power, this was also purchased off E bay for approx £10.
The software I use is PC Navigator 9 (Truck version) which has all the European mapping. I managed to acquire this software free which was a bonus and have found it excellent to use. I have travelled extensively in the UK and Europe and found it totally reliable.
I like to plan a route well in advance and start with the basics, departure and destination and then fine tune to avoid certain toll roads, towns etc by using way points. When complete you can easily verify the entire route by viewing the route on the laptop before saving it.
My laptop is secured to the deep parcel shelf on my A class Hymer by a special bracket suckered to the windscreen via a flexible arm. Again purchased off E Bay for £12.
As I like to take a laptop on my travels anyway I did not see the need to purchase a separate Tom Tom etc.
Hope this helps.
Jenko
 

pneumatician

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Laptop

We used our current 15.4 Laptop for navigation and its predecessor. The system worked extremely well and we uses from Navigator 4 upto and Including 7.
The Laptop was mouted in front of the shelf above the passenger glovebox on a special wooden platform I made that just clipped in.

One advantage was that my wife used to play Scrabble or other games and go back to Navigator as required. The Laptop Worked well as a TV DVD Player also.

With the Navigator I believe it is illegal to have the driver peering at a screen above about 4" * 4 or whater the max size of current sat navs are.

If you have the lap top its a cheap easy alternative and INHO Navigator software is as good as Tom Tom.

I have both by the way.

Steve
 

bashers

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As a lot of netbooks (as mentioned by the original poster) have solid state drives now the destruction of the hard drive is no longer an issue and I will be trying out a copy of pc navigator for trucks when i go back to sicily next week on mine

I've used TomTom on my phone for years but had a problem with it (the phone) in the summer. It would constantly reboot rendering it useless.
I had to resort to using Google maps on another phone which cost a fortune as its was on a roaming data rate!

I believe in having two systems. If youre main unit breaks, crashes or get nicked whilst your away, your pretty well stuffed - unless your second system is paper maps.
But that gets difficult if you can't trust your navigator and pricey if you are travelling extensively as you need large scale maps to spot low bridges like i do

As for legality, its interesting that in the states they are allowed pcs by the driver. In fact truck associations are fighting hard to prevent legalisation AGAINST using keyboards whilst driving. Seems most US truckers find it essential :Eeek:
 

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