Well, there is a whole chunk of the Internet devoted to the subject of GPS, the system, the units and the software. Two of which are :
These are vendor agnostic and that's the way to go, however, I am a huge fan of the OziExplorer software and have not seen any other system that works as easily and is as idiot proof as it is. It runs on PC's (Window only atm), portable devices running the CE/Mobile OS again from Microsoft but lately it has flowed over into the SmartPhone arena in the ANDROID port that I am testing now.
SOFTWARE
I must admit that I have not used the Garmin system very much. I know people that use it exclusively and have great success with it. I tend to go for the do it yourself, home baked system 'cos that's just how I am wired and I find that the fully proprietary system that Garmin runs is a bit restrictive. Vector based mapping is very compact and fast which is good but the biggest advantage of image based mapping is that you can convert paper hard copy maps into map files for your system. That may seem trivial but if you have access to mapping done specifically for an area IE National Parks or State Forests, you can take their map and plug it into your system if it is image based and have very pertinent and specific info. In addition you can have a paper map 'hand annotated ' by a person in the know and just scan that in and the annotations are there on your device just as the person made them. Just an old school slant on a new school system. I digress.
Having declared my preference for OziExplorer and image based mapping, I must also include a little on the turn by turn software. as a general 'motorist' venturing into urban areas that I ma not familiar with, I do, from time to time, enlist the help of these systems. Particularly if I am on a trip and need to find a specific location for a particular reason and I don't have time to consult the locals. Particularly for places like bike shops and engineering works that are sometimes not known by the average 'joe' on the street. In this instance I use my preferred package which is iGo. This is the usual inclusion on the cheaper Chinese units, which as I will get to in a minute, are my preferred. iGo works as well as the NavMan software and is more customisable.
HARDWARE
As i have said, I run OziExplorer. It is a Window$ based application but it runs on all ports of the platform. IE, XP,Vista...etc plus CE/Mobile. Therefore ther is a number of combinations you can have to cover off our (motorcyclists) have. I run the main application on a virtual PC running windows XP. The PC based version is fully functional in terms of navigation AND route creation AND post trip track editing. It will access and GPS unit your windows PC can connect to which is most and I use it to download and upload maps and route data to the portable units I use. The PC port is the one you would use to calibrate image files and create maps for use on it or the mobile units. If you drive a 4x4 you can use it as your portable unti also. Naturally we motorcylists don't havw th space to carry a pC let alone use one while we are mmoving. Therefore o the mobile units I have.
My primary mobile unit is a Chinese Windows Mobile based unit I got off eBay for $125. It is a 5" touch screen unit as picture below.
<Insert Image of GPS here>
The unit has a modest CPU and 2Gb Micro SD card. I can fit the Hema 250k Australian raster, Desert tracks and a buch of regular touring atlas type maps of the country on it and have plenty of space left. There is a bit of hacking required to get the Ozi package on these units and have the ability to use both Ozi and the turn by turn software they come with. I will go into details about that in a later post of contact me and I will pass on the details.
