I don't know what brand / technology GPS DELL is now offering.
When I bought several months ago I thought of getting the GPS
because of the decent price, but after researching the issue it
seemed like people were almost unanimously praising GPS units
built around the new technology / new generation SiRF III GPS chipset. It does seem to have usefully and notably superior
capabilities for GPS performance including its ability to achieve
a fast, consistent, accurate, high quality lock on to the satellites signals. Looking around I believe that I found that
the DELL GPS units were NOT SiRF III chip based, and that the
price for buying a SIRF III chip GPS from another
vendor was actually very reasonable. I believe the DELL GPS unit
may have some GPS software with it, but, again, I found reviews
that indicated that there were several higher quality newer GPS
software packages out there that I would probably rather have than the DELL bundled software. I also found there were low
cost GPS packages that would be possible to use too.
This is the GPS unit I ended up buying, and I'm very happy with
its performance compared to my previous generation GPS unit:
It quickly and flawlessly tracks many satellites just from
throwing it on the dashboard and it has no problem with doing so
even in urban downtowns or in areas with lots of overhanging
and shielding foliage.
I am using the 'On Course Navigator' version 5 package for the
AXIM for GPS navigation. It is great in terms of its navigation
performance, though it could be easier to enter and manage addresses. Also on the old X50V with WM2003 OS it can be prone
to running out of memory if you don't clean up the temporary
internet files in PIE and unload other running programs besides
the navigation software before using it. The bluetooth stack
in WM2003 can be kind of flaky too in that occasionally it'll
stop talking to the Bluetooth GPS if one's memory gets low or if
one loses signal connection with it and then it's harder than it
should be to reconnect the GPS signal, but I think that's the
operating system's fault and not the GPS or Navigation S/W.
For a cheap and much less feature-packed option one can use
something like Microsoft Streets And Trips 2006 which is under
$40, and that has a laptop / desktop PC based mapping program
as well as a very limited one for the AXIM too.
Here are a couple good places to shop for GPSs:
http://www.semsons.com/
http://www.buygpsnow.com/
Considering the low cost and good performance I'd surely buy
a SIRF III chipset GPS. The only question would be bluetooth
wireless which is very nice though a little extra hassle / flakiness occasionally, or a wired GPS which would need the
appropriate cable to the AXIM but which would probably be free
of any issues with lost communications like bluetooth has now
and then.
I'd suggest reading the reviews and getting a good handheld
based map navigation program for the AXIM. I'd probably buy
the OnCourse Navigator again, especially with an X51 since it
has more memory and Windows Mobile 2005 manages memory better
so more is free anyway. If you're going to be entering a lot
of addresses, though, you should consider whether you'll be able
to enter then into the desktop PC first then activesync them
to the AXIM's "Contacts" so you can just pick a "Contact" to
navigate to that address, or if you'll be entering them mostly
directly on the PDA in which case you'll be doing some typing
or writing work with the stylus unless you get a keyboard for
the AXIM too.
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