Pocket PC and GPS for motorcycle, which to buy?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

I'm looking to buy a pocket PC to use together with my bluetooth GPS for
navigation on my motorcycle. I'm not sure which pocket PC to buy and
what software to use? I have access to digital maps of the areas I ride
in, so OziExplorer CE seems to be a good program which would fit my
needs, but other suggestions are welcome. The other problem is that I
need a good, cheap and robust pocket PC to run it on. I want/need
bluetooth, WAN, color display and at least a 400mhz CPU. Searching on
the net I've found the Mitac Mio 558 and Asus A716 to be two pocket PC's
that would fit the bill. Question is, how do they handle the conditions
on an off road motorcycle in terms of vibrations, shocks, temperatures,
humidity, and so on? I'd also like a battery life of at least five hours
continues use, with the bluetooth enabled, preferably more. Is that
something I can expect, even with the backlight on? Do you need to have
the display backlight on for it to be readable in sun light while
wearing sunglasses or is it only necessary when it's dark? I've never
used a pocket PC before, so all suggestions and comments are welcome.

Thanks,
Ulf


http://ulf.cc

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

Ulf wrote:

> ... Question is, how do they handle the conditions
> on an off road motorcycle in terms of vibrations, shocks, temperatures,
> humidity, and so on?

I would pick an iPaq, they've proven robust enough. As far as the mount
goes, the RAM mount for the iPaq has more than proven itself.

I wouldn't use it off-road though. It's not robust enough for that.
However, I've had an older model iPaq survive a motorcycle crash, it didn't
come loose or anything.

Not sure what the weather is like in your part of town, but you need to keep
it out of rain. I have a windshield on my bike, so a very light sprinkle would
be ok (while on the move at least!), but I ceratinly get nervous with anything
more than that.

As far as the sun goes, I've had to turn off IR communications on my iPaq.
Apparently, under very bright light conditions, the IR interface gets confused,
thinks there's incoming data and tries to process it. The end result is that
operation slows down to a crawl.
I've been led to believe this is unique at least to some degree to the iPaqs,
but since I don't use IR comms it wasn't an issue for me.

> I'd also like a battery life of at least five hours continues use, with the
> bluetooth enabled, preferably more. Is that something I can expect, even
> with the backlight on?

Might be worth looking at if you really _need_ all those things turned on,
especially bluetooth, when you have the option of GPS sleeves and such.
Bluetooth GPS comms is iffy at best, so I'd be looking at other options first.

Either way, you _need_ external power. I hard-wired a 12v cigarette power
adaptor into the accessories line, and routed the power cable to the front and
around the handlebars ready for use.
It's not something you can fit and remove like you would in a car, but the
auto power adaptors are reasonably cheap enough, so you can have more than one
if you're likely to use it in a car as well.

> Do you need to have the display backlight on for it to be readable in sun
> light while wearing sunglasses or is it only necessary when it's dark?

The backlight certainly helps. You would pass shadowy patches where you wish
for the backlight, and sometimes direct sunlight where you wouldn't be able to
tell if it's on or off. So it's easiest to leave it on all the time. Now you
know why you have external power. :-)

Personally, I've found the _direction_ of the sun was more of a factor than
the overall ambient light level. Direct sunlight (as long as there wasn't
glare on the screen) was best for visibility, and sideways sunlight was the
worst. This can be easily worked around with simple home-made sun shields on
either side of the PDA though.

> I've never used a pocket PC before, so all suggestions and comments are welcome.

I use it on my motorcycle on a very regular basis, and it works well.

--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

Ulf wrote:

> I'm looking to buy a pocket PC to use together with my bluetooth GPS for
> navigation on my motorcycle.

Forget it. It's been tried time and again. Go with a stand-alone GPS
that can connect to a PC for updating the software, uploading routes,
etc. The dedicated GPS should be build to withstand vibration (no
micro-drives please) and the weather exposure (IPX7 is good.)

Your pocket PC will drown the first time you get caught in a storm.

--
Mark Johnson, Ft. Worth, TX
http://www.bikes-n-spikes.org
Am I ambivalent? Well, yes and no...

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

John Tserkezis wrote:
> Ulf wrote:
>
>> ... Question is, how do they handle the conditions on an off road
>> motorcycle in terms of vibrations, shocks, temperatures, humidity, and
>> so on?
>
>
> I would pick an iPaq, they've proven robust enough. As far as the
> mount goes, the RAM mount for the iPaq has more than proven itself.
>
> I wouldn't use it off-road though. It's not robust enough for that.
> However, I've had an older model iPaq survive a motorcycle crash, it
> didn't come loose or anything.
>
> Not sure what the weather is like in your part of town, but you need to
> keep it out of rain. I have a windshield on my bike, so a very light
> sprinkle would be ok (while on the move at least!), but I ceratinly get
> nervous with anything more than that.
>
> As far as the sun goes, I've had to turn off IR communications on my
> iPaq. Apparently, under very bright light conditions, the IR interface
> gets confused, thinks there's incoming data and tries to process it.
> The end result is that operation slows down to a crawl.
> I've been led to believe this is unique at least to some degree to the
> iPaqs, but since I don't use IR comms it wasn't an issue for me.

Actually, I'm leaning more towards the Mitac because of its price. The
cheapest iPac that would suit my needs is considerably more expensive.
Not sure how I would mount it though, putting it in a zip bag and
velcroing it to the instruments might work, I'm really not interested in
shelling out $100 for a mount unless I have to. If it turns out that it
can't handle the stress I'll reconsider, but I do have one year to
experiment before the warranty expires. :-)

>
>> I'd also like a battery life of at least five hours continues use,
>> with the
>> bluetooth enabled, preferably more. Is that something I can expect, even
>> with the backlight on?
>
>
> Might be worth looking at if you really _need_ all those things turned
> on, especially bluetooth, when you have the option of GPS sleeves and
> such. Bluetooth GPS comms is iffy at best, so I'd be looking at other
> options first.
>
> Either way, you _need_ external power. I hard-wired a 12v cigarette
> power adaptor into the accessories line, and routed the power cable to
> the front and around the handlebars ready for use.
> It's not something you can fit and remove like you would in a car, but
> the auto power adaptors are reasonably cheap enough, so you can have
> more than one if you're likely to use it in a car as well.

Well, I already have a bluetooth GPS so that's what I'll use. You're
probably right about external power, but it can't be too hard to wire
up. Using a simple voltage regulator it shouldn't cost more than a
couple of bucks.

>
>> Do you need to have the display backlight on for it to be readable in sun
>> light while wearing sunglasses or is it only necessary when it's dark?
>
>
> The backlight certainly helps. You would pass shadowy patches where
> you wish for the backlight, and sometimes direct sunlight where you
> wouldn't be able to tell if it's on or off. So it's easiest to leave it
> on all the time. Now you know why you have external power. :-)
>
> Personally, I've found the _direction_ of the sun was more of a factor
> than the overall ambient light level. Direct sunlight (as long as there
> wasn't glare on the screen) was best for visibility, and sideways
> sunlight was the worst. This can be easily worked around with simple
> home-made sun shields on either side of the PDA though.
>
>> I've never used a pocket PC before, so all suggestions and comments
>> are welcome.
>
>
> I use it on my motorcycle on a very regular basis, and it works well.

Good to hear. Hope I have the same experience! :-)

>
Ulf

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

SoftSpot wrote:
> Ulf <camaroz28@my-deja.com> wrote in news:5F3Ud.18188$d5.143068
> @newsb.telia.net:
>
>
>>I'm looking to buy a pocket PC to use together with my bluetooth GPS
>
> for
>
>>navigation on my motorcycle. I'm not sure which pocket PC to buy
>
>
> I would advice for a quality PPC, like the iPaq from HP, and a good
> casing to mount it on your bike. I prefer the iPaq because of its very
> good screen: even in direct sunlight the maps can be read, which can't be
> said of all its concurrents. For mounting on my bike I have purchased an
> Otter box: not really cheap but watertight and shockproof.
> To preserve the watertightness of the box I have not included external
> power supply, so my "autonomy" lasts only about 4 to 5 hours.

Do you ride off road with the iPaq too? If that's the case, I shouldn't
have anything to worry about. :-)

>
Ulf

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

Ulf wrote:

> Not sure how I would mount it though, putting it in a zip bag and
> velcroing it to the instruments might work, I'm really not interested in
> shelling out $100 for a mount unless I have to. If it turns out that it
> can't handle the stress I'll reconsider, but I do have one year to
> experiment before the warranty expires. :-)

It took me a couple of years before I shelled out for the mount. Glad I did.
I mucked around with various home-made mounts that never really did do the job
in a manner I was happy with.
Only regret I have is that I didn't do it earlier. I would have had use of
it a couple of years earlier...

> Well, I already have a bluetooth GPS so that's what I'll use. You're
> probably right about external power, but it can't be too hard to wire
> up. Using a simple voltage regulator it shouldn't cost more than a
> couple of bucks.

You'd think that. Make sure it's beefy enough to deliver the worst case
current requirements of the PDA. I'm currently working on adapting a cellphone
auto adaptor to a couple of amps, (was only good to about 300mA originally).
So far, if you account for what I've spent on it so far, and the time spent on
adapting and experimenting, it's would have been cheaper and faster just to buy.
Oh well, at least I get the satisfaction of "fixing" it myself... Yeah, I'll
keep telling myself that... :-)
--
Linux Registered User # 302622 <http://counter.li.org>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

Just a bit of lateral thinking here...

I have an iPAQ 2210 that I use mainly for SatNav in my car & van using
TomTom Navigator Bluetooth GPS receiver.

Being a dry-weather only motorcyclist I fancied the idea of using SatNav on
the 'bike.

Not wanting the iPAQ to be on show (how would you manage to do anything
on-screen wearing gloves anyway?) I left it in its case, fitted it under the
seat where the toolkit used to go, plugged the iPAQ audio output into the
Autocom intercom system already on the 'bike and stuck the GPS receiver
under the plastic tailhump.

Result? Worked perfectly. Directions came through the earpieces in my helmet
(I had to turn the volume down on the iPAQ) and it worked extremely well.

Never felt compelled to look at the display - rather keep my eyes on the
road, other traffic & conditions.

BT GPS receiver good for about 5-6 hours on a single charge, iPAQ ran for
about 3 hours or so the couple of times I tried it.

If I required it permanently on the bike I would buy a Brodit active holder
like I use in the car/van and wire it into the 'bikes harness to power the
iPAQ.

You would also have the option to power the GPS receiver that way but as a
permanent fitting I would buy a cabled GPS mouse.

Just a thought...

Regards,
-=pp=-


"Ulf" <camaroz28@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:5F3Ud.18188$d5.143068@newsb.telia.net...
> I'm looking to buy a pocket PC to use together with my bluetooth GPS for
> navigation on my motorcycle. I'm not sure which pocket PC to buy and
> what software to use? I have access to digital maps of the areas I ride
> in, so OziExplorer CE seems to be a good program which would fit my
> needs, but other suggestions are welcome. The other problem is that I
> need a good, cheap and robust pocket PC to run it on. I want/need
> bluetooth, WAN, color display and at least a 400mhz CPU. Searching on
> the net I've found the Mitac Mio 558 and Asus A716 to be two pocket PC's
> that would fit the bill. Question is, how do they handle the conditions
> on an off road motorcycle in terms of vibrations, shocks, temperatures,
> humidity, and so on? I'd also like a battery life of at least five hours
> continues use, with the bluetooth enabled, preferably more. Is that
> something I can expect, even with the backlight on? Do you need to have
> the display backlight on for it to be readable in sun light while
> wearing sunglasses or is it only necessary when it's dark? I've never
> used a pocket PC before, so all suggestions and comments are welcome.
>
> Thanks,
> Ulf
>
>
> http://ulf.cc

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

Brodit also has a weatherproof mount for a pda on a motorcycle (Item Number
215002). Unfortunately it's $230. The Otter Box with a cable pass-through
and RAM Mount adds up to almount $200.

Bruce Dimon
Dell Axim X30 with Bluetooth GPS
GL1500 Gold Wing: 198,000 miles & still runs like new!
North Idaho, USA


"Dale DePriest" <Dale@gpsinformation.het> wrote in message
news:1122ok2djknnl52@corp.supernews.com...
>
>
> Jack Hunt wrote:
>
>
>> PDAs make great GPSs, but only in a car, never on a motorcycle. They
>> don't handle moisture at all, and they don't handle vibration well.
>> Temperature changes make them absorb moisture and fog the screen from
>> the inside. PDAs were never meant for weather extremes and they can't
>> be made to handle them, not even in a ziplock bag. Anything you use
>> to waterproof it will also keep you from using it easily.
>
> Good description of the problem. Try an otter box with a ram mount.
>
> Dale
>
> --
> _ _ Dale DePriest
> /`) _ // http://users.cwnet.com/dalede
> o/_/ (_(_X_(` For GPS and GPS/PDAs

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

John Tserkezis wrote:
> Pheasant Plucker® wrote:
>
>> Not wanting the iPAQ to be on show (how would you manage to do anything
>> on-screen wearing gloves anyway?)
>
>
> OziexplorerCE has many functions assignable to "screen buttons". They
> are "hot spots" on the map display (display divided up into a grid of
> nine squares). Each square can easily be pressed with a motorcycle glove.

Oziexplorer sound like a good program. However, do you need to have
registered copy on you home PC to make it worth while to use on your
pocket PC? I'm just interested in using map images I already have, and
to create waypoints, but all that can be done on the pocket PC, right?

>
> I leave the RAM mount in place, and remove/fit the iPaq as required.
> When it rains, I use a medium/large zip-lock plastic bag over the ipaq.
> Though, I find the display cannot be seen through the water droplets on
> the bag. I think this would be the case even if I had a waterproof
> dedictated receiver though.
>
> I might look at a larger sun/rain sheild for the ipaq when I get some
> time.

If you come up with a good design, please let me know! :-)

>
Ulf

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

Ulf <camaroz28@my-deja.com> wrote in news:0q8Ud.18357$d5.143200
@newsb.telia.net:

>
> Do you ride off road with the iPaq too? If that's the case, I shouldn't
> have anything to worry about. :-)
>
>

No, I only ride on roads. My bike is a chopper, so not really suitable
for off-road adventures.

Allthough, some roads here in Belgium are in such bad shape that it is
almost like off-road-riding (rattle rattle bump bump), and my iPaq and
the Otterbox never gave up yet....

--

SoftSpot
softspot_ihatespam_brugge@hotmail.com
"Tomorrow it may get better, but it will never be allright."
(Cornelis Vreeswijk)

(just remove the spamstatement
and one underscore
to respond personally,
but please keep it friendly,

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc,rec.motorcycles,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 18:58:09 GMT, Ulf wrote:

> I'm looking to buy a pocket PC to use together with my bluetooth GPS for
> navigation on my motorcycle. I'm not sure which pocket PC to buy and
> what software to use? I have access to digital maps of the areas I ride
> in, so OziExplorer CE seems to be a good program which would fit my
> needs, but other suggestions are welcome. The other problem is that I
> need a good, cheap and robust pocket PC to run it on. I want/need
> bluetooth, WAN, color display and at least a 400mhz CPU. Searching on
> the net I've found the Mitac Mio 558 and Asus A716 to be two pocket PC's
> that would fit the bill. Question is, how do they handle the conditions
> on an off road motorcycle in terms of vibrations, shocks, temperatures,
> humidity, and so on? I'd also like a battery life of at least five hours
> continues use, with the bluetooth enabled, preferably more. Is that
> something I can expect, even with the backlight on? Do you need to have
> the display backlight on for it to be readable in sun light while
> wearing sunglasses or is it only necessary when it's dark? I've never
> used a pocket PC before, so all suggestions and comments are welcome.
>
> Thanks,
> Ulf
>
>
> http://ulf.cc

The 716 is a decent little machine, if you don't mind the PPC OS. It is
not a horribly robust machine. Mine hasn't broken yet, but it just doesn't
feel substantial. It is rated for a 19 hour battery life, but I'd expect
that to be with the processor set all the way to slow, backlight off, and
not running any actual apps. Turn on the WiFi, and your battery life drops
to about an hour. Haven't tried bluetooth yet. Any kind of moisture would
go right into the CF and SD slots, as well as the sync plug, I'm sure. The
716 has kind of a goofy form factor due to its external antenna, as well.

Whatever you do, stay the hell away from MS Pocket streets and trips. It
has less functionality than my 3 or 4 year old Garmin eMap. Granted with a
prettier display. It doesn't do routing, and if you actually put a useful
size map in there, it bogs the system down.

If you are dead set on a handheld device for use with bluetooth GPS, you
may want to lean more towards the Palm side of things. The OS is less
clunky.