I recently went on a expedition about 30 miles deep into the Cascades on the South side of MT. Raineer...I had by my side my laptop which was loaded with Overland Navigater and Globalsats BU-353 GPS reciever....I never once lost a connection and the software was spot on to my location and direction. I can not tell you how happy I am with my investment in both of these tools of navigation. Neither had one glitch, hick-up, or ever made me question my path or how to get back.

I have no affiliation with either Overland Navigater or Globalsat, I am just one of many looking to help me go to where I want and get home, these tools are a no BS set of the best navigation tools you can buy for the money.

 I know about Craigs software for a laptop, but I had to Google the Globlestat iitem.

So do you still need a GPS, or just the laptop with the Navigator software loaded, and the Globlestat item?

That is pretty cool.

I have a Dell Inspiron 17"  at home I use for surfing from the easy chair, but I think that is a little to big to try in a laptop mount for the rig.
I have been eyeing those new netbooks with a 9" screen, that may be more like it.

I wouild like to be able to save maps like these with it to show routes like this one from when we did some exploring at Greenwater September of 2004.
This one was done on a friends Garmin Vista.

Now I take it the better the software, the better the detail will be too?
Although the Vista was a top of the line handheld back then.

Also nice to be able to backtrack to nice hideen campsites.
I have explored the GReenwater area for many years, but have hardly touched it all since it is so huge up there.
Lots of nice small hidden lakes and streams to camp by.

Thanks Craig.

I have both MapSource and the other one one like 7 CDs, but they are a few years old.

My double din area though is taken up by my DVD nav, stereo, and Sirius system.

But there is that huge empty spot above the glovebox just screaming for a tablet PC I bet.
I have seen a few screens mounted there over on the FJ Forum I use.

Craig, can you go into a little more detail on carputers? Or have they been covered somewhere else in here?

It is a computer that replaces your headunit and wires up directly to your sound system.  They are usually touchscreen controlled and have easy to use (stereo like) interfaces to do AM/FM, MP3 jukebox, iPod control, DVDs, DivX, Navigation, cell phone integration, weather reports, news headlines, OBDII, etc.  Some have the ability to check tire pressures wirelessly, control the door locks, and all other crazy stuff.  It goes on/off with the ignition key just like a regular headunit.  The key is, the unit looks and behaves like it came with the car rather than being bolted onto the dash or a RAM mount.

Check out mp3car.com

Craig, I am a fair distance from you, but I have a nice tablet PC you could borrow for testing if you need it.

Also, I have reasonable knowlage about carputers and PicoITX if anyone has questions.

Well I just returned from my first "test drive" of Overland Navigator on my netbook and I'm very satisfied. Very slick program, layout is intuitive and learning curve is zero.

The program runs flawlessly on my Asus Eee 900HA (Only $258 at WalMart.com). The first thing I did when I got my netbook today was pop the back and slap in 2GB of ram- it only came with 512MB! The 900HA has a Celeron processor which I'm told is a smidge faster that the Atom- the only trade-off is far less battery life. I'll get a converter for in the car so I don't care.

I'm really glad I got a 9" screen netbook, any bigger and it would look/fit weird on the dash. I need to figure out how big a RAM mount is, I think they might be overkill for something so small.

Can't wait to "Go Losting!" (It's what my kids have dubbed our trips getting lost on F.S. roads).