need help chosing best pda for my needs, please!!

J

Julie P

New member
Hi,

I have never had a pda and need to get one. What I need it to do is.

1. take a sd card (balistics card from horous vision) this will always stay in the pda.
2. take a top quality gps device in addition to the sd card above.
3. large color display
4. must fit in a otterbox for use in extreen conditions.
5. must have excelent battery life, extra and even external batteries would also be nice.
6. must be able to use detailed maping software for gps.

I apreacite all responses.

Thanks, Huntler
 
Hunter
I see that there have been more than 10 people review your post and no replies yet. Trust me, there are people here with a lot more knowledge and expertise than me, but I thought I would throw my two cents into the discussion any way.....

I am a creature of habit and routinely stick with PalmOne products. With that being said, the market is so that products are being released probably a little sooner than they should be with some products. I think this happened with the PalmOne T5. There are a little bugs, but as my T5 and I get use to each other there are less and less bugs. There are people here who want alittle or nothing to do with a T5, but everyone has the right to their own opinion. So that I would not seem completely biased toward PalmOne I did a search on Google for a comparison for PDA's and came up with these links:


http://google-cnet.com.com/4007-3127_9-0.html?subj=pda_comparison&part=google-cnet&tag=36109

http://www.davespda.com/

http://www.davespda.com/resources/compare/index.htm
(this is an interesting interactive site where you can compare different PDA's of your choice)

http://shopper.cnet.com/PDAs/2001-3127_9-0.html?tag=shfd.dir

http://www.palmone.com/us/products/compare/

I started with PalmOne and I suppose I am a loyalist or fearful of trying different options. However, Tigerdirect just had a special offer on a Jornada so I have ordered one for my work. I started out with a Pocket PC about 100 years ago. So, I will use both in my work and take advantage of both.

Anyway, hopefully this will give you some links to help you make your decision....

Carol
 
I think you'd have to look at buying a PDA that is already a GPS and that brings two to mind.

A Garmin iQue 3600 that uses a Palm OShere or it's sister here that uses Windows Pocket PC software.

The winner between the two is the M5 because of it's bluetooth capabilities.

Both are pricing but when you add the GPS to a standalone device you have a much better device that allows the interface to work more smoothly.

I own a 3600 and it's a good unit but was lacking in other areas of bluetooth and battery life.

My next suggestion would then be a Dell Axim 50 and then find a good GPS interface - which you can get from Garmin as well that will work with it. The Axim 50 has a very good user rating and battery life.

Bare in mind that "good" battery life is going to be determined by how long you use the GPS portion with the screen lite up. You can dim the screen depending upon the environment but if you've got it in an Otter Box your going to be limited in GPS receiving unless you pull it out of the box from time to time to get a fix.

;)
 
This is some good info guys! the garmin 3600, does the gps antenna extend completely vertically? It looks like in the pictures that it does not and I wonder if it would fit in a otterbox 1900 case like that? Are the palm OS based units the better way to go over the windows based or is it just a preference thing.

Thanks
 
The antenna will extend nearly to vertical however the best reception for the antenna is 90 degrees or horizontal/parallel to the ground but if you have it in the Otter Box then that's probably the way that you'll want it.

Check out the Que forum here at PDASTREETS for more info.
 
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