Review: Garmin Mobile PC

Marvin,
Did you use an on-screen keyboard?
Terry

Marvin,
I have read several reviews on that HP tablet. It isn't clear to me if it is a Wacom-type screen. Can you use your finger with it or do you need a stylus?
Terry

It supports both, touch and active digitizer. I just bought it this evening at a local FutureShop. I will not be able to use it till I buy some mobile mount for it - it may take me a couple of weeks. I can't wait using Garmin Mobile PC on this

Fluor just posted a nice picture of his laptop running Garmin Mobile PC in his car. It appears to be mounted in a RAM mount. Check out his profile album.

Hi Marvin,
Yes,my laptop is mount on RAM mounting system.I use this mount from 2004.Here is the link to nice Canadian store where I pick up this mount and my first GPS-18 Delux bundel: http://www.prairie.mb.ca
This company located in Manitoba.

You probably don't want to order Mobile PC from GPS City in Canada. They seem to be lost in a time warp.

Terry

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Hi Tcassidy,
The store where I did pick up my Garmin Mobile PC-GPS is GPS Mart,not a GPS City. Second the link in my previus post is linking to "Prairie Geomatics Ltd.™ "as you see it not GPS City.This two kompany is reliable and provide quik and adecvate services.

Fluor, Terry is only pointing at a funny error at gpscity.ca website. I think both, GPS City and GPS Mart are fine and reputable stores.

Just an update as I've been doing 15-20 deliveries a day for the last several weeks.

I just yesterday entered 19 stops for one delivery run I had at 6pm and it actually "optimized" them well. I have found the routeing much better than CoPilot due to the fact it will want you to make u-turns or "turn around" which is much much faster/shorter than the way CoPilot would route you.

I'm a prior CoPilot user for 3-4 yrs. PPC 5, Nav9, Laptop 10, tried Laptop 11. With CoPilot I would generally get 1 or 2 stops a day that would not be in map data, with Garmin Mobile PC I have yet to have ANY missing addresses not one!

To say the least I'm very happy with it thus far, I'm able to blaze through entering stops quickly. I really believe this is a better overall product.


Greg

Will the GlobalSat BU-353 Water-Proof USB Mouse GPS Receiver work fine with Garmin Mobile PC? I already purchased the receiver for $37 and am researching software now. I have a UMPC in my WRX consisting of a laptop connected to power inverter thru cigarette lighter, 7" Lilliput touch-screen on my dash running 1280x800 (my laptop doesn't support any other widescreen resolutions. The native resolution of the LCD is 800x480), & PC audio connected to my Pioneer head unit (also with phone and iPod connected to it thru bluetooth and USB). The laptop is under my seat and I have no keyboard or mouse connected to it, so I will be using an on-screen keyboard.

I was also wondering about the activation step of the Garmin software install. If I get the stand-alone version of Mobile PC, I will do the activation step during installation right? I guess I'll just wait and see.

Does anyone out there run Garmin Mobile PC at 1280x800 on a 7" LCD? Is everything large enough or adjustable to become large enough?

I plan on using Zero Weight on-screen keyboard in conjunction with Mobile PC since the Garmin programmers didn't think about touch-screen users (a major "duh" in my opinion). Maybe they figure if you don't have a keyboard, you already have some sort of on-screen keyboard solution...

Thanks for any feedback!

My ASUS r2h can emulate 1024x600 on a 7" screen (native is 800x480) and Mobile PC is quite legible. If other programs display ok at 1280x800 on your screen, Mobile PC should be fine.

I use the free Inscribe OSK in email mode for text entry.
Terry

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That should have been Inscribe in qwertylite mode. It has the proper keyboard layout.
Terry

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I wish I could do 1024x600, that would be just right for my screen I think. I would like to see what 800x480 looked like too. Does anyone know if there is a program that can force a laptop video card to do custom resolutions? 1280x800 is pretty small for any app that uses size 8 or 9 font. Size 10 is the smallest that is easy to read. I think Garmin will be fine from the looks of the screenshots. I'll just give it a try and see how it works, thanks!

Here is 800x480 on a 7" screen. I may have changed the zoom as it is controlled by the scroll wheel on the mouse.

Terry

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