Laptop GPS World

Been following this forum & trying to decide whether to purchase the Garmin Mobile PC. I saw it mentioned on the S&T forum and have been researching. I have been using S&T for 5 years & currently have S&T 2007. I like the trip planning & printable maps in S&T. Have use it for some fairly long and complex vacation trips. I plan routes using multiple way points to take the roads we want to travel. I use the GPS function when we travel. I have a laptop (under backseat) attached to a 7" LCD touch screen in the front. Really like the setup a lot better than the stand alone GPS devices.

I have been following the review thread. but still have some questions.

1. I have a Holux USB GPS that I use with S&T. Will it work with Garmin PC?
2. Can you have routes with multiple way points so you can adjust your route to the roads you want to take?
3. Can you save routes? For long trips, I plan the trip then break it up into smaller pieces to limit the start-up time & number of way points.
4. Is S&T better for trip/route planning?
5. Does Garmin PC auto-recal the directions if you get off route? I did not like this function and is one of the reasons I did not purchase S&T 2008. It seemed to cause problems (lock-up) with the multiple way points I had.
6. Can you load the program on multiple PC's? I currently have S&T on one desktop & two laptops.
7. Last question, for those who use S&T and Garmin PC, what do you see as the key benefits of the Garmin PC(why did you buy it)?


The best price I have seen so far is Amazon - $46.78 plus S&H. Seen any better price?

Thanks,

Hi HarryD,

Welcome to Laptop GPS World.

1. Yes, a third-party NMEA USB GPS receivers are supported. However, if you buy the bundle that includes the Garmin receiver, you will not get the activation code - so you will only be able to use a Garmin receiver. If you buy the less expensive, software-only, product, then you will have the activation code, and you will be able to use any (non-Garmin and Garmin) GPS receiver. That's the way I understand it.

2. Yes, you can. I think this may be easier to setup in Streets & Trips, especially since you have been using Streets and Trips for many years, but Garmin can do it, too.

3. Ken or Terry or others will likely be able to give better answer on this one. I'm not sure, I'd have to look into it. I haven't yet had the need for saving a trip or trips (but I'd like to know the answer, too).

4. I think so.

5. Garmin Mobile PC allows you to turn off the automatic rerouting feature. The following is a summary of routing options:



6. I'm not sure. I'd have to see what the license agreement says about this. Does anyone know?

7. Streets & Trips is great for planning, and printing, but it doesn't look that good on the screen while driving. Garmin Mobile PC looks very good while driving/navigating, but it has no printing capabilities. Why not use both?

That's good price. Also check Semsons, because you will get 10% discount on any laptop GPS navigation software from them (just because you are a member of Laptop GPS World).

My free trial period ended a few days ago so I uninstalled Mobile PC. I can't recall how the route planning in Mobile PC worked because I only tried it once. I do know that I can plan routes in Mapsource and transfer them directly into Mobile PC so it would seem very likely that Mobile PC has its own built-in functions for doing the same thing. It would surprise me a lot if Garmin left out such a basic feature.

...ken...

I actually looked into this about an hour ago. Yes, you can save your routes in Garmin Mobile PC very easily by going to Tools => Manage My Data => Routes.

There was a question raised in another thread here in the Garmin section, regarding sharing saved route files among users. I don't know how one would go about doing that, though. There may be a way, but I just don't know.

__________________
Marvin Hlavac

Laptop GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics

Thanks for all the info. Did anyone find out if it can be loaded on more than one PC. S&T 2007 can be load on multiple PC and I believe I read that S&T 2008 can only be loaded on two?

Thanks again.

1. Garmin Mobile PC should work with any NMEA or Garmin GPS if you have the software-only version. I have used the built-in one on my UMPC and Garmin GPS 10, GPS 10x and GPS20x.

2.You can use multiple waypoints or route shaping, or both.

3. You can save routes.

4. From experience, I would rate S&T better for long trip (multi-day) planning. Pacticularly if you want a printed copy.

5. Garmin performs auto rerouting but you can turn the feature off. I have experienced no problems with autorerouting and multiple waypoints. I note the auto rerouting function in Mobile PC is very sensitive (and fast).

6. I have Mobile PC on my UMPC and Laptop. I also tried it on my main PC with no problems. This is the software-only version.

7. Mobile PC loads way faster than iGuidance, S&T 2007 or SA 2008. I was trying the USB GPS 20x with the UMPC and noted the program could not find it after a Sleep. No problem restarting the program to solve the problem as it is so fast.
As far as display on a small screen, only iGuidance 4 comes close.
However, I bought it as the Canadian maps are superior and it could use my existing waypoints and maps.

Terry

Thanks for all the info. Ordered software only from Amazon.

One more question, is there a way to run Garmin PC & S&T at the same time with one GPS? I saw something about this, but could not find it.

Thanks again.

For anyone who has Mapsource it's easy. Just use GPX file format to exchange the routes. As soon as I get Mobile PC and install it I'll check to see if there is any way to save and load route files in Mobile PC.

...ken...

Use the port splitter called "xport". I think you need version 1.21. I think people were finding that it wouldn't work with 1.22. There's a link to it in another thread here but I can't recall which one. You can do a search on here or do a Google search for it.

...ken...

After many hours of tinkering of someone who's been in electronics since 92: here is the set up that works best for me at this moment.

OK heres my current set up:
USB GPS antenna
to > USB to Serial driver
to > GPSgate for virtual com ports and for S&T2007 etc.
to > xport (the input for xport is virtual com 1 made by GPS gate), the only output is virtual com 3
to > GMPC and I make sure no other applications try to use com ports 1 and 3.

GMPC works great if it's the only program the uses the receiver but drops out and comes back due to xport being flaky.

For some odd reason GMPC will only use virtual com ports created by xport, but xport likes to crash or give me a blue screen from time to time


PS
xport works best at the tail end of GPSgate, believe me I have tried every combo for hours

Ben

Hi All, new to this forum. I'm about to purchase Garmin Mobile PC and have one area of questions remaining.

Can I enter coordinates into the "where to" on Mobile PC? Can I read the coordinates of the current position?

wmreid

You can enter coordinates into the Where To.
You can read the coordinates of your current position on the Satellite GPS Info page.

Terry

Thank you. I'll be ordering it tomorrow. My wife has the Nuvi 660 and loves it.

Just a quick follow up. Received software only yesterday from Amazon and installed on laptop. It automatically found my third-party GPS and started working. Did a quick route and it worked fine. Will take it out in the car sometime this week. Lots to learn on using it.

Only disappointment (as outline in the activation thread) is that it can only be installed on one PC. Tried to install on desktop and it gave the error that it had already been installed on another PC.

Thanks for all the help.

After reading the thread today on activation, I tried again the activate my desktop and it worked. Nowactivated on both the laptop and desktop. Not sure why.

does anyone know if you can get a download only version of mobile pc.
cheapest shipping so far to NZ is $28US which puts the price up a bit much


since ill be throwing out the supplied maps all i really want is the program, and the serial number