My first PDA - iPAQ 6945!!!

DarkFlame · 01-23-07, 10:44 PM

According to the FedEx tracking, my iPAQ 6945 should be here tomorrow. I ordered it Sunday from HP & took the free "standard" shipping, so I'm happy that it'll be here tomorrow evening.

This is my first PDA. We had bought a rinky-dinky pda some time ago, but it seemed too incapable for what I really need. I've been using a DayRunner notebook for years, but have found it has become more & more of a burden to use it to keep up with everything. So, I've finally taken the plunge. I am excited, tho still wanting more ...

The unit comes with a cradle for USB connection to the pc (XP Professional) and the usual stuff, but I want more ...

I ordered from Boxwave a mobile charger (one unit that fits both the AC outlets - here in USA, & the cigarette lighter outlet in a car - or eventually my motorcycle after I install it), an "Active Case" so that it'll have a bit more protection than whatever ships standard, and an extended battery. But, I still want more ...

I also ordered from SuperMediaStore 4 512mb mini SD cards (with SD adapters), and a Plantronics bluetooth earset. But, I still want more ...

Since I ride a motorcycle, I really want a Bluetooth stereo headset for the phone that I can use to listen to music (MP3s - that's ONE of the 512mb mini-SDs) while I'm riding & still be able to answer the phone & talk. I'd REALLY like to have TWO of them so that my wife can listen to the music while we're fiding - & so that we can use it as an intercom. HP said only one headset would work at a time, so I'm doubtful I can get two to work together. If anyone has any suggestions on this, I'd greatly appreciate it. But, I still want more ...

Since I ride a motorycle, I also want to be able to have the thing mounted on my handlebars. I GUESS with the Bluetooth, I could set the unit in one of the hardbags or hard trunk, but then I wouldn't be able to use the GPS while I'm riding. And, the GPS is one of the things I'm hoping to use extensively, both for joy rides in the Texas Hill Country, and because I do a little real estate investing & I'll need to be able to find addresses without the benefit of a paper map.

I'm going to be big on using the spreadsheet for doing checklists of properties, taking pictures of the houses I see/visit/buy (another of the 512mb mini-SDs), keeping up with my email, and the usual heavy hitters of keeping track of my contacts, daily schedule/calendar, and to-do lists. Not to mention the occasional Powerpoint presentation.

From what I can tell, The 6945 is going to be the workhorse that I really need. For the price, it had better be all that and last at least three years. The HP shipment is supposed to arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, the SuperMediaStore shipment is supposed to arrive Thursday evening, & the Boxwave shipment is supposed to arrive Friday.

On Wed, 1/31, we're driving up to Plano to spend 4 nights & 5 days visiting my sister, & I am really wanting the GPS to be working well. The unit has a 60 day trial of the NavTeq maps system, with a $129 permanent activation key if I want it. I've had MS-Streets&Trips 2001 since it was released (but no GPS) and am wondering if it will work (outdated that it is). (Any answers on this will be greatly appreciated!)

That's about it. I found this forum & figured it'd be the best place for me to plant some roots & share spreading my wings. If anyone has any tips or pointers, I'm all ears!

Thanks,
David

onebyside · 01-24-07, 12:29 PM

congrats

received my 6955 yesterday

psionandy · 01-24-07, 02:10 PM

Congrats.. Looks like someone is going to be busy tomorrow :approve:

jdigitL · 01-24-07, 02:37 PM

new devices are great huh?:)

why did you order 4 sd cards?

no you cannot use more than one bluetooth headset at once..

you should spend some tim eworking with the device before strapping it down on your handlebars. not knowing how to do something while going 60mph might be a bad thing... spend some time if you have time, and see what does what and try the gps software out to make sure you understand the ins and outs before you go on this trip... youll need external storage before you install the gps maps anyway, so you probably wont get to use that till this weekend :)

have fun and if you have any questions let me know

john

Dfmclore · 01-24-07, 06:00 PM

Since I ride a motorycle, I also want to be able to have the thing mounted on my handlebars. ProClip Mounting System *-*Choose Your Country

I have purchased several items from them and found their items to be of good quality.

DarkFlame · 01-24-07, 10:12 PM

Well, one of the twins (Jacob) has been sick with the flu (the other, Mayim, hasn't gotten it despite sharing pacifiers!), and started an ear infection today, so April took them all three to the Dr. Sure enough, while they were gone for 90 minutes, FedEx came & left a door tag. Waaah, I didn't get the 6945 today. But, they're holding it at the FedEx distribution center & I'm going to pick it up at lunch tomorrow.

Since it's winter down here (if you can really call anything in San Antonio "winter!"), it'll be a while before I try to mount the thing on my motorcycle. Most of my riding is to work & back, anyway, with only 1-2 out-of-town trips per year. I've got plenty of time to figure out how to make the GPS work the way I want before I attach it to the handlebars. We're driving up to Plano next week (taking the Grand Caravan), so I'm wanting to have something working on the GPS - yes, I'll be busy.

I ordered 4 SD cards because they were $11 each & 512 MB is not much storage, especially when I might go look at a property and take 10-20 pictures of it (tho 1.3 mb pics on a 512 mb card should fit just a hair under 400 of them. I want one card JUST for music/MP3s. I'll use another card for permanent storage of spreadsheets, word processing docs, & other general office stuff. I'll probably have another one just to keep a backup of my PIM stuff, and a spare. I could be a little A.R. about this, but better safe than sorry, & at the cheap price of them, it's the cost of a mid-priced lunch for each card. I couldn't resist. Oh, & I looked at Dfmclore's profile & saw how many cards HE has! :D There, that makes me feel better

There's a system called Ram Mount, that has all kinds of mounting systems, including 1" handlebar clamps. ProClipUSA also looks like a good option, & I appreciate the referral. Off topic, but I have to ask, "What do you ride?" Mine's a '06 Honda Sabre 1100 (cruiser), almost fully dressed.

I wonder if I could direct the music to go thru wired in ear buds AND to the bluetooth stereo speakerphone headset? Oh, what the heck, April doesn't like listening to music when she's on the bike, anyway.

I'm sure I'll have questions. Thanks for the info & encouragements!

-> David

So, I'll pick up the 6945 at lunch tomorrow & immediately connect it to the USB port on my computer at work, just so it can charge up the battery. Best to do a full charge before turning it on. Yes, I THINK I'm going to be busy with it tomorrow night - especially if the mini-SDs & Bluetooth headset (single ear) arrive tomorrow from DHL without the same hitch FedEx had today.

Richard Cunningham · 01-25-07, 01:50 AM

You could have gotten a 2gb miniSD for about $40. That would save you having to swap them around. I use MS Streets & Trips 2006 (which comes with the PDA, BTW), and it works well.

:D

viffer97 · 01-25-07, 07:46 AM

For bluetooth headsets on a bike, Nolan and Dainese both have integrated bluetooth into a few of their helmets.

I've been riding with my 6955 for few months now. I'm surprised that the GPS actually functions with the PDA in the outside top pocket of my jacket. There are a number of map providers available, but a new service that I've been playing with is Microsofts Virtual Earth on Windows Mobile - Windows Live Search for mobile beta. This is still in beta, but its surprisingly good, although a bit slow at times and require a GPRS or WiFi connection.

Also, I had some fun with a site magnalox.net that has a windows mobile utility - (loxtrax). When running this utility it captures your GPS track data in real time, transfers data to a web site, and publishes to a KML file that can be viewed in google earth.

Enjoy,

Peter
motomappr.com

imported_hyedipin · 01-25-07, 09:19 AM

Wow, great purchase. I am looking forward to replacing my SDA+PDA and getting one of these one day eventually. I am not that hang up on the keyboard, but I surely would like to combine these devices and get something with CF so I can also use it as GPS. Since HP comes with GPS I am not worried about that either.

Congratulations, and it is a great unit. You'll have blast with it.

Dfmclore · 01-25-07, 09:42 AM

I have a Trek mountain bike but my mount for my cell and my PDA in my xterra are from proclipusa my only complaint is that I put a extended life battery on my Cell because on the regular battery the BT headset wouldn't last longer than half a day now I have to put the cell in the clip backwards not a real biggie though.

DarkFlame · 01-27-07, 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by Richard Cunningham

You could have gotten a 2gb miniSD for about $40. That would save you having to swap them around. I use MS Streets & Trips 2006 (which comes with the PDA, BTW), and it works well.

:D

Richard, during several pre-sale support calls, I specifically asked if the unit would be able to use mini-SD cards larger than 512 mb (I remember when a 5 mb hard drive was an external after-market accessory for Big Blue's original PC - but after a couple of days staying up VERY late working [playing, testing, etc.] with the 6945 [not to mention a sick infant - who's twin DIDN'T get the flu - & a 5 yr old with an attitude], I'm feeling old even if I were a lot younger!). Because I made three calls to them, & each time I got s different person, I asked a couple of the questions of each rep. Consistently, they told me that the 6945 could NOT use any card bigger than 512mb. So, yes, I spent about the same amount of money for 2gb on 4 cards as I would have spent for 2 gb on ONE card. BUT, if it'll actually work (some things you learn the hard way, & I just HAD to trust the HP staff!), then I'm probably going to buy a 2gb mini-SD card and sell (give away) the 512s. It'd be much nicer to have more music, more maps, and more files, all constantly accessible, than to have to swap cards & NOT listen to music while I'm GPSing on the motorcycle or running thru a cost estimate checklist while considering a property purchase.

So, now I have to ask, can I use the 2gb card straight out of the pkg? Or, does it have to be partitioned?

Can I get/use an even BIGGER mini-SD card?

And, I'm really happy with the 6945, so far. No real problems, only minor stuff.

I remember seeing on this forum some info about changing the "desktop" & I want to do that (remove some stuff).

I have tried the GPS & got it to work, it gave me directions from home to work this morning. But, the route it chose was something different than what I usually ride - the shortest possible route, even tho I chose it go configure the shortest possible route. The femal voice kept telling me to take the next exit, told me to turn around & go the other way when I was just 3 blocks from the building, and generally had me thinking that the next thing she was going to say was "Well, since you obviously already KNOW where you're going, you can certainly get there without ME giving you directions!" But, she never did. I guess that's one thing she does better than my wife

Oooh, did I say that?

And, I downloaded & installed my first non-included program. I got Ilium Software's "ListPro" because the included Task list is about as useful as trying to do your homework using charcoal to write on the back of a rusty shovel. It'd work, but just barely. Julie (on this forum) had it listed in her "PDA" & gave high marks to it, & I have to agree. The ease of use is great & the flexibility is awesome. Usually, "Ease of Use" & "Flexibility" are mutually exclusive when it comes to software. But, these guys hit the mark.

As for using MS-Outlook, I've never used a scheduler or contact manager. I've always kept my contacts in MS-Word (WordPerfect before that, & various other now archaic & out of business word processors). I liked the free-form and had created a format that worked just fine. But, DeveloperOne has Agenda Fusion 8 & it's looking like the total-solution package that I need. My calendars had always been done by Calendar Creator, but we always kept the software until the newest version wouldn't update from the calendars we'd created so many years ago (tracking 100+ friends & family members birthdates, anniversaries, etc.). So, I've truely achieved "Happiness" with any of the programs. But, for the price, it's not so bad. And, I don't mind just having my stuff on the PPC rather than the desktop. Wish I knew how to use Outlook as well as I'm SURE it can be used.

Ok, it's late, I've got work to do & "Miles to go before I sleep!"